I have been thinking about making aliyah (moving to Israel) for many years. I have been yearning to make the move more and more. The only thing that is really holding me in the galut (exile) is my parents. If I can convince them to immigrate, then I will go sooner. If not, then I must stay here for their sakes. That being said, I am applying for my passport (no, I’ve never had nor needed one) and then I will talk to NBN about opening a case.
I would prefer to live somewhere in the north of Israel – as close to the Golan as possible. I have been looking at various cities/communities and these are the ones (in no particular order) I am considering the most.
In Biblical times, the Golan Heights was referred to as “Bashan;” the word “Golan” apparently derives from the biblical city of “Golan in Bashan,” (Deuteronomy 4:43, Joshua 21:27). The area was assigned to the tribe of Manasseh (Joshua 13:29-31). In early First Temple times (953-586 BCE), the area was contested between the northern Jewish kingdom of Israel and the Aramean kingdom based on Damascus. King Ahab of Israel (reigned c. 874-852 BCE) defeated Ben-Hadad I of Damascus near the site of Kibbutz Afik in the southern Golan (I Kings 20:26-30), and the prophet Elisha prophesied that King Jehoash of Israel (reigned c. 801-785 BCE) would defeat Ben-Hadad III of Damascus, also near Kibbutz Afik (11 Kings 13:17). In the late 6th and 5th centuries BCE, the region was settled by returning Jewish exiles from Babylonia (modern Iraq). In the mid 2nd century BCE, Judah Maccabee and his brothers came to the aid of the local Jewish communities when the latter came under attack from their non-Jewish neighbors (I Maccabees 5). Judah Maccabee’s grandnephew, the Hasmonean King Alexander Jannai (reigned 103-76 BCE) later added the Heights to his kingdom. The Greeks referred to the area as “Gaulanitis”, a term also adopted by the Romans, which led to the current application of the word “Golan” for the entire area. Gamla became the Golan’s chief city and was the area’s last Jewish stronghold to resist the Romans during the Great Revolt, falling in the year 67 (see Josephus, The Jewish War, Chap. 13, Penguin edition). Despite the failure of the revolt, Jewish communities on the Heights continued, and even flourished; the remains of no less than 25 synagogues from the period between the revolt and the Islamic conquest in 636 have been excavated. (Several Byzantine monasteries from this period have also been excavated on the Heights.) The decisive battle in which the Arabs under Caliph Omar, crushed the Byzantines and established Islamic control over what is now Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, was fought in the Yarmouk Valley, on the southern edge of the Heights, in August 636. Organized Jewish settlement on the Golan came to an end at this time. (source)
The Golan Heights were re-captured in 1967 at the end of the war. Jewish communities began to flourish there almost immediately. So, why am I interested in the Golan Heights (other than the fact that they are part of the Jewish homeland and a strategic necessity in Israel’s ongoing battles with the terrorists)? Well, since I do plan on making aliyah at some point, I have been thinking about where I would want to settle. I have decided that I want to settle in or very near the Golan.