The Ingathering:: Whys and Hows Israel Has Been Reborn

 Nadene Gokldfoot                                         

If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven,
from there the Lord your God will gather you,
and from there He will bring you.
Then the Lord your God will bring you to the land which your
fathers possessed, and you shall possess it.
He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers.

Deuteronomy 30:4-5

The Tribal Census total entering the land was 603,550 of the 12 Tribes starting the 40 year trek.  There were 601,730 after all was said and done with a loss of 1,820. The tribe of Judah had 76,500 at  arrival, having gained 1,9000.  

1948 started off with 101,819 that immigrated and joined others there.  Moses  601,730  Exodus had entered Canaan.  May 14, 1948  Israel   750,000 Jews living in Israel.                 

The return of Jews to Palestine started before 1948, the re-birth of Israel  even though they were warned in 70 CE by the Romans never to return upon promise of death, for they had taken over Jerusalem. Drabs and dribbles of  certain rabbis, Jews would be brave enough to find the means to return.  

1. 1882-1923 saw the 1st Aliyah  return back to Israel of 20,000-30,000 Jews.   Zionism, instigated from the shadow of Russian pogroms and led by the Bilu.  They were made up by 300 families and other smaller groups, 450 pioneers from Romania and about 36 from Yemen. The Hoveve Zion led to the Kattowitz Conference of 1984.  A number of farming settlements were founded from their help with the Turks. It is estimated that the total immigration then was 25,000.  Out of this number, there were emigrations as well.  

                    Jewish  women working the fields

2. 1904-1914 Saw the 2nd Aliyah arrive.  The impedus of this were the Russian pogroms of Kishinev and Homel and then the failure of the 1905 Revolution. The Kishinev pogrom was a brutal anti-Jewish riot that took place in Kishinev (now Chișinău, Moldova), then part of the Russian Empire, from April 19 to 21, 1903.  April 19–21, 1903 (beginning on Easter Sunday, which coincided with the end of Passover).Location: Kishinev, capital of the Bessarabia Governorate, Russian Empire.

Trigger: Anti-Semitic propaganda and false blood libel rumors spread by local journalist Pavel Krushan, alleging that Jews had murdered a Christian boy for ritual purposes.

Casualties: 49 Jews were killed, hundreds more were wounded or raped, and roughly treated.  

The Homel (Gomel) pogrom was a violent anti-Jewish riot that took place in September 1903 in the town of Homel, within the Mogilev Governorate of the Russian Empire (now Belarus).

Casualties: Estimates vary by contemporary reports, with figures recording roughly 8 to 25 Jews killed, around 100 seriously injured, and hundreds more slightly hurt or affected. 

Destruction: Hundreds of Jewish-owned homes, stores, and properties in poor quarters like "Novaya Amerika" were plundered and demolished.Market Dispute: “The trouble began on Sept. 11... in a wrangle in the fruit and fish markets between Moujiks (peasants) and Jews.” -- [Museum of Family History]. This initial physical altercation escalated when a Christian peasant succumbed to his injuries.   The local atmosphere was already tense following rumors of impending unrest and the broader wave of anti-Jewish violence in the region, most notably the Kishinev pogrom earlier that spring.

 Many of these people were socialist idealists.  35,000-40,000 entered in this grouping. Many were from Eastern Europe and Oriental countries.  There were those who also  left, but by 1914 at the end of WWI, there were 90,000 Jews living in Palestine, falling to 50,000  by the end of WWI on November 11, 1918.   

3. 1919-1923 was when the Balfour Declaration was written on November 2, 1917 an executed which brought about the 3rd Aliyah. The youths of He Halutz were prominent now.  In 1920, free immigration was permitted to people of substance;  in other words with good substantial jobs like craftsmen, people joining families already there, Talmud students with an income, there was a quota for immigrants whose maintenance was guaranteed by  Zionist Organization.  Next year of 1921, the rules were modified.  Immigration from: 1920-1923 averaged 8,000 and at the end of the year the Jewish population reached 90,000.  

4. 1924-1931 was the time of the 4th Aliyah.  This was when 80,000 more Jews entered with a great majority entering in 1924 itself, mostly from Poland where Jews had been suffering from fiscal restrictions of being 2nd class people there.  Many seemed to be middle class people with 500 to 1,000 L.  During the 1926 depression, many left.  They had been the capitalists, owning such money.  However, by 1931, there were  190,000 Jews living in Palestine.  

