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Migration with a Religious Motivation

Many religious people go on pilgrimage, but for some, visiting their sacred land is not enough. Certain individuals wish to migrate more permanently. For Jewish people, this is known as Aliyah, which means 'to go up', and refers to diaspora Jews immigrating and returning to their homeland, Israel. Aliyah is something many Jewish people do, with over 46.7% of world Jewry now residing in Israel. It is a very unique and reliable type of migration, which is enabled by Israel's law of return policy.

Vertovec writes about diaspora groups as transnational communities and identifies a triadic relationship between "globally dispersed yet collectively self-identified ethnic groups", "the territorial states and contexts where such groups reside", and "the homeland states... whence they or their forebears came." (Vertovec 1999:449) Jewish people fit into this diaspora category, because Judaism is an ethnoreligion. This means "being a member of a group with both religious and ethnic concerns." (Winter 1992:350) This is why the link to the land of Israel has remained extremely strong, even before the establishment of a Jewish State.

Overlooking the biblical Judean Hills (Source: Author's own)

The Jewish people originated from Judea, as referred to heavily in the Torah. However, during the Jewish-Roman wars of 66-136 CE, most Jews were expelled from the land. (Aberbach 2000:349) Today, Israel is prominent in the Jewish religion. We pray facing East, towards The Western Wall, and on Passover we say; לשנה הבאה בירושלים, meaning 'next year in Jerusalem.' Thus, many Jews make Aliyah with religious motivations. My cousin plans to make Aliyah in the near future. She told me; 

"I want to move to Israel to be in my religious homeland, and to live a more outdoors lifestyle."


While there are religious motivations, there are also non-religious reasons. It is important to note that many Jews do not feel a connection to Israel and do not plan to make Aliyah. A number of non-religious Jews do choose to make Aliyah though, and their reasons are vast and personal. For many people, the option of living in a country where you are not unsafe due to being Jewish is appealing. In New York, the state with the largest Jewish population, on March 31st, an Orthodox Jewish couple and their baby were slashed by a man with a knife. These occurrences are happening more frequently, causing diaspora communities to feel increasingly unsafe. 
Getting Real About Aliyah: Olim Kids Ask Questions (Source: Nefesh B'Nefesh)

In some cases though, Aliyah is not a choice. In very recent news, the last remaining Jews are being expelled from Yemen, due to increasing hostility. From 1949 to 1950, Operation Magic Carpet brought 48,818 Jews to Israel, following attacks on the Jewish community.
Yemenite family walking through the desert during Operation Magic Carpet (Source: National Photo Collection of Israel)

A small number of Jews remained in Yemen after the Operation but in March 2021, the last three Jewish families were deported by Houthi Rebels. Following Israel's recent peace negotiations with the United Arab Emirates, some of the families are planning to immigrate there, while some plan to make Aliyah. Having this right of return allows diaspora Jews to have a homeland to come back to when they are persecuted elsewhere. Operation Magic Carpet is an example of forced migration as a means of escaping persecution which is something that has happened to many other Jewish communities around the world. However, before the creation of a Jewish homeland, persecution mostly led to death.

In the context of migration, Aliyah is a much more complex concept than simply being religiously motivated or a lifestyle choice. Aliyah is a sacred type of migration (Anderson 2016:404) that means something different to every single Jew, and has saved many Jewish lives from persecution and expulsion.


Bibliography:

    Abdul-Qassem, M. (2016). Yemen loses the last of its Jews to Israel | The Arab Weekly. [online] Available at: https://thearabweekly.com/yemen-loses-last-its-jews-israel
    Aberbach, D. (2000) “The Roman-Jewish Wars and Hebrew Cultural Nationalism,” Nations and Nationalism, 6, pp. 347–362.
    Anderson, C. (2016) ‘Religiously Motivated Migration.’ The Sociological Quarterly, 57:3, 387-414, DOI: 10.1111/tsq.12139 
    BBC News (2020). Israel and UAE strike historic deal to normalise relations. [online] BBC News. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-53770859
    Cohen, Y. (2009) ‘Migration Patterns to and from Israel.’ Contemporary Jewry, 29(2), 115-125.
    Deutsche Welle (2019) Yemen’s Houthi rebels: Who are they and what do they want? | DW | 01.10.2019. [online] DW.COM. Available at: https://www.dw.com/en/yemens-houthi-rebels-who-are-they-and-what-do-they-want/a-50667558
    Green, D.B. (2012). This day in Jewish history / Operation Magic Carpet touches down. [online] Haaretz.com. Available at: https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/this-day-operation-magic-carpet-lands-1.5166552
    Heyalma (2019). The history of Israel-Palestine before 1948 - Alma. [online] Alma. Available at: https://www.heyalma.com/israel-guide/history-of-israel-palestine-before-1948/
    Jewishvirtuallibrary.org. (2018). Jewish Population of the World. [online] Available at: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jewish-population-of-the-world
    Joffre, T. (2021). Almost all remaining Jews in Yemen deported - Saudi media. [online] The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. Available at: https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/almost-all-remaining-jews-in-yemen-deported-saudi-media-663486
    Knesset.gov.il. (2021). The Law of Return. [online] Available at: https://www.knesset.gov.il/laws/special/eng/return.htm
    Msn.com. (2021). NYPD: Orthodox Jewish couple, toddler slashed in possible hate crime in Manhattan. [online] Available at: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/nypd-orthodox-jewish-couple-toddler-slashed-in-possible-hate-crime-in-manhattan/ar-BB1fdM1j
    Nefesh B'Nefesh (2018). Getting Real About Aliyah: Olim Kids Ask Questions. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU7RiGs_GWw
    Vertovec, S. (1999) ‘Conceiving and researching transnationalism.’ Ethnic and Racial Studies, 22:2, 447-462, DOI: 10.1080/014198799329558
    Winter, A. J. (1992) ‘The Transformation of Community Integration among American Jewry: Religion or Ethnoreligion? A National Replication.’ Review of Religious Research, vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 349–363. Available at: www.jstor.org/stable/3511605. 
    Worldpopulationreview.com. (2021). Jewish Population by State 2021. [online] Available at: https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/jewish-population-by-state



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