THESE YOUNG NEW ISRAELIS will remember July 6, 2010, for the rest of their lives. It is the day they flew home to Israel. Here, they debark their El Al jet at Ben-Gurion Airport. SASSON TIRAM PHOTO

The path to aliyah used to be fraught with red tape and other obstacles that made it difficult for Americans to move to and succeed in Israel. But for Oregonian Eilon Hoter and the 5,000 North Americans expected to make aliyah this year, that path has been smoothed by Nefesh B’Nefesh.

Hoter, 18 of Lake Oswego, is one of about 280 olim who flew from New York to Tel Aviv July 6 on NBN’s first charter flight of the summer. He plans to spend July with relatives and then join a group of young people from the Pacific Northwest who will live on a kibbutz for three months before entering the Israel Defense Forces in the fall.

“My parents raised us to be Zionists and go to synagogue (Ahavath Achim) on a regular basis,” said Hoter. “They raised us to know that Israel doesn’t have the same luxuries as larger nations and part of that is that citizens have to do their part to keep their nation. I feel I owe it to myself and my nation to go and do my part (in the IDF).”

With Israeli parents and the knowledge he planned to make aliyah and join the IDF, Hoter’s aliyah path was likely easier than most, but he said he was very appreciative of NBN’s help with the red tape.

“It’s a bureaucracy and it would be a nightmare to do it alone,” said Hoter. “Nefesh B’Nefesh is a private organization that works with Israel’s immigration office and they do a good job of unraveling the red tape. I’m very grateful for the assistance they have offered me.”

Created in 2002, Nefesh B’Nefesh is dedicated to removing or minimizing the financial, professional, logistical and social obstacles of aliyah. In 2008, the Israeli government made the NBN application the official immigration application for all olim from North America. The NBN application allows potential olim to apply simultaneously for NBN assistance and Jewish Agency for Israel aliyah approval based on Israel’s Law of Return.

“Ten years ago, the issue of North American aliyah was peripheral—it wasn’t really talked about,” said NBN spokesperson Charley Levine, who has been involved with the private organization nearly since its inception. “Now it is much more mainstream. Aliyah appears on convention agendas and it’s on general and Jewish media.”

Before the creation of Nefesh B’Nefesh, Levine said only about 1,200 Jews a year made aliyah from North America. NBN projects 5,000 North Americans will make aliyah this year, which means NBN will have brought more than 30,000 olim to Israel since 2002. And most of those who arrive with Nefesh B’Nefesh stay.

“Thirty years ago when I made aliyah with my wife, over 50 percent of the Americans on our absorption center went back (to America) within a year,” Levine said. “The truth is, Nefesh has a tremendous achievement—99 percent of our newcomers are still in Israel. By definition, if they are staying, they are succeeding.”

Levine said that NBN has three areas it is emphasizing this year: Olim to settle in Northern Israel, physicians and other health care professionals, and young people who come without their families and enter the IDF.

Hoter is one of some 450 young North Americans who NBN expects to move to Israel and join the IDF this year. Hoter, and many of the other future soldiers have been further aided in their preparations by Garem Tzabar, a program of the Israeli Scouts created to provide support for lone soldiers, those without immediate family in Isreal.

Since December, Hoter has spent one weekend a month with a group of 25 young people in this region who will move to a kibbutz in August before joining the IDF in October or November. Hoter’s group includes 13 men and 12 women, most of whom are from San Francisco, with two from Canada and one from Seattle.

“If Nefesh B’Nefesh gets people through the aliyah process, Garim Tzabar does similar things for people going to the army without immediate family in Israel,” said Hoter. “They put us with people from our region on a kibbutz so we have someplace to go when we’re not on base.”

“We had five weekends together in San Francisco to get to know each other and to prepare people for what they will see,” he said. “We did teambuilding so you have a group of people you can trust when you are in Israel.”

“I’m surprised more people from Portland haven’t done it,” he said, noting his older brother Tomer, who will finish his service in the IDF in August, found out about Garim Tzabar when he made aliyah three years ago.

Hoter encouraged young people considering the IDF to talk to Nir Wittenberg, Pacific Northwest Regional Director for the Israeli Scouts and Aliyah for the Jewish Agency For Israel. Wittenberg can be reached at [email protected] or 415-369-2865.

“The Jewish Agency is the formal organization of the Israeli government that deals with aliyah,” said Wittenberg. “JAFI did outsourcing to Nefesh B’Nefesh, a private organization that deals with flights, applications, etc. … Everyone who wants to make aliyah must see a shaliach, that’s me, and the process must be through JAFI and NBN.”

Garim Tzabar offers three stages of support for young people between the ages of 17 (18 by time of aliyah) and 23 who move to Israel with the intent of joining the IDF. During the preparation stage, groups meet for fie weekend seminars; in the absorption stage, they live together on a kibbutz for three months; during their military service, when they need someplace to go they return to the kibbutz.

“The kibbutz is their new home,” said Wittenberg, noting they work with many different kibbutz. “They have their own room and their own place.”

Wittenberg said people interested in the program must contact him; he does no recruiting.

For Hoter, the decision to join the IDF was easy. Both his parents, Adi and Bat Sheva Hoter, served in the IDF, with his father rising to the rank of major. Hoter was born in Israel and moved to the United States with his family at age 3. The family has lived in the Portland area since 1996. His older sister Shaked is in law school in Boston. His brother Tomer plans to attend university in Israel following his discharge from the IDF in August. His younger brother Zohar starts eighth grade in Lake Oswego in the fall.

“Joining the IDF has always been something I had planned on doing,” said Hoter.

Hoter said he hopes to become an officer and see where his military career takes him. But he said his brother Tomer has provided some invaluable advice and insight.

“You can come in with hopes and plans, but he army has an end goal to direct every resource,” Hoter said his brother told him. “If your goals don’t line up with the military, you have to understand and you have to man up and deal with it and do what is best for the nation.”

Though he is not due on the kibbutz with his group until Aug. 5, Hoter said he decided to make aliyah on the July 6 flight to hone up on his Hebrew writing and grammar and to acclimate his body to exercising in Israel’s climate.

He said he intends to try out for the IDF special forces in September.

Hoter played football at Lake Oswego High School throughout his high school career and wrestled his junior year. He is also a second degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do.

For more information on aliyah, visit the Nefesh B’Nefesh website at www.nbn.org.il.