More Americans move to israel
"I fell in love. I just feel at home, here [in israel]," Klein said. "It is something about the area, something about the spirituality of the place. It's in the air."
Good, then you won't mind if we pass a law that says you can't come back.
An increasing number of American Jews are finding the attraction of Israel irresistible, a draw to a country in which their religion is practiced by the majority of residents and where Jewish values are shared in schools, the workplace and government.Many observant Jews believe that the land of Israel was promised to them by God and that living outside of their homeland is essentially living in exile.
Um, I though most israelis were atheists.
Someone's not telling the truth.
But for many, it's not so much a religious calling as a feeling of spiritual well-being there that has drawn them back.As the worldwide migration of Jews to Israel declines - mostly because of the diminishing number of Russian and Eastern Europeans moving after the breakup of the Soviet Union - the number of Americans is at is highest level since 1983. The 50 percent increase in the migration of American Jews since 2003 compares with a worldwide rate of emigration that is at its lowest level since 1988.
The number of Americans moving to Israel is relatively small, about 3,200 in 2006, but it is now nearly 15 percent of the annual total.
"It's a big increase, but it's still small numbers," said Andy David, the deputy consul general of Israel to the Midwest. "I don't know if we should look at this as a phenomenon or something that happened in 2006 because some people's situation came to fruition all at the same time.
"But 80 percent of the Jews in the world live in two places - the United States and Israel," David said. "And, of course, that means the United States has the greatest potential of aliyah."
Groups like the Jewish Agency for Israel encourage American emigration and the Israeli government is working to ease the process. And the economy generated jobs in 2006.
For Yona Klein, the decision was part of a gradual infatuation. In 2002, he began studying at Yeshivat Ner Yaakov, a school in Jerusalem where, he says, "young men go to work with the torah and to get themselves in a little bit more control over their lives."
Living in Israel was so attractive, he said, that he returned annually before moving permanently last year. His wife, Leah, spent her early childhood in Israel.
"In the past, Jewish scholars have expressed a love of the area," said Klein, whose new hometown of Ramat Beit Shemesh is about 30 minutes from Jerusalem and known for attracting English-speaking immigrants. "People throughout our history have spent months and months to travel here, just to stay for a short period of time.
"For me, every other consideration falls by the wayside," he said. "I did not care much for the politics of the region. Nothing else is as important as the feeling of just being here, in Israel."
Louis and Yonat Roskind are planning to move this year. The timing is right for their young children to get started early in Israeli schools, where education is more decentralized.
The Kleins and the Roskinds are considered conservative or Orthodox Jews in the United States. Their religious sensibility encourages aliyah, but it is not the only motivation.
"The mentality is very different" in Israel, Louis Roskind said. "They seem much less caught up in commercialism, and there is a very strong religious vibe there. You will find pockets of that here, but nothing like it is there."
Like much involving Israel, aliyah, raises international concerns, amid the conflict between Israel, the Palestinians and neighboring Arab states.
Some Israelis perceive increasing immigration as important to preserving the Jewish majority. Nefesh B'Nefesh, an organization with offices in North America and Israel, seeks to encourage the emigration of Americans.
The campaign is anathema to many people of Arab descent, particularly Palestinians. "Of course it just emphasizes how free they are to move about, while Palestinians continue to suffer, continue to live restricted lives, let alone being unable to return to their land," said Imad Hamad, Michigan director of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.
That's the trouble with not being one of 'the chosen' in 'the promised land' - you get the short end of the state, in this case, NO STATE AT ALL.
Too bad (for us goyim) chosen-ness can be acquired only by birth.
... occupied Palesine, all the Palestinians who aren't allowed to go back to the homes they still hold keys to will be chronically pissed off. And who can blame them? This sappy article is all about how happy and spiritual these Aliyah-performing Jews feel about moving onto land conquered with terror and murder. What sick spirituality is that?
A. the SUPREMACIST kind
"Too bad (for us goyim) chosen-ness can be acquired only by birth."
If you're willing to sincerely accept Jewish law and tradition you can be converted to Judaism by a religious court. I'm told conversion is rather difficult, though, so I don't recommend it unless you're quite serious.
Regarding "stripping American's who move to Israel of their American citizenship" - you'll find that's not so easy either. Americans abroad are liable for U.S. income taxes, and Uncle Sam likes it this way. He doesn't let go so easily. Even if for some legal or radical political reason an American wanted to renounce his or her citizenship, Uncle Sam may not let you!
And if you're worried about dual citizenship, consider taking on Mexican-Americans first - there's a whole lot more of them.