On Thursday, September 3, 2026, Megazone in Beit Shemesh belonged to Eretz Yisrael Yidden for the evening. It was the first event of its kind: a night built around the families who packed up their lives somewhere else and made Aliyah to Eretz Yisrael during 2026.
Why the evening existed
Making Aliyah is not a small thing. Families arrive, find an apartment, find a school, work out the language and the paperwork, and then get on with life. What tends not to happen is anyone stopping to say welcome, properly, in front of the whole community.
That was the entire point of the evening. Eretz Yisrael Yidden, the collection of organizations, businesses and events that also goes by EYY and EY Yidden, put on a night for men and boys of all ages, open to families from Beit Shemesh, Ramat Beit Shemesh and across Israel, whether or not they had made Aliyah that year. The people who had made the move in 2026 were the guests of honor.
How the night ran
Megazone opened the whole park to the event, so the evening ran on two tracks at once. Doors opened at 6:00 PM with the attractions going: trampolines, the kids' zone and laser tag, with a live DJ and food alongside. At 8:30 PM everything stopped for the official welcoming ceremony for the new olim, which is the reason the whole night existed. From 9:00 PM there was dancing, SWAG and prizes, and it finished at 10:00 PM.
The welcoming ceremony
At 8:30 PM the evening came together for the part it had been built around. The families who arrived in Eretz Yisrael during 2026 were welcomed in front of the room, by the community they had joined. Not as newcomers being processed, but as people who had already done the hard part.
There are no teams in Judaism, and there are certainly no teams in Eretz Yisrael. What unites us is far greater than what divides us.
Thank you
To Megazone for opening the park to us. To everyone who came out on a Thursday night. And most of all to the families who made the move this year, who are the reason any of it happened.
This was the first Eretz Yisrael Celebration Event. It will not be the last.
What EYY is doing next
Eretz Yisrael Yidden is a collection of organizations, businesses and events working to make Eretz Yisrael the best place in the world. More are being planned, and anything upcoming is listed on the events page.
All events