Open Search form

Aliyah

Apply for a Blog

Sep 30, 2026, 7:36 AM

Israel Votes, Part II: After October 7, What Are Israelis Actually Voting For?

I asked Israelis in Israel and Israelis abroad — soldiers, immigrants, first-time voters and people who have been voting for decades. They did not give me one answer. That may be the answer. In Part I of this series, I...

Sep 27, 2026, 2:14 PM

“I always wanted a real home with flowers on the windowsill.” — Carol King, popular song from the 1970s Within hours of first breathing the cattle car’s nauseating air, we began to feel at home. “Home” was the edge of...

Tzeela Lifshitz

Sep 26, 2026, 10:13 PM

From New Jersey to Northern Israel

Author standing facing mountains at sunset

Ping, I look down at my phone and see yet another notification from the official Kiryat Shmona update WhatsApp group. “In the coming hours the IDF is expected to carry out a wave of strikes… routine continues, and there...

Sep 25, 2026, 11:48 PM

Shamati L’Libi: I Listened To My Heart

Grave of author's great-grandfather in Machpelah cemetary.

Photo by Zarachti Nur, July 2026.

Shamati L'Libi The air is thin up here It's too far to see Israel No matter how clear Still my heart knows East is the way home That my dreams show Staying put is dismal Only one place to be Endless stories to tell I've held back too long Now...

Patricia Levinson

Sep 24, 2026, 11:41 PM

Remembering Five Weeks of Hatred in 2001 That Changed Our World

Photo courtesy of the author.

On Rosh Hashanah, we are asked to remember. As I sat in synagogue the day after the 25th anniversary of 9/11, I realized I have vivid memories that tell the story of the hatred toward both Israel and America...

Sep 24, 2026, 10:18 PM

Do You Need Hebrew to Make Aliyah? The Honest Answer

No. You don't need a single word of it. There is no language requirement for aliyah. No test, no proficiency level, nobody checking whether you can handle a verb conjugation. If you qualify under the Law of Return, you can...

Sep 23, 2026, 2:36 PM

Ethiopian Jewish wisdom: A sukkah creates community

Ethiopian Jews paying inside a sukkah. (via Facebook)

Bete Israel's spiritual tradition focuses not on the sukkah's details or those of the 4 species, but on a sense of belonging and being guests in God's world

Sep 23, 2026, 10:59 AM

Up from Punxsutawney

Wikimedia Commons

In 1934, when he was 17, my Dad alav hashalom got his first Yomim Noro'im job (Ashkenozis intended) in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, northeast of Pittsburgh. If Punxsutawney sounds not just silly but familiar, that is because Punxsutawney Phil, the famous groundhog,...

Sep 22, 2026, 7:21 PM

‘Know Before Whom You Stand’: How Hebrew Creates Belonging

How Serious Hebrew Education Creates Readiness, Recognition, and Belonging Jewish tradition teaches, דַּע לִפְנֵי מִי אַתָּה עוֹמֵד, know before whom you stand (Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 28b). The words ask us to recognize the presence before us and the responsibility that...

Menachem Elyah Paull

Sep 21, 2026, 8:01 PM

My Baby Girl and Her Baby Girl

Rosh Hashanah is here, my granddaughter turns three this week, and I am sitting here crying as I write this. B’ezrat Hashem, next year I may be spending the High Holidays in Israel. I should be thinking about that...

Load more