Another planeload of Americans emigrate to Israel with great fanfare- but how many will remain after 5-years?

Jews have immigrated to join their indigenous brethren to strengthen the Jewish State even before the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution calling for the establishment of a Jewish State in Israel in 1947.

In August, 2014, 338 people of all ages left their lives in the USA to live in the Holy Land and worship, free from the anti-Semitic bigotry of the diaspora. Immigration organization Nefesh b'Nefesh produced this promotional video of their ceremony welcoming them.

 

Attorney Ze'ev Portner emigrated from London several years ago and wrote in an aliyah reality-check "The trials and tribulations of western aliyah" August 4, 2013, in his Times of Israel blog: 

Ze'ev Portner

The truth of the matter is that the concept of aliyah and the reality of aliyah are two different things altogether. This romanticized notion of aliyah is very quickly superseded by the harsh reality of trying to makes ends meet in a very tough country.

A lot of olim eventually get worn down and return back to their countries of origin. A scandal of Western aliyah is the poor retention rates. This is something that is never discussed by government ministers or by pro-aliya organizations. It is estimated that 60% of all Western olim return to their country of origin in the first three years and as much as 80% in the first 5 years.  
No matter how you measure this. It is gross failure on a tremendous scale.

Organizations like Nefesh b’Nefesh do wonderful work to promote aliyah, but are also misleading people by emphasizing western aliyah as a great success story on their recruitment drives in the UK and USA. This gives people a false sense of optimism devoid of any sense of reality of how hard it is to actually make a living in Israel. It does them no credit to produce on their website ‘Alice in Wonderland’ statistics stating they have a 97% retention rate when every oleh knows the contrary to be true. At the minimum Nefesh should tell olim how hard it will be before they come here so they come here without any false illusions.

So why is western aliyah failing? There simply aren’t quality jobs for olim."

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350 N. American immigrants arrive in Israel, greeted by PM Netanyahu; 127 come to enlist in I.D.F.

BEN-GURION AIRPORT, Israel (AP) — Despite regional tensions, about 350 Jews from North America landed in Israel on Tuesday, planning to make the Jewish state their new home.

Their arrival coincides with an escalating internal debate over whether Israel should attack Iran's nuclear facilities. Israel and the West believe Iran may be aiming to produce nuclear weapons. Either and Israeli attack that could set off a regional conflagration, or an Iran with a nuclear bomb to back up its frequent calls for the destruction of Israel, would seem to be good enough reason to postpone moving to the Jewish state — but the newcomers dismissed that.

N. American immigrants disembark in Israel to serve in I.D.F.

"I'm not nervous about Iran," said 18-year-old Becca Richman, who left her family in Philadelphia to serve in the Israeli military. "Honestly I'm more nervous about fitting into Israeli society than I am being in the army. This is my dream. This is what I came to do." Nearly 130 other army recruits were on Tuesday's chartered flight. The immigrants were met by throngs of family members, flags, banners, a stage and live music.

Among the dignitaries greeting them was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He commended them for deciding to "link their personal future with the future of the Jewish state and the Jewish people."



Netanyahu singled out the prospective soldiers. 

"As the Jewish state progresses and rises, so does anti-Semitism," Netanyahu warned, adding "we need to defend ourselves against that and those who give it intellectual support."

Around 2,700 lone soldiers from around the world currently serve in the IDF. Nefesh B'Nefesh and the FIDF have jointly created a program to help new immigrants successfully integrate into the Israeli army and society. Immigrant soldiers are given aid during their service, including financial grants, social assistance, and gift baskets. Upon release, they receive personal, career, and academic counseling. The FIDF operates year-round to aid lone soldiers, and funds around 400 flights annually for lone soldiers to visit their families abroad. (Israel HaYom)

Recently, Lucas Siminofsky of New York City, returned from 18-months of lone-soldier, I.D.F. service. While he was away, his father Paul Siminofsky, spoke with JooTube about his perspectives and how it has influenced his views on the defense of Israel and America.

Regarding his experience observing Lucas and his fellow lone-soldiers in Israel, "I'm very proud of all of them," says Paul.

More than 4,000 immigrants have arrived in Israel from the U.S., Canada and United Kingdom this year. Most North American Jewish immigrants give up their jobs back home when they move, according to Nefesh B'Nefesh, a group that helps potential immigrants make the move and sponsored the flights that arrived Tuesday.

"We wanted to move, and nothing can change our minds," said 33-year-old Shalom Schwartz, a lawyer from New York who plans to continue his practice remotely from his new home outside Jerusalem.

Anglo-oleh warns potential olim: Israeli failings are hurting their end of the aliya proposition

Having immigrated to Israel 10-years ago from South Africa, 25-year-old Adam Segal exposes the harsh economic realities of moving to live and work in modern Israel.

Israel ain't what it used to be in JPost.com

This land that we call home needs to be more than a mere ideological vision; I need to be able to afford to live here.


The average Israeli cannot afford to live in an average household.

Ten years ago, the people pushing hardest for me to come to Israel were the Zionist Federation and the Jewish Agency, despite their knowledge that many olim would not learn fluent Hebrew, and that many would be unemployed for months or even years. Many immigrants do not survive in their professions due to over-saturation, protektsia (connections), or language issues. Many immigrant children drop out of school, develop behavioral problems and, due to the elitist nature of the education system, may not get a university- level education. And still, the recommendation from the shaliach is the same: “Come home to Israel.” . . .

I call on the Jewish Agency to get involved in the housing crisis and create feasible solutions for the people who gave up everything to be here. Zionism will not pay the bills or put food on my table, and it definitely won’t provide me with the capital I need to house my family in the land that is supposedly my home. If you ask me to choose between Zionism and the well-being of my family, I will choose my family. They are my responsibility.  Keeping me here is yours.