SA aliya to Israel not slowing

South Africans making aliya in the first part of 2024 were even more resolute, and not deterred by concerns about emigrating to a country at war.

The numbers for the first half of the year are higher than that in the first half of 2023. As of 5 August, 189 olim left South Africa, while in the first half of 2023, 97 made aliya. By the end of last year, however, 303 South Africans had moved to Israel.

This was lower than the 471 olim in 2022 and 577 in 2021, but it’s significant that they are moving to a country at war in which parts of the economy are unable to function properly.

Kim Fine, who left Johannesburg to make aliya with her husband, Pete, a labour consultant, on erev Shavuot, was determined to make it to Israel on that day because that was when she met her husband. “It was apt for us to restart our lives again 30 years later,” she said.

In her short time in Israel, she has felt the strength and love of Israelis, and said she had experienced only positivity from anyone who discovered she had made aliya recently. “When we tell people that we have made aliya, their faces light up. They are genuinely happy for us.”

Even though Kim and Pete still feel like they are on holiday, they have encountered some roadblocks to finding a home. “We spent days searching for a rental apartment in Ra’anana while our new one is being built. Because of what’s happening up north, there are no properties available as they are being grabbed by evacuees.”

Another olah, Yehudis Menucha, decided to make aliya at 70 years old after visiting Israel over December and January. She said when she heard that the South African government was taking Israel to the International Court of Justice, she decided to make the move to Israel because she “didn’t want to live in a country that would do such a thing”.

Menucha made aliya six weeks later, on 21 March, catching one of the last aliya flights before El Al cancelled its South African flights. Menucha returned to Tzfat, where she had attended seminary about 20 years ago. “I love Tzfat. I love the north. Even through sirens and threats from Hezbollah, everyone carries on with their lives.”

She has been able to work cleaning houses and create a lovely life for herself in spite of all the hardships and threats from Hezbollah that have become very real in recent weeks.

Former craniosacral therapist Donna Arden made aliya to Eilat in November 2021, where she works taking care of the elderly, babies, teaching English online to Indian students, and writing a book. She was in India for three months with a group of Israelis when war broke out on 7 October. She returned to Israel in January 2024.

“On 8 October 2023, while chatting to a huge group of Israelis over breakfast who were staying at the same guesthouse as me in Alleppey, India, the phones started ringing. Expressions changed, and voices softened. Confusion set in, shock evolved,” Arden said.

Arden then went to Munnar, trying to grapple with what was happening in Israel. While there, she decided not to share that she was Israeli for fear of her safety.

“I returned to my guesthouse to be told by the owner that the Tourist Police had knocked to check on the register of Israelis staying there for protection reasons,” she said. “I needed to leave as most of the friends I had in India knew I was Jewish. A loud, heavily clouded bolt of thunder hit me in that sore and sad moment. I had to hide not only my origin, but my passport too.”

Arden spent some time in South Africa before returning to Israel in March. “After being away for six months, I felt like I was returning to a completely different Israel post 7 October,” she said.

“I went to visit my hairdresser and friend, looking forward to a catch-up. We hugged, and she said goodbye to her client before me, and shared her beautiful, smiling, strong energy. I didn’t pick up any weakness, sadness, or sense of a void until she told me her son was killed at the Nova festival and showed me the tattoo on her arm with her son’s name. I went ice cold.”

Similarly, Bianca Brower who made aliya two years ago after completing the English teaching programme, Talma, moved from Eilat to Tel Aviv in September. She said she was seeing the city through new eyes.

“The events of 7 October were the first time that I had considered myself to be a Zionist,” Brower said. “My way of dealing with the stress and the trauma was to give back.”

Brower has spent a lot of the past 10 months volunteering any way she can. For the past four months, she has done sports massage for soldiers every day throughout the country.

“It was therapeutic for me to see that the soldiers were okay and to interact with them,” she said. “In some way, it was grounding, and it’s put a lot of things into perspective. From a distance, the war is terrifying, but when you’re here, believe me, it’s all consuming. You look around every corner, and there’s a poster of a soldier who has been killed or a hostage being held. However, there’s an unbelievable sense of community and the knowledge that we’re all going through this together and life needs to keep going,” she said.

“There was no fear in making aliya even though there’s a war. Israel is such a happy place. I have never seen people so happy when there is a war. I would make this decision again and again.”

“There’s a hint in the air of something possibly going to happen with Iran, but people continue living,” Fine said. “The streets are full, shops are busy, life is buzzing. And we’re loving being part of am Yisrael. We feel the pain of every soldier that passes. We feel the pain of what Israel is going through. In spite of it all, there’s no place that I would rather be.”