Shortly after Shavuot, I traveled to New York for a brief visit as part of several delegations focused on strengthening the relationship between Israel and American Jewry, encouraging Aliyah, promoting medical immigration, and advancing strategic public and economic cooperation.
This time, however, the journey exposed me to a deeply unsettling reality in what has long been considered the capital of Diaspora Jewry. New York, a city I have visited many times for business, was always, in my experience, a city of energy, pace, opportunity, and vibrant Jewish life. It was a city in which Jews could live openly and comfortably. This time, I felt a noticeable change. The streets seemed grayer. The rhythm felt slower. Within the Jewish community, I sensed a level of caution and concern that has become part of daily life.
During my visit, I met with leaders from across the Jewish spectrum: Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform. The picture that emerged from these conversations was troubling. Jewish life in New York, and perhaps across much of America, is changing.
Many Jews told me they are now reluctant to walk in the street wearing a kippah, something that only a short time ago felt natural. Parents worry about sending their children alone to school, or even to a nearby store. Young Jewish students, including those at leading universities, often prefer to keep their Jewish identity less visible. Around synagogues, Jewish schools, and communal institutions, the security presence is unmistakable. In the streets, anti Israel demonstrations accompanied by Palestinian flags take place freely and confidently.
This hostile atmosphere also has a political dimension. It was clearly reflected in the conduct of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who chose not to attend the traditional Israel Day Parade, breaking with a decades long tradition of mayoral participation. Reports described him as the first New York mayor since the parade began in 1964 to skip the event, even as other senior public officials attended.
Against this reality, I heard the same sentence again and again from Jewish leaders and businesspeople: “We will get through the next four years with Mamdani, and then everything will be fine."
That sentence worries me deeply.
It echoes phrases heard in other difficult periods of Jewish history. I heard it from leaders, from wealthy businesspeople, and from Jews raising their families in the neighborhoods of New York, and I say to them in the clearest possible terms: "Come to Israel now".
In Israel, every Jew can express his or her Jewish identity in the public square without fear. Despite war and terrorism, we live with a basic sense of national security, knowing that there are men and women prepared to risk their lives to defend us. Israel ranked eighth in the 2026 World Happiness Report, a remarkable expression of national resilience during wartime.
Beyond that, Israel in 2026 is a regional, economic, and technological power. It is the strongest national home the Jewish people have had in two thousand years. The opportunities in Israel are historic and extraordinary, including in technology, medicine, defense, agriculture, infrastructure, and regional development. A new wave of Aliyah would strengthen Israel’s economy, deepen its human capital, and accelerate its national growth.
At the MedEx conference in New York, which I attended both as Chairman of Kehilot Foundation, an organization that works with approximately seventy Jewish and Zionist communities across Israel, and because of my senior roles in Israel’s health system, I met hundreds of physicians and medical professionals who are seriously considering Aliyah and integration into Israel’s health care system, especially in the north and south of the country. These are precisely the places where they are needed most. Every doctor who chooses to move there can change lives in the most literal sense.
At a real estate conference organized by the Israeli Building Center, where apartments in Jerusalem were presented for sale, I saw growing interest among American Jews in purchasing homes in Israel, not merely as investments, but as real and immediate residential alternatives in light of the uncertainty they feel in New York. At the Arutz Sheva conference held at the Young Israel of Queens, I spoke about the connection between Israeli Jews and Diaspora Jews, and I made a clear appeal.
My message to American Jewry is direct: Use the privilege you still have to come to Israel by choice and of your own free will. Begin acting today. Buy a home in Israel. Open business activity in Israel. Send your children to spend a year in the country. Visit for longer periods of time. Examine Aliyah seriously. Take this step now, before reality forces the decision upon you.
We, the Jews living in Israel, also have a great and historic responsibility. If we truly want to build a covenant of shared life with our brothers and sisters in the Diaspora, we must meet them more often, know them better, and become active partners in absorbing those who choose to come home.
We must mobilize Israeli communities, mission driven communities, and Torah oriented community networks to accompany new immigrant families through the challenges of language, education, employment, bureaucracy, and social integration over many years. A new immigrant remains a new immigrant for a long time, especially when facing Israeli bureaucracy.
Our duty is to help build for them warm and supportive communities, and to ensure that Israel becomes for them a stable anchor and a true home. Their Aliyah will also strengthen the future, resilience, and power of the Jewish and democratic State of Israel.
Izhak Lax is a businessman and Chairman of Kehilot Foundation.