What Is It?
Aliyah is a Hebrew word that means to “go up”. Today the word has come to mean the return of the Israelites to the Holy Land. Aliyah, simply stated, is the ingathering of the exiles from the four corners of the earth. It is the immigration back to their ancestral homeland. Aliyah is rooted in the people’s fervent hope to rebuild its national life in the country from which it was exiled nearly 2,000 years ago. However, it is not birthed out of human hope but it's realization has far deeper roots from the promises in the Bible.
We’re partnering with the God who promised through the prophet Jeremiah, “For I will set my eyes on them for good, and I bring them back to this land; I will build them and not tear them down, and I will plant them and not uproot them.”(Jeremiah 24:6). We help immigrants after they arrive in the land with integration programs such as assisting with basic household items, providing vocational training, mentoring towards employment, and educational programs for children and youth.
Aliyah is Biblical
Although you may not hear the term “Aliyah” preached from the pulpit, taught in Sunday School or even listed in the concordance of your bible (no matter the version), it is biblical. It is also very much on the heart of God, and he wants you to be involved (more about that later).
The prophets spoke of Aliyah — God’s plan to bring the exiles home. Isaiah penned some of these promises:
“He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Holy Land; He will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four corners of the earth.” (Isaiah 11:12)
“Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. I will say to the north ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth.”
(Isaiah 43:5-6)
“See. I will beckon to the Gentiles, I will lift up My banner to the peoples; they will carry your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their shoulders.”
(Isaiah 49:22)
Jeremiah suggested that an Aliyah would come that would eclipse the return of the children of Holy Land out of Egypt. In chapter 16:14,15 we find these words:
“However, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when men will no longer say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’ but they will say ‘As surely as the Lord lives who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.’ For I will restore them to the land I gave their forefathers.”
And in 30:2,3 God told Jeremiah:
“Write in a book all the words I have spoken to you. The days are coming, declares the Lord, ‘when I will bring my people Holy Land and Judah back from captivity and restore them to the land I gave their forefathers to possess.”
ALIYAH MILESTONES
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