TheHebrew wordaliyah means "ascent" or "going up". Jewish tradition views traveling to the Land of Israel as an ascent, both geographically and metaphysically. In one opinion, the geographical sense preceded the metaphorical one, as most Jews going on pilgrimage toJerusalem, which is situated at approximately 750 meters (2,500 feet) above sea level, had to climb to a higher geographicelevation. The reason is that many Jews in earlyrabbinic times used to live either in Egypt'sNile Delta and on the plains ofBabylonia, which lay relatively low; or somewhere in theMediterranean Basin, from where they arrived by ship.[8]
It is noteworthy that various references in the earlier books of the Bible indicate thatEgypt was considered as being "below" other countries, so that going to Egypt was described as "going down to Egypt" while going away from Egypt (including Hebrews going out of Egypt to Canaan) was "going up out of Egypt". Thus, in theBook of Genesis 46 God speaks toJacob and says “Do not be afraid togo down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. I willgo down to Egypt with you." And in theBook of Exodus 1, the oppressive new King of Egypt suspects the Hebrews of living in Egypt of being enemies who in time of war might "Fight against us, and so get themup out of the land".
Widespread use of the termAliyah to describe ideologically inspired Jewish immigration to Palestine / Israel is due toArthur Ruppin's 1930 workSoziologie der Juden.[9]Aliyah has also been defined, by sociologists such asAryeh Tartakower, as immigration for the good of the community, regardless of the destination.[10]
Aliyah is an important Jewish cultural concept and a fundamental component ofZionism. It is enshrined in Israel'sLaw of Return, which accords anyJew (deemed as such byhalakha and/orIsraeli secular law) and eligible non-Jews (a child and a grandchild of a Jew, the spouse of a Jew, the spouse of a child of a Jew and the spouse of a grandchild of a Jew), thelegal right to assisted immigration and settlement in Israel, as well as Israeli citizenship. Someone who "makesaliyah" is called anoleh (m.; pl.olim) orolah (f.; pl.olot). Many religious Jews espousealiyah as a return to thePromised Land, and regard it as the fulfillment ofGod'sbiblical promise to the descendants of the Hebrew patriarchsAbraham,Isaac, andJacob.Nachmanides (the Ramban) includes making aliyah in his enumeration of the613 commandments.[11]
Sifre says that themitzvah (commandment) of living inEretz Yisrael is as important as all the othermitzvot put together. There are manymitzvot such asshmita, thesabbatical year for farming, which can only be performed in Israel.[12]
For generations of religious Jews,aliyah was associated with the coming of theJewish Messiah. Jews prayed for their Messiah to come, who was to redeem the "Land of Israel" (Eretz Yisrael, commonly known in English as theregion of Palestine) from gentile rule and return world Jewry to the land under aHalachictheocracy.[13]
In Zionist discourse, the termaliyah (pluralaliyot) includes both voluntary immigration for ideological, emotional, or practical reasons and, on the other hand, mass flight of persecuted populations of Jews. The vast majority of Israeli Jews today trace their family's recent roots to outside the country. While many have actively chosen to settle in Israel rather than some other country, many had little or no choice about leaving their previous home countries.[citation needed] While Israel is commonly recognized as "a country ofimmigrants", it is also, in large measure, a country ofrefugees, including internal refugees.
Pre-modern aliyah
Biblical
TheHebrew Bible relates that the patriarchAbraham came to the Land ofCanaan with his family and followers in approximately 1800 BC. His grandsonJacob went down to Egypt with his family, and after several centuries there, theIsraelites went back to Canaan underMoses andJoshua, entering it in about 1300 BC.[citation needed]
Antiquity
In Zionist historiography, post the Balfour Declaration and the start of the "Third Aliyah", the "First Aliyah" and "Second Aliyah" originally referred to the two Biblical "returns to Zion" described inEzra–Nehemiah – the "First Aliya" led byZerubbabel, and the "Second Aliya" led byEzra andNehemiah approximately 80 years later.[14] A few decades after the fall of theKingdom of Judah and theBabylonian exile of the Jewish people, approximately 50,000 Jews returned to Zion following theEdict of Cyrus from 538 BC. The Jewish priestlyscribe Ezra led the Jewish exiles living inBabylon to their home city ofJerusalem in 459 BC. Even those Jews who did not end up returning gave their children names like Yashuv-Tzadik and Yaeliyahu which testified to their desire to return.[15]
In late antiquity, the two hubs of rabbinic learning were Babylonia and the Land of Israel. Throughout the Amoraic period, many Babylonian Jews immigrated to the Land of Israel and left their mark on life there, as rabbis and leaders.[17]
Middle Ages
In the 10th century, leaders of theKaraite Jewish community, mostly living under Persian rule, urged their followers to settle in Eretz Yisrael. The Karaites established their own quarter inJerusalem, on the western slope of theKidron Valley. During this period, there is abundant evidence of pilgrimages to Jerusalem by Jews from various countries, mainly in the month ofTishrei, around the time of theSukkot holiday.[18]
The number of Jews migrating to the land of Israel rose significantly between the 13th and 19th centuries, mainly due to a general decline in the status of Jews across Europe and an increase inreligious persecution. Theexpulsion of Jews from England (1290), France (1391),Austria (1421), andSpain (theAlhambra decree of 1492) were seen by many as a sign of approaching redemption and contributed greatly to the messianic spirit of the time.[19]
Aliyah was also spurred during this period by the resurgence of messianic fervor among the Jews ofFrance,Italy, theGerman states,Poland,Russia, andNorth Africa. The belief in the imminent coming of theJewish Messiah, the ingathering of the exiles and the re-establishment of thekingdom of Israel encouraged many who had few other options to make the perilous journey to the land of Israel.[citation needed]
Pre-Zionist resettlement in Palestine met with various degrees of success. In 1211, the "aliyah of the three hundred rabbis" saw notable French and GermanTosafists such asSamson of Coucy,Joseph ben Baruch,Baruch ben Isaac andSamson ben Abraham of Sens, along with their colleagues and students, immigrate to Palestine, as recorded in theShebet Yehudah. There is doubt about the accuracy of the account, as there is no evidence that there were actually 300 immigrants, and that number is likely exaggerated. It also mentionsJonathan ben David ha-Cohen immigrating there, but he died in 1205, and was said to have celebratedPurim in Palestine in 1210.[20][21] Little is known of the fate of their descendants. It is thought that few survived the bloody upheavals caused by theCrusader invasion in 1229 and their subsequent expulsion by the Muslims in 1291. After the fall of theByzantine Empire in 1453 and theexpulsion of Jews from Spain (1492) and Portugal (1498), many Jews made their way to the Holy Land.[22][23]
Samson b. Abraham of Sens, who emigrated in 1211, wrote in hisresponsa that the biblical commandment to go to Eretz Yisrael was nullified due topikuach nefesh, or saving a life, citing the danger of the journey, particularly for pregnant women.Haim ben Hananel HaCohen ruled that the commandment was negated altogether.Moses ben Joseph di Trani, born inSalonika in 1490, made aliyah and became the rabbi ofSafed, where he died in 1580. In his writings, Trani disagreed with Haim Cohen, and argued that it was not dangerous to travel to Palestine due to the peace between "Edom" (Christian Europe) and "Ishmael" (Islamic/Arab world) at the time.David ibn Zimri, known as the Radbaz, also went to Palestine where he died in 1574.[24] The Radbaz reconciledMaimonides' brief journey to Jerusalem in 1165, but ultimate settlement in Egypt, despite Maimonides' belief that it was commanded to settle in Eretz Yisrael and forbidden to remain in Egypt, that he had been compelled to remain by the authorities, as physician to the sultan.Ishtori Haparchi, who was a geographer of Palestine, said that Maimonides signed letters as "the writer who transgresses three negative commandments every day," though no surviving responsa with Maimonides' autograph are found bearing this.[24][25]
Notable rabbiNahmanides went to Jerusalem a few years before his death in 1267.[26]Isaiah Horowitz made aliyah in 1621.[27] Nahmanides, in his gloss on Maimonides'Book of Commandments, articulated that contrary toRashi's interpretation, settling Eretz Yisrael was a divine commandment and not simply a promise, arguing that the Torah commanded the people of Israel to conquer and possess the Holy Land. Though he spent most of his life in Gerona, he went to Palestine without his wife and children and died in 1270. It not known why his family did not join him.[24]
