Not just Zionism: Lousy economy pushes more U.S. Jews to move to Israel
With unemployment rates hovering at around 10 percent (more than double what they were two years ago), one ripple effect of America's recession is increased immigration to Israel.
By The Forward and Beth Schwartzapfel Tags: Jewish World Israel newsWhen Nisan and Gilan Gertz stepped off the plane at Ben-Gurion International Airport with their children last August, they were seven of almost 4,000 North Americans to make aliyah in 2009 - the largest number to do so in a single year since 1983.
There were a lot of reasons that the Gertzes chose to move their new home in Beit Shemesh, some 25 miles west of Jerusalem, from their home in Passaic, N.J. There was "inspiration and spirituality," as Nisan describes it. "For the first time in 2,000 years, we can live in a sovereign nation that's Jewish."
But money was also an issue.
Four of the Gertzes' five children - the oldest is 15, the youngest is 3 - were enrolled at Jewish day schools, which together cost the family upward of $50,000 per year in tuition.
"All of our money was being dumped into the increasing cost of education and the increasing cost of health care," said Nisan, who is an architect specializing in the development of hospitals while his wife is a clinical social worker. "I describe it as being on a treadmill." The summer home they'd always wanted, the yearly vacations to nice places, all seemed less and less attainable as tuition bills mounted. "We were running and running and running, and never going anywhere."
With unemployment rates hovering at around 10 percent (more than double what they were two years ago), one ripple effect of America's recession is increased immigration to Israel. It is no panacea. But unemployment there is hovering at around 8 percent, while the economy overall has contracted less than in the United States and now appears on the way back to growth. "Israel has proved to be resilient to this particular global shock," the International Monetary Fund noted admiringly in a January report.
Then there are the actual cash incentives Israel offers to ease the way for those immigrating under the country's Law of Return, which offers automatic citizenship to anyone with at least one Jewish grandparent. The Ministry of Immigrant Absorption provides about $4,000 per adult and about $2,000 per child to these immigrants, paid out over seven months. Immigrants are also entitled to free education up to the master's degree level and are customarily granted a 70 percent to 90 percent reduction on their property taxes. Plus, they receive discounts and tax waivers on Israeli-made appliances.
If that is not enough, additional financial help is available from Nefesh B'Nefesh, a relatively new nongovernmental organization that facilitates immigration for American Jews. About 70 percent of the immigrants apply for this, according to Danny Oberman, the organization's executive vice president of Israeli operations. The amount of these grants covers a "wide range," he said. "The more we have, the more we give away."
Cash handouts alone are not likely to cause American families to pick up and move to Israel, of course. But the number of North Americans immigrating to Israel has been, on the whole, rising in recent years. And the last time there was an uptick as high as this year's - 17 percent - was in 2003, one year after Nefesh was established in Israel with private funding and a mission "to revitalize Aliyah and to substantially increase the number of future olim," or Jewish immigrants.
Since that time, Nefesh has been aggressively promoting aliyah throughout the United States and Canada, trying "to increase the perception that aliyah is normative behavior - something that regular people do," Oberman said.
In 2009, after years of processing an increasingly larger share of aliyah applications, Nefesh formally took over from the Jewish Agency the marketing and processing of all North American aliyah applications. Now, Oberman said, "we're seeing the snowball effect. Many of the people who came in 2009 are relatives of, friends of, neighbors of those people who came earlier.?
"Life in America for Jews is safe and good," said Mark Robbins, 42, a Conservative rabbi who made aliyah in August with his wife and two young children. Unlike the majority of olim, who come to Israel fleeing oppression and political instability elsewhere in the world, for Americans, Robbins said, "in order to make the move, you've really go to be pulled. [But] there needs to be some kind of push, too."
"The push for me came, truthfully, from the incredible cost of raising Jewish kids in the States," Robbins said.
The economy is "not the reason, but it's a reason American Jews are making aliyah," said Michael Jankelowitz, the foreign press spokesman for the Jewish Agency. "They have Israel in their hearts. That's coupled with an economic crisis."
The economy was an issue even for those without children - and the rates of aliyah among this group seem to be rising. According to Nefesh, almost half of olim in 2008 and 2009 were between the ages of 18 and 35.
Freelance music producer and marketer Yoni Leviatan of Miami was among them. "I was always a Zionist," said Leviatan, 31. "I always used to say, I'll be buried in Israel. But I always thought it would be later in life... If I was making a lot of money and I was secure, I don't know if it would have entered my mind to leave."
