Making aliyah is only the beginning. For many new immigrants, the harder question comes afterward: where in Israel can they build a life in which they genuinely feel they belong?
That question was at the center of a panel at ynet Global’s Aliyah Live Summit, where Attorney Itzhak Lax, chairman of Ofek Israeli; Edna Weinstock-Gabay, CEO and director general of Keren Hayesod; Yosef Bergman of the Aliyah and Integration Ministry; and Rabbi Avi Berman, executive director of OU Israel, argued that successful absorption should be measured not simply by how many people arrive, but by whether they find the right community and build a sustainable life in Israel.
ynet Global’s Aliyah Live Summit with Attorney Itzhak Lax, chairman of Ofek Israeli; Edna Weinstock-Gabay, CEO and director general of Keren Hayesod; Yosef Bergman of the Aliyah and Integration Ministry; and Rabbi Avi Berman, executive director of OU Israel
(Video: Lior Sharon, Tal Azulay, Tal Saar)
Lax said Israeli communities themselves need to be prepared to receive newcomers.
He described three elements as critical: strong local leadership, Israeli families willing to mentor new immigrants and what he called a “culture of invitation.”
“We have to let the olim feel that we really want them,” Lax said.
For Weinstock-Gabay, that sense of belonging can start even before aliyah.
She highlighted programs supported by Keren Hayesod that connect Jewish communities abroad with communities in Israel, as well as group aliyah initiatives that allow families to make the move alongside others rather than begin their lives in Israel alone.
“When you come with a group, it helps a lot,” she said. “You have a strong relationship that connects you, and it makes everything much, much easier.”
Finding the right place — not simply reaching Israel
Bergman said one of the biggest changes in the way Israel thinks about immigration is the recognition that simply getting an oleh onto a plane is not enough.
He compared earlier waves of aliyah to a paratrooper whose primary goal was simply to land safely. Today, he said, the ambition should be much greater.
The panel with Attorney Itzhak Lax, chairman of Ofek Israeli; Edna Weinstock-Gabay, CEO and director general of Keren Hayesod; Yosef Bergman of the Aliyah and Integration Ministry; and Rabbi Avi Berman, executive director of OU Israel
“We want that oleh to land on his feet, shake off the dust and be able to run ahead,” he said.
That means helping prospective immigrants determine which Israeli city and community best suit their profession, family structure and lifestyle.
“It’s not only making aliyah,” Bergman said. “It’s finding the right place for you.”
The Aliyah and Integration Ministry, he said, works with municipalities and organizations serving different immigrant communities and also sends advisers abroad to meet prospective olim and understand their individual needs before they move.
If immigrants arrive in Israel, fail to find their place and eventually leave, Bergman warned, the consequences can extend beyond one family.
“They’re a bad ambassador,” he said, explaining that friends and relatives considering aliyah may then hear that the move did not work out.
The social side of absorption
Berman said one of the most overlooked challenges is recreating the community structure many Jews had abroad.
In Diaspora communities, a synagogue can function not only as a place of worship but as the center of a family’s social and communal life. In Israel, that structure does not always exist in the same way.
Berman said this can be especially significant for women who spend their first year focused on helping children settle into schools and activities and may not immediately enter the workforce.
“When women are not finding their social community, it makes no difference how successful the man is going to be and how well his job is going to be,” he said. “A happy family is what stays in Israel.”
OU Israel has therefore invested in English-language religious, educational and social frameworks designed to give newcomers a familiar base while they gradually integrate into Israeli society.
The organization has also spent more than two years mapping where English-speaking immigrants are settling across Israel.
Berman said it has identified 475 communities with either a significant Anglo population or at least 20 English-speaking residents. The information is intended to eventually help prospective olim identify communities that better match their needs.
A different way to measure success
Lax argued that Israel should also rethink how it evaluates aliyah.
“We measure all the time how many olim arrived in Israel,” he said. “I think that we have to measure how they integrate into Israeli society.”
That means asking whether immigrants have suitable jobs, whether their children are thriving in school and whether they have friends and a meaningful place in their communities.
For the panelists, those questions ultimately determine whether aliyah becomes more than relocation.
As Berman put it, Israelis also have a role to play: recognizing what newcomers bring to the country and helping them turn the decision to move into a lasting sense of belonging.
“We’re a country of immigrants,” Bergman said.