In 1541, following their expulsion from Naples, some Jews immigrated to Palestine. In the 1560s,Gracia Mendes andJoseph Nasi obtained a concession from the sultan to permit Jews to settle in Safed and Tiberias.[28][29]
Some Ukrainian Jewish refugees fleeing the pogroms of theKhmelnytsky Uprising of the mid-17th century also settled in the Holy Land. Then the immigration in the 18th and early 19th centuries of thousands of followers of variousKabbalist and Hassidic rabbis, as well as the disciples of theVilna Gaon and the disciples of theChattam Sofer, added considerably to the Jewish populations in Jerusalem,Tiberias,Hebron, and Safed.[citation needed]
18th century
The 1700 immigration associated with messianicSabbateanism is considered the first modern mass movement of Jewish immigrants to Israel.[30] Also in 1700,Judah HeHasid and his followers settled in Jerusalem, andHayyim ben Jacob Abulafia and his followers in Tiberias.[31] HeHasid'sHurva Synagogue (or "ruined synagogue"), rebuilt on the ruins of a 15th century synagogue, was again destroyed in 1720.[27]
The messianic dreams of theGaon of Vilna inspired one of the largest pre-Zionist waves of immigration to Eretz Yisrael. In 1808 hundreds of the Gaon's disciples, known asPerushim, settled in Tiberias and Safed, and later formed the core of theOld Yishuv in Jerusalem.[33] This was part of a larger movement of thousands of Jews from countries as widely spaced as Persia and Morocco, Yemen and Russia, who moved to Palestine beginning in the first decade of the nineteenth century – and in even larger numbers after the conquest of the region byMuhammad Ali of Egypt in 1832 – all drawn by the expectation of the arrival of the Messiah in the Jewish year 5600, Christian year 1840, a movement documented in Arie Morgenstern'sHastening Redemption.[34] There were also those who like the British mysticLaurence Oliphant tried to lease Northern Palestine to settle the Jews there (1879).[citation needed]
Jewish immigration to Palestine began in earnest following the 1839Tanzimat reforms; between 1840 and 1880, the Jewish population of Palestine rose from 9,000 to 23,000.[a]
In Zionist history, the different waves ofaliyah, beginning with the arrival of theBiluim fromRussia in 1882, are categorized by date and the country of origin of the immigrants. In 1872 colonies were established atPetah Tikva andRosh Pinna. Jewish settlement inJaffa may be dated to 1820, whenIsaiah Ajiman moved there from Istanbul.Mikveh Israel agricultural school was established in 1870.[31] Ajiman, a merchant, was executed in 1826, marking a decline in the status of Ottoman Jews.[36]
The periodization of historical waves of Aliyah was first published after the 1917Balfour Declaration, which created expectations of the start of a huge wave of immigration dubbed the "Third Aliyah", in contrast to the Biblical "First Aliyah" and "Second Aliyah" "returns to Zion" described inEzra–Nehemiah.[37] Over the next two years, discussion in Zionist literature transformed the two prior to refer to the contemporary immigration waves at the end of the 19th century and the early 20th. These periods as per the modern convention were first published in October 1919 byYosef Haim Brenner.[38]
In the 1930s and 1940s, Zionist historians began to divide the next periods of immigration to Palestine into different phases, in a form which "created and presumed the unique traits of aliyah and the Zionist enterprise".[39] The currently accepted five-wave periodization was first published in Hebrew by sociologist David Gurevich in his 1944 workThe Jewish Population of Palestine: Immigration, Demographic Structure and Natural Growth:[40] theFirst Aliyah and theSecond Aliyah to Ottoman Palestine, followed by theThird,Fourth, andFifth Aliyah to Mandatory Palestine.[40] Following Ruppin and Jacob Lestschinsky before him, Gurevich's use of the term Aliyah emphasized the ideological element of the immigration,[41] despite the fact that such a motivation was not representative of the immigrants as a whole.[40]
The first modern period of immigration to receive a number in common speech was the Third Aliyah, which in the World War I period was referred to as the successor to the First and Second Aliyot from Babylonia in the Biblical period. Reference to earlier modern periods as the First and Second Aliyot appeared first in 1919 and took a while to catch on.[42]
Ottoman Palestine (1881–1914)
The pronounced persecution of Russian Jews between 1881 and 1910 led to a large wave of emigration.[43] Since only a small portion of East European Jews had adopted Zionism by then, between 1881 and 1914 only 30–40,000 emigrants went to Ottoman Palestine, while over one and a half million Russian Jews and 300,000 from Austria-Hungary reached Northern America.[43]
Between 1882 and 1903, approximately 35,000 Jews immigrated to theOttoman Palestine, joining the pre-existing Jewish population which in 1880 numbered 20,000-25,000. The Jews immigrating arrived in groups that had been assembled, or recruited. Most of these groups had been arranged in the areas of Romania and Russia in the 1880s. The migration of Jews from Russia correlates with the end of the Russian pogroms, with about 3 percent of Jews emigrating from Europe to Palestine. The groups who arrived in Palestine around this time were calledHibbat Tsiyon, which is a Hebrew word meaning "fondness for Zion." They were also calledHovevei Tsiyon or "enthusiasts for Zion" by the members of the groups themselves. While these groups expressed interest and "fondness" for Palestine, they were not strong enough in number to encompass an entire mass movement as would appear later on in other waves of migration.[44] The majority, belonging to theHovevei Zion andBilu movements, came from theRussian Empire with a smaller number arriving fromYemen. Many established agricultural communities. Among the towns that these individuals established arePetah Tikva (already in 1878),Rishon LeZion,Rosh Pinna, andZikhron Ya'akov. In 1882 theYemenite Jews settled in the Arab village ofSilwan located south-east of the walls of theOld City ofJerusalem on the slopes of theMount of Olives.[45]Kurdish Jews settled in Jerusalem starting around 1895.[46]
Between 1904 and 1914, 35–40,000 Jews immigrated to Ottoman Palestine. The vast majority came from theRussian Empire, in particular from thePale of Settlement in Eastern Europe. Jews from other countries in Eastern Europe such asRomania and Bulgaria also joined. Jewish emigration from Eastern Europe was largely due topogroms and outbreaks ofanti-Semitism there. However,Mountain Jews from the Caucasus and Jews from other countries including Yemen,Iran, andArgentina also arrived at this time. The Eastern European Jewish immigrants of this period, greatly influenced bysocialist ideals, established the firstkibbutz,Degania Alef, in 1909 and formed self-defense organizations, such asHashomer, to counter increasingArab hostility and to help Jews to protect their communities from Arab marauders.[47] Ahuzat Bayit, a new suburb ofJaffa established in 1909, eventually grew to become the city ofTel Aviv. During this period, some of the underpinnings of an independent nation-state arose:Hebrew, the ancient national language, was revived as a spoken language; newspapers and literature written in Hebrew were published; political parties and workers organizations were established. TheFirst World War effectively ended the period of the Second Aliyah.It is estimated that over half of those who arrived during this period ended up leaving;Ben Gurion stated that nine out of ten left.[48]
Between 1919 and 1923, 40,000 Jews, mainly fromEastern Europe, arrived in the wake ofWorld War I.The British occupation of Palestine and the establishment of theBritish Mandate created the conditions for the implementation of the promises contained in theBalfour Declaration. Many of the Jewish immigrants were ideologically driven pioneers, known ashalutzim, trained in agriculture and capable of establishing self-sustaining economies. In spite of immigration quotas established by the British administration, the Jewish population reached 90,000 by the end of this period. TheJezreel Valley and the Hefer Plain marshes were drained and converted to agricultural use. Additional national institutions arose such as theHistadrut (General Labor Federation); an elected assembly; national council; and theHaganah, a Zionist paramilitary organization.[citation needed]
