Aliyah

//əliːˈjɑː// name, noun, verb

name, noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The calling up of someone to the bimah for the reading of the Torah. Judaism, countable
  2. 2
    Alternative letter-case form of aliyah. alt-of
  3. 3
    (Judaism) immigration of Jews to Israel wordnet
  4. 4
    A subsection of a parashah (weekly Torah reading) read by (or on behalf of) one person. Judaism, countable
  5. 5
    (Judaism) the honor of being called up to the reading desk in the synagogue to read from the Torah wordnet
Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    The immigration of Jews to Israel. uncountable

    "In the past, Yemenite Jews did not have a Bar Mitzvah ceremony at all; they first encountered this ceremony when they made Aliyah to Israel."

  2. 7
    One of the major waves of immigration of Jews to Israel. countable
Verb
  1. 1
    To make aliyah, to immigrate to Israel. intransitive, rare

    "Anti-Semitism is a method of fooling Jews into aliyahing to Israel, the homeland, the sanctuary, in the pretence they will be safe. In the last 50 years how many Jews have died in Israel as a result of anti Jewish attacks....and how many have died in the diaspora?"

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A female given name from Arabic of modern American usage, a variant of Aaliyah.
  2. 2
    A female given name from Hebrew.

Example

More examples

"The dramatic rise in antisemitism this year has caused the number of Jews making aliyah to increase by 31%."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Hebrew עלייה / עֲלִיָּה (aliyá, “ascent”).

Etymology 2

Ultimately from Arabic عَالِيَة (ʕāliya).

Etymology 3

Ultimately from Hebrew עלייה \ עֲלִיָּה (aliyá, “ascent”)

Related phrases

united states

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.