One expert says students are increasingly deepening their networks in Jewish and Israel-focused circles to ‘simply be with people who get it,’ often opening the path to immigration.
NEW YORK — Night after night, Columbia University student Sonya Poznansky fell asleep to the sound of her peers chanting to “globalize the intifada,” a mantra that at best brings back images of the bloody Palestinian uprising of the early 2000s, and at worst can be interpreted as a call to repeat the violence against Jews worldwide.
“In those moments, I kept thinking about my great-grandmother, who left Poland in 1925. What signs did she see that made her feel there wasn’t a future for her family there?” she said. Upon graduation, Poznansky reached the same conclusion her great-grandmother did: she decided to move to Israel. For many American college students, a recent uptick in already high campus hostility to Israel and Jews is shaping a new wave of aliyah, Hebrew for immigration to Israel, turning an embattled student identity into a commitment to build a life in the Jewish state.
According to Nefesh B’Nefesh, an organization that assists Diaspora Jews in making the move, 782 North Americans aged 20–25 made aliyah in 2024, a 24% increase from 2023. The organization also reports a notable increase in university graduates enlisting in the IDF after the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023. Masa Israel Journey — a nonprofit backed by the Israeli government that places Jewish young adults in immersive study, service, and internship programs in Israel — says early registrations for its programs are up roughly 32% from this time last year. Since October 7, the organization has welcomed nearly 2,000 fellows from the United States into post-graduate programs. (Ed note: Above Columbia graduate Chloe Katz holds a sign reading, 'The Jewish nation lives on." This can't be good for America. As our young Jewish college graduates leave the US, a Bible verse comes to mind that God once told a man named Abram, Genesis 12:3, "And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you, I will curse..." That vow to Abram is still in effect unto this day. Also see the two articles below this one.) (Read More)
According to Nefesh B’Nefesh, an organization that assists Diaspora Jews in making the move, 782 North Americans aged 20–25 made aliyah in 2024, a 24% increase from 2023. The organization also reports a notable increase in university graduates enlisting in the IDF after the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023. Masa Israel Journey — a nonprofit backed by the Israeli government that places Jewish young adults in immersive study, service, and internship programs in Israel — says early registrations for its programs are up roughly 32% from this time last year. Since October 7, the organization has welcomed nearly 2,000 fellows from the United States into post-graduate programs. (Ed note: Above Columbia graduate Chloe Katz holds a sign reading, 'The Jewish nation lives on." This can't be good for America. As our young Jewish college graduates leave the US, a Bible verse comes to mind that God once told a man named Abram, Genesis 12:3, "And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you, I will curse..." That vow to Abram is still in effect unto this day. Also see the two articles below this one.) (Read More)