Between 1924 and 1929, 82,000 Jews arrived, many as a result of increasinganti-Semitism inPoland and throughout Europe. The vast majority of Jewish immigrants arrived from Europe mostly from Poland, theSoviet Union, Romania, and Lithuania, but about 12% came from Asia, mostly Yemen and Iraq. Theimmigration quotas of theUnited States kept Jews out. This group contained many middle-class families that moved to the growing towns, establishing small businesses, and light industry. Of these approximately 23,000 left the country.[49]
Between 1929 and 1939, with the rise ofNazism inGermany, a new wave of 250,000 immigrants arrived; the majority of these, 174,000, arrived between 1933 and 1936, after which increasing restrictions on immigration by the British made immigration clandestine and illegal, calledAliyah Bet. The Fifth Aliyah was again driven almost entirely from Europe, mostly fromCentral Europe (particularly fromPoland, Germany,Austria, andCzechoslovakia), but also fromGreece. Some Jewish immigrants also came from other countries such asTurkey,Iran, andYemen. The Fifth Aliyah contained large numbers of professionals, doctors, lawyers, and professors, from Germany. Refugee architects and musicians introduced theBauhaus style (theWhite City of Tel Aviv has the highest concentration ofInternational Style architecture in the world with a strong element of Bauhaus) and founded the Palestine Philharmonic Orchestra. With the completion of the port atHaifa and itsoil refineries, significant industry was added to the predominantly agricultural economy. The Jewish population reached 450,000 by 1940.[citation needed]
At the same time, tensions between Arabs and Jews grew during this period, leading to a series ofArab riots against the Jews in 1929 that left many dead and resulted in the depopulation of the Jewish community inHebron. This was followed by more violence during the "Great Uprising" of 1936–1939. In response to the ever-increasing tension between the Arabic and Jewish communities married with the various commitments the British faced at the dawn of World War II, the British issued theWhite Paper of 1939, which severely restricted Jewish immigration to 75,000 people for five years. This served to create arelatively peaceful eight years in Palestine while the Holocaust unfolded in Europe.[citation needed]
Shortly after their rise to power, the Nazis negotiated theHa'avara or "Transfer" Agreement with the Jewish Agency under which 50,000 German Jews and $100 million worth of their assets would be moved to Palestine.[50]
Survey of Palestine, showing place of origin of immigrants between 1922 and 1944
Buchenwald survivors arrive inHaifa to be arrested by the British, July 15, 1945
The British government limited Jewish immigration to Mandatory Palestine with quotas, and following the rise ofNazism to power inGermany, illegal immigration to Mandatory Palestine commenced.[51] The illegal immigration was known asAliyah Bet ("secondary immigration"), orHa'apalah, and was organized by theMossad Le'aliyah Bet, as well as by theIrgun. Immigration was done mainly by sea, and to a lesser extent overland throughIraq andSyria. DuringWorld War II and the years that followed until independence,Aliyah Bet became the main form of Jewish immigration to Mandatory Palestine.[citation needed]
Following the war,Bricha ("escape"), an organization of formerpartisans andghetto fighters was primarily responsible for smuggling Jews from Eastern Europe through Poland. In 1946 Poland was the onlyEastern Bloc country to allow free Jewish aliyah toMandate Palestine without visas or exit permits.[52] By contrast, Stalinforcibly brought Soviet Jews back who lived in occupied or soviet territory to USSR, as agreed by the Allies during theYalta Conference.[53] The refugees were sent to the Italian ports from which they traveled to Mandatory Palestine. More than 4,500 survivors left the French port ofSète aboardPresident Warfield (renamedExodus). The British turned them back to France from Haifa, and forced them ashore in Hamburg. Despite British efforts to curb the illegal immigration, during the 14 years of its operation, 110,000 Jews immigrated to Palestine. In 1945 reports ofthe Holocaust with its 6 million Jewish killed, caused many Jews in Palestine to turn openly against the British Mandate, and illegal immigration escalated rapidly as many Holocaust survivors joined the aliyah.[citation needed]
After Aliyah Bet, the process of numbering or naming individual aliyot ceased, but immigration did not. A major wave of Jewish immigration, mainly from post-Holocaust Europe and the Arab and Muslim world took place from 1948 to 1951. In three and a half years, the Jewish population of Israel, which was 650,000 at the state's founding, was more than doubled by an influx of about 688,000 immigrants.[55] In 1949, the largest-ever number of Jewish immigrants in a single year—249,954—arrived in Israel.[6] This period of immigration is often termedkibbutz galuyot (literally, ingathering of exiles), due to the large number of Jewishdiaspora communities that made aliyah. However,kibbutz galuyot can also refer to aliyah in general.[citation needed]
At the beginning of the immigration wave, most of the immigrants to reach Israel were Holocaust survivors from Europe, including many fromdisplaced persons camps inGermany,Austria, andItaly, and fromBritish detention camps onCyprus. Large sections of shattered Jewish communities throughout Europe, such as those fromPoland andRomania also immigrated to Israel, with some communities, such as those fromBulgaria andYugoslavia, being almost entirely transferred. At the same time, the number of Jewish immigrants from Arab countries greatly increased. Special operations were undertaken to evacuate Jewish communities perceived to be in serious danger to Israel, such asOperation Magic Carpet, which evacuated almost the entire Jewish population ofYemen, andOperation Ezra and Nehemiah, which airlifted most of the Jews ofIraq to Israel.[55] Egyptian Jews were smuggled to Israel in Operation Goshen. Nearly the entire Jewish population ofLibya left for Israel around this time, and clandestine aliyah fromSyria took place, as the Syrian government prohibited Jewish emigration, in a process that was to last decades. Israel also saw significant immigration of Jews from non-Arab Muslim countries such asIran,Turkey, andAfghanistan in this period.[citation needed]
This resulted in a period ofausterity. To ensure that Israel, which at that time had a small economy and scant foreign currency reserves, could provide for the immigrants, a strict regime of rationing was put in place. Measures were enacted to ensure that all Israeli citizens had access to adequate food, housing, and clothing. Austerity was very restrictive until 1953; the previous year, Israel had signed areparations agreement withWest Germany, in which the West German government would pay Israel as compensation for theHolocaust, due to Israel's taking in a large number of Holocaust survivors. The resulting influx of foreign capital boosted the Israeli economy and allowed for the relaxing of most restrictions. The remaining austerity measures were gradually phased out throughout the following years.[citation needed]When new immigrants arrived in Israel, they were sprayed withDDT, underwent a medical examination, were inoculated against diseases, and were given food. The earliest immigrants received desirable homes in established urban areas, but most of the immigrants were then sent to transit camps, known initially asimmigrant camps, and later asMa'abarot. Many were also initially housed in reception centers in military barracks. By the end of 1950, some 93,000 immigrants were housed in 62 transit camps. The Israeli government's goal was to get the immigrants out of refugee housing and into society as speedily as possible. Immigrants who left the camps received a ration card, an identity card, a mattress, a pair of blankets, and $21 to $36 in cash. They settled either in established cities and towns, or inkibbutzim andmoshavim.[55][56] Many others stayed in theMa'abarot as they were gradually turned into permanent cities and towns, which became known asdevelopment towns, or were absorbed as neighborhoods of the towns they were attached to, and the tin dwellings were replaced with permanent housing.[citation needed]
In the early 1950s, the immigration wave subsided, and emigration increased; ultimately, some 10% of the immigrants would leave Israel for other countries in the following years. In 1953, immigration to Israel averaged 1,200 a month, while emigration averaged 700 a month. The end of the period of mass immigration gave Israel a critical opportunity to more rapidly absorb the immigrants still living in transit camps.[57] The Israeli government built 260 new settlements and 78,000 housing units to accommodate the immigrants, and by the mid-1950s, almost all were in permanent housing.[58] The lastma'abarot closed in 1963.
