I8: Aliya

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Mass absorption

Meanwhile, the affect on Israel has been staggering. Absorbing so many people into society, finding housing, jobs and welfare for these people is costing millions. To get an idea of the scale of what Israel is dealing with, imagine Great Britain trying to absorb 8 million people! (This would be the equivalent figure in percentage terms) 8 million people who don't speak English and aren't used to our culture or our society. It would be utter chaos! However, Israel has taken on this challenge and is doing surprisingly well. "Settling in Israel can be very hard... our task is to give them the strength to go on. I consider it not a job but a privilege," says Elza Ben-David, Head of one of the governmental absorption departments.

The UJIA

Jews around the world are helping Israel in her efforts. The United Jewish Israel Appeal (UJIA) of the United Kingdom is dedicated to raising funds and initiating projects to help Israel cope with continued immigration, mass absorption, and supporting FSU Jewry in their efforts to develop their communities. They fund summer educational camps for Jewish youth in the FSU, they fund tuition for new immigrant students in universities and technical schools and they send skilled workers and volunteers to help people in the absorption process.

A tradition of aliya

This is the term used to describe a Jew's immigration to Israel. Literally it means 'uplifting'. Jews move upwards to Israel. The tradition of aliya goes back for thousands of years. Ever since they were exiled, Jews have always yearned to return to their homeland. The Bible talks about God's promise to bring the Jewish people home:

"For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all countries and will bring you into your own land... Then you will live in the land which I gave to your fathers, and you will be My people, and I will be your God." (Yechezkel 36:24,28)

In 1950, the Israeli Government passed the 'Law of Return' which grants every Jew the right to return to their homeland and, upon entry, to automatically acquire citizenship. It gives legal confirmation to the age-old yearning for the return to Zion. (see JPB I:7) Israel, as a nation, is committed to encouraging and enabling aliya for any Jew anywhere in the world.

Rescue prayers

Traditionally said three times a day, in the silent Amidah prayer, there is a paragraph about the gathering in of the exiled Jews from around the world. We ask God to help in the safe return of our people to our homeland:

"Sound the great Shofar for our freedom, raise the signal to gather our exiles, and gather us together from the four corners of the earth. Blessed are You, Lord, who gathers the dispersed of His people Israel." (New Singer's prayer Book p.82, 168, 206)

Coming home

Many people believe that the final success of all of Israel's rescue missions will be measured in the day-to-day absorption of new immigrants. Whether Jews come from Ethiopia or the FSU, whether they come from the USA or Great Britain, whether they come because they have to or because they want to, whether they come to live or to visit, Israel will only be the Jewish homeland if it can make every Jew feel at home in Israel. The difficulties of a new life in a new country are easier to bear when you know and feel that you are coming home.

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