'Aliyah Revolution' Continues as Third Planeload of N. Americans Arrives in Israel http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=67235 August 12, 2004 The past two months have seen three more planeloads of Jews from North America touch down on the runway of Ben-Gurion International Airport with the help of an organization called Nefesh b'Nefesh. The most recent of these landed yesterday (Wednesday) morning. Each of the chartered flights were greeted by throngs of friends, relatives and well-wishers who woke up before dawn to join the crowd that filled one of the giant El Al hangars at Ben Gurion's Terminal 2. "The feeling is amazing - there are thousands of people here to greet us," said Beth Meschel, whose mother Elise called in to Israel National Radio's live broadcast to speak to her daughter minutes after she disembarked from the plane Wednesday. Akiva Gersh exited the aircraft strumming a guitar. "There is such an incredible feeling of unity here," he said, walking between two lines of IDF soldiers singing, waving Israeli flags, and helping the new immigrants with their luggage. "What a great way to come home," Gersh said, his wife Tamar by his side. The couple plans to settle initially in Jerusalem. Their message for those still in the Diaspora: "You've gotta come home - your souls are already here, Jews coming home will change the world for Jews and non-Jews alike." Yechiel and Tova Hirsch wore huge smiles as they walked across the runway. They are joining their children who have made Aliyah one by one in recent years. Their daughter Noa came on the first Nefesh b'Nefesh flight in 2002, and two more of their children, Yehuda and Rachael made Aliyah as well. "They really had no choice," said Rachael, who says her sister Shaina is also expected to arrive next month. The Hirsch parents will be living in Jerusalem's Rehavia neighborhood, near their daughter Noa. Benjy Newman brought with him a Torah scroll as he exited the plane. "It was from Altneushul (Old-New) Synagogue in Prague," Newman told INR's Yishai Fleisher. "It was written over a hundred years ago - and today it's coming home." 15 US and Canadian physicians were on Wednesday's flight, as well, with their families numbering nearly 100 individuals . They were part of a special initiativeto bring specialists in emergency care on Aliyah to continue the legacy of Dr. David Applebaum, who was murdered together with his daughter by terrorists on the eve of her wedding. "The wave of North American Aliyah has become a reality - and it's about time," co-founder Rabbi Yehoshua Fass told the crowd of new olim, reciting the words of the blessing thanking God for bringing us momentous occasions. "To all of you, our dear olim, we applaud you for your Aliyah, but we laud you for becoming leaders - leaders in your families, leaders in your communities, leaders in your federations and synagogues, for raising Aliyah-by-choice to the surface, preaching it to all your friends and family and paving the way for them to follow. I want to bless you all that, [as it says in Psalm 126,] your lives, your reality here in Israel surpass your dreams..." "I have a newsflash for you strait from the front page of Al-Jazeera," said Nefesh B'nefesh co-founder Tony Gelbart, " 'A New Wave of Jewish Immigrants Has Arrived in Israel as Part of an Israeli Campaign to Settle Jews From Around the World in Israel'. They finally got one right," said Gelbart, over the cheers of those assembled. Minister Natan Sharansky attended yesterday's ceremony to personally welcome the new olim as they stepped off the plane. "It is very positive for every Israeli to come welcome new immigrants to Israel - to see the excitement of coming to Israel through the eyes of newcomers," Sharansky told Israel National Radio's live newscast at the scene. "We are not supporting them, they are supporting us." Sharansky, a former Russian refusenik and prisoner of Zion before finally being able to make Aliyah himself, says the new immigrants from North America are more impressive than he. "I had an easy task - I had to break the Iron curtain. They had a much more difficult task - they had to break the golden curtain, overcome many obstacles, sometimes facing opposition from their own parents." Tamar Yonah, host of INR's Aliyah Show, spoke with one of the hundreds of soldiers on hand to welcome the new olim (immigrants). Yonah asked her how the IDF decided who would come to the ceremony, to which the female soldier dressed in the white uniform of Israel's Navy smiled and replied: "We have been waiting to do this for weeks - it's so exciting. For me this is especially meaningful, as I made Aliyah from Russia in 1993 - it really completes a circle." "People are realizing that these are not just punctuated events," Rabbi Yehoshua Fass told IsraelNN's Ezra HaLevi. "We are tapping into the current of the historic waves of Aliyah and in Israel and throughout the exile, people are sensing the pure unadulterated love of Israel that is the energy surrounding the current wave." "This is just the beginning, though," Fass said in an interview with INR's Yishai Fleisher minutes after this summer's final Nefesh b'Nefesh flight landed, "we are looking at hundreds more flights. You have 6 million Jews in America - with help from the communities, we will certainly bring 100,000 new immigrants in the coming years. Until now, we have been passive facilitators with very little promotion - people have found us - we are going to start getting into a more active role starting in September. Our first avenue is to send around 70 ambassadors - articulate, professional, happy successful, veteran olim who have come over the past few years back to address their home communities from coast to coast to express to [North American Jews] their love for Israel, what went into their move, and how they are doing now. That itself will open up a whole new population of prospective olim." "It's happening," added Fass, "with changes in curriculum and education as well as cross denominational support, the ground is becoming fertile for a real Aliyah revolution."