how to say “to make aliyah” in Hebrew

לַעֲשׂוֹת עֲלִיָּה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/עליה-1.mp3″ /]

Outside of Israel, getting called up to the Torah is called getting an aliyah. That last word is pronounced – at least in Ashkenazi communities – ah-LEE-yah, so that it sounds different from the word that means immigration to Israel – עליה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/עליה-2.mp3″ /]- aliyah.

To an Israeli, however, these two words sound the same – because they’re the same word. It means ascent: those who get called to read the Torah “ascend” – often physically up the stairs, and also symbolically, spiritually. And those who immigrate to Israel “ascend” to the land that is described in the Talmud (Kiddushin 69B) as גבוה* מכל הארצות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/עליה-3.mp3″ /] – higher up (spiritually) than all the lands.

To a native English speaker, the word עליה in Modern-Hebrew pronunciation is unambiguous: it refers to coming to live in Israel. But to a native Hebrew speaker, עליה could refer to immigration to Israel, the synagogue practice or an ascent to the highway.

If you’ve made aliyah, how do you communicate this to an Israeli, in Hebrew?

You’d use a variation of לעשות עליה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/עליה-4.mp3″ /], which means literally to make aliyah, such as:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/עליה-5.mp3″ /]עשיתי עליה.

I’ve made aliyah.

You could also get specific enough by saying עליתי לארץ[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/עליה-6.mp3″ /] – literally, I ascended to the country. This is a conjugated form of לעלות לארץ[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/עליה-7.mp3″ /] – literally, to ascend to the country.

For example:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/עליה-8.mp3″ /]ברוכים הבאים לכל העולים החדשים שעלו לארץ הקיץ!

Welcome to all the new olim (immigrants) who made aliyah this summer!

* In Modern Hebrew, ארץ[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/עליה-9.mp3″ /], meaning land, is a feminine noun and is always described using feminine adjectives. Biblical and Rabbinic Hebrew are less consistent.