LONDON – More than 100 doctors gathered at the Nefesh B’Nefesh UK MedEx debut in northwest London, in late September, taking a step further into actualizing their goal of making aliyah.
The event took place as part of the International Medical Aliyah Program, aimed at streamlining the aliyah process for doctors and bringing 2,000 Jewish doctors to Israel over the next five years. The program is led by the Aliyah and Integration Ministry, the Health Ministry, and Nefesh B’Nefesh and is supported by the Jewish Agency, the Development of the Negev and Galilee and National Resilience Ministry, the Marcus Foundation, the Gottesman Foundation, and the Jewish Federation of North America.
At the London event, Nefesh B’Nefesh co-founders Tony Gelbart and Rabbi Yehoshua Fass told The Jerusalem Post of the importance of the event in addressing Israel’s impending medical shortage.
“For the last eight years we created MedEx, which helps individuals facilitate and process their licensing even before they become citizens and actually allows them to interview for positions and to arrange employments,” Fass said, noting the success of MedEx, which has been bringing an average of 100 doctors a year to Israel.
“These doctors and their families want to move to Israel, so we’re going to help them facilitate their move to Israel and fulfill their dreams,” Gelbart added.
Fass stated the organization was aiming to help the future olim “thrive and not just survive” in Israel.
“They’ll be able to communicate that message to their family and friends back at home – that this [Israel] is a place to live, and this is not only a viable option, but it’s a dream,” he said.
Dr. Efrat Aflalo, head of the Physicians Directorate at the Aliyah and Integration Ministry, told the Post, “We try to find for everyone the thing that suits them.”
She explained that prior to making aliyah, the initial needs of the doctors were met. They received help with the various documentation accreditations they needed, and could begin learning professional Hebrew. Following their move to Israel, the physicians and their specialties were matched with their future places of employment.
The event placed special import in addressing the shortage of doctors in the Negev and Galilee. Aflalo also noted that doctors who specialize in specific medical fields who were looking to work in the Gaza border communities and Negev and Galilee regions were eligible for incentive grants gathered by the directorate.
Aliyah and Integration Minister in attendance
Aliyah and Integration Minister Ofir Sofer said of the event, “Even in times of war and challenging times for the State of Israel, we are witnessing the interest of dozens of doctors to make aliyah and join the medical system.”
The minister added, “We are indeed seeing a growing increase in aliyah from the UK over the past year, a trend we are actively encouraging and believe will continue to grow.”
Throughout the event, attendees aiming to make aliyah were offered guidance and advice. They were greeted by an array of booths in which representatives from Israel’s various hospitals and health providers explained the employment opportunities and conducted interviews.
In addition, the doctors were able to begin the process of certifying their various documents and transferring their licenses as a first step ahead of making aliyah.
MICHAEL MARKIEWICZ, a London-based pediatrician in his 60s, was looking to move to Israel within the next two years and work with some of the health providers in Israel in the area of Rishon Lezion or Rehovot, where he has family.
He told the Post he had always wanted to make aliyah and had begun the process at the event, which he said had been “easy” and “well organized.”
Markiewicz believes Israel is “the only place for a Jew to live.” He added, “Especially with the way politics are going here. Although I don’t personally feel it, I just feel Jews are not really welcome in this country [the UK]. I feel it’s time.”
He affirmed the war in Israel does not deter him from making aliyah. “If there’s going to be a war anywhere, I’d rather be there than here,” he noted, further stating, “It’s my people.”
A doctor originally from South Africa who specializes in family medicine said he wants to make aliyah within two years and move from London, where he currently resides, to Zichron Ya’acov.
He told the Post that he had been talking to representatives of Terem [a network of urgent care centers in Israel] to explore opportunities of opening a Terem branch in the Zichron area.
He said the event had been “very smooth,” adding: “I’ve managed to get through this whole process within an hour so probably saved myself many months of anguish and pain.”
Among his reasons for making aliyah, he cited growing up as a member of the Bnei Akiva religious-Zionist youth movement and having a “strong Zionist background.”
“I’ve never felt comfortable in this country as an outsider, and I always feel that my home is in Israel,” he said, “regardless of how comfortable our life is here.”
He added, “I think I would be much more fulfilled ultimately living in our country.”
He, too, was undaunted by the current situation in Israel. Noting his “strong religious background,” he stated, “I have a very strong feeling in the future of Eretz Yisrael [the Land of Israel].” According to him, “For Jews,” Israel “will be the only place we can be in, and it will be the safest place to be in. I honestly think I’m safer there today than I am here right now.”
Ayelet Besso-Cowan, a doctor from London in her 20s, recently graduated from medical school and was hoping to move to Israel as soon as next August.
She was undergoing foundation training in the UK and had explored the various employment prospects at the event. Looking to work as an ob-gyn in Israel, Besso-Cowan told the Post that although she dreams of moving to Jerusalem, where her family resides, the location she would live in would ultimately be determined by where she would get a job.
“The information they gave us beforehand was very useful,” she said, “The fact that we had it all in advance made it very easy.” This allowed her to come with the list of the documents required, further expediting the process, which she said for her was quite rapid.
“It’s really great that they’re bringing it [MedEx] to other countries. I always knew they did this” in the US, “and in the back of my mind I was going to go” there, she said, noting “It’s so much easier if everyone is in one room, in one place.”
There are many reasons for her wanting to make aliyah. She grew up with Zionist values and has a strong connection to Israel. In addition, she wants to join her immediate family members, who were all living in Israel, as she had remained by herself in the UK.
“Since October, how comfortable I feel here has gone down a lot,” she said, adding: October 7 had “definitely been a kind of final push” for her to decide to join her family in Israel. “It’s time to make that jump,” she remarked.
Regarding the ongoing war in Israel, she said: “I have had a feeling of what it’s been like in the country.” She had been in Israel in October, and had “been in Jerusalem for every single siren they’ve had apart from one,” including Iran’s attack in April. Her brother was called up to the military, and her cousin was killed in combat earlier in September in the Gaza Strip.
“I have a strong connection to what’s going on” she said. “A lot of people would think it’s a factor to not go,” she observed, adding, “I think for me, the big change is how comfortable I feel.
“I feel much more free to be myself in Israel,” she stated.
MedEx has been operating for the past eight years in North America, with events being held for the first time in France and Argentina earlier this year.
The writer was a guest of Nefesh B’Nefesh.