Aliyah, in Hebrew, means "ascent" or "going up". About three and a half million Jews immigrated to Israel from 1919 until now.

First Aliyah (1882-1903) Jews immigrated mostly from Russia, Second Aliyah (1904–1914) 40,000 mostly from Russia, Third Aliyah (1919–1923) 40,000 mostly from Russia, Fourth Aliyah (1924-1929) mostly from Poland and Hungary, Fifth Aliyah (1929–1939) 250,000 mostly from Eastern Europe.

Aliyah Bet: Illegal immigration (1933–1948) 110,000 mostly from Poland and Eastern Europe. After the state was formed (1948-1950) 500,000 Jews immigrated. In the years (1952-1960) 300,000 immigrated, (1961-1970) 430,000, (1971-1980) 270,000, (1980-1990) 155,000, (1991-2000) 950,000 mostly from the former USSR, (2001-2010) 188,000.

It literally means gathering of the Exiles

a-li-yot (pl.)

The 16th Zionist Congress created the Jewish Agency in Zurich in 1929 with the goal of settling as many Jewish people in Palestine. The Jewish Agency organized all immigration to Israel before Israel became a state. After the establishment of Israel it continued to organize and support the immigration of Jews from the Diaspora while the Ministry of Absorption is responsible for the new immigrants’ absorption into Israel.

The Ministry of Absorption is responsible for helping all new immigrants to Israel.

ola hadasha (fem.), olim hadashim (male pl.), olot hadashot (fem. pl.).

The Absorption Basket is a package of financial assistance benefits that are designed to help ease the initial arrangements of the new immigrants. It includes living expenses, payments for the ulpan study (6 months), rent for the first twelve months in Israel and other benefits.

The new immigrants have rights under the Israeli law to receive benefits from the state in the form of an Absorption Basket to help them assimilate into the country.

An ulpan is an intensive study center for Hebrew in Israel. It's designed to teach Hebrew (in about 500 hours) and the culture to adult new immigrants and to build a shared identity so they can be integrated quickly and successfully into the Israeli society. The ulpan was created in 1948 when a great number of new immigrants arrived to Israel from all over the world. These immigrants brought different cultures, languages and economic status and needed to be assimilated quickly into the Israeli state. The modern ulpan uses advanced methods and audio-visual aids. The ulpan serves new immigrants for about five months to prepare them for employment. The Kibbutz Ulpan is a program in 15 Kibbutzim combining Hebrew language study with living and working in the Kibbutz. ool-pa-nim (pl.)

limoodey ivrit (pl.).