Aliyah

Aliyah (US /ˌæ.lɪ.ˈɑː/, UK /ˌɑː.li.ˈɑː/; Hebrew: עֲלִיָּה aliyah, "ascent") is the immigration of Jews from the diaspora to the Land of Israel (Eretz Israel in Hebrew). Also defined as "the act of going up"—that is, towards Jerusalem—"making Aliyah" by moving to the Land of Israel is one of the most basic tenets of Zionism. The opposite action, emigration from the Land of Israel, is referred to in Hebrew as yerida ("descent"). The State of Israel's Law of Return gives Jews and their descendants automatic rights regarding residency and Israeli citizenship.

For much of Jewish history most Jews have lived in the diaspora where aliyah was developed as a national aspiration for the Jewish people, although it was not usually fulfilled until the development of the Zionist movement in the late nineteenth century. The large-scale immigration of Jews to Palestine began in 1882. Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, more than 3 million Jews have moved to Israel. As of 2014, Israel and the Palestinian territories together contain 42.9% of the world's Jewish population.

Aliyah (Torah)

An aliyah (Hebrew עליה, or aliya and other variant English spellings) is the calling of a member of a Jewish congregation to the bimah for a segment of reading from the Torah.

The person who receives the aliyah goes up to the bimah before the reading and recites a blessing thanking God for giving the Torah to the Jewish nation. After the reading, the recipient then recites another concluding blessing. In many congregations, the recipient will also stand to the side of the bimah during the following reading.

Process

A synagogue official, called a gabbai, then calls up several people (men in most Orthodox and some Conservative congregations, men and women in others), in turn, to be honored with an aliyah (Hebrew: עליה‎; pl. עליות, aliyot; "ascent" or "going up"), wherein the honoree (or, more usually, a designated reader) recites a blessing over the Torah, between each verse. Each reads a section of the day's Torah portion. There are always at least three olim (people called to read the Torah) unless a Kohen is present and no Levite is present, in which case the Kohen is called for the first and second reading:

Yisrael HaMithadeshet

Yisrael HaMithadeshet (Hebrew: ישראל המתחדשת‎, lit. Renewed Israel), formerly known as Aliyah (Hebrew: עלי"ה‎, lit. Immigration but also an acronym for Amenu LiMa'an Yisrael HaMithadeshet (Hebrew: עמנו למען ישראל המתחדשת‎, lit. We People For a Renewed Israel)) is a political party in Israel.

Background

The party was formed on 23 February 1999 during the 14th Knesset when MKs Michael Nudelman and Yuri Stern, both immigrants from Russia, broke away from Natan Sharansky's Yisrael BaAliyah. Splits had appeared when the party decided to vote against an amendment to the Religious Services Law that blocked Reform and Conservative Jews from Religious Councils, but Nudelman and Stern did not turn up to vote.

After the split, Nudelman initially suggested the party be named Shiluv (Hebrew: שילוב‎, lit. Integration), but instead Aliyah was chosen. For the 1999 elections the party ran as part of Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu list, with both Nudelman and Stern retaining their seats.