Hundreds from North America move to Israel

By Jane Charney
July 1, 2010
http://www.juf.org/news/local.aspx?id=61234
 
While her friends are going to college orientations and packing up
for a year, Jacquie Zaluda is packing for the rest of her life. 
Her life—18 years so far—has to fit into two suitcases.

In about three weeks Zaluda, a 2010 graduate of Chicagoland 
Jewish High School, will board a special Nefesh B’Nefesh flight 
to cross the Atlantic Ocean and start a new life in Israel. 
Nefesh B’Nefesh provides guidance and funds for new immigrants 
from North America.

After becoming an Israeli citizen, Zaluda will volunteer at 
a youth village in Kiryat Gat,  a town in JUF’s Partnership 
2000 region, and then participate in Mechinat Meitarim-Lechish, 
a year-long army preparatory program.

“I have wanted to make aliyah (move to Israel) for quite a 
while now,” said Zaluda, who is also an alumna of Write On for 
Israel, an advocacy and education program of JUF’s JCRC and 
JUF News. “Israel is where I feel most at home. It is where 
my soul comes alive.”

Zaluda was among 120 attendees at a recent party celebrating 
the latest group of Midwesterners making aliyah. The Chicago 
group represented a small portion of the overall stream of 
new olim (immigrants) who are making the move this summer, 
said Jackie Hurwitz, aliyah coordinator at the Israel Aliyah 
Center in Skokie, which is supported by the Jewish Federation.

Last year, some 3,800 Jews moved to Israel from North America ?
the most since 1983. People at all stages of life are making 
aliyah: seniors hoping to retire in Israel after a full life 
in the United States; recent high school graduates like Zaluda; 
and young couples seeking to start a family in the Jewish state. 
The olim come from across the Jewish religious movements and 
ideologies.

The economic downturn is another reason for aliyah, analysts say. 
Israel’s economy has not suffered as much as the rest of the 
Western world, and economic opportunities in the high-tech, 
financial and real-estate sectors abound.

Daniel Goldmeier hopes that making aliyah will mean a professional 
transformation, too. Goldmeier, who majored in English in 
college, has worked in construction and sales. In Israel, 
he hopes to take up English again.

For Goldmeier, his wife, Jacqueline and their kids, Lia, 7, and 
Michael, 3, Israel also means more time with family. Jacqueline’s 
parents and sisters and Daniel’s brother and uncle live in there. 
In fact, Jacqueline will make aliyah for the second time when 
the Goldmeiers board a chartered flight to Israel on Aug. 18. 
Her parents had moved to Israel from Australia when she was 
11—on the same date.

“We are completely secular, but we think it’s important to give 
our children a good Jewish education,” Goldmeier said.