The Jewish community in France includes nearly half a million people -- it is the second largest Jewish community outside of Israel. Most French Jews today come from families that immigrated from North Africa about 50 years ago. At that time, when France withdrew from its colonies in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, families were split between those moving to Israel and those moving to France. This Jewish community is characterized by its great love for Israel and deep identification with it. In recent years, Jewish existence in France has become increasingly complicated. Alongside the sharp rise in anti-Semitic incidents, including the murderous attacks at the Ozar Hatorah Jewish day school in Toulouse and the Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket in Paris, there is also the growing question of France's national identity. And, facing all these uncertainties, more and more Jews are wondering whether there is a future for the Jewish people in France. As with any question, the Jews do not have a single, unified answer here either. There are those who claim it is their duty to remain strong as Jews in France, to deal with the problems as citizens of that country and to take an active role in the public discourse; there are those who believe that France was only a station a long the way to Israel and that the time has come to move to Israel; and there are those who believe their children only have a future outside of France. Over the last decade, 35,000 Jews have moved from France to Israel -- 20,000 of them in the last three years. We must remember that immigration from France is a choice and not a forced escape. The reasons for making aliyah (moving to Israel) are very individual and personal. Even if the violent anti-Semitic incidents exert influence, other factors also play an important role: Ties to Israel and to family that has already settled here, a feeling of belonging to Israel and the Zionist enterprise, the desire to provide a future free of fear and identity complexes for one's children, and the range of opportunities that would allow for personal and economic development. The atmosphere among the Jewish community in France is very tense following the recent attacks -- and even when the attacks have not specifically targeted Jews, like at the Bataclan theater or on the boardwalk in Nice, they still bring on difficult feelings. But we must remember that many French people, Jews and non-Jews, have been leaving France in recent years and putting roots down in other countries, primarily for economic reasons. And there you have it, thousands of Jews are choosing to come specifically to Israel, when the whole world is open to them. On the plane that arrived Wednesday with about 200 new immigrants from France, there were doctors, pharmacists, accountants and engineers. All of them could have sought their destiny anywhere overseas, but they chose to come to Israel. They simply want to tie their lives to ours, their fate to the fate of the national enterprise of the Jewish people. These ties are the ties of Zionism, and they are an integral part of our lives here in this land. Daniel Ben-Haim is the head of the Jewish Agency delegation to France.
Making aliyah by choice
מערכת היום
מערכת "היום“ מפיקה ומעדכנת תכנים חדשותיים, מבזקים ופרשנויות לאורך כל שעות היממה. התוכן נערך בקפדנות, נבדק עובדתית ומוגש לציבור מתוך האמונה שהקוראים ראויים לעיתונות טובה יותר - אמינה, אובייקטיבית ועניינית.