In the mid-1950s, a smaller wave of immigration began from North African countries such asMorocco,Tunisia,Algeria, andEgypt, many of which were in the midst of nationalist struggles. Between 1952 and 1964, some 240,000 North African Jews came to Israel. During this period, smaller but significant numbers arrived from other places such as Europe, Iran,India, andLatin America.[58] In particular, a small immigration wave from thencommunist Poland, known as the "Gomulka Aliyah", took place during this period. From 1956 to 1960, Poland permitted free Jewish emigration, and some 50,000 Polish Jews immigrated to Israel.[59]
Since the founding of the State of Israel, theJewish Agency for Israel was mandated as the organization responsible for aliyah in the diaspora.[60]
From 1948 until the early 1970s, around 900,000 Jews from Arab lands left, fled, or were expelled from various Arab nations, of which an estimated 650,000 settled in Israel.[61] In the course ofOperation Magic Carpet (1949–1950), nearly the entire community ofYemenite Jews (about 49,000) immigrated to Israel. Its other name, Operation On Wings of Eagles (Hebrew: כנפי נשרים, Kanfei Nesharim), was inspired by
Exodus 19:4: "Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself."[62]
and
Isaiah 40:31: "But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint".[63]
Following the establishment of Israel, about one-third ofIranian Jews, most of them poor, immigrated to Israel, and immigration from Iran continued throughout the following decades. An estimated 70,000 Iranian Jews immigrated to Israel between 1948 and 1978. Following theIslamic Revolution in 1979, most of the Iranian Jewish community left, with some 20,000 Iranian Jews immigrating to Israel. Many Iranian Jews also settled in the United States (especially inNew York City andLos Angeles).[64]
The first major wave of aliyah from Ethiopia took place in the mid-1970s. The massive airlift known asOperation Moses began to bringEthiopian Jews to Israel on November 18, 1984, and ended on January 5, 1985. During those six weeks, some 6,500–8,000 Ethiopian Jews were flown fromSudan to Israel. An estimated 2,000–4,000 Jews died en route to Sudan or in Sudanese refugee camps. In 1991Operation Solomon was launched to bring theBeta Israel Jews ofEthiopia. In one day, May 24, 34 aircraft landed atAddis Ababa and brought 14,325 Jews from Ethiopia toIsrael. Since that time, Ethiopian Jews have continued to immigrate to Israel bringing the number of Ethiopian-Israelis today to over 100,000.[citation needed]
After the war, Romania had second-largest Jewish population in Europe, of around 350,000 or higher. In 1949, 118,939 Romanian Jews had immigrated to Israel since the war ended.[65]
Romanian Jews were, under their own will, "sold" or "exchanged" to Israel in the 1950s with the help of theAmerican Jewish Joint Distribution Committee for about 8,000lei (about 420dollars). The price of these Jews usually varied according to their "worth". This practice continued at a slower pace from 1965 underNicolae Ceaușescu, a Romanian communist leader. During the 1950s,West Germany had been also paying Romania an amount of money in exchange for someGermans of Romania, and, just like the Jews (both of which were regarded as "co-nationals"), their price was "calculated". Ceaușescu, happy with these policies, even declared that "oil, Germans, and Jews are our most important export commodities".[66]
Israeli government paid to facilitate aliyah, and around 235,000 people emigrated from Romania to Israel under this agreement.[67] When Romania was under control ofGheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, he received 10 million dollars per year, and only he had the access to the money transferred to the secret account. Israel also bought Romanian goods and invested into Romania's economy. After his death, Ceauşescu practically sold the Jews to Israel, and received between 4,000 and 6,000$ per person.[68] Israel could have transferred nearly 60 million dollars for the aliyah.[69] Another estimation is higher - according toRadu Ioanid, "Ceausescu sold 40,577 Jews to Israel for $112,498,800, at a price of $2,500 and later at $3,300 per head."[70]
Soviet authorities break up a demonstration of Jewishrefuseniks in front of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the right to immigrate to Israel, January 10, 1973[71]
A mass emigration was politically undesirable for the Soviet regime. The only acceptable ground was family reunification, and a formal petition ("вызов",vyzov) from a relative from abroad was required for the processing to begin. Often, the result was aformal refusal. The risks to apply for an exit visa compounded because the entire family had to quit their jobs, which in turn would make them vulnerable to charges ofsocial parasitism, a criminal offense. Because of these hardships, Israel set up the groupLishkat Hakesher in the early 1950s to maintain contact and promote aliyah with Jews behind theIron Curtain.[citation needed]
FromIsrael's establishment in 1948 to theSix-Day War in 1967, Soviet aliyah remained minimal. Those who made aliyah during this period were mainly elderly people granted clearance to leave for family reunification purposes. Only about 22,000 Soviet Jews managed to reach Israel. In the wake of the Six-Day War, the USSR broke off the diplomatic relations with the Jewish state. AnAnti-Zionist propaganda campaign in the state-controlledmass media and the rise ofZionology were accompanied by harsher discrimination of the Soviet Jews. By the end of the 1960s, Jewish cultural and religious life in the Soviet Union had become practically impossible, and the majority of Soviet Jews wereassimilated andnon-religious, but this new wave of state-sponsoredanti-Semitism on one hand, and the sense of pride for victorious Jewish nation over Soviet-armed Arab armies on the other, stirred upZionist feelings.[citation needed]
After theDymshits-Kuznetsov hijacking affair and the crackdown that followed, strong international condemnations caused the Soviet authorities to increase the emigration quota. In the years 1960–1970, the USSR let only 4,000 people leave; in the following decade, the number rose to 250,000.[72] The exodus of Soviet Jews began in 1968.[73]
Between 1968 and 1973, almost all Soviet Jews allowed to leave settled in Israel, and only a small minority moved to other Western countries. However, in the following years, the number of those moving to other Western nations increased.[73] Soviet Jews granted permission to leave were taken by train toAustria to be processed and then flown to Israel. There, the ones who chose not to go to Israel, called "dropouts", exchanged their immigrant invitations to Israel for refugee status in a Western country, especially the United States. Eventually, most Soviet Jews granted permission to leave became dropouts. Overall, between 1970 and 1988, some 291,000 Soviet Jews were granted exit visas, of whom 165,000 moved to Israel and 126,000 moved to the United States.[74] In 1989 a record 71,000 Soviet Jews were granted exodus from the USSR, of whom only 12,117 immigrated to Israel.
