Native born Israelis are always surprised to learn that I grew up in America before making aliyah to Israel five years ago. Some say that they are proud of my choice to move here, while others tell me what a frier (sucker) I am.
When I tell people that I served in a combat unit in the Israel Defense Forces for two and a half years, the response is usually one of two; either they are impressed with my conviction to serve a country I did not grow up in, or taken aback by just how big a frier they perceive me to be.
Sixty-three years ago, when Israel was a fledgling state, no one would even question my decision to pick up and move to Israel, and they would swell with pride at my choice to serve in Israel’s military.
Granted, this was only a few years after the near annihilation of the Jewish people in Europe, making living in the Diaspora neither the safest nor the ideal option. In fact, the vast majority of new immigrants who arrived in Israel at its inception did not come by choice, making their pride in serving the homeland for the Jews take on an entirely new dimension.
Many of the immigrants were from North Africa and Arab countries, secretly transported to Israel after millions of Jews were kicked out their homes and stripped of their businesses in a wave of anti-Semitism following the establishment of Israel.
Thousands more arrived from Europe after the Holocaust and Israel’s population grew exponentially in a very short time.
After the establishment of the State of Israel, many of its citizens, including new immigrants, sacrificed their lives for the country. This was both a physical sacrifice in Israel’s wars, and an economic sacrifice with the austerity program that lasted for the first ten years of the country’s existence.
Was this sacrifice one of choice or necessity? And was their pride in serving their country one of timeless ideology or timely need?
In the past twenty plus years, Israel has seen a wide range of immigrants from around the globe. Hundreds of thousands of new immigrants have come from Ethiopia, the former Soviet Union, North and South America and Europe, to name a few. These immigrants have come for a myriad of reasons, both economic and ideological.
However, unlike sixty-three years ago, when the majority of Israel’s new olim arrived due to an existential threat at home, today’s immigrants have a broader scope of pull factors bringing them to the country.
Israel’s high-tech, pharma, and bio-tech industries attract immigrants in search of better economic opportunities. Some immigrants still make aliyah because of oppression in their home countries. And some modern Zionists - like me - come purely for ideological reasons.
In most Western nations, Jews live an open life unlike their counterparts in other parts of the world, and make aliyah out of ideological conviction. These immigrants do not face anti-Semitic persecution like many have both past and present, and it this absence of threat that allows them to be highly motivated to contribute to the State of Israel of their own free will.
Ideological immigrants have always had a profound effect on Israel, both through serving in its military as well as working to develop its economy and improve living conditions for all its citizens.
Unfettered immigration of Jews is one of the reasons Israel was created. Does it really matter why immigrants choose to make aliyah, or is being here enough? Is it a question of quantity versus quality?
There should be no distinction made between an immigrant by choice and an immigrant by necessity. Israel is meant to be the homeland of the Jewish people, regardless of what brought them here.
People can call me a frier all they want - I am proud to be here.
Zachary Katowitz is an IDF veteran who is the director of volunteer operations at FriendaSoldier.com and will begin a degree in Government in the fall.
