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Bright Future for Aliyah Planners
13:21
Sep 12, '05 / 8 Elul 5765
By Hillel
Fendel
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Rabbi Yehoshua Fass, co-founder of
Nefesh B'Nefesh, says this summer's six flights full of new
immigrants are only the teaser to next year's ten
flights. "We've only just begun," he
said.
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This past Wednesday, the sixth summer
flight organized by Nefesh
b'Nefesh (NBN), with help from the Jewish Agency, touched
down in Ben Gurion International Airport. Carrying 200 Jewish
immigrants from North America, it brought the total number of
summer immigrants (olim) from that continent to over 1,800.
Rabbi Fass spoke with IsraelNationalRadio's Yishai
Fleisher the next day, in an inspiring conversation that can
be heard here. Paraphrased excerpts
follow:
Fleisher: "Many people see these planes
landing, and start thinking to themselves, 'Hey, me too, maybe
I should do something like this myself.' Tell me: Why should
people get on a Nefesh B'Nefesh flight and come to
Israel?"
Rabbi Fass: "For multiple reasons. For
Israel's sake - Israel's life source is Aliyah [Jewish
immigration to Israel], and this is the greatest gift one can
give to Israel, planting yourself here in this country... and
for yourself as well. It's not only the fulfillment of our
national dream, but also a distinct honor to be able to
receive this gift from G-d after 2,000 years of yearning and
dreaming about it. To be able to embrace this is a remarkable
gift."
YF: "I told my wife this morning that NBN is
like an iceberg, because what you see on top is very little.
We see only the planes landing, but really what you do is so
much more; NBN works to make people's Aliyah successful. One
of the people who came on the plane yesterday said that it was
like a portable office, with every kind of governmental
ministry there, signing people up for things..."
RF:
"... Our approach is that success breeds success; you don't
just bring new immigrants here and drop them off. We help them
thrive and succeed, and then they'll bring their family and
friends. We've had too many horror stories in the past of
failed Aliyah that trickle back home and turn people off; if
you have an organization of people dedicated to having people
succeed in their Aliyah, then it's a great service not only to
them themselves, but also to Israel.
"We have a very
heavy staff here in Israel, and very few in U.S. They help
olim in finding jobs, rewriting resumes, and helping negotiate
employment contracts, and we have social workers to find buddy
families, and help identify small issues before they blow up
into big problems. And we have people helping with educational
problems, bureaucratic issues, liaisons with government
offices to help them navigate the offices, etc... We just had
a meeting this morning with the Student Authority to see how
to make it easier for students, and we have advocacy in the
Knesset to allow medical re-licensing tests are in English,
and so on...
"It's not just bringing in more bodies,
but rather giving a sense of family and a shoulder to cry on
and someone who can give then answers..."
YF. "Has
there been a change in perception of Israel, and the idea of
Aliyah, in North America, as a result of your work and the
increasing Aliyah?"
RF: "100% yes, and across the
gamut. It used to be that if you brought up the idea of
Aliyah, people thought it was a cause, a phenomenon of Jews
running from duress or persecution; they didn't think of it as
something that individuals would choose. But now they see it
as something positive. It puts Israel in a very strong light -
of people and professionals who are thriving here, and who are
choosing to build their future here. It also puts Israel in a
different light for our enemies as well, who are trying to
defeat us and lower our morale - and then they see planeload
after planeload coming to Israel, with so many people saying
this is where they choose to live...
"People with
friends and relatives and neighbors who pick up and make this
their optimal choice - it makes a real difference, and we see
this change in different congregations across the gamut, and
in newspapers as well - the way that Israel is covered now,
after all the Aliyah, is very different than the way it
was."
