American Jews returning to Israel in record numbers
RACHEL POMERANCE
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

For the past decade, members of Shaare Shalom, a Persian synagogue in Great Neck, N.Y., have traveled en masse to Miami each Passover.

This year, however, many synagogue members are passing up the Fontainebleau Hilton for the Jewish state - where they'll combine the springtime holiday with bar mitzvah celebrations at the Western Wall in Jerusalem for children in the community.

"It's like a solidarity trip," says Robert Hakimi, a jeweler in Manhattan's diamond district whose son, Kevin, is among those having a bar mitzvah.

The group hopes to make Passover in Israel a new tradition. Already, 200 of them have made reservations for the holiday at an Eilat resort, Hakimi says.

The Persian posse may be a dramatic example of a tourism revival in Israel this Passover, but they're not alone.

Two years after the so-called Passover massacre - when a suicide bomber killed 30 people at a seder at a Netanya hotel and changed the course of the intifada by prompting the return of Israel's military to the West Bank - tourism officials report a serious upswing in travel to Israel for Passover.

In any case, Passover is considered among the "high seasons" of Israel travel, but officials say the holiday demand this year reflects a general trend of U.S. Jews returning to Israel in an act of solidarity.

"Tourism to Israel is up in a tremendous way," says Rami Levy, Israel's tourism ambassador to North and South America.

In fact, 2003 broke an all-time record in American Jewish tourism to Israel. Some 221,000 American Jews visited Israel last year, Levy says.

General tourism to Israel is down, however. Slightly more than 1 million people visited Israel in 2003. That's up at least 25 percent from 2002 but down from its peak in 1999, when 2.7 million visited the Jewish state, Israel's Tourism Ministry says.

The increase in U.S. Jewish travel comes from close coordination between Israel's Tourism Ministry and American Jewish synagogues and groups, Levy says.

For example, the North American Jewish federation system held its annual General Assembly in Israel last year, drawing 4,300 North Americans. Synagogues also have distributed pledge cards and rabbis have delivered sermons encouraging Israel travel.

To sustain the trend, Israel's Tourism Ministry has appointed a coordinator for 475 tourism committees within American synagogues.

The effort seems to be working.

Susan Blum, manager of the Israel Department of Gil Travel, a Philadelphia-based travel agency that specializes in Israel, partly attributes the increase to Israeli prodding.

"One of the ads that the Israel Ministry of Tourism had last year was 'Make your pledge to go back to Israel next year for 2004,'" she says, referring to ads Israel placed in Jewish publications and synagogues across North America. "Well, it's 2004 now, and it looks like people are living up to their pledges."

"We're doing quotations left and right for synagogues," she says. "It's really, really rejuvenating."

While Israel's Tourism Ministry will not tally its records until the end of April, there are several signs that tourism this Passover will pass previous years. Continental Airlines has added seven flights to Israel each week in April, and El Al has added a host of new flights to accommodate demand, Levy says.

Blum figures that Passover travel will climb 30 percent to 40 percent this year but says those levels are still 30 percent below what they were before the intifada.

At TotallyJewishTravel.com, "what we have noticed is a major increase in people inquiring about Pesach in Israel, compared to last year," CEO Raphi Bloom says. "Hotels in Israel who advertise with us are selling out five to six weeks before Pesach, and even if a hotel has room left, flights are increasingly hard to find."

Bloom notes that 70 percent of his site's users are North American.

Bloom ascribes the increased interest to a calmer security situation in Israel coupled with the end of major hostilities in Iraq. Others say people simply are getting used to the ongoing intifada or feel inspired to show solidarity with a Jewish state still under siege.

"More people want to get more involved in showing solidarity with Israel, and Passover's a great time to come," says Rabbi Isroel Chanin, head of hospitality services for Chabad-Lubavitch in Jerusalem.

The number of e-mails and phone calls he receives inquiring about arrangements for Passover has doubled, Chanin says. This April, he has booked 15 bar mitzvahs at the Western Wall, triple his usual bookings for this time of year.

Hakimi and his Persian group are taking their cues from Israel.

The Israel consulate is "sending us signals," he says. "They're telling us to go to Israel and visit.''



Jewishaz.com

kewl,,good for them,,,,

Watch the Middle East


Jesus Christ warns us to be spiritually alert and watchful (Luke 21:36). But for what should we be watching in the turmoil and conflict of the Middle East?

