North Americans Keep On Making Aliyah Wednesday, December 29, 2004 / 17 Tevet 5765 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=74390 Yet another planeload carrying 201 Jewish immigrants from N. America touched down in Israel today, bringing the number of immigrants from the continent this year to over 2,800 - the most since 1983. Today's flight was the first Winter flight of olim [new immigrants] organized by Nefesh b'Nefesh, an organization aiming to "remove or minimize the financial, professional, logistical and social obstacles that potential olim face." Though the average age of this year's North American immigrants is 33, two sisters in their 90s who survived the Holocaust were among those who realized their dream of moving to the Jewish homeland today. A two-week-old baby also made Aliyah, "proving you're never too old or too young to come home to Israel," the flight's organizers said. Hundreds of people waited in an El Al hangar in Ben Gurion International Airport this morning for the charter plane to pull in. Friends, relatives, and entire IDF platoons came out to greet the new olim. There were also some who "just wanted to witness the ingathering of the exiles first hand," said one woman who woke up at 5 AM to attend the ceremony. Many of those in attendance were recent, or veteran olim - there to meet members of their own family joining them in the Holy Land. Twenty-two-year-old Shimi Weiss from Atlantic City, New Jersey wore a T-shirt with the words "Aliyah Revolution" emblazoned on the front as he was greeted by several of his siblings. Five out of nine Weiss children now live in Israel - in Gush Etzion, Kibbutz Yavneh and one - until his induction into the IDF in March - in Jerusalem's Old City. Chaim Snow, a recent oleh living in the Gush Etzion town of Elazar, came to greet his sister Henny. Chaim said he made Aliyah in September 2003 "with Kumah." Asked what he meant, considering the grassroots Kumah movement does not offer grants or assistance, Snow said, "Kumah didn't offer me anything tangible, and neither did it promise me anything - it just put out ideas, and that brought me here." Some recent olim, who arrived without the assistance of Nefesh b'Nefesh, nevertheless contacted the organization to offer their help in assisting other immigrants in their absorption. Pamela and Daniel Posner moved one moth ago from Boca Raton, Florida to Moshav Elyakim - a cooperative near the northern city of Yokne'am. Today, they took their children out of school to greet the new immigrants. Daniel held a sign reading "Welcome Silverman Family" as they waited on the tarmac to greet a family of eight. The Silvermans are also on their way to Elyakim, a small, mostly Yemenite moshav. Asked how long Aliyah had been a dream for them, Pamela said, "29 years! Moving to Israel was one of the conditions Daniel agreed to in marrying me, and finally we have arrived." Israel's Ambassador to the U.S., Aryeh Mekel, said that the wave of Aliyah from North America may be attributed to the relative quiet in the Middle East. "It could be that people now feel that the wave of terror is behind us," he said, "and an era of peace is upon us." Many of today's immigrants said, however, that this was not a factor, and some even said that they were arriving despite the continuing Palestinian terrorism. Today's flight was unique in that it had a significant number of unmarried olim on it as well. In conjunction with today's flight, Kumah launched a new initiative called SingOlim, aimed at bringing together past and future olim via the internet, building online communities and seeking to shatter conceptions about needing to "wait until I find a spouse" to make the move. The organization, run by volunteers, was present on both sides of the Atlantic, handing out pins saying "Aliyah Revolution" at JFK airport and ones reading "Keep on Making Aliyah" at Ben-Gurion. The group has also organized a free concert honoring the new arrivals to take place tonight in downtown Jerusalem (35 Jaffa Rd.). Not everyone on the chartered plane was making Aliyah immediately. A dozen "Aliyah Ambassadors" - university students who plan on making the move after graduating and want to help encourage Aliyah on campus until then - arrived together with the new olim. "We look forward to seeing all the various options available to new olim," Jay Reidler from Harvard University said. "It is important for us to see the process and have our own questions answered, so that we can answer questions people on campus are asking about Aliyah." Nefesh b'Nefesh co-founder Rabbi Yehoshua Fass said that many of the new immigrants had asked him how they could thank the organization. "There is one way," he said. "Call your friends and family in the US and Canada and tell them: 'It is a precious gift to live in our land, so consider coming come' - we will have the planes ready."