Israel, with its strong education system, booming economy and relatively highfunctioning welfare network, is a good place to live. Should aliyah be a national priority for a successful country entering its seventh decade?

A recent immigrant charter to Israel departed New York's Kennedy Airport carrying 210 Jews, including four children (and four dogs and two cats), intent on building new lives in Israel. The flight was organized by Nefesh B'Nefesh, a private organization that has all but taken over Israel's North American aliyah operation and boasts an 80 percent increase in immigration to Israel since it began in 2000.

The path to aliyah in Israel's 60th year bears litde resemblance to the difficult road that faced new arrivals in the early days. For most immigrants from North America and Westem Europe, the move is orderly and well planned. While relocation is never an easy step for families, it is now less daunting thanks to a well-organized public-private system supporting these "o/m of choice." But just how important is this operation for the Jewish state?

Not counting pets, over 3,000 olini (Hebrew for "immigrants") came to Israel from the United States and Canada in 2007. This is by all counts an impressive figure and represents a steady increase, positioning North America as the only growing source of newcomers to Israel. For Israel at 60, this is more than mere statistics; it is also a sign of Zionism's triumph. After all, aliyah from North America and Western Europe was never viewed in the same way as immigration from Eastern Europe or the Arab countries. A distinction always existed between immigrants fleeing from countries of hardship and anti-Semitism, and olim who could easily have stayed in their homelands but instead chose to fulfill the Zionist dream.

To attract more of these weli-ofif diaspo¬

ra Jews, in recent years the Israeli govemment has offered a program of tax breaks and other incentives. Private aliyah-promoting organizations have built on this with the new model of solicitation that helps take care of schools, job placement, housing and piles of bureaucratic paperwork before the newcomers even leave their countries of origin, allowing them to ease more smoothly into their new lives.

These groups' prominent role in promoting aliyah may signal an even bigger change to come. The Jewish Agency for Israel—historically responsible for convincing Jews from all walks of life to immigrate and easing their entry—is debating giving up that role altogether by closing its immigration and absorption arm. Seen against early dreams of the ingathering, that might seem a reversal. But maybe it's a good thing. After all, should the state of Israel be spending millions to convince American Jews to make a decision that many would reach on their own?

Since statehood was declared Israeli society has consisted of layers of immigrant waves: Holocaust survivors, Jews fleeing persecution in Arab and Muslim countries, two major waves of Ethiopian aliyah and, later, a flood from the former Soviet Union after the Eastem bloc's coUapse have helped to form its citizenry. But, 60 years on, these pools are nearly dry. Those arriving in future decades—assuming no major catastrophe occurs—will be mainly olim of choice, and that is where the govemment is now focusing its efforts.

As the character of immigration changes, it's appropriate to question the need to preserve a massive operation for encouraging

aliyah. Press interviews with olim from North America yield an interesting profile— albeit sketchy and non-scientific—of the new immigrants of choice. Some are welloff professionals who, thanks to modern technology and telecommuting, can work fi-om new homes in Ra'anana as if they were still in their offices in New Jersey. Others choose Israel for the unique opportunity it offers to raise families in an environment where Jewish lifestyle and education predominate. There are retirees who choose to spend their twilight years in sunny Israel, close to family members who have already made aliyah and near the top-notch services Israel offers its seniors—even those who have just arrived—in the form of public health care and welfare benefits.

A common thread connects these new olim—they are all Zionists; they all want to contribute to the State of Israel and see it fiourish, but they also all see a personal benefit in making aliyah. Israel, with its strong education system, booming economy and relatively high-funcdoning welfare net, is a good place to live. If terrorist acts

remain under control and personal security is maintained at the current level, there is no reason to believe the country will cease to be a magnet for western Jews in years to come.

Helping Jews from western countries with the process of relocation to Israel is a worthy cause. It reminds diaspora Jews of its role as welcoming homeland and sends an important message that the state will do its utmost to help those choosing to tie their destiny with it. It is also an important symbolic nod to the fathers of Zionism who made aliyah a foundation of their beliefs.

But should it be a national priority for a successful country entering its seventh decade of independence? This question deserves an ideology-free debate. The outcome might be surprisingly refreshing: Pohcy makers in Jerusalem and overseas may well discover that intelligent Jews— on their own—can reach the conclusion that Israel is tmly a great place to live. Nathan Guttman is a reporter for The Forward.