Aliyah 2.0

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My birth makes me part of a people who, for millennia, have been wanderers across the face of the earth. Now I am about to wander, not on a two week holiday or even across Europe on a gap year, but permanently. I am about to go on Aliyah and move my life and loyalties permanently to Israel.

Raffe Gold

There is truly something daunting about picking up your entire life and shifting it to a whole other country. I have spent the best part of the last month running frantically around Sydney trying to organise everything I will need; new shoes, new bag, accommodation, ulpan and everything else in between. I have been so stressed at trying to prepare for my aliyah that it has yet to truly hit me that I am actually making the move. However the Jewish Agency has ensured it has never been easier for a Jew to move to Israel and with the advent of social networking the bureaucratic bumpy landing that has traditionally followed aliyah is no more. Contact with family and friends in the old world is a nanosecond away; distances have shrunk through jet travel and those we once feared we’ll never see again can now come to Israel yearly on a family holiday. How different is my aliah from the wanderings of my ancestors who left an insecure past for an uncertain future, cutting off ties in the certain knowledge that the breach was permanent.

There are scores of tales, written into legend, of Jews defying the odds to reach Zion. From Moses leading the freed slaves from Egypt (wandering for 40 years…apparently the Almighty hadn’t thought it necessary to send a GPS unit) to the expulsion from Spain and Portugal, to the Haganah and various underground Zionist groups sneaking Jews into the country despite a British imposed restriction on immigration. Yet even once the State of Israel was declared there was no easy road for Olim. Many Holocaust survivors, recently liberated from the camps of Auschwitz, Treblinka and Bergen-Belsen, arrived in their new home only to be given a gun, rudimentary military training and told that they now had to defend the country that they barely knew from armies of Arab aggressors intent on annihilating them.

As Israel has beaten back wave after wave of genocidal Arab attack, 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, and now homicidal terrorists, lived in the shadow of Iraqi Scud missiles and experienced the bloodshed of Islamist hatred vested on buses and cafes, Olim continue to come despite the troubles in the land. However once they arrive they are forced to face the fact that in many cases they arrive alone. Some Olim, like myself, are going with no family and few friends in the country whilst others come with their whole families and easily establish roots within a community. They are forced to overcome the dreaded Israeli bureaucracy, learn a whole new language, face the variety of cultural differences and attempt to find suitable employment all at the same time.

Yet despite all these hurdles it is a smoother road to Aliyah now than it has ever been; primarily due to a number of private Jewish organisations and the burgeoning world of web 2.0. Nefesh B’Nefesh, a privately funded US based organisation, was created in 2002 in order to help remove the layers of red tape between a prospective Oleh and their dream of moving to Israel. The group helps US and UK Olim (it has yet to open offices in Australia) financially, helps them find employment opportunities, overcome cultural gaps and cope with other social services. This relieves pressures from the various Israeli government agencies and ensures that many of the Olim transition comfortably into their new lives.

However it is not just established Jewish groups that are helping ease the various burdens on Olim. Social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook have allowed Israelis and diaspora Jews to connect as they never have before. Instantaneously any question that a Jew has about Israel can be answered by someone who has experienced it all. Questions about rent prices, phone plans, job opportunities or any other subject that may concern them are answered honestly and without spin or bias. Many of these Israelis and soon to be Olim have formed a virtual community which helps each other and offers sage advise. They act as confidantes, advisors, translators and tourist guides to all of the new arrivals because many of them have gone through the same experiences. At times of hardship, worry and distress these kind individuals often act less as followers and more as family

Facebook too assists younger Olim in integrating themselves successfully. Just hours after announcing my own desire to move to Israel I was inundated with friend requests from people whom I had never met yet were willing to offer me everything from advise to a couch to use if necessary. Just after I had been accepted to my Kibbutz Ulpan I was asked to join their Facebook group with the rest of the 2011 students. Prior to even meeting them a number of us have become a tight-knit group and have formed a friendship that will help many of us cope with the pain and hardships that come with saying goodbye to your loved ones.

Compared with the treacherous journey that Jews made only a few short years ago to the promised land, making Aliyah today is incredibly easy. A letter from a Rabbi, an interview and a few passport photos are all that stand between a willing Jew and his new home. The Jewish Agency has even organised for ‘Red Carpet’ events for new arrivals; these giant parties welcome the most recent Israelis in a warm, hospitable environment and allow these new citizens to get their identity cards, health insurance, even a mobile phone plan in a few short hours. This was a process that even a few months ago would have taken weeks of standing in line at various government departments. Furthermore the explosion of web 2.0 and social networking websites have allowed many Jews to form a familial bond with their homeland before they even step foot in it. It has never been easier to make Aliyah and with global antisemitism on the rise it is possible that many more Jews may take that leap of faith

Raffe Gold is a political science graduate who will soon emigrate to Israel. He can be reached at twitter.com/raffeg