Despite two millennia of the Jews' dispersion throughout the world, the Jewish presence in Israel, their ancestral homeland, has never been interrupted. But since the birth of the State of Israel in 1948, the country has been blessed with an historic return of Jewish exiles -- two-and-a-half million of them -- from around the globe.

This incredible human ingathering, realizing Jeremiah's vision that "children shall return to their borders," has truly been one of Biblical proportions, offering the special promise of physical harbor and spiritual freedom to Jews suffering persecution or poverty. With rare unity, the leaders of Israel have regarded encouraging Jewish immigration, or aliyah, as a top strategic, moral and historic duty.

Aliyah from North America

During the 20th century, more than 100,000 Jews immigrated to Israel from North America. Although the United States alone is the largest Diaspora community, this number presents a very small fraction over overall aliyah. This perhaps can be attributed to the relative political and economic comfort of Jews in the United States and Canada, compared with their brothers and sisters in countries of great oppression and anti-Semitism. Many North American olim are Orthodox Jews, moved by an idealism rooted in Scripture to live their lives in the Jewish homeland.

Aliyah from Latin America

Since Israel's establishment, more than 60,000 Jews have immigrated to Israel from South America, primarily from Argentina, but also from Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, Mexico and Peru. Economic turmoil - especially, in recent years, in Argentina - and mounting anti-Semitism have encouraged this aliyah.

Aliyah from Europe

Well over 1.5 million Jews have immigrated to Israel from Europe. It was in Europe that Zionism took shape and was revived in modern times, but it took the near total destruction of European-Jewish civilization to spark the creation of a modern Jewish state and convince the dispossessed Jews of Europe to plant new roots there. With the collapse of Communism more than a decade ago, it became possible for Jews in the Former Soviet Union (FSU) to leave en masses for Israel, many of them with help from The Fellowship. Today’s resurgence of anti-Semitism (especially radicalized, alienated young members of growing Muslim communities) in France, Belgium, Britain and parts of Eastern Europe is causing some Jews in these countries to consider aliyah.

Aliyah from Asia

Over 26,000 Jews have immigrated from India, more than 4,000 from Afghanistan, and over 1,000 from China.

Aliyah from Africa

More than 450,000 Jews have immigrated to Israel from Africa. This includes over 400,000 who fled Morocco and other Northern African Arab countries in the wake of violent anti-Semitism following the birth of Israel in 1948. In addition, more than 50,000 Jews came to Israel from war-torn and impoverished Ethiopia, including those famously airlifted in Operations Moses and Solomon, supported by The Fellowship and its donors. More than 16,000 olim, many of them Orthodox immigrated to Israel from South Africa.