VIDEO - Among the 210 new immigrants who arrived in Israel
on a Nefesh B’Nefesh charter flight Tuesday morning were Holocaust survivors Miriam and Itamar Pollak of New Haven, Connecticut, who decided to make aliyah at the age of 71 and 78, respectively.
“It’s been our lifelong dream to make aliyah,” said Miriam, a metal sculptor who studied at Jerusalem’s Bezalel Academy of Art and Design between the years 1956 and 1959.
During the war her family managed to escape the Nazis by using false Aryan documentation and then fled communist Hungary in 1949 “on top of a train”.
Itamar, a retired chemistry professor and the eldest oleh of the group, was taken along with his entire family to Auschwitz, where his mother, three sisters and grandparents met their death.
Itamar and his father were eventually transferred to the Dachau concentration camp, and, after being liberated by American soldiers in 1945 and spending two years at a displaced persons camp in Munich, immigrated to the US in 1947.
“We’re retired; I am anyway. We can live in retirement in Israel just as easily as in the US,” he said.
Three of the couple’s children reside in the US, but Itamar said he hoped they would “also ultimately make aliyah”.
The family’s eldest daughter lives in the West Bank settlement of Yakir.
'I’ve always felt a really strong connection to Israel'
The couple said last year’s war against Hizbullah
and the looming Iranian nuclear threat only encouraged them to follow through on their decision to make the move.
“The more Jews that are living in Israel the better it is for the country,” Itamar said.
Seventy-one-year-old George Gluck and his wife Ellen (66) of Woodmere, New York, who survived the Holocaust as well, said the conflict in the North did not cause them to reconsider their aliyah plans.
“We feel safer in Israel,” Ellen said.
“God looks over the land,” George added. “In my case anyway, Hitler definitely lost”.
During the pre-flight ceremony, before the new olim said their goodbyes to friends and relatives and headed toward the El Al terminal, Nefesh B’Nefesh founder Rabbi Yehoshua Fass said, “We need to pause and reflect, and think that for centuries, how many hundreds of thousands - how many millions of individuals longed for and dreamt of this moment and were denied of this concept of aliyah, and that you, within 10-11 hours, will be making aliyah.
“This is an incredible zchut (privilege) and an incredible wonder,” he said.
Co-founder Tony Gelbart told the olim that there was a “fight” among Israeli politicians over who would be invited to greet them at Ben Gurion Airport, while former ambassador to the US and Nefesh B'Nefesh co-chairman Danny Ayalon added that “the pride and excitement that you feel now are nothing compared to what you’ll feel when you get there (Israel)”.
Among those aboard the flight to Israel were 26 members of Tzofim Garin Tzabar, a group of young Jews aged 18 -21 who decided to make aliyah and join the Israel Defense Forces. Prior to their enlistment into the army in November, the members will live and work for three months at Kibbutz Maoz Haim, located near Bet She'an.
According to Nefesh B’Nefesh, 15 people who immigrated to Israel with the organization’s help this summer have joined elite IDF units.
“I’m trying out for Tzanhanim (Paratroopers Brigade), but if it doesn’t work out I’ll probably go for Golani or Givati, or maybe Shiryon (Armored Corps),” 18-year-old Jonathan Asael Kukawka said. “But in any case I want to go to kravi (combat service).
“The conflict in the North only helped me reach my decision to join the IDF,” he said. “I’ve always felt a really strong connection to Israel, even though I’ve always lived here (US); it (the war against Hizbullah) moved me to fight for my country.
“I have many younger cousins in Israel, and I don’t think they should grow up with that fear of constantly being attacked; this is the most direct way that I can help protect my country,” Kukawka said.
Miriam and Itamar Pollak arrive in Israel (Photo: Sasson Tiram)
Another Garin Tzabar member, Lehi Kafra, 18, of Bismarck, Arkansas, said, “All I know is that I want to do something physical and meaningful in the army. I don’t want to be stuck behind a desk.
“My mom is worried and scared, but she’s just being a mother. My dad asked me, ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’ He made me doubt myself for a second, but when I made my final decision he told me ‘I wanted you to go (to Israel) all along’. He fully supports me and he’s very proud,” she said.
During a special conference call held at the El Al lounge prior to the flight, the Nefesh B’Nefesh co-chairman Ayalon told pro-Israel bloggers that the organization was unique in that “for the first time since the (beginning of) Zionism I believe, we are dealing with aliyah from places that are well-to-do.
“These are not olim who are fleeing insecurities; they are not looking for shelter or food,” he said. “They are coming to fulfill the dream.”
According to Ayalon, Nefesh B’Nefesh has brought about 11,000 new immigrants to Israel over the past five years, and over 99% of them have stayed in the country. The organization said some 2,200 more North American and British Jews are expected to immigrate to Israel over the course of the summer on seven specially chartered planes and eight group flights on El Al.
