While thousands of Jews from around the world made Aliyah this past summer, one group stood out with a particularly unique story. “Kvutzat Daniel,” a close-knit group of families from Australia and the UK, embarked on their journey to Israel together, coordinated by the group Aliyah organization Israela. Rabbi Ilan Goldman shared with Rabbi Aron White the innovative approach behind this initiative and Israela’s exciting plans for the future.
Thank you for speaking to us. What is Israela?
Israela was originally founded by Shalom Vach 32 years ago, with the vision to help olim integrate into Israeli communities. Originally from Belgium, Vach began the program to help French-speaking Jews make Aliyah. Since its inception, Israela has helped 10,000 Jews make Aliyah through its unique model. The core idea is to create a group before making Aliyah and to have an Israeli community that will welcome them, helping them integrate into Israeli society. In the past, I always told people to make Aliyah to an Anglo community, but this offers a new model. You go with Anglos, but to an Israeli community that will embrace you. It allows you to maintain your Anglo life while integrating into Israeli society, and it helps make the process a lot quicker. Most of these olim did not initially plan to live in an Israeli community, but this new model provides olim with a massive advantage.
How do you go about creating a group?
We work with people who have decided to make Aliyah or are considering it. We reach out through the Jewish Agency and Mizrachi, who work with families oriented toward Aliyah. We partner with the Jewish Agency, Nefesh b’Nefesh, and Mizrachi, who are dealing with people pre-Aliyah. We cater to families with school-aged kids at the moment (though we are considering including empty-nesters), mainly Modern Orthodox. On the Israel side, our Community Absorption Coordinator, Mali, works on finding communities, schools, rabbanim, and municipalities, narrowing it down as we get to know the group. She starts with 15 places, and the group then chooses which ones to visit. We have a checklist of criteria: the community needs to be interested, etc. We appoint someone to be the on-the-ground contact for the first 18 months to escort the families. We sign them up for schools before they’ve even moved and furnish the apartments, so the idea is they “dance off the plane” and find their apartment ready. Your Aliyah and your wedding are the two happiest days you experience in your life, so we try to make it like another wedding! The community comes to welcome them at the airport, and it’s very powerful.
Can you tell us about “Kvutzat Daniel,” the first group of Anglos to make Aliyah through Israela?
As I said before, Israela has operated for French-speaking Jewry for decades and has now been branching out. In 2022, we brought our first group of Spanish-speaking Jews from South America to Or Akiva, and we’ve since brought two more. To create this English-speaking group, we reached out to potential olim through Mizrachi and the Jewish Agency, gathered a group of interested people, and started having Zoom meetings. The group discussed what was important to them and got to know each other. They also named themselves “Kvutzat Daniel” in memory of Daniel Perez. The group came in May because of the war – usually, the date for the pilot trip is much earlier. Some members are making Aliyah in July, some in August.
How was the pilot trip?
They had already met many times on Zoom and had a WhatsApp group, but this was their first time meeting in person. They started out as almost strangers, but by the end of 6–7 days, they felt like family. This is truly a mission – building your future life together. They became so close, it was as if they had spent a year together.
We want the group to be strong and to come to a strong community. We visited Petach Tikvah, Carmei Gat, and also did group-building activities like going to Chevron. Each place has its own character. Carmei Gat is newer and more affordable, while Petach Tikvah has a strong community but is more established. Each place has its advantages.
In the end, the group of 15 families split into two: 10 are going to Carmei Gat to join the Yachad Israeli community, and 4 families are going to Rav Eyal Vered’s community in Petach Tikvah. Both groups are being absorbed into Israeli communities.
The first group arrived this summer. What are your plans for the coming year?
Though we’re just beginning to see the wonderful impact of Israela’s first English-speaking group Aliyah, we are already eager to see this model grow and support many more families. For next summer, we intend to have three separate groups making Aliyah to three separate communities in Israel, alongside two groups from Latin America and our groups from France.