How to Prepare for the 'Great Aliyah' from Bnei Brak

The next great wave of Aliyah will be from Bnei Brak to the State of Israel — and the question of whether it will be a blessing and growth or a catastrophe depends on how we understand this event and prepare for it.

To think about this idea, two minutes of history of the previous wave of Aliyah are required: one and a half million Jews immigrated to Israel from the former Soviet Union since the late 80s. Some came for reasons of Zionism and Judaism, but another, larger part, came because the State of Israel asked the US government to block their way to the US. At the same time, Israel prepared with 'absorption baskets' and construction efforts, aggressively channeling them to fulfill the dream of the ingathering of the exiles to make a huge contribution to the economy and society.

This Aliyah indeed brought a great blessing but also created challenges: the status quo regarding religion and state was undermined because a significant part of them held a Jewish national identity but were not Jewish according to Halacha. Also, as is the way with a large Aliyah, there were absorption difficulties and huge cultural gaps.

Why is this history important? Because in the Haredi context, God willing, a Zionist government will be established, and already today, thanks to the Supreme Court, a process of dealing with the existential threat posed by the continued existence of the Haredi autonomy in Israel has begun. The State of Israel has no choice but to create a crisis — a wall that will channel the Haredim, even if not by ideological choice, to immigrate to the country and become citizens with rights and duties.

This wall is primarily economic: a complete denial of public funding for those who refuse to fulfill civil duties. Denial of funding for education that does not allow for employment, and so on. Creating a situation where it is very difficult to live a decent life without taking part in the defense and economy of the country. The second option is the collapse of the 'people's army', a fatal blow to security, and a big question mark over the continued existence of the prosperous economy.

But alongside this, there must be preparation for 'Aliyah absorption'. We need to start thinking about what an 'absorption basket' is for the Haredim. How to connect 'adoptive families'? How to open tracks in pre-military preparatory programs? How to help preserve and nurture the culture without ghettos and alongside the Israelization that must occur? The goal is to reach out to the million young people under the age of 18 and allow them to exit the straits they have fallen into.

Until today, when people talk about 'tracks for Haredim' in the army or academia, the intention is tracks controlled by Haredi parties, whose main goal is the preservation of Haredi autonomy. Aliyah absorption is something completely different. Its goal is to help them preserve what they want — religiously and culturally — but within the Israeli Jewish democratic context.

Like in the Russian Aliyah, where Germany competed with Israel by offering open doors, here too the Jewish-democratic Israel has competition: Itamar Ben Gvir and organizations from the Hardali public are acting to 'absorb' members of Haredi society. If they are the winners, it will be a huge loss. The Haredi Aliyah can bring a great blessing to the Jewish-democratic State of Israel, as long as we are wise enough to reach out alongside building the wall.