Political Movement - Aliyah
Aliyah (Hebrew: עלייה; "ascent") is a
term widely used to mean Jewish immigration to the Land of Israel (and
since its establishment in 1948, the State of Israel). The opposite
action, Jewish emigration away from Israel, is called Yerida.
Aliyah is an important Jewish cultural concept and a fundemental concept
of Zionism that is enshrined in Israel's Law of Return, which permits
any Jew the legal right to assisted immigration and settlement in
Israel, as well as automatic Israeli citizenship. A Jew who makes aliyah
is called an oleh (m. singluar) or olah (f. singular), the plural is
olim.
As a concept of Jewish "return" to the Promised land (as interpreted
from the Bible to have been promised by God to the descendants of the
Hebrew patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob), aliyah is greatly espoused
by most, though not by all, Jews.
In Zionist history, different waves of aliyah, beginning with the
arrival of the Biluim from Russia in 1882, are known as aliyot (the
plural of aliyah). These aliyot are often categorized by date and the
country of origin of the immigrants. See Immigration to Palestine and
Israel.
Aliyah also refers, in synagogue life, to the honor of being "called up"
to read a section of the Torah during a service. For example, the
relevant section of the Torah reading for each Shabbat is divided into
seven aliyot.
Aliyot
* First Aliyah (1882-1903) from Russia, Yemen. Total: 15,000. Founded
first agricultural settlements.
* Second Aliyah (1904-1914) from Russia. Total 40,000 (about half left).
Founded Tel Aviv and first kibbutz.
* Third Aliyah (1919-1923) from Russia, Poland (Total: 40,000). Founded
Histradrut Labor Union and Haganah.
* Fourth Aliyah (1923-1929) from Poland, Hungary. Total: 80,000 (over
one-quarter left). Emergence of an urban middle class.
* Fifth Aliyah (1929-1939) from Germany, Central and Eastern Europe.
Total: 250,000 (10 percent left). Intellectual middle class. Refugee
artists introduced Bauhaus (Tel Aviv has the highest concentration of
Bauhaus architecture in the world) and founded the Palestine
Philharmonic Orchestra.
From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliyah
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