Watch for increasing demand for international intervention and control, not only in Gaza and the West Bank, but in Jerusalem itself. Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas has supported calls for a United Nations peacekeeping force in Gaza and the West Bank—a proposal the rival Hamas has heretofore rejected. As violence escalates in the region around Jerusalem, watch for more world leaders to join in demanding international control of this ancient city held dear by Jews, Christians and Muslims alike.

Watch for continuing conflicts between Israelis and Palestinians. The Palestinians may be divided in their allegiance between the more militant Islamic Hamas organization and the more secular Fatah group, but they are united in their opposition to Israel's exertion of power in a region they consider their own.

Watch for increasing unity among Arab nations in their stand against Israel. Psalm 83, which we read earlier, lists those peoples who comprise Arabic and Muslim nations in the Middle East. They are supported by European groups in their strong opposition to Israel. "They have said, 'Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.' For they have consulted together with one consent; they form a confederacy against You" (Psalm 83:4–5). Watch for an end-time Arab/Muslim union or confederacy forming against Israel.

Watch for the European Union's growing economic, political and military unification. As we saw in Daniel's prophecy, the king of the North will eventually occupy the Holy Land. Europe is moving to coordinate and unify its various military and security forces, seeking an alternative to its long-standing dependence on its NATO alliance which includes the U.S. as a dominant partner. In July 2005, EU foreign ministers agreed to establish a "European Security and Defense College" to organize and conduct multinational training that would bring Europeans from different countries under one consistent policy and procedure framework. In November 2004, after five years of planning, the EU officially established a Rapid Reaction Force that would allow the multinational entity to carry out military objectives. A small deployment has already occurred in Bosnia. Current plans allow for a maximum deployment of 60,000–80,000 EURRF troops. Will these forces eventually play a significant part in the Middle East conflict? Watch the development of Europe's own military forces.

Watch for the preparation and eventual implementation of animal sacrifices by the Jews in Jerusalem. Many believe a physical temple will also be built, but history and the book of Ezra confirm that sacrifices can be conducted with just an altar at the holy place.

Watch for the increasing consolidation of religious power in Europe. Visiting Austria in 1983, Pope John Paul II appealed for European unity, stating: "Europeans should overcome the menacing international confrontations of states and alliances, and create a new united Europe from the Atlantic to the Urals" (The Principality and Power of Europe, Adrian Hilton, p. 36). Pope Benedict XVI has called for religious unity in Europe, and has reached out to the Eastern Orthodox churches to a degree that has surprised many observers.

Ultimate Peace
Jerusalem has a glorious prophesied future ahead! It will be the capital of planet earth under the rulership of the Prince of Peace and King of kings, Jesus Christ. That is good news for all the nations—for you, your children and your grandchildren. But we need to remember that true peace can only come about in the lives of men and women when their human nature gives way to God's Spirit. In the Millennium and beyond, the vast majority of people will accept God's gift of His Spirit. Then they shall learn how to find the way to peace.

The whole world will learn God's ways. "Many people shall come and say, 'Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.' For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore" (Isaiah 2:3–4).

Jerusalem will not only be the governmental capital of the world; it will also be the educational capital of the world. The great Educator and Teacher, the Lord Jesus Christ, will teach true knowledge based on the Word of God. All nations will learn the eternal principles, laws and values that guarantee peace and prosperity to all.

This is the good news of your future, and the future of the world. At the heart of the Middle East—and of the entire world—Jerusalem will be the center of world government, education, and religion. The Creator God will guarantee future world peace (Micah 4:1–3), "for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken" (v. 4). We all look forward to the peace and reconciliation that only the Messiah, Jesus Christ, can bring to the Middle East—and to the whole world. In the meantime, Jesus tells us to watch and pray (Mark 13:33). He exhorts us in verse 37: "And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!"


Tomorrowsworld.org

I like tommorows world , Roderick Meredith tells the truth , for whats going to happen in Israel in the future i would not go till it's over and Christ returns

Would love to do Aliyah but knowing they the cost of living over there is bloody high n am pretty happy to live where iam now hmmm I think I'll think twice to do Aliyah .. It's a big disicion to be make ..
If there is a big disaster in where iam now well I'll concider to do Aliyah but for now am good., biside I have been to Israel .. And I prefer to live where iam now ..