DOZENS of Jewish Barnet residents are leaving the UK to start new lives in Israel.

More than 40 residents from Hendon, Edgware and Golders Green packed up mountains of luggage and waved goodbye to friends and family at Heathrow yesterday afternoon.

They are just a few of the many families being assisted by charity Nefesh B'Nefesh to relocate to their religious and cultural homeland over the summer.

The organisation provides financial, logistical and emotional support to emigres, and has helped around 1,000 Britons leave the country since it was founded in the UK in 2006 - 619 of which were from the borough.

Numbers choosing "Aliyah" - or immigration to Israel - via the organisation are growing every year. In 2006, 108 Barnet residents relocated; in the first eight months of 2009, 180 residents have already chosen to make the move.

Though many are leaving for personal or religious reasons, others claim they are increasingly feeling less comfortable and secure in the UK than they used to.

Raymond Antian, 51, who used to live in Old Rectory Gardens, Edgware, decided to leave his home to move to Israel with his wife and 26-year-old son.

He said: "I think of Israel as my homeland. It has been my dream to live there since I was a boy.

"I was not unhappy in England, but it's easier to live as a Jew in Israel than here. It didn't bother me too much, but you never like being called names and having to fight to be a Jew - which happened in Stanmore Hill, in Hendon, in Edgware.

"I feel I no longer live in the community I grew up in. It's still a nice community, but I am moving to a nicer one."

Twenty-one-year-old Josh Miller lived in Southbourne Crescent, Hendon, all his life, until he joined the Israeli army and was posted to Gaza for four months in February.

He is leaving his family at home and will begin studying computer science at Bar-Ilan University, in Ramat-Gan, next month.

"I want to go because I feel it is my home, the land that God has given us," he said. "It doesn't feel the same in Hendon."

Mr Miller's father, Iain, who chose to stay at home due to work, approved of his son's decision.

"You can experience the Jewish culture better, such as observing the Sabbath and religious holidays, in a country that is geared up for it," he said.

Mr Miller, 47, stressed his son was leaving the country because of his religious beliefs, not from negative feelings about Hendon, but he admitted anti-semitism was a problem.

"When we walk along the main road to the synagogue on Saturday, about once a month someone will make an anti-semitic comment. It might be something shouted from a car, it might be someone stopping to fight.

"It has definitely changed for the worse in the last three years.

"England is a fantastic country, but people generally, in my view, are too quiet and let things happen."

Founded in the United States in 2002, Nefesh B’Nefesh works in cooperation with the Israeli Government and the Jewish Agency for Israel to minimise the financial, professional and social obstacles facing people who choose to move to Israel.

Dov Newmark, Nefesh B'Nefesh UK project manager, "made Aliyah" from Hendon last July because of his "great love" for the country. He believes the recession is one reason why people are now choosing to leave England.

"What I've noticed is that more and more non-Orthodox people are choosing Israel to go and live, whereas before it was almost always religious people," he said.

"There are lots of reasons why, though the easiest one is the recession. People planning to leave in three or four years have brought their plans forward.

"Plus, as Israel grows, there are more and more western influences, helping to bridge the culture gap."