Nefesh B'Nefesh
Nonprofit co-founded in 2002 by Rabbi Yehoshua Fass and Tony Gelbart that facilitates aliyah from North America and the UK, in partnership with Israel's Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, the Jewish Agency and KKL-JNF. Brought over 4,100 North American olim in 2025 (a four-year high) and close to 100,000 total since its first 2002 charter flight.
Nefesh B'Nefesh ("Soul to Soul") is a nonprofit that facilitates aliyah, immigration to Israel, from North America and the United Kingdom, in partnership with Israel's Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, the Jewish Agency for Israel, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael and Jewish National Fund-USA. Rabbi Yehoshua Fass and Florida businessman Tony Gelbart co-founded the organization, which helped more than 4,100 North American olim arrive in 2025, a four-year high, and has brought close to 100,000 people to Israel since its first charter flight in 2002.
Why Was Nefesh B'Nefesh Founded?
Rabbi Yehoshua Fass began planning the organization in August 2001 after a cousin was killed in a terror attack during the Second Intifada, he told the Australian Jewish News. Fass said he had repeatedly heard American Jews say they wanted to make aliyah but were deterred by Israeli bureaucracy and the financial burden of relocating. He partnered with Tony Gelbart, a Boca Raton-based businessman and philanthropist, to build an organization that would, in Gelbart's words, "run it like a business, but with a heart." The organization ran its first charter flight in the summer of 2002.
How Has Nefesh B'Nefesh Grown Since 2002?
Nefesh B'Nefesh brought its 10,000th oleh in December 2006, its 50,000th within the following decade, and its 75,000th in August 2022, aboard the organization's 63rd charter flight, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. By 2025, Fass said the organization had helped close to 100,000 people make aliyah in total. An unprecedented Israeli cabinet decision instituted direct state funding for Nefesh B'Nefesh, and the organization later became an official Jewish Agency partner for processing aliyah from North America, with Nefesh B'Nefesh-backed lobbying helping establish a Knesset caucus to encourage Western aliyah.
What Services Does Nefesh B'Nefesh Provide Beyond Flights?
Nefesh B'Nefesh has expanded from a pre-screener and coordinator of charter flights into a full-service immigration and absorption organization, Marc Rosenberg, the group's vice president of Diaspora partnerships, told JTA. Services now include pre-departure paperwork and grants, employment support, a free co-working space at its Tel Aviv TLV Hub, and the Aliyah Campus in Jerusalem, which Israeli President Isaac Herzog helped inaugurate in November 2021 alongside Fass and Gelbart. Its International Medical Aliyah Program helps physicians relocate and requalify to practice in Israel, bringing 93 doctors to Israel in 2025 alone.
How Did 2025 Compare to Prior Years?
Over 4,100 North American olim arrived in Israel in 2025 with Nefesh B'Nefesh's support, the highest annual total since 2021 and an increase of more than 12% over 2024, the organization reported. Aliyah application files opened through Nefesh B'Nefesh reached 13,389 in 2025, roughly 50% above the 2022 level, with officials citing the Swords of Iron War as a factor driving more than half of applicants' stated motivation for making aliyah.