Aliyah (, ; ) is the immigration of Jews from the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel or the Palestine region, where (in the 20th century) the State of Israel was established. Traditionally described as "the act of going up" (namely, toward the Jewish holy city of Jerusalem), moving to the Land of Israel or "making aliyah" is one of the most basic tenets of Zionism. The opposite action—emigration by Jews from the Land of Israel—is referred to in the Hebrew language as yerida (). The Law of Return that was passed by the Israeli parliament in 1950 gives all diaspora Jews, as well as their children and grandchildren, the right to relocate to Israel and acquire Israeli citizenship on the basis of connecting to their Jewish identity.
For much of their history, most Jews have lived in diasporas outside of the Land of Israel. Dispersion has resulted both from voluntary emigration (e.g. to seek employment or improved conditions of life) and from various historical conflicts that have been associated with Jewish persecution, expulsions and exoduses. In the late 19th century, 99.7% of the world's Jews lived outside the region, with Jews representing 2–5% of the population of the Palestine region. Despite its historical value as a national aspiration for the Jewish people, aliyah was rarely undertaken prior to the "national awakening" and the development of the Zionist movement in the late 19th century. Larger-scale immigration of Jews to Palestine had consequently begun by 1882. Institutionalized antisemitism and the rise of the Nazi rule in parts of Europe contributed to significant Jewish immigration waves from Europe during the 1930s and 1940s. Mandatory Palestine became a major destination for Jewish immigrants where Palestine absorbed 247,000 newcomers between 1932 and 1939, representing approximately 46% of Jewish emigration from Europe during that period. The 1939 White Paper set a restriction on Jewish immigration to 75,000 over the following five years, with Arab consent for further immigration afterwards. These restrictions contributed to increased illegal immigration (Aliyah Bet) during the British Mandate period. The largest surge in modern Jewish migration to the region occurred between 1948 and 1951, when more than 680,000 immigrants arrived. This period following the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948 saw the Jewish population more than double within a few years. Since 1950, millions of Jews have immigrated to Israel under the Law of Return. , Israel and the Israeli-occupied territories contain approximately 42.9 percent of the world's Jewish population.
Since 2024, the State of Israel has seen net negative migration: yerida is higher than aliyah.
Terminology
The Hebrew word aliyah means "ascent" or "going up". Jewish tradition views traveling to the Land of Israel as an ascent, both geographically and metaphysically. In one opinion, the geographical sense preceded the metaphorical one, as most Jews going on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, which is situated at approximately 750 meters (2,500 feet) above sea level, had to climb to a higher geographic elevation. The reason is that many Jews in early rabbinic times used to live either in Egypt's Nile Delta and on the plains of Babylonia, which lay relatively low; or somewhere in the Mediterranean Basin, from where they arrived by ship.
It is noteworthy that various references in the earlier books of the Bible indicate that Egypt was considered as being "below" other countries, so that going to Egypt was described as "going down to Egypt" while going away from Egypt (including Hebrews going out of Egypt to Canaan) was "going up out of Egypt". Thus, in the Book of Genesis 46 God speaks to Jacob and says “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. I will go down to Egypt with you." And in the Book of Exodus 1, the oppressive new King of Egypt suspects the Hebrews of living in Egypt of being enemies who in time of war might "Fight against us, and so get them up out of the land".
Widespread use of the term Aliyah to describe ideologically inspired Jewish immigration to Palestine / Israel is due to Arthur Ruppin's 1930 work . Aliyah has also been defined, by sociologists such as Aryeh Tartakower, as immigration for the good of the community, regardless of the destination.
Aliyah is an important Jewish cultural concept and a fundamental component of Zionism. It is enshrined in Israel's Law of Return, which accords any Jew (deemed as such by halakha and/or Israeli secular law) and eligible non-Jews (a child and a grandchild of a Jew, the spouse of a Jew, the spouse of a child of a Jew and the spouse of a grandchild of a Jew), the legal right to assisted immigration and settlement in Israel, as well as Israeli citizenship. Someone who "makes aliyah" is called an oleh (m.; pl. olim) or olah (f.; pl. olot). Many religious Jews espouse aliyah as a return to the Promised Land, and regard it as the fulfillment of God's biblical promise to the descendants of the Hebrew patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Nachmanides (the Ramban) includes making aliyah in his enumeration of the 613 commandments.
Sifre says that the mitzvah (commandment) of living in Eretz Yisrael is as important as all the other mitzvot put together. There are many mitzvot such as shmita, the sabbatical year for farming, which can only be performed in Israel.
For generations of religious Jews, aliyah was associated with the coming of the Jewish Messiah. Jews prayed for their Messiah to come, who was to redeem the "Land of Israel" (Eretz Yisrael, commonly known in English as the region of Palestine) from gentile rule and return world Jewry to the land under a Halachic theocracy.
In Zionist discourse, the term aliyah (plural aliyot) includes both voluntary immigration for ideological, emotional, or practical reasons and, on the other hand, mass flight of persecuted populations of Jews. The vast majority of Israeli Jews today trace their family's recent roots to outside the country. While many have actively chosen to settle in Israel rather than some other country, many had little or no choice about leaving their previous home countries. While Israel is commonly recognized as "a country of immigrants", it is also, in large measure, a country of refugees, including internal refugees.
