Move to Israel is spiritual homecoming

As she walked down the narrow cobbled streets of ancient Jerusalem, as she slipped a piece of paper containing a prayer into a crevice of the Wailing Wall, as she broke bread with other Jews during a Shabbat meal, Alicia Bolich knew she had come home.

“Being surrounded by people who believe what I do is such a comforting feeling,” said the Spokane resident, describing her first visit to Israel six years ago. “I felt safer in Israel than anywhere else.”

Ever since she traveled there as a teen, the 23-year-old Bolich was determined to make “aliyah,” a Hebrew word that means “to go up” and a term that describes the immigration of Jews to Israel.

A growing number of American Jews are leaving the United States to live in Israel, according to Nefesh B’Nefesh, an international organization that helps Jews in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom make the move. Since it was founded five years ago, Nefesh B’Nefesh has brought more than 10,000 “olim,” or new immigrants, to Israel.

Under its “Law of Return,” Israel grants automatic citizenship to any Jew worldwide.

This weekend, Bolich will pack her bags and join 220 other Jews from throughout the country to meet in New York, board a charter flight and make aliyah together. The group consists of teachers, attorneys, nurses, chefs and people from various professions. It also includes 78 children, 11 dogs and three cats, according to statistics from Nefesh B’Nefesh.

Bolich – a Ferris High School graduate who until recently worked at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories in Pullman – is the only one from the Inland Northwest.

Raised in a devout Jewish household, Bolich credits her family and members of Temple Beth Shalom for instilling in her a deep reverence for her faith, as well as a love for Israel. The Spokane synagogue wasn’t just a place for weekly Shabbat services – it became a second home, a place where Bolich attended Sunday and Hebrew schools, where she volunteered at the annual Kosher Dinner, where she made close friends and learned from people who never took their faith for granted.

“I’ve been part of such a great community,” said Bolich, noting how temple members in the past have helped her and her three sisters attend Jewish youth conventions. “Being Jewish is about the values that you hold. It’s a big part of our lives that connects us even more.”

While Bolich has always had a special place in her heart for Israel, it was her trip with the United Synagogue Youth program six years ago that convinced her to move there. She found comfort in hearing Hebrew and being surrounded by others who valued their faith and culture, she said. During her stay in Jerusalem, she also was constantly amazed by her surroundings. “It’s like stepping back into history,” she said.

The five-week stay in Israel also included a trip to Poland, where Bolich spent eight days visiting Auschwitz and other World War II concentration camps, Jewish cemeteries, the Warsaw Ghetto and other places where Jews were persecuted and murdered.

“It was hard for me,” she recalled. “It was very personal because I grew up in the Northwest at a time when the neo-Nazi community was strong.”

Although Aryan Nations leader Richard Butler is now dead and his white supremacist compound in Hayden Lake destroyed, Bolich will never forget how the neo-Nazis used to pass out racist, anti-Semitic literature and send threatening messages to the temple. She also recalled a time when she was caught in downtown Coeur d’Alene during an Aryan Nations parade. “Seeing people who hate people like me was pretty terrifying,” she said.

Despite the threat of violence in Israel and the downward trend in immigration, more North Americans are choosing to make aliyah, according to the Jewish Agency for Israel. Last year, 3,200 residents of the United States and Canada formally became Israeli citizens – the highest figure since 1983, according to the agency. Its Aliyah Department is expecting that immigration from North America will increase between 5 and 10 percent this year.

Worldwide, however, the total number of immigrants to Israel last year dipped to 21,000 – the smallest number since 1988.

After she flies into Tel Aviv next week, Bolich will go to Jerusalem, where she will live in an immigration absorption center for five months. She also will change her name to “Sapir,” a Hebrew name that means “sapphire,” and use her mother’s maiden name of Ransom. After a year, she will become an Israeli citizen and study social work at Hebrew University.

Like Bolich, other Jews looking to immigrate to Israel often turn to Nefesh B’Nefesh. The organization doesn’t do outreach work, but it helps people find jobs, schools for their kids and provides general assistance as they transition into their new life in Israel.

“Why would they voluntarily leave America?” asked Charley Levine, of Nefesh B’Nefesh. “The common denominator that ties everyone together is that they want to be part of a historical process. … These people have a deep sense of belonging to the land of Israel.”