Aliyah is now an emergency – act on it

Israel was caught off guard and unprepared on October 7th. Is it prepared to facilitate the mass wave of Aliyah that may be coming?

By Tzvi Fishman, INN    25 April 2024

63rd Nefesh B’Nefesh chartered Aliyah flight

In the wake of the events which took place on October 7, and because of Israel’s ongoing war against demonical enemies, the Israeli public has come to realize that many previous false conceptions must be changed in order to guarantee a better future.

Just as military conceptions must be changed and illusions about Hamas and other Islamic groups must be altered, conceptions regarding Aliyah must be rethought and altered as well.

Israel was caught off guard and unprepared on October 7th. Is it prepared to facilitate the mass wave of Aliyah that may be coming? Does Israel have a plan to evacuate the Jews of Paris, London, New York, South Florida, and LA if the violence against Jews explodes out of control around the world? Is Israel prepared to house the millions of Jewish refugees who sooner or later will flock to our shores? Has the Government of Israel purchased hundreds of thousands of emergency tents?

This may seem like a futuristic scenario, but it could easily come to pass and soon. Who ever thought that 300 missiles would be launched against us from Iran? Who can promise that the situation won’t heighten? The State of Israel was founded to be a refuge for all Jews. Is it prepared today to fulfill its chartered mission?

In response to the increasing global anti-Semitism and the havoc on college campuses throughout the United States, grassroots Aliyah activists in Israel are holding an emergency conference after the Pesach holiday in Jerusalem.

Yosef Mendelevich, Jonathan Pollard, Rabbi Leo Dee will be present, along with representatives from NBN and the Israel Ministry of Aliyah and Klita, and a hall filled with grassroots Aliyah activists.

It is obvious to us that the Master of the World is bringing about upheavals in Israel and throughout the world in order to bring His Chosen People home, just as He has done many times in out past. For decades since the founding of the State of Israel, He has waited patiently for the Jews of the West to come home on their own, but now His patience seems to be ending. As Ze’ev Th warned a decade before the Holocaust: the Diaspora must be liquidated before the Diaspora liquidates us. It is time to come home.

Due to the urgency and seriousness of the situation, and to the likelihood that world Jewry will face greater outbursts of hatred as Israel continues to fight its very just war, we have to think “out-of-the-box.” Old formulas won’t help. While new programs of outreach and new incentives to lure immigrants are important, they will only succeed in bringing a few thousand more immigrants to Israel if Aliyah does not become a number-one national priority.

Fortunately the heads of Nefesh B’Nefesh and the Ministry of Aliyah and Klita are open to implement new ideas. They will be present at the Aliyah conference to hear what we have to say. Since they, along with the Government of Israel and its various agencies dealing with Aliyah like the Jewish Agency and the WZO, have the manpower and funding to put new ideas into practice, we hope that we can influence their dedicated, around-the-clock work.

By thinking together as a team, we can, with G-d’s help, bring about a revolution in our continuing Redemption which began long ago in ancient Egypt and which must gain momentum today with the ingathering of our millions of brothers and sisters from their no longer comfortable exile in the West. The call, “Let my people go!” must be resounded once again.

Just as Israel needs to be more aggressive in Gaza, we need to be more aggressive in Jewish communities and on college campuses throughout Diaspora. Israel is at war but there is a burgeoning war against the Jewish People everywhere. Instead of spending billions of dollars in trying to strengthen Jewish identity in the exile, the focus must be switched to Aliyah.

For example, the Jewish groups at work on college campuses blessedly try to strengthen Jewish students against the rabid anti-Israel sentiment – but Aliyah is not in their agenda at all.

“Aliyah commando” teams of young idealistic Israelis must be sent to college campuses immediately to invite the beleaguered Jewish students to become a part of a much higher mission in the Jewish Homeland.

-The Government of Israel will provide free tuition for students making Aliyah and the word must be spread. Full university bachelor-degree curriculums must be immediately created in several Israel universities in various majors to offer the beleaguered college students in America a real option for escape.

“The Israel Student Authority in collaboration with the Israeli universities….

-Other teams of idealists, for example from the settler community, must be sent out far and wide to bring families to Judea and Samaria where the Government is prepared to offer new and significant incentives.

-Diaspora Rabbis must begin to encourage aliyah. To help inspire this change, leading Rabbis in Israel must be summoned to issue a proclamation calling on Rabbis and Jewish educators in the Diaspora to actively teach the Torah commandment of living in Israel.

-Diaspora congregations must establish funds to help people make aliyah.

-Parents must push their children to go to college in Israel.

-Chabad must jump on the aliyah bandwagon and hand out aliyah brochures in addition to Hanukah candles and Tefillin. In addition, Chabad must be pushed to relocate its world headquarters to Israel to carry out our Pesach yearning: “Next year in Jerusalem.” It must no longer provide a “fig-leaf heksher” to Diaspora Jews as if it is OK to live in gentile lands where assimilation is constantly skyrocketing and where Jewish hatred will only get worse.

-And the Government of Israel must begin to build the proper infrastructure to absorb the mass wave of Diaspora refugees who will soon seek a safer haven in Israel.

Concurrently a much greater effort must be extending in bringing the Lost Tribes home, the myriads in India, Afghanistan, South America, and other places who maintain Jewish traditions and who want to be fully converted and immigrate to Israel. These people have proven to become outstanding citizens in Israel, hard-working, hard-fighting, happy with their new life in the Holy Land.

(These are just a few of the proposals that will be discussed at the upcoming Emergency Aliyah Conference and then passed on to the official government bodies. All Aliyah activists are invited to attend. The Emergency Aliyah Conference will be held at the Hibba Center in Jerusalem, 75 Herzog Boulevard, on May 1 between 5-9pm. For further information call: 0507810595).

Tzvi Fishman was awarded the Israel Ministry of Education Prize for Jewish Culture and Creativity. Before making Aliyah to Israel in 1984, he was a successful Hollywood screenwriter. He has co-authored 4 books with Rabbi David Samson, based on the teachings of Rabbis A. Y. Kook and T. Y. Kook. His other books include: “The Kuzari For Young Readers” and “Tuvia in the Promised Land”. His books are available on Amazon. Recently, he directed the movie, “Stories of Rebbe Nachman.”