5,000 New Immigrants from the US and Canada are Scheduled to Make Aliyah by the end of 2021

 

Nefesh B'Nefesh, the non-profit organization who in conjunction with the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, the Jewish Agency for Israel, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael and JNF-USA facilitate Aliyah from North America reports incredible increase in numbers as its summer season is readily underway.

According to data published by the organization, an expected 5,000 new immigrants from the US and Canada are scheduled to make Aliyah by the end of 2021. During the COVID pandemic the number of Aliyah requests and files opened spiked and in 2020 Nefesh B'Nefesh recorded a total of 14 000 requests, compared to 4,582 in 2019. As of July 2021, over 4000 applications have already been submitted.

In 2020, a total of 3,168 immigrants from North America arrived in Israel through Nefesh B'Nefesh. Since January 2021, 1500 Olim from North American have already arrived in Israel, showing a 95% increase over the same time period in 2020 and 22% more than in 2019, the organization reported.

“Since the beginning of the pandemic, despite all the challenges and uncertainty, interest in Aliyah has continued to rise. As a result, we have worked harder than ever to overcome the hurdles and prepare for the unexpected as best as we can,” said Rabbi Yehoshua Fass, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Nefesh B’Nefesh. “Our dedicated staff has been working round the clock to support and help facilitate the Aliyah of our Olim, who have shown incredible resilience in the face of delayed dreams and continue to inspire us with their commitment to the Zionist dream of living in Israel.”

This year's Aliyah wave is expected to reach its peak this summer with over 2000 Olim, where 1000 are planned to arrive in August alone.

"We have always wanted to live in Israel but leaving family has always been a big deterrent. Our parents both live in America but we really believe that the best place to live is Israel and we hope that our parents will come to visit and also eventually move after us,” said Lilian Aharon, one of the hundreds of Olim making Aliyah this summer with her husband Joseph and their two sons, Michael and Nathan from Florida to Efrat.

“We have always wanted to move but were always too scared to make the jump, but we have come to understand that now is the best time for us and we are very very excited!" She added.