100-year-old French man passes away one day after making aliyah

Meir Halimi, a 100-year-old man originating from the French city of Nice, made aliyah on Wednesday and died the day after, according to French Jewish Agency director Arie Abitbol who spoke to Qualita, an organization for French immigrants.

After months of administrative struggle, Abitbol explained, the Jewish Agency French office finally allowed Halimi to make aliyah, accompanied on the plane by his son.

Living in a lonely retirement home, the only dream Meir had was to make aliyah and to spend his last years in Israel. Unfortunately, Meir could only spent his last day as an Israeli citizen.

Less than 24 hours after his arrival, Meir Halimi passed away.

Aliyah has been a serious issue since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.

From the moment coronavirus ravaged the planet, more than 2,000 people have made aliyah, according to Nefesh B’ Nefesh, a nonprofit organization that facilitates Jewish immigration to Israel and serves as a liaison between American Jews, the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Israeli government.

Yael Katsman, a Nefesh B’Nefesh spokesperson, told The Jerusalem Post the pandemic has made people pause and reevaluate their lives.

Immigrating can be difficult under the best of circumstances. It’s a process full of documents, moving, finding housing and employment. A pandemic makes each of these tasks more challenging. Yet since the beginning of COVID-19, there has been a huge uptick in aliyah interest that has translated into actual applications being submitted.

Nefesh B’ Nefesh said 5,593 people have submitted aliyah applications between April-October 2020, a 250% increase from the number of applications during the same months the previous year.

Haley Cohen contributed to this report.