ALIYAH COMMITTEE
AMTON Newsletter
Fall 2002

Why Aliyah Now
Ezra Wanetik

On July 9th at 4 pm, I found myself in a strange position. I was in a waiting room at the Ben Gurion Airport in the upstairs section, where the Ministry of Absorption has its offices. I was trying to make aliyah. I had arrived in the room at 12:30 pm with roughly 400 other new immigrants to Israel. After a slightly anxiety-producing time when my aliyah file seemed "missing", a very helpful clerk helped to fix the situation. Soon, I received my Teudat Oleh (Aliyah ID) from the clerk who sent me off to collect my bags with the words I have been waiting to hear for a very long time, "welcome home." I cannot adequately describe my feelings. Suffice it to say, I was in a state of euphoria. I had finally realized my ten year dream.

Now, all I had to do was find my father, sister and luggage and get a ride to Jerusalem. After a short wait, those last items were accomplished and I was on my way to Jerusalem in a sherut (a kind of van-like taxi) with one of the other families that made aliyah with me. I should explain that I came to Israel as part of a group that made aliyah at the same time. We were around 400 strong, pretty much filled an entire 747 and constituted the largest single day of North American aliyah in the last 25 years. The whole flight was sponsored by the Jewish Agency and additional help was provided to us by an organization called Nefesh B'Nefesh, which has taken as its mission to bring the Jews of North America to Israel through support, grants and tremendous positive energy. Nefesh B'Nefesh was in turn sponsored by Keren Yedidut, The International Coalition of Christians and Jews that has so far assisted in the aliyah of over 200,000 Jews. I cannot express my thanks to them enough.

Since arriving here, I have been asked by everyone, from television interviewers to taxi drivers, "What are you doing here?"

I decided that I better think of a good way to express the reasons that have led me on this journey that took over ten years. Really, for me, it was just a matter of love of country and timing. My love for Israel was built up over successive trips, the broadening of my experiences here touring the country with my family, attending Alexander Muss High School in Israel and living a regular life on kibbutz and university on Nativ, the USY pre-college program. During college I would often come to Israel for breaks on whatever program I could find to underwrite me, or volunteer at a kibbutz just for airfare.

I attribute my decision to make aliyah largely to my time at Alexander Muss High School and the great love of Israel that I developed there, thanks mainly to the touring and the incredible teachers. Not only did they make sure that I studied all of my regular course work, but they also pushed me through a rigorous course of Jewish, Israeli and Zionist history that continues to serve me well today.

Once that decision was made, in my mind at least, I needed a plan. For me that meant thinking about how I could come to Israel and be happy with my move, but also contribute to the State as well. I did not want to be a burden and come with no skills and no money, to be another person on unemployment. To that end I pushed myself to obtain college degrees, which I did in the Joint Program at The Jewish Theological Seminary and Columbia University. I also worked for a couple of years to get experience that would be practical in the real world. Then, last June, I decided that the time had come for aliyah and I made my first appointment at the Aliyah Department of the Jewish Agency with Shlichah, Karni Goldshmid-Lahav (who is also the Shlichah to the Conservative Movement).

And that is my real answer when people ask me "why now?" Nothing fancy, simply: the time has come or rather hegia hazman! For me, there is no alternative.

Ezra S. Wanetik grew up in Detroit, Michigan. He was a history major at Columbia and a Talmud major at the List College of the The Jewish Theological Seminary and received two BA's in 1999. He then worked at the JTS Development Office and in his spare time was a volunteer Auxiliary Police Officer for the NYPD until making aliyah. His sister made aliyah one year ago, and they are holding out hope that their parents will join them.

FOR INFORMATION ABOUT NEFESH B'NEFESH, Jewish Souls United, visit their website at www.nefeshbnefesh.org, CALL 1-866-4ALIYAH, or WRITE info@nefeshbnefesh.org.

Mailing List

The Aliyah Committee is delighted that MERCAZ USA, the Zionist Organization of the Conservative Movement, is distributing this issue of AMTON, our biannual newsletter, to its entire membership list. If you are interested in receiving future copies of AMTON, please email us at: shlicha@mercazusa.org. or call 212-533-7800 x2021. We look forward to adding you to our mailing list. The AMTON staff wishes all our readers Shanah Tovah U'Metookah — a happy and a sweet year.

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