Argentine aliyah spike amid inflation

Country has one of the world’s largest Jewish populations and classes managed by Israel’s Department of Aliyah Promotion saw a 50 percent increase in popularity in 2020.

Record numbers of Argentinian Jews moved to Israel last year, despite the global pandemic and unprecedented border closures – up 26 percent on previous years.

The South American country has one of the world’s largest Jewish populations, estimated at around 300,000, and classes managed by Israel’s Department of Aliyah Promotion saw a 50 percent increase in popularity in 2020.

Although the number of Jews making permanent moves to Israel fell by 40 percent last year, Argentina bucked the trend, with hundreds more making their way to Tel Aviv, having learnt Hebrew beforehand.

Alejandro Mellincovsky, head of Aliyah Promotion in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, told JTA “the performance of [Israel’s] vaccination process and the beginning of the [economic] recovery” helped explain the moves during lockdown.

Analysts suggest other reasons: the increasing nature of Argentina’s economic problems, including high inflation and a 1,200 rise in the number of Jewish families in need of financial assistance in 2020.