Now that he's there, Leviatan has been impressed by the country's cutting-edge technology sector, both for the jobs it creates - he got a job as a Web marketer at the music technology company Waves - and for the quality of life it facilitates.
From little things, like the ability to feed a parking meter remotely by using a cell phone, to big things like advancements in medicine, Israel is "not the Third World country that we used to think it was," he said. "Technology has made the Israeli system very efficient, with all medical records kept electronically and standardized for everyone."
Indeed, one of the recurring themes during the Forward's conversations with more than half a dozen olim was how much easier than expected the process was - and how easy it is to access the comforts of home in their adopted country. One of Nefesh's goals, according to Oberman, is to smooth the daunting transition and "implement numerous shortcuts in the bureaucratic process."
"My parents' generation, they moved here and had to move to an absorption center. It took them three months to get a telephone," said David Adest, 32, a Staten Island stock trader who made aliyah with his wife and three young children. "I got here and had my iPhone on within a few hours."
That is not the only difference between Adest and immigrants from his parents' generation. The largest number of Americans ever to move to Israel in a single year was 8,122, 1n 1971 - part of the extended afterglow of Israel's victory in the 1967 Six Day War. "There was a euphoria in the [Jewish] world after the Six Day War," Jankelowitz said, "that Israel, instead of being annihilated, survived." Moving to Israel back then was a political statement as much as a personal choice.
Now, he said, "These people are coming because they're looking for a Jewish way of life. I don't think there is a political statement being made."
Asked about Nefesh's role in helping immigrants move to the Israeli-occupied West Bank - a move with inevitable political implications, Renana Levine, Nefesh's public relations and communications manager, said, "Olim make their own choices about where to live in Israel, and in fact less than 3 percent move to areas over the Green Line," which marks the boundary between Israel and the territories it acquired in the Six Day War.
Nisan recently took a trip to Tel Aviv's Palmach Museum, which celebrates the underground military organization that helped settle Israel. "There's a certain aspect to the romance of settling the land that has to do with living in a hut and working in the dirt with your bare hands," he said. "I have a respect for them, but I'm a spoiled American! I'm not upset that I don?t have to do that."
Contact Beth Schwartzapfel at schwartzapfel@forward.com
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Jared, you apparently don't know that Israel must spend the vast majority of the US aid IN THE US. Are you so naive as to think the US congressman and senators would give that kind of money without getting nearly all of it back?
are doing pretty well thank you. Oil in Oklahoma, casinos, fishing grounds... Cigarette sales, liqour sales, the Pals should make peace as did the American Indians.. Maye the Indians are smarter? "Who was the Chief who promised " we will do no more war"? Yep, they definitely are smarter. And, this WAS their land, no question about it, and the pals, well let's just say they need to move back to their original home, anyplace but Israel.
Mr Sparks: Nefash b' Nefash doesn't receive a dime of US taxpayer money, so have no fear that workers here are being "screwed" out of their money to pay for that organization. I always find it curious that folks like you only focus on the aid to Israel (which is largely military and spent in the US creating jobs here by the way) and never mention the 2 Billion that goes to Egypt annually, the aid to Jordan and 100's of Billions if not trillions spent on development projects in Iraq.Limiting your attack solely to Israel indicates that it is not the money itself that bothers you but that that Jewish nation is 1 recipient.You expose yourself as a bigot.
not specific regarding yearly or composite data.
The Israelis that have asked me why I moved here, am i crazy? were ALL less educated, held poor jobs, had little ambition, and thought that just by being jewish in the USA made you a millionaire! On the other hand, Israelis i met with higher educations, who work in Hi-tech and have a more worldy and educated understanding of the USA, the world, and Jewish civilization ALL understood why I chose to live in Israel (and neither they nor I are religious btw!) Many Israelis have a notion that everything in Israel is bad compared to the US because they are fed images of a "perfect" America, while at the same time are fed negative local media coverage about how bad Israel is. There is almost NO coverage of Israeli accomplishments in the news media, just political scandals and talks about war. THAT is why the common Israeli's opinion of Israeli is so low!
Jared, have you ever heard of Foreign Miltary Financing (FMF)? One of the conditions for an FMF recepient is that the funds or at least the majority of the funds must be spent in the US (In Israel's case it is approximately 74%). This means more jobs for Americans and promotes American industries.
