Some 5,000 new immigrants from the US and Canada are scheduled to make aliyah by the end of 2021, according to new data published by the Nefesh B'Nefesh organization in conjunction with the Aliyah and Integration Ministry, the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael and JNF-USA.
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Nefesh B'Nefesh has reported a spike in the number of aliyah requests and files opened during the COVID pandemic. In 2020, the organization received 14,022 requests to make aliyah, compared to 4,582 in 2019.
Since January 2021, 1,171 olim from North American have already arrived in Israel, a 95% increase over the same time period in 2020 and 22% more than in 2019, the organization reported.
In 2020, a total of 3,168 immigrants from North America arrived in Israel through Nefesh B'Nefesh.
This year's aliyah wave is expected to crest in August, when over 1,000 North American olim are slated to arrive.
One of the new immigrants is Max Goldman, 19, from Maryland, who is making aliyah to serve in the IDF as a lone soldier.
"After I finished my pre-army preparatory academy at Kol Ami I started to feel how much Israel really is our country, and that I need to defend it. Israel is the main place that defends Jews all over the world, and being part of that and contribution to the country is something special," Goldman said.
"With that feeling and my connection to friends from Israel, the Israeli 'chutzpah' and the way people live their daily lives, I knew that this would be my new home. I'm officially making aliyah, and I'm so excited to be returning home and living in the Land of Israel," Goldman added.
Rabbi Yehoshua Fass, co-founder and executive director of Nefesh B'Nefesh, said, "After a year of challenges in which Israel proved its strength and determination, this year we are seeing the fulfillment of the enormous growth of requests to make aliyah last year. Many olim are going to fulfill their dream of setting down roots in Israel, with the peak this summer, when there will be an 'air train' of dozens of groups of new immigrants from North American who will be landing at the gates of Israel."
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