Rabbi Fass said that NBN has just unveiled a new
marketing strategy for Aliyah: "Until now, we've just been
passive facilitators, but now we are about to start an active
marketing campaign for Aliyah in the US and Canada..." He
explained that this is possible, in part, "because of the
great staff of people we have working for us. Everyone who
works for us is just in love with what he's doing. Even with
all the stress, they all wake up every morning knowing they
love it... It's very fulfilling for them, and there's a
passion to work, to help make this impact. It's a labor of
love and a labor of idealism, which comes with knowing that
we're in a very blessed point in history, a confluence of many
factors that allow us to really affect history."
YF.
"Not every rabbi is as passionate about Aliyah as you are.
What's the source of it? Where did it come from - rabbis,
parents, somewhere within yourself...?
RF. "It's many
factors. It's a factor of reading the Bible and not wanting to
repeat history, and knowing that G-d might be calling our
bluff historically and weighing our response to this gift of
the Land of Israel that He gave us. It's a factor of really
reading our prayers and feeling what we're saying. ... I just
brought my last remaining sibling here to Israel, so now we
all live here; this is the values on which we were raised in
our family..."
Rabbi Fass noted at length how modern
technology has made it much easier for olim to be in touch
with their family and friends, as well as to find jobs both
here and abroad.
Regarding future NBN plans, Rabbi Fass
ostensibly startled many listeners by saying that he expects
no fewer than ten planeloads of olim next year:
"We are in
the midst of negotiations with El Al for ten planes next year.
We're confident about this. We see already in the pipeline a
volume of olim, individuals who are interested in coming, and
we see that we were able to pull off six flights within seven
weeks, and we see how our staff works; its processing work was
remarkable, we have it down pat. Everything is in place, so we
can do it week after week for ten weeks straight."
YF.
"You're not concerned about the rate slowing down, that you're
tapping the potential market too fast?"
RF. "Not at
all; we're not tapping out anything, we’ve just begun to
start... Every year is going to give you your next level of
olim, based on their age and time of their lives, so you
always have that potential. Then you have success breeding
success, people who are touched and influenced by family
members. By the end of this year, we expect to have brought
close to 7,000 olim - and these people touch close to 50,000
others, including relatives and friends. And then you do a
marketing campaign, and thus create even more low-hanging
fruit, and even more long-time inspiration and education...
"So I'm not concerned about running out of olim; what
I'm concerned about is to make sure that we continue to give
them the NBN soul-to-soul treatment, the personal treatment
that they need. I also want to make sure that we don't have to
grow too large, every year adding more staff until we have 500
employees. We want to think smart, how we give the immigrants
this intimate connection and service, but without growing too
big. We just created the concept of 'regional reps' all over
Israel, who will have seminars at their homes and the like,
and they can notice problems or red flags in advance and
notify our headquarters to give them professional
treatment."
YF. "Rabbi Fass, is Aliyah a form of
teshuvah (repentance, return)? Is there a connection between
these, in this month of Elul?"
RF. "Teshuvah is usually
associated with sin and guilt. But in its literal sense, it
means return - so let's discuss it in its more uplifting
sense. It is a return to purity, clarity of direction, search
for meaning - and this is Aliyah. Fulfilling one's purpose. A
person asks himself, 'Where do I see myself fulfilling my
purpose? Where can I create a future, playing a pivotal role
in history and being connected to my nation and my homeland?'
This always results in the answer: Israel - but for some it's
contributing money, for some it's marching in a parade, for
others it's visiting Israel frequently - but for others, it
means investing their future, and picking up and actually
moving here for life."
YF. "Amen. That is definitely a
positive outlook on teshuvah. So Rabbi Fass, thank you very
much, and may you and the entire organization be blessed and
inscribed for a happy and successful year, for all of
Israel."
RF. "Thank you, and thank you so much for
everything - for coming out to the airport with such energy
and such warmth every time; every oleh loves to see your face
at the bottom of the stairs. And for me, I love it because I
always get my hug after a flight... and for future coverage as
well, because hopefully together we will see tremendous things
happening, please G-d."
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Published: 11:21 September 12,
2005
Last Update: 13:21 September 12, 2005 |
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