Pre-modern aliyah
Biblical The Hebrew Bible relates that the patriarch Abraham came to the Land of Canaan with his family and followers in approximately 1800 BC. His grandson Jacob went down to Egypt with his family, and after several centuries there, the Israelites went back to Canaan under Moses and Joshua, entering it in about 1300 BC.
Antiquity In Zionist historiography, post the Balfour Declaration and the start of the "Third Aliyah", the "First Aliyah" and "Second Aliyah" originally referred to the two Biblical "returns to Zion" described in Ezra–Nehemiah – the "First Aliya" led by Zerubbabel, and the "Second Aliya" led by Ezra and Nehemiah approximately 80 years later. A few decades after the fall of the Kingdom of Judah and the Babylonian exile of the Jewish people, approximately 50,000 Jews returned to Zion following the Edict of Cyrus from 538 BC. The Jewish priestly scribe Ezra led the Jewish exiles living in Babylon to their home city of Jerusalem in 459 BC. Even those Jews who did not end up returning gave their children names like Yashuv-Tzadik and Yaeliyahu which testified to their desire to return.Horovitz, Greenberg, and Zilberg, Al Naharot Bavel (Bible Lands Museum press, 2015), inscription 15
Jews returned to the Land of Israel throughout the Second Temple period. Herod the Great also encouraged aliyah and often gave key posts, such as the position of High Priest, to returnees.Hahistoriya shel Eretz Israel – Shilton Romi, Yisrael Levine, p. 47, ed. Menahem Stern, 1984, Yad Izhak Ben Zvi – Keter
In late antiquity, the two hubs of rabbinic learning were Babylonia and the Land of Israel. Throughout the Amoraic period, many Babylonian Jews immigrated to the Land of Israel and left their mark on life there, as rabbis and leaders.
Middle Ages
In the 10th century, leaders of the Karaite Jewish community, mostly living under Persian rule, urged their followers to settle in Eretz Yisrael. Known as the Mourners of Zion, these Karaites established their own quarter in Jerusalem, on the western slope of the Kidron Valley. During this period, there is abundant evidence of pilgrimages to Jerusalem by Jews from various countries, mainly in the month of Tishrei, around the time of the Sukkot holiday.
The number of Jews migrating to the land of Israel rose significantly between the 13th and 19th centuries, mainly due to a general decline in the status of Jews across Europe and an increase in religious persecution. The expulsion of Jews from England (1290), France (1391), Austria (1421), and Spain (the Alhambra decree of 1492) were seen by many as a sign of approaching redemption and contributed greatly to the messianic spirit of the time.
Aliyah was also spurred during this period by the resurgence of messianic fervor among the Jews of France, Italy, the German states, Poland, Russia, and North Africa. The belief in the imminent coming of the Jewish Messiah, the ingathering of the exiles and the re-establishment of the kingdom of Israel encouraged many who had few other options to make the perilous journey to the land of Israel.
Pre-Zionist resettlement in Palestine met with various degrees of success. In 1211, the "aliyah of the three hundred rabbis" saw notable French and German Tosafists such as Samson of Coucy, Joseph ben Baruch, Baruch ben Isaac and Samson ben Abraham of Sens, along with their colleagues and students, immigrate to Palestine, as recorded in the Shebet Yehudah. There is doubt about the accuracy of the account, as there is no evidence that there were actually 300 immigrants, and that number is likely exaggerated. It also mentions Jonathan ben David ha-Cohen immigrating there, but he died in 1205, and was said to have celebrated Purim in Palestine in 1210. Little is known of the fate of their descendants. It is thought that few survived the bloody upheavals caused by the Crusader invasion in 1229 and their subsequent expulsion by the Muslims in 1291. After the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453 and the expulsion of Jews from Spain (1492) and Portugal (1498), many Jews made their way to the Holy Land.
Samson b. Abraham of Sens, who emigrated in 1211, wrote in his responsa that the biblical commandment to go to Eretz Yisrael was nullified due to pikuach nefesh, or saving a life, citing the danger of the journey, particularly for pregnant women. Haim ben Hananel HaCohen ruled that the commandment was negated altogether. Moses ben Joseph di Trani, born in Salonika in 1490, made aliyah and became the rabbi of Safed, where he died in 1580. In his writings, Trani disagreed with Haim Cohen, and argued that it was not dangerous to travel to Palestine due to the peace between "Edom" (Christian Europe) and "Ishmael" (Islamic/Arab world) at the time. David ibn Zimri, known as the Radbaz, also went to Palestine where he died in 1574. The Radbaz reconciled Maimonides' brief journey to Jerusalem in 1165, but ultimate settlement in Egypt, despite Maimonides' belief that it was commanded to settle in Eretz Yisrael and forbidden to remain in Egypt, that he had been compelled to remain by the authorities, as physician to the sultan. Ishtori Haparchi, who was a geographer of Palestine, said that Maimonides signed letters as "the writer who transgresses three negative commandments every day," though no surviving responsa with Maimonides' autograph are found bearing this.