The first of three buses shuttling the olim from the plane drew closer, circling again, seemingly teasing the crowd to shout harder and wave more strongly. Finally, the heroes stepped down from the bus greeted by hugs, kisses, tears, mazal tovs, and handshakes. Fatigued, but apparently sure they had done the right thing with their lives, the newcomers smiled, cried, kissed loved ones, and even tried capturing the moment’s emotions with camera photos of their own.
The 200 arrivals were a cross-section of age, dress, and religious observance. One couple came from Venezuela, a few from Canada. Some were Holocaust survivors; others were already preparing to serve in the Israel Defense Forces. The eldest was a woman of 93, the youngest a girl of three and a half months.
Anna Solomon, 24, born in Toronto and holding an MA degree in mathematical finance, felt she was living out her grandparents’ dream. “My parents wanted to come,” she said, “but couldn’t do so after the war.” Jeff and June Glazer were uncertain whether their three children in Teaneck, New Jersey, would follow their example.
Among the young, the pull of Israel was especially powerful. Atara Mark, 20, from Plainview, New York, aspired to teach English and was headed for Bar Ilan University. “It’s all my parents’ fault.” she joked. “My father wanted to jump on the plane with me.”
Simona Kogan, 25, who edited a website back in Metuchen, New Jersey, planned to settle in Rananna. “I feel very connected here. I could be Jewish in America, but my Jewishness is more fulfilled by being in Israel.”
Jeff Daube, 57, a schoolteacher from Riverdale, New York, was excited at the prospect of launching a new career as the Israel representative of the Zionist Organization of America.
The lesson of the new olim is that an intense love of Israel and a deep desire to fulfill the mitzvah of yishuv Eretz Yisrael will surpass the pull of family, friends, habit and culture. Like the Soviet Jews who risked the Gulag, the pilgrims to Tiberias who risked persecution and poverty, even the French in my community who were far from certain the beachhead they established on Hildesheimer Street would be a success, these Jews came here because they see Israel as their home – and a glorious place in which to live.
May they be inspired by the spirit that drew them to Israel to accomplish great things for Klal Yisrael.