Is Aliyah Good for the Jews?

The Jewish Agency for Israel website says that “Zionism is still far away from fulfilling the objectives that it decreed more than one hundred years ago”. In reality, Israel was established and has absorbed three million Jews since 1948. Yet only 40% of the Jewish people live in Israel, and thus we still haven’t attained our goals. What is the Jewish consensus with respect to this assertion? Do we need to, and how can we make Aliyah fashionable again? Should we simply appreciate that only crises in the Diaspora motivates Aliyah?

Participants

Alisa Rubin Kurshan, USA
Ph.D. in Jewish Education; Vice President for Strategic Planning and Organizational Resources, UJA-Federation of New York

Matthew Bronfman, USA
Controlling shareholder of Israel Discount Bank; controls the IKEA franchise in Israel; one of the controlling shareholders of Shufersal; co chairmen of the Bronfman – Fisher Group , which operates various businesses in Israel; Chairman of Limud Russia

Riccardo Shmuel Disegni, Italy 
MD. Radiologist; Chief Rabbi of the Jewish Community of Rome

Meir Krauss, Israel
Head, of the team for “Forming the New Paradigm in Israeli Relations with the Diaspora”; former Director, Jerusalem Education Administration; former Director, Department of Equal Opportunity, Ministry of Education

Michael Melchior, Israel

Rabbi; former Minister of Health, former Minister for the Diaspora; former Chairman of the Education, Culture and Sports Committee

Jay Sarver, USA
Co-Chair of the Aliyah and Klitah Committee, Jewish Agency’s Board of Governors