A total of 7,664 immigrants arrived in Israel during November, the highest monthly total this calendar year.
Immigration from the republics of the former Soviet Union actually dipped a bit, totaling 6,544 arrivals, compared to 6,832 in October and 6,725 in September.
An additional 2,896 Jews from the Soviet successor states arrived in the United States under the government’s refugee program, according to the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society in New York.
Aliyah from the former Soviet Union is less than half what it was last year.
A total of 57,312 Jews from the republics arrived during the first 11 months of 1992, compared to 134,646 for the same period last year, according to figures provided in New York by the Soviet Jewry Research Bureau of the National Conference on Soviet Jewry.
But despite November’s slight decline, aliyah from the republics is clearly well ahead of what it was during the first half of this year, when arrivals averaged 4,500 per month.
Immigration officials here credit the recent upsurge in the overall aliyah level to continued political, social and financial instability in parts of the former Soviet Union and the republics that once constituted Yugoslavia.
While the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the Jewish Agency for Israel have been working together to evacuate “Jews in jeopardy,” officials of both organizations have been reluctant to discuss specifics for fear of endangering the operations.
“We are doing our best to evacuate Jews from trouble spots,” said an official who asked not to be identified, “and that sometimes requires great delicacy and discretion.”
It is no secret, on the other hand, that hundreds of Jews living in Germany have recently requested more information about life in Israel, often with a mind toward aliyah.
“The rise in Nazism and anti-Semitism in Germany and elsewhere in Europe has already had an effect on aliyah,” said Jewish Agency spokesman Guri Grossman.
“In November alone, 50 Jews living in Germany, mostly Israeli yordim, opened aliyah files in preparation for moving to Israel,” he said, using the Hebrew word for Israelis who have left the country.
“Prior to this, only 46 people opened files during the first 10 months 1992,” he said.
Alarmed by the surge in right-wing extremism, the Jewish Agency announced Monday that it plans to send several emissaries to Germany to teach the Jews residing there more about Israel.
Of the estimated 50,000 Jews living in Germany, 10,000 are Israeli born, while 13,000 come from the former Soviet republics.
“There is a lot about Israel that they don’t know, including the prospects for investment and launching a business,” said Grossman. “We’ll make every effort to show them what Israel has to offer.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
