Aliyah as an Extension of Advocacy

By Samantha Vinokor, ICB Reporter

College students constantly deal with questions about the future. The four years spent on campus are a time of personal growth and development, and a time of questions: What do I want to do? Where do I want to live? How do I want my life to develop?

Among those who have spent their time in college deeply involved in Israel advocacy, a growing number of North American students and young adults are looking for the answers in Israel as they consider making aliyah (moving to Israel) and starting new lives.

For many students, this decision means leaving behind friends and immediate family to carve a new life for themselves. It involves learning a new language, serving in the army, and integrating into a new culture and society.

The decision to make aliyah is a deeply personal one, which can be made for a plethora of reasons ranging from Zionist passion to religious expression to the desire to go to grad school for free in light of the struggling economy (one of many perks of making aliyah.)

On campus, pre-aliyah communities often fill central roles in the Israel advocacy movements. At the University of Pittsburgh, the pre-aliyah community developed by Aliyah Fellow Micah Toll has become an integral part of the greater pro-Israel community among the students.

With their passionate personal stories and the Zionist dream shared by members of the pre-aliyah community on many campuses, those intending to move to Israel lend spirit and dedication to the advocacy scene. Interaction with a peer who is committed to moving to a foreign country and leaving behind the comforts of home prompts many students to seek to learn more about the country in question. If students are willing to give up their lives in North America in order to live in a place that the news portrays as war torn, there must be more to the story.

While many people who consider aliyah will not actually move to Israel, they play a key role in pro-Israel advocacy efforts on many campuses across the continent.

According to Barry Spielman, the Director of the Aliyah Delegation for the Jewish Agency for Israel in North America, it is easier to make aliyah as a young person that it would be to do so at any other point in life. Absorption programs such as Garin Tzabar, Kibbutz Ulpan, and the opportunity to attend university in Israel are not open to new immigrants over the age of 35.

Currently, Spielman said, 22% of new immigrants from North America are young people, including students and young professionals, a number that is rising every year. (In 2009, 3,800 people made aliyah from North America.) Many young people who would normally have put off the process are making aliyah now, in the face of the current economic recession. While each new immigrant’s decision is a personal one, there are overarching themes that resonate for many people.

The Jewish Agency maintains a network of 23 Aliyah Fellows on campuses across North America (see sidebar for a full listing of campuses). The Fellows, all of whom are students who plan to eventually make aliyah themselves, serve as representatives of the Jewish Agency and promote aliyah on their campuses and within their local communities.

Jessica Reiser, a senior at the Ohio State University and an Aliyah Fellow, plans to move to Israel after she graduates. Reiser attributes that decision to her participation on a gap-year program in Israel after high school. She believes that many individuals who have participated in long-term Israel programs and have fallen in love with the country share her feelings and also decide to make aliyah.

The pro-Israel community at Ohio State is a diverse one, and a small niche is being carved by the pre-aliyah community, which will be hosting its own booth at Yom Ha’atzmaut in order to promote aliyah on campus.

Only a few students at the Ohio State University share Reiser’s desire to move to Israel. The national network of campus Aliyah Fellows has provided her with friends who are going through the same process, and who will comprise a support system once she moves to Israel.

At York University in Canada, Miriam Bolyki serves as the Aliyah Fellow. A third-year student, she plans to make aliyah after she finishes her degree. Bolyki said the pre-aliyah community at York is large, and many students have tentatively committed to move to Israel after graduation.

As the Aliyah Fellow, Bolyki has thrived in this supportive environment, where she plays an active role in the constant conversation about aliyah on campus. From events at Hillel to a Facebook page that serves as a forum for discussion, prospective immigrants forge relationships with other students who are going through the same process.

Bolyki’s personal reasons for making aliyah stem from the fact that she was born in Israel and moved to Canada as a child, but wishes to return home. “I believe that Israel is where the Jewish people should be,” she said. “It is our homeland. Israel benefits from every individual, and everyone has a role to play in Israeli society. I want to be a part of that.”

She believes that students and young people are the best candidates to move to Israel; she noted that at this point in life, most people are not tied to a particular place, so they can embark on the process with relative ease.

To help prepare for the move, pre-aliyah communities combine their education and advocacy goals with programs for the committed and other interested students. At the University of Pittsburgh, members meet twice a month for “Aliyah and Ice-Cream” meetings, where they discuss a topic related to aliyah. Recent discussions have addressed army service, ulpan, university options and the benefits given to new immigrants.

Pre-aliyah community members promote the group’s message to their individual social networks by talking about their plans for the future, and participate in other Israel advocacy activities with the broader community. Members are passionate advocates who are able to articulate their feelings about Israel to others, tying together their personal journeys as Zionists and the concrete facts behind their decision to make Israel their home.

The height of North Americans moving to Israel came in the aftermath of the 1967 Six Day War; while numbers seem to be on the rise today, they do not seem likely to approach the wave of the late 1960s.

While the challenges facing immigrants are great, the benefits also can be great, and a diverse group of people in the pro-Israel community is exploring the option seriously. Campus pre-aliyah communities provide a supportive framework for thinking about building a life in Israel, while providing members the opportunity to aid the Jewish state on campus at the same time.

 

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