Israel: A History

10 | The Great Aliya: Mass Immigration

222 10 THE GREAT ALIYA MASS IMMIG| aTION * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The phenomenon that had the most profound long-term ramifications for shaping the image of Israel was the immigration that occurred in waves during the state’s first two decades. Particularly significant was the wave that arrived during its first three years. For decades this aliya was known as ‘‘the mass aliya,’’ but recently the custom has taken hold of calling it ‘‘the great aliya,’’ as if the word mass implied a somewhat derogatory attitude. The sensitivity toward the character of this aliya revealed by that change in nomenclature hints both at the immigrants’ sense of deprivation and humiliation and at an attempt to conciliate and bring them closer, to heal the wounds of the past. This mass immigration was an enterprise of vast proportions undertaken by a new regime intoxicated by the knowledge that it now held the reins of power and believing it could realize all its dreams. At the same time, this enterprise was a painful example of lack of consideration for human need, giving the benefit of the collective priority over the welfare of the individual, and belief in the power of ideology to shape a new human and a new nation. The wave of immigrants that inundated Israel as early as 1948–1949 was dubbed ‘‘a cloudburst.’’ In the Middle East rain is a blessing, but a cloudburst can also bring devastation. During the heroic illegal immigration struggle, the main Zionist slogan had been ‘‘free immigration.’’ Now that vision was coming to pass; immigrants were reaching the Jewish state. But it abruptly became clear that despite the intense expectation and the rhetorical anticipations of the arrival of this aliya, no one was actually prepared for the tremendous mass of humanity pouring into the country. The first to arrive were from the displaced persons camps in Germany, the survivors of European Jewry who, after nine years of war, wandering, su√ering, and the loss of family and home, now hoped they had found a permanent haven. In addition the British now opened the gates of the detention camps in Cyprus where illegal immigrants intercepted on their way to Palestine were held, and all the detainees came to Israel. As this group took their first steps in the country, the Bulgarian government granted exit permits to its Jewish citizens. Bulgaria was a member of the Communist bloc, which was already closed o√ to Western Europe by the Iron Curtain. The Jews of the ussr had been denied the right to leave the country since the 1920s, and every exit permit from an Eastern bloc country was considered an irrevocable opportunity. Now, with no prior warning, an entire the great aliya 223 community—its leaders, its young and old—was about to immigrate to Israel. Obviously they could not be told, ‘‘Wait a while!’’ The same urgent need to snatch an opportunity that might never be repeated existed in Poland and Romania. The governments of both these countries were completely unpredictable; one day they allowed people to leave, the next day leaving was prohibited, the day after— allowed again. Memories of the war and what followed, of murder and pogroms perpetrated by local populations, were still fresh in the minds of immigrants and Israelis alike. The Yishuv leaders’ feelings of guilt and helplessness during World War Two regarding the Jewish catastrophe in Europe were now channeled into a broad national consensus. Waiting was out of the question. All Eastern European Jews who wanted to leave and could leave must be brought to Israel. There were other communities of Jews as well who faced danger at home and sought to immigrate to a country of their own. Throughout the Middle East and North Africa, relations between Muslims and Jews had been strained, especially since the establishment of the Jewish state and the War of Independence. In Egypt, Iraq, and Yemen tensions rose between Jews and their neighbors due to hostility from both the government and the street. The tradition of aliya to the Holy Land had brought the Jews of Yemen to Palestine in a thin trickle since the time of the First Aliya. Now they came in thousands. From small, remote townships in the mountains where they felt especially vulnerable, and from Sana¢a and other cities, they streamed into Aden, the British colony at the tip of the Arabian Peninsula. The British agreed to allow the Yemenite Jews to remain in Aden on condition that the...