The New Aliyah:  From Red Tape to Red Carpet

October 4, 2009

At 6:20 am on the July 4th El Al flight LY514, with a short screech of the wheels, touched down on the tarmac at Ben Gurion International Airport, bringing home to Israel 120 “exiles” from South Africa. While their journey didn’t quite match the tenacity of their Ethiopian and Yemenite forebears, who risked desert and danger to make their way home, or the desperation of Jews fleeing Europe in rickety ships and attempting to evade the pre-state British blockade surrounding Palestine, for each olim (immigrant), it was a part of a challenging journey home to Eretz Israel (Land of Israel). Despite the fact that in 61 years since the birth of the State, this journey has been made by three million others, it has not dampened the enthusiasm of the welcome that they received as they exchanged the Diaspora (Jewish population outside Israel) for the Land referred to by God as “the glory of all lands” (Ezek. 20:15).

These olim were part of a new process designed to assist olim through the process from start to finish: helping them to avoid pitfalls, eliminating much frustration, and giving them a good chance of settling and integrating into Israel successfully. In the words of new immigrant Darryl Egnal, “They have eliminated the red tape and put out the red carpet, enabling us to land softly and on our feet.” Judging by the results, it is a winning process; the number of olim from South Africa has more than trebled since this process was introduced. This new “red carpet” has a few important steps.

Bringing Israel to the Olim

Immigrating is not a simple process and is highly personalized according to age, family composition, work qualifications, financial and health circumstances, and even spiritual needs. Wrapping up your local affairs and moving to a new—for many unfamiliar—environment is cause for a multitude of questions: Where will we live? How does healthcare work? What about the children’s education? and Where will I find a job?

The Aliyah Expos (aliyah, Hebrew for “immigration”), held twice a year in main centers in South Africa, bring to South Africa a panel of experts from Israel to explain the process and provide answers to each personalized situation. Over 30 experts representing key organizations in the aliyah process—such as the Jewish Agency, Telfed (the Israel arm of the SA Zionist Federation that assists South African olim), and a range of companies who provide essential services for olim—travel to South Africa. They spend two days in each city and, through a combination of group presentations and individual meetings, are able to answer many questions. Representatives from banking, medical insurance, education, employment, legal services, and towns suitable for new residents all assist potential immigrants, and in many cases, it is possible to conclude arrangements ahead of the actual move to Israel.

Bringing the Olim to Israel

The group of olim who traveled to Israel in July was comprised of people from both ends of the age spectrum, from elderly passengers requiring assistance to infants and even babies still in the womb who at birth would have “Israel” entered on their birth certificates under “place of birth.” Families ranged from one-child families to a family with seven children, the oldest being 17 years old. Further evidence of the large number of children could be seen in the mountain of prams, strollers, and other essential items  for young children that needed hand-packing into the hold of the airplane. Despite red and puffy eyes, evidence of painful goodbyes, the atmosphere in the plane was festive.

While a charter flight adds to the excitement of the journey to Israel, it also allows many advantages to be built into the departure and arrival processes. A day prior to departure, special facilities were prepared at the Jewish communal center in Johannesburg for the olim to weigh in their baggage and have airline boarding passes issued. Also provided were facilities for the last-minute purchase of foreign currency. This spared the olim the stress on departure day of having to deal with both the physical stress of managing their luggage and the emotional stresses of leaving familiar circumstances and often loved ones behind. On arrival at Ben Gurion, a warm welcome set in motion a well-oiled plan that would carry the process through to the next afternoon.

From “Outcast” to Resident in Just 11 Hours

God’s promise in Psalm 147:2 to gather the outcasts is happening, and the transformation from “outcast” to resident status brings home to each olim the fact that Israel is a Land quite unlike any other. On hand at Ben Gurion to meet the olim were a large team of professionals and volunteers to assist the olim through their first hours in Israel. This process for the 120 South African olim would culminate within 11 hours of landing with a profound ceremony at the Kotel (the Western Wall of the Temple Mount.)

In a specially enclosed area, with a male choir creating a wonderful atmosphere, the newly arrived South Africans were welcomed by Natan Sharansky, chairman of the Jewish Agency and one of Israel’s most famous immigrants—a man whose defiance of the mighty Soviet Union caught the attention of the world in the 1980s. The other speakers, including the Minister of Immigrant Absorption, all had something in common with those sitting in front of them—they too, years earlier, had been new immigrants. Hopefully in time, these brand new olim would in turn be able to use lessons they were about to learn to soften the landing of those still to follow.