Anyone who is dissatisfied with the US, or thinks they can do better somewhere else, is free to go. I hope, however, that they will have the decency to stay there when things get better again in the US.
"If you have ever wondered about the $3 billion a year that the US screws out of it`s workers in order to give it to Israel, here is some of it." None of the money going to help American Jews immigrate to Israel is from the US government. It is from the Israeli government and Nefesh B'Nefesh - a nongovernmental organization.
yes jews of israel...wait until America decide to stop supporting your stinking state...with weapons, technology and tons of cash...then we will see who israel really is...a stolen peace of land surrounded by countries that are getting ready to destroy it. That day will come and YES lots of people will finally live in peace.
mankind in his insatiable search for divine knowledge has discarded all biblical teachings realizing that the strength of religion is the repression of knowledge all structures of religion have collapsed life prays for death in the wake of the horror of these revelations it was never imagined how graphic the reality that would be known as the end of creation would manifest itself we believe all this chaos and atrocity can be traced back to one single event we hold these truths to be painfully self-evident all men are not created equal only the strong will prosper only the strong will conquer only in the darkness of christ have i realized god hates us all.
Wow, there are some troubled minds on this planet - and for some reason they seem to congregate on Haaretz message boards. Why the vicious reactions? If someone wants to move to Israel - they should move to Israel. Like all migrants they have chosen to go to a place where they feel life would be better. I live in Canada. I F_C_ _ _ love it here. It's a peaceful, strong, stable country and I feel free as a citizen and a Jew. My grandfather, a holocaust survivor - feels the same. Move wherever you want to move - just make sure you do it for the right reasons.
The Ministry of Immigrant Absorption provides about $4,000 per adult and about $2,000 per child to these immigrants, paid out over seven months. Immigrants are also entitled to free education up to the master's degree level and are customarily granted a 70 percent to 90 percent reduction on their property taxes. Plus, they receive discounts and tax waivers on Israeli-made appliances. ".......If that is not enough, additional financial help is available from Nefesh B'Nefesh, a relatively new nongovernmental organization that facilitates immigration for American Jews. About 70 percent of the immigrants apply for this, according to Danny Oberman, the organization's executive vice president of Israeli operations. The amount of these grants covers a "wide range," he said. "The more we have, the more we give away."........ If you have ever wondered about the $3 billion a year that the US screws out of it's workers in order to give it to Israel, here is some of it.
One young family and a young graduate I know who emigrated from UK to Israel around four to five years ago and started their own high tech and catering businesses and are now financially BETTER OFF than friends in the UK quite apart from the quality of life. Make no mistake. You can make it big in Israel
Didn't Archbishop Desmond Tutu say that how Israel treats the occupied Palestinians is worse than what happened in South Africa?
First of all, people need to stop using the term Apartheid. Read a book on South Africa. You'll realize pretty quickly that even though Israel isn't guiltless, the situation in Palestine is not comparable. Second, American monetary support is the only reason Israel exists. That support comes largely from private Jewish support, and public lobbies. No one should chirp American Olim for coming with monetary reasons in mind. Third, to those Israeli's who want to live in N.J. Try it, and you'll realize why Jerusalem is such a special place for Olim from NJ.
... what percentage of the Olim are settled within the Green Line in a typical year? Thanks. MV
The article is missing the whole point: IT IS NOT THE RECESSION: IT IS AMERICA ITSELF that is driving people out of it. Its not just Jews leaving America, even well known personalities have left; the wealthy, intelligent, sophisticated and those who've realized that the 'old' America is LONG, LONG GONE! The US is no longer a republic: it ranks #47 worldwide for civil liberties, has a rapidly slipping quality of life that Israel TRUMPS HANDS DOWN, and has completely lost its appeal and direction. The US is a modern slave state; there is NO opportunity for the middle class to live a decent life; the US hit its ceiling: GET OVER IT. My family is making Aliyah, NOT due to the recession, but due PRIMARILY, to the dispicable behavior and mind-set of the typical American and its way of life. Life in the US STINKS...period. Israel is a far better place to live: the best in the world for the Jews by far. And there are many better places for people to live than the US...many places.
Arabs have jobs only if Israel develops those settlements , as it was always before . Since the Arab murder-spree they lost many jobs in and out of Israel proper . But every settlement activity improves Arab economies . And if you refer to that Arabs want a state it is a pure nonsense . They could of had it many time over , as far as sixty years ego . It is a world-deception on a grandest scale .