In 1989 the United States changed its immigration policy of unconditionally granting Soviet Jews refugee status. That same year, Soviet PremierMikhail Gorbachev ended restrictions on Jewish immigration, and the Soviet Union itself collapsed in 1991. Since then, about a million people from the former Soviet Union immigrated to Israel,[75] including approximately 240,000 who were not Jewish according to rabbinical law, but were eligible for Israeli citizenship under theLaw of Return.
The number of immigrants counted as halachically non-Jewish from the former USSR has been constantly rising ever since 1989. For example, in 1990 around 96% of the immigrants were halachically Jewish and only 4% were non-Jewish family members. However, in 2000, the proportion was: Jews (includes children from non-Jewish father and Jewish mother) - 47%, Non-Jewish spouses of Jews - 14%, children from Jewish father and non-Jewish mother - 17%, Non-Jewish spouses of children from Jewish father and non-Jewish mother - 6%, non-Jews with a Jewish grandparent - 14% & Non-Jewish spouses of non-Jews with a Jewish grandparent - 2%.[76]
Following the beginning of theRusso-Ukrainian War,Ukrainian Jews making aliyah from Ukraine reached 142% higher during the first four months of 2014 compared to the previous year.[77][78] In 2014, aliyah from the former Soviet Union went up 50% from the previous year with some 11,430 people or approximately 43% of all Jewish immigrants arrived from the former Soviet Union, propelled from the increase from Ukraine with some 5,840 new immigrants have come from Ukraine over the course of the year.[79][80]
The wave of aliyah from Russia since 2014 has been called "Putin's aliyah", "Putin's exodus", and "cheese aliyah" (foreign cheese was one of the first products to disappear from Russian shops because of anti-sanctions imposed by the Russian government).[81][82][83][84][85] The number of repatriants in this wave is comparable with that coming from the USSR between 1970 and 1988.[86]
Following2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Israel announced "Immigrants Come Home" operation. As of June 2022, more than 25,000 people arrived in Israel from Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and Moldova.[87]
InArgentina, thepolitical and economic crisis of 1999–2002 led to a severe banking collapse, resulting in the loss of billions of dollars in deposits and significantly affecting the country's middle class. During this period, most of the estimated 200,000 Jews in Argentina were directly impacted. Approximately 4,400 individuals chose to start anew and immigrate to Israel, where they saw new opportunities.[88][89] Since 2000, over 10,000 Argentine Jews have moved to Israel, joining the thousands of Argentine immigrants who had already settled there.[90]
InUruguay, theJewish community, which had reached its peak in the 1960s, began to decline in the 1970s due to a period of political turmoil.[91] However, by the early 21st century, following aneconomic crisis, a portion of the country's Jewish community chose to make aliyah, with approximately 22,000 members remaining in Uruguay.[92] It continued to be one of the largest Jewish communities on the continent, both in terms of absolute numbers and as a percentage of the total population.[93]
During 2002 and 2003 theJewish Agency for Israel launched an intensive public campaign to promote aliyah from the region, and offered additional economic aid for immigrants from Argentina. Although theeconomy of Argentina improved, and some who had immigrated to Israel from Argentina moved back following South American country's economic growth from 2003 onwards, Argentine Jews continue to immigrate to Israel, albeit in smaller numbers than before. The Argentine community in Israel is about 50,000-70,000 people, the largest Latin American group in the country.[citation needed]
InVenezuela, growingantisemitism in the country, including antisemitic violence, caused an increasing number of Jews to move to Israel during the 2000s. For the first time in Venezuelan history, Jews began leaving for Israel in the hundreds. By November 2010, more than half of Venezuela's 20,000-strong Jewish community had left the country.[94][95]
From 2000 to 2009, more than 13,000 French Jews immigrated to Israel, largely as a result ofgrowing anti-semitism in the country. A peak was reached in 2005, with 2,951 immigrants. However, between 20 and 30% eventually returned to France.[96]
In 2012, some 200,000 French citizens lived in Israel.[97] During the same year, following the election ofFrançois Hollande and theJewish school shooting inToulouse, as well as ongoing acts of anti-semitism and the European economic crisis, an increasing number of French Jews began buying property in Israel.[98] In August 2012, it was reported that anti-semitic attacks had risen by 40% in the five months following the Toulouse shooting, and that many French Jews were seriously considering immigrating to Israel.[99] In 2013, 3,120 French Jews immigrated to Israel, marking a 63% increase over the previous year.[100] In the first two months of 2014, French Jewish aliyah increased precipitously by 312% with 854 French Jews making aliyah over the first two months. Immigration from France throughout 2014 has been attributed to several factors, of which includes increasing antisemitism, in which many Jews have been harassed and attacked by a fusillade of local thugs and gangs, a stagnant European economy and concomitant high youth unemployment rates.[101][102][103][104]
During the first few months of 2014,The Jewish Agency of Israel continued to encourage an increase of French aliyah through aliyah fairs, Hebrew language courses, sessions which help potential immigrants to find jobs in Israel, and immigrant absorption in Israel.[105] A May 2014 survey revealed that 74 percent of French Jews considered leaving France for Israel; of those considering leaving, 29.9 percent cited anti-Semitism. Another 24.4 cited their desire to “preserve their Judaism,” while 12.4 percent said they were attracted by other countries. “Economic considerations” was cited by 7.5 percent of the respondents.[106] By June 2014, it was estimated by the end of 2014 a full 1 percent of the French Jewish community will have made aliyah to Israel, the largest in a single year. Many Jewish leaders stated the emigration is being driven by a combination of factors, including the cultural gravitation towards Israel and France's economic woes, especially for the younger generation drawn by the possibility of other socioeconomic opportunities in the more vibrant Israeli economy.[107][108] During the Hebrew year 5774 (September 2013 - September 2014) for the first time ever, more Jews made aliyah from France than any other country, numbering approximately 6,000 and fleeing antisemitism, violence and economic malaise.[109][110]
In January 2015, events such as theCharlie Hebdo shooting andPorte de Vincennes hostage crisis created a shock wave of fear across the French Jewish community. As a result of these events, the Jewish Agency planned an aliyah plan for 120,000 French Jews who wished to make aliyah.[111][112] In addition, with Europe's stagnant economy, many affluent French Jewish skilled professionals, businesspeople and investors sought Israel as a start-up haven for international investments, as well as for job and new business opportunities.[113] In addition, Dov Maimon, a French Jewish émigré who studies migration as a senior fellow at theJewish People Policy Institute, expects as many as 250,000 French Jews to make aliyah by 2030.[113]
