Aliyah (Hebrew for “ascent”) refers to Jewish immigration to Israel. The term reflects the spiritual significance of returning to the Jewish ancestral homeland and “ascending” to Jerusalem, which sits on a mountainous plateau.

Jewish immigration to the Land of Israel has occurred continuously throughout history, even during periods when the vast majority of Jews lived in diaspora. Modern Aliyah is typically categorized in distinct waves:

• First Aliyah (1882-1903): Primarily Jews fleeing pogroms in Eastern Europe.
• Second Aliyah (1904-1914): Ideologically motivated pioneers who established kibbutzim.
• Third Aliyah (1919-1923): After the Balfour Declaration, focusing on agricultural settlements.
• Fourth Aliyah (1924-1929): Middle-class Jews from Poland facing economic antisemitism.
• Fifth Aliyah (1929-1939): Jews escaping Nazi persecution in Germany and Central Europe.
• Aliyah Bet (1934-1948): “Illegal immigration” during British restrictions before statehood.
• Mass immigration (1948-1952): 650,000 Jews from Arab countries and Holocaust survivors.
• Soviet Aliyah (1990s): One million Jews from the former Soviet Union.
• Recent waves from Ethiopia, France, Ukraine, and North America.

Since Israel’s establishment, approximately 3.5 million Jews have made Aliyah, fulfilling the Zionist vision of ingathering of the exiles, and providing refuge for Jews facing persecution worldwide.