5. 1932-1940  was the 5th Aliyah.  It happened in 2 periods;       1932-1935 was the beginning of Nazi persecutions  with 144,000 immigrants of 62,000 in 1935 alone, and was followed by economic prosperity.  YOUTH ALIYAH was founded now from 1936-1940.At the same period, from 1936-1940 there were Arab riots going on, led by Husseini, Sherif of Jerusalem.  with economic depression;  and Aliyah was held back, restricted by the Mandatory government of Britain.  From 1936-1938 there were 53,000 Jewish immigrants.  By 1939, the White Paper of MaDonald recommended that only 75,000 more Jews were to be allowed admission during the next 5 years and then Aliyah would be dependent on Arab agreement.  However, 36,000 Jews entered in the 1st phase of this 5th Aliyah  that included from 1939-1940 15,000 (illegal immigrants-those without government permits). 

6. 1941-1947  was the 6th Aliyah.  I was a period of struggle against restrictions on immigration.  Many tragic incidents were recorded on ships carrying immigrants:  EXODUS, PATRIA, STRUMA, and during the latter years many intending immigrants wee interned at Cyprus.  85,000 Jews arrived in this time, of whom 28,000 were (illegal) immigrants.  

7. May 14, 1948 had 750,000 Jews in Palestine when Israel was established.  Free Jewish immigration was established .  Mass immigration was proclaimed  and inaugurated.  The survivors of Nazi rule in Central Europe, the internees in Cyprus, the Jewries of countries behind the Iron curtain,  and the communities under Arab rule like Yemen, Iraq, were transferred to Israel under the auspices of the Jewish Agency's immigration Department.  Jews have continued a steady immigration since that time again reaching large numbers in the early 1970's and since 1989 with mass Aliyah from the USSR (Russian)  Total immigration figures for the period from 1948 to 1990 are recorded.  

7. By 1948, 101,819 Jews populated Israel on the census, so immigration pushed the number up.  

1949-239,076 immigrated to Israel.

1950-170,215 immigrated to Israel.

1951-175,129 immigrated to Israel.

and then it has slacked off where each year has brought in only 2 place thousands like in 1984 with 19,984.  

                 Then, ANTI-SEMITISM ALL OVER

1990-199,526 immigrated to Israel.

1991-175,000 immigrated to Israel.  

In the case of the Bnei Menashe of India, a major part of this assistance is helping them make the dream of aliyah possible.  The Bnei Menashe claim descent from one of the 10 Lost Tribes of Israel, who were sent into exile more than 27 centuries ago. They are only part of the ongoing ingathering of Jews. 

 2002  Tribe of Menashe immigrating to Israel.  Hidden tribes of Jews were returning in the wake of anti-Semitism.   

Jewish Yemenites including Ofra Haza.  “Born on November 19, 1957, in the working-class Hatikvah quarter of Tel Aviv, Ofra Haza was the youngest of nine children in a family of Jewish immigrants from Yemen.”, who emigrate to Israel in 1949 as noted by the History of Ofra Haza.                                     

She joined a local theater workshop run by Bezalel Aloni at age 12, who later became her manager and guided her early career. She gained national prominence in Israel during the late 1970s with hits like "Shir ha-Frichah"

Anti-Jewish hate crimes and harassment have increased significantly in France over the years, escalating sharply following events like the 2014 Gaza war, the 2015 Hypercacher siege, and the aftermath of the October 7, 2023.  I bet they are glad to have left France with this never-ending anti-Semitism going on.  

 2015 Jews of France making Aliyah      

2025   7,080,000 Jews in Israel.                                         

2026- 7,200,000- 7,600,000  Jews in Israel.  (7.2-7.7 million Jews in Israel.  2,226 alone made Aliyah from France by July.  

Israel's Jewish population is nearly split, with Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews making up about 40% to 45% (or over 50% by some broader definitions) and Ashkenazi Jews making up about 32% to 45% of the total population.

Tanakh (Old Testament) , Deuteronomy 30: (4-5)

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia 1992 Edition