Hours after an attack and an ISIS flag was raised on a gas factory near Lyon where the severed head of a local businessman was pinned to the gates on June 26, 2015, Immigration and Absorption MinisterZe’ev Elkin strongly urged the French Jewish community to move to Israel and made it a national priority for Israel to welcome French Jews with open arms.[114][115] Immigration from France increased: in the first half of 2015, approximately 5,100 French Jews made aliyah to Israel, or 25% more than in the same period during the previous year.[116][117]
Following theNovember 2015 Paris attacks committed by suspected ISIS affiliates in retaliation forOpération Chammal, one source reported that 80 percent of French Jews were considering making aliyah.[118][119][120] According to the Jewish Agency, nearly 6,500 French Jews made aliyah between January and November 2015.[121][122][123]
Nefesh B'Nefesh group welcomes North American immigrants to Israel
More than 200,000 North American immigrants live in Israel. There has been a steady flow of immigration from North America since Israel's inception in 1948.[124][125]
Several thousand American Jews moved to Mandate Palestine before the State of Israel was established. From Israel's establishment in 1948 to theSix-Day War in 1967, aliyah from the United States and Canada was minimal. In 1959, a former President of the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel estimated that out of the 35,000 American and Canadian Jews who had made aliyah, only 6,000 remained.[126]
Following the Six-Day War in 1967, and the subsequent euphoria among world Jewry, significant numbers arrived in the late 1960s and 1970s, whereas it had been a mere trickle before. Between 1967 and 1973, 60,000 North American Jews immigrated to Israel. However, many of them later returned to their original countries. An estimated 58% of American Jews who immigrated to Israel between 1961 and 1972 ended up returning to the United States.[127][128]
Like Western European immigrants, North Americans tend to immigrate to Israel more for religious, ideological, and political purposes, and not financial or security ones.[129] Many immigrants began arriving in Israel after theFirst andSecond Intifada, with a total of 3,052 arriving in 2005 — the highest number since 1983.[130]
Nefesh B'Nefesh, founded in 2002 by RabbiYehoshua Fass and Tony Gelbart, works to encourage aliyah from North America and the UK by providing financial assistance, employment services and streamlined governmental procedures. Nefesh B’Nefesh works in cooperation with theJewish Agency and the Israeli Government in increasing the numbers of North American and British immigrants.[citation needed]
After the2008 financial crisis, American Jewish immigration to Israel rose. This wave of immigration was triggered by Israel's lower unemployment rate, combined with financial incentives offered to new Jewish immigrants. In 2009, aliyah was at its highest in 36 years, with 3,324 North American Jews making aliyah.[131]
Since the 1990s
New immigrants in Ben Gurion airport in Israel, 2007
Since the mid-1990s, there has been a steady stream ofSouth African,American andFrench Jews who have either made aliyah, or purchased property inIsrael for potential future immigration. Over 2,000 French Jews moved to Israel each year between 2000 and 2004 due toanti-Semitism in France.[132] TheBnei Menashe Jews fromIndia, whose recent discovery and recognition by mainstream Judaism as descendants of theTen Lost Tribes is subject to some controversy, slowly started their aliyah in the early 1990s and continue arriving in slow numbers.[133] Organizations such asNefesh B'Nefesh andShavei Israel help with aliyah by supporting financial aid and guidance on a variety of topics such as finding work, learningHebrew, andassimilation intoIsraeli culture.
In early 2007Haaretz reported that aliyah for the year of 2006 was down approximately 9% from 2005, "the lowest number of immigrants recorded since 1988".[134] The number of new immigrants in 2007 was 18,127, the lowest since 1988. Only 36% of these new immigrants came from the former Soviet Union (close to 90% in the 1990s) while the number of immigrants from countries like France and the United States was stable.[135] Some 15,452 immigrants arrived in Israel in 2008 and 16,465 in 2009.[136] On October 20, 2009, the first group ofKaifeng Jews arrived in Israel, in an aliyah operation coordinated by Shavei Israel.[137][138][139]Shalom Life reported that over 19,000 new immigrants arrived in Israel in 2010, an increase of 16 percent over 2009.[140]
As reported by the Ministry of Immigration and Refugees, there has been a decline in immigration to Israel since the onset of Hamas' conflict with Israel on October 7, 2023. The ministry indicates that immigration to Israel in 2023 has fallen by 30% in comparison to 2024.[141] The Central Bureau of Statistics announced in December 2024 that 82,700 Israelis departed from the country in the previous year, marking a notable rise compared to the year before and indicating a deceleration in population growth. This was the first instance in which the bureau incorporated long-term foreign residents into its census data.[142]
Paternity testing
In 2013, the office of thePrime Minister of Israel announced that some people born out of wedlock, "wishing to immigrate to Israel could be subjected to DNA testing" to prove their paternity is as they claim. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said the genetic paternity testing idea is based on the recommendations ofNativ, an Israeli government organization that has helpedSoviet andpost-Soviet Jews with aliyah since the 1950s.[143]
Joshua Passing the River Jordan with the Ark of the Covenant,Benjamin West, 1800
Yom HaAliyah (Aliyah Day) (Hebrew:יום העלייה) is an Israeli nationalholiday celebrated annually according to theJewish calendar on the tenth of theHebrew month ofNisan to commemorate theJewish people entering theLand of Israel as written in theHebrew Bible, which happened on the tenth of the Hebrew month of Nisan (Hebrew:י' ניסן).[144] The holiday was also established to acknowledge Aliyah,immigration to theJewish state, as a core value of theState of Israel, and honor the ongoing contributions ofOlim, Jewish immigrants, to Israeli society. Yom HaAliyah is also observed in Israeli schools on the seventh of the Hebrew month ofCheshvan.[145]
The opening clause of the Yom HaAliyah Law states:
מטרתו של חוק זה לקבוע יום ציון שנתי להכרה בחשיבותה של העלייה לארץ ישראל כבסיס לקיומה של מדינת ישראל, להתפתחותה ולעיצובה כחברה רב־תרבותית, ולציון מועד הכניסה לארץ ישראל שאירע ביום י׳ בניסן.[146]
The purpose of this law is to set an annual holiday to recognize the importance of Jewish immigration to the Land of Israel as the basis for the existence of the State of Israel, its development and design as a multicultural society, and to mark the date of entry into the Land of Israel that happened on the tenth of Nisan.
