Holy Travel
American Jews are returning to Israel in record numbers.
RACHEL POMERANCE
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
r
New York
or the past decade, members of Shaare Shalom, a
Persian synagogue in Great Neck, N.Y., have trav-
eled en masse to Miami each Passover. This year,
, however, synagogue members are going to Israel to
combine the springtime holiday with bar mitzvah celebra-
tions at the Western Wall in Jerusalem-for children in the
community.
"It's like a solidarity trip," said Robert Hakimi, a jeweler in
Manhattan's diamond district whose son, Kevin, is among
those having a bar mitzvah.
The group hopes to make Passover in Israel a new tradi-
tion. Already, 200 of them have made reservation for the hol-
iday at an Eilat resort, Hakimi said.
The Persian posse may be a dramatic example of a tourism
revival in Israel this Passover, but they're not alone. The
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit's Michigan
Miracle Mission 4 will be in Israel April 18-28 with 579 par-
ticipants.
Two years after the so-called Passover massacre — when a
suicide bomber killed 30 people at a seder at a Netanya hotel
and changed the course of the intifada by proMpting the
return of Israel's military to the West Bank — Israeli officials
report a serious upswing in travel to Israel for Passover.
That expectation remained even in the aftermath of Israel's
March 22 killing of Hamas leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin, as
Israelis braced for reprisal attacks by Hamas. The U.S. State
Department renewed its Israel travel advisory the day after
the assassination, urging U.S. citizens to delay travel to Israel,
noting a high potential for further terrorist attacks since
Hamas has "threatened revenge against Israel and U.S. inter-
ests."
But there does not appear to be a rash of cancellations, and
few revenge attacks. "Thank God, its still overbooking in
Pesach," Israel's tourism minister, Benny Elon, said last week.
Elon is having trouble finding availability at a Dead Sea
resort for his own family this Passover.
Showing Solidarity
Because tourism to the Jewish state nowadays is rooted in
"kinship," Passover travel plans have not changed, Elon said.
Gil Travel, a Philadelphia-based agency that specializes in
Israel, reported only a few inquiries about cancellation poli-
cies. Indeed, Shaare Shalom's Hakimi said his group is only
"more inspired" to show solidarity with Israel "in the midst of
all this actions."
Passover is considered a high season of Israel travel, but
officials say the holiday demand this year reflects a general
trend of U.S. Jews returning to Israel as acts of solidarity.
"Tourism to Israel is up in a tremendous way," said Rarni
Levy, Israel's tourism ambassador to North and South
America.
In fact, 2003 broke an all-time record in American Jewish
tourism to Israel, Levy said. Some 221,000 American Jews
visited Israel last year, he said. General tourism to Israel is
down, however.
Slightly more than 1 million people visited Israel in
2003. That's up at least 25 percent from 2002 but down
from its peak in 1999, when 2.7 million visited the
Jewish state, Israel's Tourism Ministry said.
The increase in U.S. Jewish travel comes from close
coordination between Israel's Tourism Ministry and
American Jewish synagogues and groups, Levy said. For
example, the North American Jewish federation system
held its annual General Assembly in Israel last year,
drawing 4,300 North Americans.
Synagogues also have distributed pledge cards and rab-
bis have delivered sermons encouraging Israel travel. To
sustain the trend, Israel's Tourism Ministry has appointed
a coordinator for 475 tourism committees within
American synagogues.
The effort seems to be working.
Susan Blum, manager of the Israel Department of Gil
Travel, partly attributes the increase to Israeli prodding.
"One of the ads that the Israel Ministry of Tourism had
•last year was 'Make your pledge to go back to Israel next
year for 2004,"' she said. "Well, it's 2004 now, and it
looks like people are living up to their pledges."
"We're doing quotations left and right for synagogues,"
she said. "It's really, really rejuvenating."
While Israel's Tourism Ministry will not tally its
records until the end of April, there are several signs that
tourism this Passover will surpass previous years.
Continental Airlines has added seven flights to Israel
each week in April, and El Al has added a host of new
flights to accommodate demand, Levy said.
Blum figures that Passover travel will climb 30-40 per-
cent this year but says those levels are still 30 percent
below what they were before the intifada.
High Demand
At TotallyJewishTravel.com , "what we noticed was a
major increase in people inquiring about Pesach in Israel,
compared to last year," CEO Raphi Bloom said. "Hotels
in Israel who advertise with us were selling out five to six
weeks before Pesach, and even if a hotel has room left,
flights are increasingly hard to find."
Bloom noted that 70 percent of his site's users are
North American.
Bloom ascribes the increased interest to a calmer secu-
rity situation in Israel coupled with the end of major
hostilities in Iraq. Others say people simply are getting
used to the ongoing intifada or feel inspired to show soli-
darity with a Jewish state still under siege.
"More people want to get more involved in showing
solidarity with Israel, and Passover's a great time to
come," said Rabbi Isroel Chanin, head of hospitality
services for Chabad-Lubavitch in Jerusalem.
The number of e-mails and phone calls he receives
inquiring about arrangements for Passover has doubled,
Rabbi Chanin said. This April, he has booked 15 b'nai
mitzvah at the Western Wall, triple his usual bookings
for this time of year.
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