Aliya: Three Generations of American-Jewish Immigration to Israel

By Liel Leibovitz

Book Overview

a.li.ya," "n., also "aliyah." pl. "aliyas "or "aliyot."The immigration of Jews into Israel. Why would American Jews---not just materially successful in this country but perhaps for the first time in the two-thousand-year Jewish Diaspora truly socially accepted and at home---choose to leave the material comforts, safety, and peace of the United States for the uncertainty and violence of Israel? Still, aliya is a phenomenon that affects all American Jews. Understanding this phenomenon means understanding what is arguably the fundamental question of American Jewry; it is that question that Liel Leibovitz sets out to answer in "Aliya."""Leibovitz focuses on the stories of three generations of immigrants. Marlin and Betty Levin, searching for excitement and ideology, traveled to Palestine before Israel was even created. There, with Marlin working as a reporter and Betty volunteering with the Jewish underground movement, the two witnessed the bloody birth of the Jewish state. Two decades later, Mike Ginsberg, overcome with awe at the heroic Jews who fought for their country in the l967 war, immigrated as well and was involved in much of Israel's tumultuous history, including the Yom Kippur War. He was a member of Kibbutz Misgav Am during the famous terrorist attach on the infants' nursery there, and he helped repel numerous waves of terrorists attacks on his kibbutz. Finally, Danny and Sharon Kalker and their children left their home in Queens, New York, to move to a West Bank settlement in 2001, during one of the most unsettled phases in Israel's existence. With a keen writer's eye and unfeigned passion for his subject, Leibovitz explores the fears, hopes, and dreams of the American-Jewish immigrants to Israel and the journey they undertook, a journey that lies at the very heart of what it means to be a Jew."

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312315155
• ISBN13: 9780312315153
• Release Date: December 2005
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 267 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.6" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Couldn't put it down -- even when I had to!

As a struggling nonprofit employee with piles of student loan debt, I often roam the aisles of Barnes & Noble seeking out quality books that I can request from the library. This book not only jumped off the shelves at me, but kept me coming back to B & N for three consecutive days to finish it. It was excellent. Well-written. Captivating.

superbly written...not just for a jewish audience

I picked up this book in a recent quest to learn more about Israel, the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict, and the unique relationship that Americans (Jews and non-Jews alike) have with the region. I had heard wonderful things from friends about Leibovitz's journalistic style, and was intriqued by his topic. I couldn't have been more pleased with Aliya. Leibovitz paints a vivid portrait of the complex emotions and issues which have been at play in Israel since its creation--through the lens of three separate American Jews in three separate eras who chose to make Aliya and emigrate from the States. In reading, one can't help but ask the same question Leibovitz seems to ask on every page of the book: Why? What would posess these men to uproot themselves and, in some cases, their families and move to a land rife with violence and teeming with conflict that will likely never be resolved? What is it about this place that calls so primally to the men and women who move there that they can endure bombings and gunfire and hatred? Is it an example of our endless quest for the greener grass on the other side of the fence? Or is it honestly so profound that it can't be comprehended by such a simple mind as my own? Leibovitz does not pretend to know the answers...and instead leaves it up to his readers to divine them on their own.

an eye-opening look into the history of israel through the stories of people who desire to be a part

Despite being a non-isreali-non-jewish-non-immigrant, Aliya provided a host of characters I could identify with. I was surprised how frequently I understood their motivations, despite these motivations sometimes being based on something as intangible as unbridled desire. Of course, I also found myself growing irritated with some of the characters and their "Fievel Goes West" attitude ("There are no cats in Israel!"). But that's the beauty of this book. I really did learn a lot, and was pleasantly surprised to find that many different people make Aliya for many different reasons. Rather than beat you over the head with "The Answer," these stories bring you close to the people who made this journey, which is really the only way one might begin to understand why they did it in the first place.

Aliya, Three Generations of American-Jewish Immigration to Israel. By Liel Leibovitz

For anyone who's wondered why a person, or a family, would pick up and move to Israel, or for anyone contemplating such a move, "Aliya" by Liel Leibovitz, is an excellent investment of a few hours. It might even take less time than that, since "Aliya" is a hard book to put down. Leibovitz tells of a couple from "The Greatest Generation", a Baby Boomer, and a family with young children. He lets his subjects tell their stories, warts and all. They are stories of passion, and idealism, and of frustration and heartbreak. They illustrate the clarion call the Holy Land still sends to a people that has endured millennia in exile, to return home. Interestingly, these new Israelis don't leave their American heritage behind. During an Israel Independence Day barbecue the participants observe that their celebration in May feels a great deal like the Fourth of July. Some habits die hard.

An inspirational read!

ALIYA by Liel Leibovitz is an incredible exploration of the ideals and values that propelled three Jewish-American families to move from the United States to Israel. It examines how these ideologies apply to the American-Jewish community at large and how they have changed with each generation. Illuminated by Leibovitz's masterful prose, Israel comes alive anew in each section of the book. Moreover, as Leibovitz traces "aliya" from the 1940s to the present, he vividly describes the experience of moving to Israel, with all the requisite joys and challenges, and his compelling storytelling draws readers in to each character's story. This marvelous book is an essential and enlightening record of Israel and American Jewry, and it is a must-have for every history buff.