— Yom HaAliyah Law
The original day chosen for Yom HaAliyah, the tenth of Nisan, is laden with symbolism. Although a modern holiday created by the Knesset of Israel, the tenth of Nisan is a date of religious significance for the Jewish People as recounted in the Hebrew Bible and in traditionalJewish thought.[147]
On the tenth of Nisan, according to the biblical narrative in theBook of Joshua,Joshua and theIsraelites crossed theJordan River atGilgal into thePromised Land while carrying theArk of the Covenant. It was thus the first documented "mass aliyah." On that day, God commanded the Israelites to commemorate and celebrate the occasion by erectingtwelve stones with the text of theTorah engraved upon them. The stones represented the entirety of the Jewish nation's twelve tribes and their gratitude for God's gift of the Land of Israel (Hebrew:אֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל,Modern: Eretz Yisrael,Tiberian: ʼÉreṣ Yiśrāʼēl) to them.[148]
Yom HaAliyah, as a modern holiday celebration, began in 2009 as a grassroots community initiative and young Olim self-initiated movement in Tel Aviv, spearheaded by the TLV Internationals organization of theAm Yisrael Foundation.[149] On June 21, 2016, theTwentieth Knesset voted in favor of codifying the grassroots initiative into law by officially adding Yom HaAliyah to the Israeli national calendar.[150] The Yom HaAliyah bill[151] was co-sponsored byKnesset members from different parties in a rare instance of cooperation across the political spectrum of the opposition and coalition.[152]
The number of immigrants since 1882 by period, continent of birth, and country of birth is given in the table below. Continent of birth and country of birth data is almost always unavailable or nonexistent for before 1919.[166][167][155]
^Between 1880 and 1907, the number of Jews in Palestine grew from 23,000 to 80,000. Most of the community resided in Jerusalem, which already had a Jewish majority at the beginning of the influx. (Footnote: Mordecai Elia, Ahavar Tziyon ve-Kolel Hod (Tel Aviv, 1971), appendix A. Between 1840 and 1880 the Jewish settlement in Palestine grew in numbers from 9,000 to 23,000.) The First Aliyah accounted for only a few thousand of the new-comers, and the number of the Biluim among them was no more than a few dozen. Jewish immigration to Palestine had begun to swell in the 1840s, following the liberalization of Ottoman domestic policy (the Tanzimat Reforms) and as a result of the protection extended to immigrants by the European consulates set up at the time in Jerusalem and Jaffa. The majority of immigrants came from Eastern and Central Europe – the Russian Empire, Romania, and Hungary – and were not inspired by modern Zionist ideology. Many were motivated by a blend of traditional ideology (e.g., belief in the sanctity of the land of Israel and in the redemption of the Jewish people through the return to Zion) and practical considerations (e.g., desire to escape the worsening conditions in their lands of origin and to improve their lot in Palestine). The proto-Zionist ideas which had already crystallized in Western Europe during the late 1850s and early 1860s were gaining currency in Eastern Europe.[35]
^Those born in Israel whorepatriated later in their life.
^Before 1995, the aliyah from the Asian republics of theformer Soviet Union were counted in the total of the aliyah from the (former) Russian Empire/Soviet Union.
^Specifically, 15973 from Uzbekistan and 7609 from Georgia during 1990–1999.
^Specifically, 8817 from Uzbekistan and 3766 from Georgia during 2000–2010.
^Includes Asian parts of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union until 1991 and Asian parts of modern Russia. Also includes Jews from the former Soviet Union whose republic of origin is unknown.
^This number is an average of two different estimates from page 93 of this book.
^Specifically, 114406 from Ukraine and 91756 from Russia during 1990–1999.
^Specifically, 50441 from Russia and 50061 from Ukraine during 2000–2010.
^Specifically, 45670 from Ukraine and 5530 from Belarus.
^This number is an average of two different estimates.
^abOn, Raphael R. Bar (1969). "Israel's Next Census of Population as a Source of Data on Jews".Proceedings of the World Congress of Jewish Studies / דברי הקונגרס העולמי למדעי היהדות.ה:31–41.JSTOR23524099. p. 31: The estimated 24,000 Jews in Palestine in 1882 represented just 0.3% of the world's Jewish population [paraphrase].
^abMendel, Yonatan (5 October 2014).The Creation of Israeli Arabic: Security and Politics in Arabic Studies in Israel. Palgrave Macmillan UK. p. 188.ISBN978-1-137-33737-5. Note 28: The exact percentage of Jews in Palestine prior to the rise of Zionism is unknown. However, it probably ranged from 2 to 5 per cent. According to Ottoman records, a total population of 462,465 resided in 1878 in what is today Israel/Palestine. Of this number, 403,795 (87 per cent) were Muslim, 43,659 (10 per cent) were Christian and 15,011 (3 per cent) were Jewish (quoted in Alan Dowty,Israel/Palestine, Cambridge: Polity, 2008, p. 13). See also Mark Tessler,A History of the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1994), pp. 43 and 124.
^Rosenzweig, Rafael N. (1989).The Economic Consequences of Zionism. E. J. Brill. p. 1.ISBN978-90-04-09147-4.Zionism, the urge of the Jewish people to return to Palestine, is almost as ancient as the Jewish diaspora itself. Some Talmudic statements ... Almost a millennium later, the poet and philosopher Yehuda Halevi ... In the 19th century ...
^Schneider, Jan (June 2008)."Israel".Focus Migration. 13. Hamburg Institute of International Economics.ISSN1864-6220. Archived fromthe original on 2019-05-14. Retrieved2013-04-29.
^DellaPergola, Sergio (2014).Dashefsky, Arnold; Sheskin, Ira (eds.)."World Jewish Population, 2014".Current Jewish Population Reports.11. The American Jewish Year Book (Dordrecht: Springer):5–9,16–17.Archived from the original on December 25, 2018. RetrievedJanuary 3, 2016.Israel's Jewish population (not including about 348,000 persons not recorded as Jews in the Population Register and belonging to families initially admitted to the country within the framework of the Law of Return) surpassed six million in 2014 (42.9% of world Jewry).
^"Move On Up".The Forward.Archived from the original on 2011-10-18. Retrieved2013-04-29.
^Alroey 2015, p. 110: "The sweeping and uncritical use of the two terms, 'aliyah' and 'immigration' is one of the major factors in the emergence of the divergent treatment of similar data. In the Zionist ethos, aliyah has nothing in common with the migration of other peoples. Zionist historiography takes it as axiomatic that the Jews who came to the country as part of the pioneering early waves were 'olim' and not simply 'immigrants'. The latent ideological charge of the term 'aliyah' is so deeply rooted in the Hebrew language that it is almost impossible to distinguish between Jews who 'merely' immigrated to Palestine and those who made aliyah to the Land of Israel. Jewish social scientists of the early twentieth century were the first to distinguish aliyah from general Jewish migration. The use of 'aliyah' as a typological phenomenon came into vogue with the publication of Arthur Ruppin'sSoziologie der Juden in 1930 (English:The Jews in the Modern World, 1934) ... in the eighth chapter, which looks at migration, Ruppin seems to have found it difficult to free himself of the Zionist terminology that was dominant in that period. [Ruppin wrote that whereas] Jewish immigration to the United States was propelled by economic hardship and pogroms, the olim (not immigrants) came to Palestine with the support of the Hoveve Tsiyon, with whom they felt a high degree of ideological conformity."
^Golinkin, David."Is It A Mitzvah To Make Aliyah?".Responsa in a Moment. Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies.Archived from the original on 13 June 2017. Retrieved9 October 2012.
^עליית החסידים ההמונית לא"י [The mass exodus of the faithful to Israel].ץראב םתושרתשהו א"רגה ידימלת. Daat. 2008-08-02.Archived from the original on 2021-10-23. Retrieved2021-09-18.
^Horovitz, Greenberg, and Zilberg,Al Naharot Bavel (Bible Lands Museum press, 2015), inscription 15
^Hahistoriya shel Eretz Israel – Shilton Romi, Yisrael Levine, p. 47, ed. Menahem Stern, 1984, Yad Izhak Ben Zvi – Keter
^Schwartz, Joshua (1983). "Aliya from Babylonia During the Amoraic Period (200–500 AD)". In Levine, Lee (ed.).The Jerusalem Cathedra: Studies in the History, Archaeology, Geography and Ethnography of the Land of Israel. Yad Izhak Ben Zvi and Wayne State University Press. pp. 58–69.
