Israel Matzav

Come to Israel, come stay with friends

Israel's tourism ministry used to run a series of commercials whose theme song was 'come to Israel, come stay with friends." Now, Israeli tourism has a new pitch: escaping the recession in the United States.

Burdetsky decided to escape the dire economic situation back home, by coming to Israel on a program that offers Jews free housing, Hebrew classes, training, and work experience - all of which translate into temporary financial respite.

As the unemployment rate in the U.S. climbed to a 26-year high of 10.2 percent last month, growing numbers of young and adult American Jews were arriving in Israel to inexpensively "wait out" the economic lull.

In an attempt to lure Diaspora Jews to make Israel their permanent home, the Israeli government and Jewish organizations offer a multitude of scholarships and travel grants, allowing many to spend up to six months in Israel almost for free.

The key aim is to safeguard a Jewish majority in a country where Arab citizens make up 20 percent of the population. In 2008, some 15,400 Jews immigrated to Israel, of whom 3,200 came from North America.

MASA, which means journey in Hebrew, oversees 160 such programs. It has seen the number of participants double and even quadruple this year, especially among those aged 21 to 30.

Participation in Burdetsky's hotel management internship scheme jumped from 10 last year to 55 this year.

And that's not even counting all the lawyers whose start dates were deferred by years, who are now sitting and learning in yeshiva in Israel.

What do you know? Obama is encouraging aliya.

Heh.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:45 AM