Calling for Aliyah, Remaining a Family

This past July, I had the privilege of leading a conference in Jerusalem devoted to one of the most important questions facing the Jewish people: how do we hold together the vision of Aliyah and the responsibility we bear toward millions of Jews living outside Israel?

Over the course of the day, ministers, rabbis, educators, heads of yeshivot and midrashot, shlichim, and representatives of organizations from Israel and the Diaspora gathered to discuss this question. Despite the diversity of views in the room, one thread ran through almost every conversation. As the Executive Chairman of World Mizrachi, Rabbi Doron Perez, put it: “We may be a small nation, but we are the largest family in the world.” It was a single sentence that reminded everyone present that a family is not measured by whether all its members live under the same roof, but by whether they continue to feel responsibility for one another even when separated by continents.

Photo: Danny Golan

One particularly moving moment came when Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu opened his remarks by apologizing for not speaking English. It was clear how much it pained him to be unable to address world Jewry directly. Beyond the personal gesture, there was an important message: if we want to strengthen the bond between us, we need to learn to speak to one another – not only in the same language, but with genuine listening, mutual familiarity, and respect.

One of the central discussions of the day took place between the Minister of Aliyah and Absorption, Ofir Sofer, and the Minister of Diaspora Affairs and the Fight Against Antisemitism, Amichai Chikli. On the surface, each is charged with a different mission – one focused on bringing Jews to Israel, the other on strengthening Jewish life in the Diaspora. Yet their conversation demonstrated that there is no contradiction here. Minister Sofer captured it in a single sentence that stayed with me: “Where there are strong Jewish communities, there is Aliyah. Where there are no strong communities, there is no Aliyah.” Minister Chikli completed the picture by emphasizing that in a period of rising antisemitism, investment in Jewish education, schools, and communities is a national interest of the State of Israel. The message was clear: strengthening Jewish communities is not an alternative to Aliyah – it is one of the conditions that makes Aliyah possible.

Photo: Danny Golan

Another panel addressed the question of shlichut. Israeli educators raised a genuine dilemma: is it right to send our best teachers to Jewish communities around the world, at a time when Israel’s own education system is suffering from a serious shortage of excellent teachers? The discussion laid bare the tension between Israel’s domestic needs and its broader responsibility for the future of the Jewish people. Alongside the challenge, there was wide agreement that high-quality shlichut is a strategic investment in the future of the entire Jewish people.

Considerable interest was also generated by the conversation between journalists Chagai Segal and Amit Segal, father and son. Beyond their debate about Aliyah itself, a deeper question emerged: does Israel’s responsibility toward Diaspora Jews end with the call to come home, or is it also obligated to strengthen Jewish life for as long as Jews choose to live outside Israel? There is no simple answer, but the very fact that the question was asked illustrated how clearly the relationship between Israel and the Diaspora cannot rest on ideology alone. It must be built on a genuine sense of partnership and shared responsibility.

That is also the thought I carried with me as I left the conference. I believe with all my heart in Aliyah and in the vision of kibbutz galuyot, the ingathering of the exiles. But precisely because of that belief, I am convinced that as long as millions of Jews live in the Diaspora, they remain our family and our responsibility. We do not need to choose between encouraging Aliyah and strengthening Jewish communities around the world. On the contrary, a strong Jewish community, connected to Israel and to its own identity, is the very soil from which Aliyah grows. 

The challenge of our generation is to continue calling every Jew to come home, while in the same breath remaining one people, committed to one another wherever we live.

Roi Abecassis is Head of the Department of Zionist Jewish Identity at the World Zionist Organization and Deputy Chairman of KKL-JNF, representing the World Mizrachi movement in the National Institutions.