^Gil, Moshe (1983). "Aliya and Pilgrimage in the Early Arab Period (634–1009)".The Jerusalem Cathedra: Studies in the History, Archaeology, Geography and Ethnography of the Land of Israel. Yad Izhak Ben Zvi and Wayne State University Press.
^Goldish, Matt (2017), Sutcliffe, Adam; Karp, Jonathan (eds.),"Sabbatai Zevi and the Sabbatean Movement",The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume 7: The Early Modern World, 1500–1815, The Cambridge History of Judaism, vol. 7, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 491–521,ISBN978-0-521-88904-9, retrieved2025-01-09
^Shoham 2013, p. 35-37: "The term Aliya as defining historical periods appeared only when talking about Jewish history on the long-durée, when looking back to thousands of years. In 1914, the Zionist activist Shemaryahu Levin [wrote]: “Now at the time of the Third Aliya we can witness the fulfillment of the vision of the Second Aliya, in the days of Nehemiah.” Levin based this remark on a contemporaneous historiographical convention, according to which Jewish history knew two main aliyot to the Land of Israel in biblical times: “the First Aliya” took place in the time of biblical Zerubavel, after Cyrus’ declaration, while “the Second Aliya” took place in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, about 80 years later… Levin’s periodization was not circulated in public, including among practical Zionists. It achieved dominance only after the WW I, in a way different from both Levin’s intention and counting...Along with analogies of the Balfour Declaration to Cyrus, 2,500 years earlier, many leaders began to write and talk about the forthcoming immigration as “the Third Aliya”, which would continue the previous two, those that departed from Babylonia to establish the second temple. About two months after the Balfour Declaration, Isaac Nissenbaum from the Mizrachi (Zionist-religious) movement published an optimis- tic article in which he anticipated a Hebrew majority in Palestine soon."
^Shoham 2013, p. 42: "The first text in which the periodization as we know it today may be found was an article surveying historical immigrations to and from Palestine, written by the widely recognized writer Y.H. Brenner, and published in October 1919…"
^Alroey 2015, p. 111: "The declaration by Ruppin, the dean of Jewish sociologists, that one "makes aliyah” to the Land of Israel but "immigrates" to the United States laid the terminological and scholarly foundations for turning immigration to Palestine into a unique variety of Jewish migration. During the 1940s and 1950s, demographers and sociologists, including Jacob Lestschinsky, Arieh Tartakower, David Gurevich, Roberto Bachi, and Shmuel Noah Eisenstadt, followed the trail blazed by Ruppin in the 1930s, spinning a Zionist narrative that both created and presumed the unique traits of aliyah and the Zionist enterprise."
^abcAlroey 2015, p. 114: "In his work, Gurevich divided the immigration to Palestine into five separate waves, although he was not the first to do so. He dated the First Aliyah to 1881-1903 and the Second Aliyah to 1904-14 - a periodization that became accepted in the historiography of the Yishuv; few questioned it. Although, as a demographer and statistician, Gurevich had the tools to examine aliyah to Palestine as immigration and to focus on the majority of those who entered the country, he chose to highlight the ideologically-inclined minority who were unrepresentative of the immigrants as a whole."
^Alroey 2015, p. 113: "Gurevich's 1944 book The Jewish Population of Palestine: Immigration, Demographic Structure and Natural Growth (in Hebrew) examined immigration to Palestine from a local and Zionist standpoint. Like Ruppin and Lestschinsky, Gurevich stressed the magnetic pull of the country and especially Zionist ideology as the main factors motivating immigration to Palestine in the years 1881 to 1914. He described the First Aliyah as the aliyah of the Bilu'im and saw the pioneering agricultural workers of the Second Aliyah as representative of that aliyah as a whole, because they left their mark on the Yishuv at the beginning of the twentieth century."
^Yoav Gelber, "The Historical Role of Central European Immigration to Israel",Leo Baeck Institute Year Book 38 (1993), p. 326 n. 6.
^Hakohen, Devorah (2003)."Immigration from Poland".Immigrants in Turmoil: Mass Immigration to Israel and Its Repercussions in the 1950s and After. Syracuse University Press. p. 70.ISBN978-0-8156-2969-6.
^Daphna Berman (January 23, 2008)."Need an appointment at the U.S. Embassy? Get on line!".Haaretz.Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. RetrievedDecember 11, 2012.According to estimates, some 200,000 American citizens live in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
^Michele Chabin (March 19, 2012)."In vitro babies denied U.S. citizenship".USA Today. Jerusalem.Archived from the original on June 29, 2020. RetrievedDecember 11, 2012.Most of the 200,000 U.S. citizens in Israel have dual citizenship, and fertility treatments are common because they are free.
^Troen S., Ilan and Lucas, Noah:Israel: The First Decade of Independence
^"Jewish Agency: 250,000 expected to immigrate to Israel in the next 3-5 years".m.knesset.gov.il.Archived from the original on 6 May 2022. Retrieved20 March 2022.Jewish Agency CEO Amira Ahronoviz presented the official Aliyah statistics for 2019: 35,000 immigrants, including 24,651 from the Commonwealth of Independent States; 3,963 from European countries; 3,539 from North America; 1,746 from Latin America; 663 from Ethiopia; 442 from South Africa; 318 from Turkey and other Middle Eastern countries; and 189 from Australia and New Zealand.
Salmon, Yosef (December 1978). "Ideology and Reality in the BiluAliyah".Harvard Ukrainian Studies.2 (4). [President and Fellows of Harvard College, Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute]:430–466.ISSN0363-5570.JSTOR41035804.
Alroey, Gur (2015). "Two Historiographies: Israeli Historiography and the Mass Jewish Migration to the United States, 1881–1914".The Jewish Quarterly Review.105 (1). [University of Pennsylvania Press, Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania]:99–129.eISSN1553-0604.ISSN0021-6682.JSTOR43298712.
Beker, A. (2005). "The Forgotten Narrative: Jewish Refugees From Arab Countries".Jewish Political Studies Review.17 (3/4):3–19.JSTOR25834637.
Ben-David, Laura (2006).Moving Up: An Aliyah Journal. Mazo Publishers.ISBN978-965-7344-14-9.
גורביץ [Gurevich], דוד [David]; גרץ [Gertz], אהרן [Aaron]; בקי [Bachi], רוברטו [Roberto] (1944).העליה, הישוב והתנועה הטבעית של האוכלוסיה בארץ-ישראל (in Hebrew). המחלקה לסטטיסטיקה של הסוכנות היהודית לארץ ישראל [Statistical and Search Department, Jewish Agency for Palestine].Archived from the original on 2023-02-02. Retrieved2023-02-02.
Liskofsky, Sidney (1948). "Jewish Migration".The American Jewish Year Book.50. American Jewish Committee:725–766.JSTOR23603383.
Shuval, Judith T. (March 1998). "Migration To Israel: The Mythology of 'Uniqueness'".International Migration.36 (1). International Organization for Migration:3–26.doi:10.1111/1468-2435.00031.PMID12293507.
_to_Mandatory_Palestine_and_the_State_of_Israel%2c_between_1919_and_2020.png)
