New immigrants arrive in Israel on July 4, 2017, on a flight chartered by the Nefesh B’Nefesh aliyah agency. Credit: Shahar Azran/Nefesh B’Nefesh.

JNS.org – Nefesh B’Nefesh (NBN), in cooperation with Israel’s Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, the Jewish Agency for Israel, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael and JNF-USA, helped nearly 4,000 North American olim move to Israel this year, NBN announced on Tuesday.

The olim who arrived in 2022 practice a wide range of occupations, most prominently in the fields of health care (an estimated 97 physicians made aliyah in 2022 from North America), law, education and finance. Additionally, 214 young people will serve as lone soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces, in the country without close relatives who can help them.

“It is an incredible privilege for us to continue to assist thousands of olim annually and watch them make valuable contributions and strengthen the country by building their new homes in Israel,” said NBN Co-Founder and Executive Director Rabbi Yehoshua Fass. “For the past 20 years, we have proudly served as the center for North American Jews on their journeys to Israel, and we will continue to accompany and support many more generations as they make their Zionist dreams a reality.”

Those who made aliyah this year with the help of NBN include 1,424 families, 907 children, 981 single men and women, and 697 retirees. They are among thousands more who immigrated to the Jewish state in 2022.

“The tens of thousands of new olim to Israel this year will help fortify the State of Israel as well as bolster its social and economic future,” said Maj. Gen. (res.) Doron Almog, chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel. “I thank Nefesh B’Nefesh and the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration for their deep commitment to North American aliyah and for all their efforts in successfully integrating the newcomers into the country.”

Almog added that the Jewish Agency would continue to work in partnership with NBN, the ministry and additional aliyah organizations to help integrate new olim from around the world into Israeli society.

Minister of Aliyah and Integration Pnina Tamano-Shata said, “Thanks to the fruitful cooperation between Nefesh B’Nefesh and the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration as well as additional aliyah organizations, we are concluding an exceptional and blessed year of aliyah, one of which has not been witnessed in many years.

“I thank Nefesh B’Nefesh for all their dedication to new immigrants from North America and for their continuous activity on behalf of these olim, and in addition for their cooperation and willingness to assist with the Ukrainian newcomers,” Tamano-Shata said.

As part of NBN’s “Go Beyond” initiative that is run in partnership with Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael to encourage aliyah to Israel’s peripheral regions and Jerusalem, 436 olim settled in the Negev and the Galilee while 1,100 made the capital their home. Other top destinations include Tel Aviv, Beit Shemesh, Haifa, Netanya, Ra’anana and Afula.