The grand finale of the ceremony was the reading out of the names of the new immigrants who were called to the front to receive a personal welcome from Sharansky and their new Israeli identity documents, issued within a record 11 hours of landing in Israel! Clutching their identity documents, they knew that they were truly home, no longer “the outcasts of Israel” but indeed the “redeemed of the Lord” (Ps. 107:1–3).

For an individual immigrant, the process of getting signed onto all the essential services in Israel is potentially a tedious business involving a variety of institutions, finding the right people to speak to, and doing a lot of explaining. For this group, the process was a festive, but highly productive four-hour period. While entertainers were on hand to occupy the children, all of the essential service providers, and more, came together in a single venue in the hotel. Back were many of the familiar faces from the Aliyah Expo, and by lunchtime on day two, most to-do lists were ticked off as the olim were able to open bank accounts and sign up for healthcare, postal, mobile phone, Internet, financial and legal services, and even the daily newspapers.

Going Home at Last

The big question on everyone’s lips as they boarded the plane with other olim in Johannesburg was, “Where are you going?” The answers were diverse. Some who were entering into the business/professional world, knowing that language proficiency was an essential ingredient of success in their new homeland would be doing the in-house language course at a specialized language center in Jerusalem. Others were joining similar residential language courses within a strongly religious environment or, in two cases, on a kibbutz (communal settlement) in the south of Israel. Norman and Rita Rubin were going to be enjoying grandparenting, a block—not a continent—away from their children in Ra’anana.

After signing up for their services and lunch, the co-travelers on this great aliyah adventure hastily exchanged contact details as the parking lot filled up with a selection of buses and taxis to complete the final part of their journey to their new homes in Israel. But this was not just a personal journey for them; it was part of the massive journey of Israel that has now spanned over 150 years and more than three million people. The prophet Jeremiah spoke of this journey, one that would be so profound that it would surpass the exodus out of Egypt and change the way in which God is described in relationship to the nation of Israel: “‘Therefore behold, the days are coming,’ says the LORD, ‘that it shall no more be said, “The LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,” but, “The LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.” For I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers’” (Jer. 16:14–15).

Bridges for Peace Aliyah Projects

Through Project Rescue, Bridges for Peace has assisted over 33,000 Jewish immigrants from the former USSR in making aliyah .This program, in cooperation with the Jewish Agency, assists prospective immigrants through the complex and often costly process of completing the requirements to exit their countries and qualify for their move to Israel. The assistance covers expenses like passports, visas, ground transportation, and lodgings. The Welcome Program provides new immigrants with a large gift package that includes kitchen pans and utensils, blankets, school kits for children, and a 3-volume Hebrew–Russian or 2-volume Hebrew–Spanish edition of the Hebrew Scriptures. The Adoption Program assists new immigrants during their first year in Israel with food, bus tickets, and other special needs.

“Each of us are happy that you are coming. You are strengthening our country; you are strengthening us. You are home. We are one family. Welcome.”— Natan Sharansky, Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel

“Your coming home to the State of Israel is one more link in the chain, the long chain of the Jewish people coming home to Israel. It is a strong statement to the whole world. Israel is your home; it is the fortress of the Jewish people.”— Knesset Member Sofa Landver, Minister of Immigrant Absorption

“Each of you here today is fulfilling a dream, thousands of years old that thousands and thousands of Jews have dreamed about of coming to the Kotel, touching these stones and being a part of the link that goes back to the beginning of time for the Jewish people.”— Rabbi Schmuel Rabinivitch, Chief Rabbi of the Kotel

“It is a breakthrough in aliyah procedures and techniques and indicates an awareness and commitment to aliyah from South Africa. The warmth and intention that comes from Israel is tangible.”— Jonathan Silke, SA Zionist Federation President

“Your being here today is the fulfilling of the blessing spoken daily in our prayers, ‘Sound the great shofar for our freedom, raise the banner to gather our exiles from the four corners of the earth to our land.’”— Maish Isaacson, Chairman of Telfed

Chris Eden and his wife Cecilia were guests of the Jewish Agency for Israel on a charter flight bringing the 120 new Jewish immigrants to Israel.

Photo Credit:

Photo Credit: www.telfed.co.il