JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Jewish Agency and Israel’s Ministry of Immigrant Absorption issued revised figures for aliyah from North America for 2013.
According to a statement issued on Wednesday, there was a discrepancy in the number of North American immigrants projected on Dec. 29, 2013, which showed an 11 percent decline in aliyah from the United States and Canada, and the actual figure, which showed that aliyah levels remained at basically the same level for 2012 and 2013.
According to Ministry of Aliyah and Immigrant Absorption data, 3,108 individuals immigrated to Israel from the United States and 396 emigrated from Canada in 2013, a total of 3,504 olim, or immigrants, from North America. By comparison, in 2012, a total of 3,557 olim arrived from North America.
In a letter to Nefesh B’ Nefesh Executive Director, Rabbi Yehoshua Fass, Sofa Landver, Israel’s Minister of Aliyah and Immigration Absorption, praised the organization for its efforts in encouraging aliyah from the United States and Canada.
“Your organization’s admirable activities and efforts in encouraging aliyah have made an invaluable contribution to Israel,” Landver wrote.
She added: “This year we will be required to assist Jewish immigration from Europe and it is vital that we begin preparing for it immediately.”
The most dramatic increase in aliyah in 2013 came from France, with 3,120 immigrants, a 63 percent increase over the previous year.
More than 19,000 Jews made aliyah in 2013.
