Jerusalem – Over 200 new immigrants to Israel from North America arrived at Ben Gurion international airport.
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The new immigrants, or olim, from 16 U.S. states and three Canadian provinces arrived in Israel on a chartered flight on July 4, the U.S. Independence Day.
The flight was organized by the aliyah organization Nefesh B’Nefesh, in cooperation with Israel’s Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, The Jewish Agency for Israel, Keren Kayemeth Le’Israel, and JNF-USA.
Among the new olim were 14 new IDF soldiers, 5 sets of twins, 34 families, 78 children and 51 singles, who plan to move to communities throughout Israel.
“Today we welcome hundreds of extraordinary Olim who have chosen to leave their lives in the Diaspora and make Israel their home. These modern-day pioneers, many of whom are moving to Israel’s North and South, are not only fulfilling their personal dreams, but the dreams of the Jewish nation as a whole,” said Nefesh B’Nefesh Co-Founder and Executive Director, Rabbi Yehoshua Fass.
Over 2,000 new immigrants from North America are scheduled to arrive in Israel this summer.
Their mesiras nefesh is much to be admired. May they have hatlachah rabbah in their new lives.
A lively affirmation of Zionism’s success 100+ years after the First Aliyah. Baruch HaShem!
Let’s hope they only have an aliyah spiritually.
Based on past statistics, over 65%-70% of new olim will return to the USA, within three years, or sooner. The reasons are simple; the high cost of living, including the very high cost of housing and food; the red tape and bureaucracy; the tension which exists between religious and non-religious, not to mention the on-going problem with the Arabs; the high taxes; the traffic problems; the attitude of the Israelis, who are jealous of the North American olim (i.e. “you rich Americans”); the medical care, which is still not on a par, with the care here, no matter what they tell you; the high rate of smoking, where non-smoking at restaurants is not really enforced; also, there are very few, if any hotels in the entire country, which are 100% smoke free; the shoving and pushing on the buses and trains; the sexual harassment and leering at females; and, the bullying of children in school. I’m sure that I will receive a number of nasty messages in reply to this posting; however, facts are facts!
To #’s 7& 8- Thanks to both of you for your scholarly and kind words of wisdom. I stand by what I stated; facts are facts, whether you like to hear them or not. If things were so ideal in EY, why is it that over 600,000 Israelis, including frum Israelis, choose to live in the USA, permanently? There is no way that I could deal with the Israeli mentality, arrogance, and bureaucracy. I’ve dealt with it, first hand, both in the USA, and in Israel. Incidentally, there is something which I forgot to mention. Even though Haredim enjoy a lot of political support from the Israeli government, that doesn’t always translate to the local cops on the beat. Many Israeli cops, are brutal, and have treated Hareidim like dogs. I remember, back in 1981, when the Israeli cops raided the Toldos Aharon Shul, in Mea Shearim on Shabbos. They broke the door down, smashed windows, destroyed Seforim, and holy objects, broke bones and assaulted the worshippers. It reminded me of Kristallnacht. Those hoodlum cops got away it, as there was no uproar, from the public. If the latter had occurred elsewhere, something might have been done. To this date, no apology has ever been given by the gov’t. A shanda.