JERUSALEM, Israel – Eight million Jewish people worldwide are eligible to make Aliyah or immigrate to Israel. The majority of them live in the United States, and now there are signs of a growing interest among them to “come home.”
Shortly after the war in Gaza began in 2023, California resident Lori Rush decided to immigrate to Israel.
“She told CBN News, “I made Aliya because of October 7th. That was my wakeup call. All of a sudden, my Jewish soul, my Neshama (soul) woke up and said, ‘You can’t do that to us.'”
Rush, a cybersecurity executive, had a very happy life in the Golden State.
“I did very well,” she explained. “I have a beautiful home in Silicon Valley. I had tons of friends. I practice jujitsu like, we used to go to my reformed synagogue and, just, you know, life was great!”
She told us that things changed in California after terrorists invaded Israel and war began.
“I did notice after October 7th that there was a lot more, just showing of, I’ll say, like, Muslim pride, maybe, where you’d see, like, hijabs, like everybody was wearing hijabs,” she told us. “And then, there were a couple of, like, Palestinian protests in some of the shopping center areas. So I did notice more of that. And I also Iwas, accused of being a Jew.”
Yet, that wasn’t what prompted her decision to leave.
She recalled, “I didn’t feel like I was afraid, but I felt like I needed to support my people. People couldn’t believe that I was going. Yeah, they just said, the vision that they had was that it looked like I was moving to Gaza. I was moving to a war zone, which I knew I was, and I knew that it was in certain areas.”
On January 15th, 2024, Rush submitted her application to the Nefesh B’Nefesh organization, which handles Aliyah requests from North America, and months later she and her two dogs, Herbert Samuel and Baby Rose, moved to Israel.
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Marc Rosenberg, a vice president at Nefesh B’Nefesh, told CBN News, “We’ve seen quite a dramatic increase in Aliyah interest from North America since October 7th, October 8th, (2023), the start of this war.”
Rosenberg said they’ve witnessed a 40 to 45 percent jump in people applying, which has continued over the last two and a half years.
He noted, “It’s remarkable. I think it shows a lot to the spirit of people exploring Aliyah, that it’s not just a flash, it’s not an emotional connection.”
He added, “I think the main motivator for people who are interested in Aliya really has to do with quality of life. They want to build their lives here, or they want to raise children here, or they want to open their professional careers here, or take it to the next level. I think that there’s a lot of commonality, that they feel as if Israel is this great project of the Jewish people.”
Since it began in 2002, Nefesh B’Nefesh has helped more than 85,000 North American Jews navigate the immigration process to Israel, finding jobs for them and settling them into their new home.
“The biggest obstacle to Aliyah, in my opinion, is fear of the unknown,” he remarked. “I think anytime people are going to move into a place, they want to make sure that they have a plan in place when it comes to schooling for their kids or just their general budget for what they’re going to live off of.”
He observed that advances in communication technology make it easier to be further removed from loved ones.
“Another obstacle for people is family, Is being far away from family,’ he said. ” I think that the internet and these gadgets that we have, that have made the world a lot closer for us and have caused people to realize that, you know, you can stay connected even though you’re living on the other side of the world.”
Rosenberg contends that people often feel a Disney-like experience when they visit Israel, but it becomes different when they live here.
“So we really encourage people to have a great sense of really of the cost of living here and what day-to-day life is going to be,” he explained.
Despite the war with Iran and its proxies, Rush says she feels safe because her destiny is in God’s hands.
She told us, “So something could have happened to me in California. You know, maybe I didn’t wake up one morning, right? So I had no fear of coming here at all – not even, not even for the language!”
She does miss a few things from her life in California.
“Of course I miss, you know, my friends, but this is just a little thing. I miss Mexican food, but other than that, I got used to not having Amazon packages every day,” Rush confessed.
There have also been surprises.
“I didn’t realize how diverse Judaism was, that there’s everything from secular to the most Hasidic to everything that’s in between. And basically, however you practice, it’s acceptable,” she stated, and added, “The food – there are world-class restaurants here…best fruit and vegetables you’ve ever eaten in your entire life.”
Rush would like everyone to visit and encourages Jewish people who would like to make Aliyah to take the plunge.
She commented, “I think once you come here, you, you’re home. I, I never really understood what ‘welcome home’ meant until I came here. So, it’s just it’s an absolutely amazing place. And I think everybody should come and visit, and live here if you want to. It will be an amazing experience.”
