I just called the Israel Aliyah Center, at 212-339-6063, and left a message, requesting to meet with a Shaliach (or whoever is supposed to meet with me) to plan my Aliyah. Hopefully they’ll get back to me soon, so I can start the process.
To clarify: the Jewish Agency For Israel is a quasi-governmental organization that handles some of the responsibilities associated with a government (actually, before 1948 the Jewish Agency served as a sort of shadow government for the Jewish people). From what I can tell, though, it’s involved largely in fundraising and perpetuating its own bureaucracy, and I am still unable to delineate the division of responsibilities between the Jewish Agency and the World Zionist Organization.
Immigration to Israel from other countries is usually coordinated through Jewish Agency offices. I’ve never quite figured out the reason for this, or even why the Jewish Agency still exists. I think some of it might have to do with Israel’s fear of being accused of encouraging Jews to leave their countries of origin. Of course that’s the whole raison d’etre of Israel, but apparently Israelis won’t say it openly because they’re afraid of rejection. So because they don’t want to promote Aliyah, they pretend not to care, assign the task to the Jewish Agency instead of the government, and make prospective Olim (immigrants) try to figure out what to do on their own. While I suppose the Jewish Agency is useful in dealing with countries that don’t have official relations with Israel, with regards to American Jewry its ambivalence just makes a stressful situation more ambiguous. Take my case: I’ve known for years that I intend to make Aliyah, and I’ve never been shy to talk about it, even with various Jewish Agency employees on several occasions. But somehow no one ever told me the first step. I’ve seen lots of Aliyah pamphlets, but never one that says “If you want to move to Israel, call such-and-such a phone number and ask to speak with so-and-so.” So I’m calling the Israel Aliyah Center, leaving messages, not sure for whom I should leave the message – instead of them taking the initiative and calling me! No wonder so few Jews ever consider Aliyah!
At any rate, the Jewish Agency offers certain benefits to Olim, as does Israel’s Ministry of Immigrant Absorption. And a Shaliach is an “emissary” of the Jewish Agency, whose job it is essentially to promote Aliyah and guide Olim through the process.
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