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What is ALIYAH?
by Ray Bentley
11-2007

Aliyah, "ascension" or "going up" is the arrival of Jews from exile or diaspora (Greek term meaning “scattered, dispersed”) to live in Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel. Those who "go up are known as olim, a term used in the Bible when the children of Israel went up from Egypt (Genesis 50:14; Numbers 32:11), and later, for the exiles who returned from captivity in Babylon (Ezra 2:1,59; Nehemiah 5-6). The call of Cyrus, King of Persia, in 538 B.C.—“Who is among you of all His people? May his God be with him, and let him go up…” (Ezra 1:3, II Chronicles 36:23) —has been used as a watchword for aliyah. It was aliyah that re-created the Jewish Commonwealth in the Land after the Babylonian exile, provided the community with spiritual leaders during the Second Temple and subsequent periods, preserved and renewed the Jewish presence in Eretz Yisrael during the periods of Byzantine, Arab, Mameluke, and Ottoman rule, and reestablished the State of Israel in modern times.1

Aliyah is an answer to the longing of God’s heart.

“O’ Jerusalem, Jerusalem,” Jesus cried as He wept over the city. “How often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing…If you had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes…”2

As Jesus wept for Jerusalem, He grieved not only for what He saw before Him that day, but also for what He knew would befall His people in the days, years, and centuries to follow.

He knew the coming terror of the destruction of the temple, and the final purge, as God’s chosen people would be scattered like dry leaves caught in a bitter wind, to the uttermost parts of the earth. He knew His beloved children would fight to survive for centuries to come, scourged by persecution, bigotry, hatred, and the stigma of being labeled the people who murdered God’s Son. Jesus wept with a broken heart over the pain His people would suffer, and He longed to gather them under His protection.

Centuries of darkness ensued, sporadically illuminated by individual lives, like bright lights, who survived, who held the faith, who excelled in business, science, literature, and finally, politics. Stories have filled modern literature, from Fiddler on the Roof to Exodus, portraying the plight of the Jew, but I don’t think any of us who didn’t live it can fully understand what it means as a people to be exiled for centuries, without a home, and yet born with a longing that never leaves your heart and soul.

A Cosmic Net
1948 shattered the darkness with the birth of a Hebrew nation.  And a new process began.  Just as the people had been scattered, now, like a giant cosmic net cast to the four corners of the world, they are being drawn home.  The vast immigration began in the late 1880s, but when the State of Israel was legally established, aliyah became a vital part of the process for building the new nation.

“The State of Israel will be open for Jewish immigration and the ingathering of exiles; it  will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel...” (from the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel, 1948).

In 1950 the Law of Return was also established, which grants every Jew the right to immigrate to Israel and immediately become an Israeli citizen.  While most nations make immigration a challenge, making people wait sometimes for years to qualify for citizenship, Israel not only encourages and celebrates immigration, but also, the Jewish Agency for Israel has developed a program specifically for educating and helping new immigrants adjust.

Stepping Into the Story
During our recent visit to Israel, we met two men, Jose and Juan, who had been helped through donations from Maranatha Chapel to make aliyah from Santiago, Argentina. (These funds were not taken from our normal tithes and offerings, but were specifically donated to Maranatha’s Nehemiah Project for the purpose of helping Jews make aliyah.) 

Juan worked as a banker and his wife a school teacher in Argentina; they have three children.  Jose and his wife have four children. They all had a good life in Santiago, but responded to a longing in their hearts to live where their Jewishness can be freely expressed and realized.  For most Jews, aliyah means coming home.

“I was nervous when we first came,” admitted Juan, still speaking through a Spanish translator. “We knew no language, not a word or letter of Hebrew.”  Hebrew lessons, five hours a day, five days a week for five months, offered through the Jewish Agency, are one of the first steps a new immigrant undertakes. “We are learning everything new,” said Juan.  “New language, new jobs, new skills.”  The donations from Maranatha Chapel, he said, “give us a way to start a new life.”


Immigrants come from Russia, France, Argentina, Ethiopia, Germany, Turkey, Iraq, Yemen, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania—everywhere there are Jews still living, everywhere that even a tiny flame is still lit reminding the people of their heritage and their hope.  Traditionally, according to the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the largest numbers of immigrants come from “countries of distress,” where Jews are unwelcome, harassed or actively persecuted. But Israel has also freely welcomed hundreds of thousands of immigrants from the free world, “people driven principally by idealism.” Some 200,000 have immigrated to Israel from America and more than double that number from Western Europe (not including Holocaust survivors). 3


It was with great joy that we gave another donation to the Jewish Agency during our last visit in October 2007. Perhaps because the history of the church and the Jews has not always been a good one, and because the Holy Spirit is moving around the world to gather the chosen people, many of us feel compelled to honor God’s people in this way.  Daniel, our tour guide told us, “I have done many tours with Christians, but have never been to the Jewish Agency’s Absorption Center. I simply have never been asked…I was very touched by this…thank you.”  Daniel’s family originally emigrated from France, where he says, after World War II, “It was not so nice to be a Jew.”

The Agency published an article, which you can read HERE about our visit — and I am totally blessed to know that we were able to touch their hearts in such a significant way.  I like to think that God is using us, in a small way, along with many other believers, to answer the cry of Jesus’ heart, to gather once again His children, to help them “ascend” through aliyah into a knowledge of Him and His love.  The ultimate “aliyah” will be when our Jewish brothers and sisters know their Messiah and we are truly united.



Letter read from Pastor Ray to the Jewish Agency (written on David Citadel Hotel stationary during breakfast in Jerusalem):

Maranatha Chapel
October 15, 2007

My Dear Jewish Friends,
We want all of Israel to know that they have many, many people who love them. Our community has given their prayers, their hearts, and their money to bring you this gift.  I know that Jesus is a divide between us, yet it is through the very Jewish face of Jesus that we have fallen in love with all Jewish people and Israel.

Please use this gift for the aliyah of any Jewish people who for any reason desire to return home. We claim Isaiah 49:22 as an invitation for gentile believers to step into this beautiful and amazing story! We see ourselves in truth as your children, and we wish to honor our spiritual fathers and mothers.

All blessings to you, Dear Ones,
Ray Bentley
Pastor

This is what the Sovereign Lord says: "See, I will beckon to the Gentiles, I will lift up my banner to the peoples; they will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their shoulders.”— Isaiah 49:22

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1. http://www.jafi.org.il/education/100/concepts/aliyah1.html
2. Luke 13:34, 19: 41-44
3. http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2002/10/Aliyah.htm