Like you, we are dreamers.
Operation Home Again (OHA) is dreaming with its eyes open and its feet firmly on the ground as we help communities turn their dreams for making Aliyah from impossible to inevitable.
In this blogpost, we share with you an email that came across our screen last week:
I know a big group of families from Baltimore and other cities settled in Afula. How did they get such a big group together? I want to learn from them how to put together a group of like-minded Torah-observant families.
There are many families who feel very connected to the idea of making Aliyah. They have the conviction, but they don’t have the clarity in how to scale their dream.
Even the most eager families find it overwhelming to figure out the logistics of Aliyah: Who will educate our children? How will we find work? Where will we live?
OPERATION HOME AGAIN understands that an individual/family doing this alone is much more than just lonely. Their highest intentions and profoundest desires are often shut down and ultimately go unrealized.
A Solution: Community Aliyah
Community Aliyah is one solution for many families who want to come.
How can you become part of a community Aliyah?
1. You can join an existing community who has made or is planning to make Aliyah.
For example, a group of families from several cities including Baltimore, Brooklyn, Lakewood, Milwaukee, Monsey, Passaic, and Yardley joined the new Anglo community in Afula, being led by Rabbi Nesanel of Yardley, PA. (Officially called Kehillat Chazon Elimelech {KCE}, thirty families have recently moved here in the Summer ’22). If you are interested in learning more about KCE, please visit https://kceafula.org/
Also see the new community Aliyah forming out of Lakewood, N.J. called Kumu V'Naaleh. Read more about the community on our blog here.
There are other communities forming and as we help them develop their plan, we will gladly share the unfolding details. Please contact us at the email listed below.
2. You can begin your own Community Aliyah Process.
Experience with Community Aliyah has shown that there are many people who’d be interested in joining their own local families to make aliyah. For various reasons they haven't yet initiated it, but would run (if not jump) at the opportunity to be part of a local community aliyah initiative.
To explore how OHA will help you arrange for those initial meetings in your community to attract those who are interested, please email us.
You can also speak with your Shul or Community Rav who may himself be potentially open to leading a community. In any case, he may give you his encouragement and guidance, while directing other Shul members your way.
Once a community presents itself as interested in next steps, OHA meets with the Rabbinic leader to pave the path for the community. We have developed a proprietary tool known as the Rabbinic Leader’s MindMap that guides the Rabbi (and a designated lay “Aliyah Manager”) in detailed meetings to determine where the community will land, how their children will be educated, and what jobs are available. A pilot trip will be offered to the leadership to prepare the ground for the incoming families. The projected timeline for preparing this transition is 2-3 years.
OHA is here to lead your way, even holding your hand as you traverse the journey HOME.
As a final word for now, OHA recently earned this endorsement from Elisha Bruk, an Aliyah advisor for Nefesh B’Nefesh: Operation Home Again, most specifically Mrs. Batsheva Goldman, contributed tremendously to this KCE / Afula project and has systematically studied group Aliyah so it can be repeated again and again. OHA is a great resource for community Aliyah.
info@OperationHomeAgain.com