Fanfare greets North American olim

Sam Ser 
Jerusalem Post
July 14, 2004 

More than 400 new immigrants from North America arriving in 
a single flight were greeted at Ben-Gurion Airport on Wednesday 
morning with pomp, circumstance, and more than a little kitsch.
On the tarmac, an entire air force unit cheered the beaming 
immigrants as they disembarked from the El Al jumbo jet, waving 
Israeli flags and helping to carry baby strollers, as hundreds 
of friends, family, and well-wishers shouted in joy. A four-piece 
IDF band performed "Mashiach, Mashiach" while shofars blasted 
and a clown worked feverishly to make balloon animals. 

Once inside the empty hangar prepared for the festivities, 
the new immigrants were regaled by a half-dozen senior officials, 
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon chief among them. Although he made 
a few minor gaffes in his English speech, such as telling the 
crowd that they are "mostly welcome," the prime minister won 
applause for saying that aliya is the "primary goal" of his 
government. After an organizer had told the crowd that Sharon 
would not have time to greet each new immigrant personally, 
he responded by promising, "I'll greet everyone individually - 
if you have one of these every month." 

The attention was focused not only on the new immigrants but 
also on Nefesh B'Nefesh, which provides financial aid and social 
support to Americans and Canadians interested in making aliya. 
The group, which organized Wednesday's flight and two others 
scheduled to arrive in the next few weeks, expects to bring 
some 1,500 new immigrants this year. 

That equals the number it brought to Israel in the previous 
two years combined. 

Nefesh B'Nefesh has brought a new perspective to North American 
aliya, from finding ways of cutting through red tape to injecting 
new zeal into aliya ideology. The results so far have been 
impressive enough to encourage the Jewish Agency not only to 
forge a strategic partnership with Nefesh B'Nefesh, but also 
to consider ways of carrying over its methods to aliya efforts 
in other countries. 

Total aliya figures have plunged over the past four years, 
to far below the 50,000 per year that Jewish Agency Chairman 
Sallai Meridor believes Israel must maintain. But North America, 
he noted, is the largest "reservoir" for potential aliya, 
and there is reason to believe that it can send tens of 
thousands of Jews to Israel in the near future. 

As Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told the new immigrants 
on Wednesday, their choice to make aliya is a harbinger of 
change for the entire Zionist enterprise. 

"You will witness in your lifetimes a monumental shift," he said, 
"not seen since biblical times and the days of the Second Temple: 
The majority of Jews will live in the Jewish state." 

Noting the prevalence of intermarriage in the Diaspora and the 
general erosion of Jewish identity there, Netanyahu added, 
"For half a century, the survival and future of Israel depended 
on aliya. In the next half-century, however, the survival and 
future of the Jewish people will depend on the State of Israel."
Immigration Absorption Minister Tzipi Livni praised Nefesh 
B'Nefesh cofounders Tony Gelbart and Rabbi Yehoshua Fass, 
who accompanied the new immigrants on the flight from New York. 

Appealing to the ministers in attendance, Fass said that 
government funding would make increased aliya from North America 
a reality. Waving a list of 8,000 applicants waiting to make 
aliya through Nefesh B'Nefesh, he said, "Let's not leave a 
single one behind."