Gathering of Israel

The Gathering of Israel (Hebrew: קיבוץ גלויות, Kibbutz Galuyot (Biblical: Qiybbuṣ Galuyoth), lit. Ingathering of the Exiles, also known as Ingathering of Diaspora) is the promise given by Moses, in the Hebrew Bible, to the People of Israel prior to their entrance to Eretz Israel (The Land of Israel). He envisions that the People of Israel will sin in their homeland and will therefore be exiled. However, he also foresees the People's return to their homeland. During the days of the Babylonian exile, the prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel encouraged the People of Israel with a promise of a future Gathering of the Exiles to the Land of Israel (a Kibbutz Galuyot). The lasting desire for a return of the Israeli exiles to the Land was harbored incessantly by Jews ever since the destruction of the Second Temple. Maimonides foresees its materialization concurrently with the coming of the Messiah.

The Gathering of the Exiles in the Land of Israel, a Kibbutz Galuyot, became the core idea of the Zionist Movement and the core idea of Israel's Scroll of Independence (Megilat Ha'atzmaut), embodied by the idea of going up, Aliyah, since the Holy Land sits spiritually higher than all other land. The immigration of Jews to the Land and the State of Israel, the "mass" wave of Aliyote (plural form), is considered by many as synonymous with the Exodus from Egypt.