From Iran to New York - and now to Ra'anana: Why did the affluent community leave everything right now?
Families from the Iranian-American community in New York have immigrated to Israel and settled in Ra'anana. Couples Yosef and Tracy, and Eitan and Talia Cohen, left established careers and comfortable lives out of Zionism and religious conviction, and after antisemitism in the US following October 7 made the dream more urgent. The community aliyah, accompanied by the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration and the Israela association, includes nine families who prepared for about a year and a half.
Nine families from the Mashhadi Iranian-Jewish community in New York immigrated to Israel in the summer of 2026 and settled in Ra'anana. Couples Yosef and Tracy, and Eitan and Talia Cohen, left established careers (management in the jewelry field, mathematics teaching, computer engineering) and comfortable lives alongside extended family. They emphasize that the decision did not stem from unhappiness or escape, but from a Zionist and religious desire to pass on a Jewish heritage to their children in a place where Judaism is not a minority identity. The turning point came after October 7 and the antisemitism they saw in the US, which turned 'someday' into 'now'. The aliyah was led by the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration and the Israela association, in partnership with Hamizrachi, the Jewish Agency, KKL-JNF, JNF-USA, and Nefesh B'Nefesh. The families underwent about a year and a half of comprehensive preparation including familiarization with the education system, Hebrew studies, employment, and bureaucracy. The Director General of the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, Dganit Senkar-Langa, identifies a tectonic shift in US Jewry regarding aliyah, with a tens of percent increase in antisemitic incidents. Minister Ofir Sofer welcomed the move as 'a powerful Zionist statement'. In November, 16 additional families from the same community are expected to arrive for a study tour.