“Aliyah is not only the spiritual essence of Zionism, especially in these times, it is also the most important factor in securing the State of Israel’s existence and its future,” Ayalon later told Ynetnews.
Sam Furmansky, a 35-year-old physical therapist from Staten Island, NY, told the bloggers he had been seriously contemplating moving to Israel with his wife Shlomit (33) and their three children after spending a year in Israel after high school, but the death of his aunt, Sarah Blaustein, in a terror attack near the settlement of Efrat on May 2001, just eight months after she herself made aliyah, “truly solidified our decision to move as soon as we were able to”.
Shlomit said her children reacted differently upon hearing of the planned relocation to the Jewish state. “Our eldest, Avital, who is five-years-old, asked when she would see her friends (in America) again, and Ayelet (3), only wanted to know when she would be able to celebrate her birthday in Israel,” she said.
“We always spoke of making aliyah, but (after the terror attack) we understood that Israel is where we needed to be.”
For Dr Dan Lender, who landed a job as head of Hadassah Ein Kerem’s Hospital’s diabetes department, the decision to relocate to Israel came after attending a meeting in which an Israeli developer gave tips on how to purchase a home there.
Garin Tzabar members at Ben Gurion Airport (Photo: Sasson Tiram)
“Just to hear Hebrew again…and seeing the houses. I came home and told my wife Shoshana ‘I think it’s time to go (to Israel)’, and she was okay with it,” the 50-year-old father of four said.
“Since I was young each time I left Israel I was broken-hearted,” said Lender, who moved to the US from Peru in 1987.
“I remember when in 1972 – I wasn’t religious then – I was in Israel for two months with a group of about 20 students from Peru. One day we went to the Kotel (Western Wall) at midnight, which was a little bit crazy. We just sat on a chair for five hours in front of it; nobody said a word. There is something that connects you to the land.”
Lender said the family was planning to settle in Ramat Beit Shemesh. “We could easily have gone (to Israel) only 15 years from now after retiring comfortably in the US, but I think that as long as you have a little bit of energy left to give something back to Israel - you should,” he said.
Art therapist Arielle Lax (37) and husband Steve (39) of Wesley Hills, New York, said the idea to make aliyah first crossed their minds two years ago when they flew to Israel to attend the wedding of Arielle’ sister.
Soldiers welcome new oleh (Photo: Sasson Tiram)
“It was our first time (in Israel) in 20 years, and we were shocked at how nicer it was and how more pleasant the experience was,” said Steve, who worked as a department manager at a law firm. “We said to ourselves: We can make this happen. It’s now or never, so let’s give it a shot.”
As to the possibility that the couple’s three children – Gideon (12), Matthew (10) and Eliana (6) – would eventually have to enlist in the IDF, Steve said, “I think the army is fantastic. Even in the US they should implement a one-year civil duty service for all 18-year-olds or some sort of army service. I think it makes you appreciate your country more.”
Arielle, on the other hand, said, “It’s very hard…it’s hard to have to think of having to send your children to the army. However, one of my friends said to me, ‘You never know; after living in the country you may feel it’s an honor and a privilege to serve’.
“I also know my kids have medical conditions so hopefully that will keep them away from combat service,” she said.
Asked under what circumstances would his family give up the aliyah dream and return to the US, he said, “We’ll go back only if we can’t make it. We’re giving ourselves two to three years, and if things don’t work out financially (and in terms of) lifestyle, then we may go back. But that’s definitely not our goal; our goal is to make a living in Israel, raise our kids in Israel and watch our grandchildren grow up in Israel.”
Arielle echoed her husband’s thoughts, saying, “We would have to be in dire, dire financial straits (to leave Israel).”
'You are taking on a great responsibility'
Upon arriving at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport after a 10-hour flight, the new olim were greeted by hundreds of cheering friends and relatives holding welcome signs, waving Israeli flags and blowing the shofar. The olim and their guests then proceeded to pack the airport’s old main terminal, where an emotional ceremony was held in their honor.
Former prime minister and current Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu said, “When you go to the Western Wall in the Old City, and you touch those stones, the stones of our Temple – every sports stadium, every building and every national monument in the US and Canada has its values, but it is not ours. This is ours. This is where we came from, and this is where you came back to. This is your land; this is your home, in the deepest sense of the word.
“We are a unique people; we beat the odds and we’ve come back (to Israel); some of us on foot, (some) on camel (and some) on El Al flights - you’ve come home,” the Likud chairman told the olim.
“As for the children who are here – you’ll be speaking Hebrew with an accent different from your parents’ very soon, but remember that your parents made this decision and value them. As for the soldiers who are going to the army - you are taking on a great responsibility - to defend our land against those who have sought over the centuries, and still do, to (banish) us from this land - from Shilo, from Jerusalem, from every other part. They will not succeed for a simple reason: Because we are here and because you have joined us.”