With the interest rate and cash incentives that Israel offers, Israeli settlements become appealing to USA unemployed Jews. Unfortunatly the Palestinians suffer further through loss of land and employment opportunities. The USA helps fund this new exodus through its $3.0 billion in annual economic aid to Israel and then helps sustain the security of these settlements through another $2.8 billion annually in military aid. Would it not be much more cost effective and simpler to use that money to establesh more jobs in the USA and avoid contributing to the further unrest in the Middle East?
Israel serves as the epicenter, the anchor, of a Jew's soul - whether its religious, nationalistic, artistic, entrepreneurial, etc... Israel serves as the Jewish Peoples' source of hope, strength, and creativity. There simply is no other choice. and yet, woa to any country that loses its Jews - just historically speaking and in the present - look around the globe...
I have great admiration for Americans who settle in the Holy Land. There is a caveat though; Israelis will be interested in your background, but not necessarily accept you with open arms. It's a lot easier if you meet your significant other in Israel because you have his/her family's support. Facing the blind death stone alone in the Holy Land takes sacrifice and patience; G-d bless those who endure.
Who moves there , those are truly spiritual Jews , not always religious , but always very spiritual . Those who move out are the products of Israeli totally assimilated educational system , which perverted their minds away from any love to the country , who long time forgot their last drop of Jewishness .
Arabs have plenty of countries to move to , Jews have only one , a very tiny one for that matter . The only dreams those Arabs you mention , and you personally have is to destroy Israel . But my children and my grandchildren moved to that indescribably beautiful country and I am on my way too , to insure that your plans will never materialize , MR KATZ .
It seems that many american jews go to Israel but don't stay in Israel - in this conflict of demographics the winners are going to be the people who choose this land over any other - permanently.
Ethnic Russians from Kazakstan or even Eskimoes from the Siberian Far East can move to Kaliningrad where they never ever lived and get Russion government money to do so. Yet a German who was born in Kaliningrad (then Koeningsberg) can never do so. Isn't this apartheid??
Hi Eli, Thanks for the reply - I am sure you're right. But they can't all be wrong. If you have a different point-of-view, I'd love to hear it...
promises.. promises.
With social conditions, health care, education, the environment and employment deteriorating all around us - it only makes sense for our spoiled 'dual-citizen' compatriots to follow 'our' tax contribution to making a well subsidized land for the 'chosen'. In hilarious scene of an Israeli film - the leading lady, an overworked nurse, meets a Russian-Israeli doctor, recently returned from the US. Incredulously, she asks, "Why did you leave L.A.? Did you murder someone?"
Now that Israel, in fact, is becoming, likely more stable, in economic terms, in spite of its "lower salaries", and percieved standard of living, it is an attractive alternative for Jews in North America, where the American dream is becoming less attainable. I wouldn't doubt that Israelis who left before the the current Depression, and yes, Virginia, the United States in undergoing a Depression, to think about returning home, too. Other than that, the quality of life that make the "United States of America" special is declining. Bank failures, the schools are firing teachers with over ten years of experience, and other indicators that what was the foremost nation in the world is slowly becoming the Biggest Banana Republic in the World. There are non-Jews in the States who are seriously considering returning to the EU, where the quality of life is better. Why should surprise anyone that Jews who are Zionists anyway come on Aliyah.
I have to agree with Dan, I hear the same: why did you leave the US and moved to Israel? I keep meeting Israelis who tell me they wish they could leave Israel and move to NY City, and wonder why I left a country with higher wages and peace.
When I tell them that I'd love to live in Israel, the first thing they say is to go and get my head examined...that the people are aggressive...that the taxes are high...that there is a war...that there are no jobs...and if there is a job I will work 50 hours a week for $10 an hour. And I'm a high-tech person!
I mean.. does the author of this article seriously think that Diaspora jews will leave the USA because of "the ability to feed a parking meter remotely"??? I mean... many young Israelis actually want to leave Israel because of its low salaries and its neverending war, and move to the USA. I'm not sure they'll renounce if told you can't feed parking meters remotely in NY city.
American Jews, who never lived in Israel, move there, and receive government money to do so. Can you imagine a Palestinian trying to return home to his parents' or grandparents' plot of land? And this isn't apartheid?