A daunting task: The Aliyah 100

At this time when we celebrate the moment  a non-Jewish British politician planted the seeds of the State of Israel, but what has British Jewry’s contribution been? That’s what the Jewish News-Jewish Agency Aliyah 100, in association with UJIA, seeks to celebrate.

While there have been great donors and builders, we wanted to take this moment to celebrate those who have made Aliyah Nimshechet (ongoing aliyah), a key value for  Zionist youth movements.  To quote FZY, Aliyah Nimshechet means “moving to Israel and continuing to do good for the state”. Many of those who have made aliyah spent their formative years in Zionist youth movements.

Coming up with a list of just 100 and ranking them was a tough test. 

Get The Jewish News Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign Up

What should be the criteria? The panel decided that both impact on Israel and also the wider world could be considered. The panel came up with a wide set of categories and challenged themselves to find people in each of those categories. You can judge how we did by looking at the sub-lists by category.

READ MORE:

•  The Aliyah 100 List
• Top 30 posthumous: Gone, but never forgotten… 
• OPINION – Mark Regev: Reflecting on Balfour’s aims, 100 years on

As soon as we started getting nominations, we knew we had to balance those living with those no longer with us.   We fixed on 70 living [a nod to Israel’s next birthday] and 30 no longer with us and publish them here as two individual lists. We knew they had to be Jewish, although some great nominations were made for non-Jews who played a vital part in the development of Israel  including Allenby, Wingate, Balfour himself and many modern-day Christian Zionists. They had to have left Britain for Israel (Palestine). 

They did not have to be born in the UK or Ireland but had to have lived here for a considerable time, before leaving for Israel (Palestine). Ireland was part of the UK at the time of the Balfour Declaration, so we felt it right to include Eire in our deliberations.

There are so many British Jews, who have worked tirelessly for Israel but continue to live in the UK. We decided that would not make them eligible for consideration. Panel members could be nominated but would have to withdraw before the meeting if they were to be considered for the list.  It should be noted that a number of the panel were nominated – Michael Wegier, Jane Biran, Melanie Sobell-Zaken and Sarah Mali. If they had chosen to step down they would have easily made the list.  The panel agreed, however, to include Yos Tarshish on the Next Generation list even though he was not considered for the main list.

There are many non-Brits who have impacted on UK Jewry through their work in Israel.  We decided they were not eligible. This led to us exclude Marty Davis zl among others.

People who went to study in Israel or tourists who died while there were not eligible, which led to the exclusion of the remarkable Yoni Jesner zl among others.

Those no longer with us was much easier than those living. The top three – Abba Eban, Chaim Weizmann and Chaim Herzog – were well clear.  However, the panel faced a long discussion in deciding their order. 

While the list of 30 we settled on are very strong, I have now idea how we could have omitted Louis Rabinowitz (deputy editor of Encyclopaedia Judiaca and deputy mayor of Jerusalem), Zerach Barnett (one of the founders of Petach Tikvah and Meah Shearim), Moshe Ze’ev Feldman (former Knesset member), David Saloman (Mossad spy who helped catch Adolf Eichmann), Moshe Pearlman (first military spokesman of Israel), Simcha Wilnitz (Orde Wingate’s aide and later a major in the IDF) and Charlie Nomis (builder of HaShomer Hatzair in the UK who died in the 1948 war of Independence). More than 20 British Jews fell in 1948 and, while many were nominated, only Esther Cailingold is on the final list.

In a similar way the top four of the living list divided the panel. It was very close between them before the panel finally came to an agreement.

Those in Israel were much more aware of spokespeople such as Peter Lerner while Daniel Taub being ambassador to the UK gave him much greater exposure than other similar figures. 

It is good to know that British Jews that have made aliyah continue to make a major contribution to this day and will do for years to come.

So far this is a unique project but we pass the baton to other Jewish communities to create their own list – and perhaps, ultimately, an international one.

Andrew Gilbert – Aliyah 100 panel chairman

Name and role

• Alan Aziz –  US director of development and former director of the ZF and JNF
• Hugo Bieber – Chief executive, UK Israel Business
• Jane Biran – Author and campaigner in UK and Israel
• Justin Cohen –  News editor and co-publisher, Jewish News
• Sir Trevor Chinn – British Jewish community leader
• Richard Ferrer – Editor and co-publisher, Jewish News
• Andrew Gilbert –  Panel chair. Trustee, London Jewish Forum and chair UJIA UK Programme Committee
• Rael Goodman –  Head of UK delegation, Jewish Agency
• Alan Hoffman – CEO, Jewish Agency
• Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner –  Senior Rabbi to Reform Judaism
• Sarah Mali –   Director, Leadership Portfolio at the Jewish Agency
• Arieh Miller – Executive Director, Zionist Federation
• Lady Ruth Morris –  British Jewish community leader
• Naomi Nevies – Chair, One Family
• Ella Rose – Director, JLM. Former UJS president
• Dina Shiloh –   Partner, Gallant Maxwell
• Yael Simon –  Strategic adviser at the RCT
• Raymond Simonson –  Chief executive, JW3
• Yos Tarshish – Vice President of WJC and chair of WUJS
• Michael Wegier – Chief executive, UJIA
• Mel Sobell-Zaken – Senior professional at the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
• Ben Crome – Aliyah 100 supplement biography writer

Support your Jewish community. Support your Jewish News

Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.

For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.

Read more

Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.

You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.

100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...

Engaging

Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.

Celebrating

There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.

Pioneering

In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.

Campaigning

Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.

Easy access

In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.

Voice of our community to wider society

The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.

We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.

Help us here