aliyah

Israelis who leave their native country to settle in the diaspora have long been known as yordim, those who go down. It is a disparaging term, and one in contrast to those diaspora Jews who make aliyah, or ascend, to live in Israel.

The two concepts – going up to or down from Israel -- are anchored in a moral equation that harks back to classical Zionism, which negated the diaspora and insisted that Jewish survival depends on the imperative of aliyah.

A Baltimore couple married 71 years is believed to be the oldest couple to make aliyah.

Phillip and Dorothy Grossman, 95 and 93 respectively, made aliyah Tuesday on a Nefesh B’Nefesh group flight in cooperation with the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption and the Jewish Agency, together with 43 new emigres from North America.

One of their three children lives in Israel; another will be making aliyah this summer.

The Grossmans were met at the airport by some of their grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren living in Israel.

Israel's army is getting a planeload of reinforcements from North America.

A group of 104 young men and women who will be joining the Israel Defense Forces in the coming months were aboard a 747 El Al charter flight to Israel that departed Monday from New York, a record for a single flight. The plane, sponsored by Nefesh B'Nefesh,  the Jewish Agency and Friends of the IDF, is carrying a total of 360 North Americans who are moving to Israel.

All I wanted was a blessing from the rabbi so that I would finally find my husband.

But it wasn’t that simple. Nothing in Israel ever is.

Because to get to the rabbi, you had to go through his assistant, and by “going through” his assistant I mean, you had to repeatedly call some man who kept telling you to call back in an hour.

And by you, I mean me.

But this is a story about the Hebrew language. Or more specifically, about being a 30-something American who relocates later in life to the land of the Hebrew speakers.

The 12-year-old girl was seated on the couch across from me, clinging to her mother, her posture helpless and afraid. She’s what they really mean when they say the words “Arab-Israeli conflict,” I thought to myself, trying to maintain a professional mien as I nodded authoritatively, jotted down a few notes, and pretended that I wasn’t about to burst into tears.

Israel’s Interior Ministry, under Shas party leadership, may have exceeded the limits of tolerance, even among Orthodox rabbis, in its latest move that would in effect prohibit Orthodox converts from making aliyah.

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- The aliyah organization Nefesh B'Nefesh says it has slashed18 percent of its staff and will cut the salaries of its remaining employees.

The organization last week made across-the-board cuts of 15 employees. Salary cuts were instituted at all levels as well, according to Yael Katsman, its marketing and communications director.

The cuts were first reported Thursday in Haaretz.

Services to olim will not be affected, Katsman stressed.

NEW YORK (JTA) -- The Jewish Federations of North America is launching a $5.5 million fundraising campaign for Ethiopian immigration to Israel.

The campaign comes at the behest of the Israeli government, which agreed last November to bring up to 7,846 additional Ethiopians to Israel. Like Israel’s commitment, the federation’s campaign comes with an eye toward concluding mass Ethiopian aliyah; it’s called “Completing the Journey.”