Bring the Jews Home - Looking back on 2016

We may look back on our aliyah work of this past year (2016) with gratefulness! More than 5,500 Jews made aliyah from Ukraine thanks to more programmes that the Jewish Agency has made available. After following one of these programmes, the chance of finding work is almost 100%. Christians for Israel cooperates closely with the Jewish Agency for many years now and together we bring Jews back home to Israel. Many people in Ukraine do not have financial means to make aliyah or sometimes even have physical disabilities. With your help, we can assist people with their paperwork and we can provide transportation to the embassy for their interviews and we can bring them to the airport once they can go to Israel.

The consul days organized by the Christian Aliyah Alliance that we are a part of have also helped. This is especially true for people who would like to make aliyah, but had many unanswered questions. During these consul days, the Israeli head consul explains the process of making aliyah and personally answers questions.

There were also two aliyah fairs last year, which were visited by 6,000 people interested in making aliyah. We were at those fairs with a booth and were able to hand out brochures about the work of Christians for Israel.

Last year’s final drive we set out on took place on the 25th, 27th and 29th of December! On the 27th of December the Goldman family left and this was a real answer to prayer! This family with two young children lived in Donetsk in the East of Ukraine, where the controlled war between the separatist and the Ukrainian army is still in full swing. The Goldman family fled to Russia when the bombings became too severe. After two years of wandering around, they were desperate and asked the Jewish Agency if they could make aliyah from Russia. Unfortunately, this wasn’t possible because they are from Ukraine.

The Goldman family in Russia

The Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) advised them to return to Ukraine and start the process of making aliyah there. However, they had no place to stay. We were called and asked if there was room in our shelter in Kiev, which there was. That is how this family ended up in Kiev after a long journey. Through an expedited process, the Goldman family was finally able to leave in December.

Through the integration programme ‘First home in the Homeland’, this family is now in the south of Israel, where the parents will learn Hebrew for the first 5 months while the children will go to school at the Kibbutz. In the past 2.5 years, more than 3,000 Jews stayed at our shelter in Kiev on the way to their homeland. Several families related heart-rending stories and it reminded me of the scripture from Jeremiah 31:9 where it says: “they will come weeping”!

Thanks to your support we hope to help many Jews from the land of the north to make aliyah to the Promised Land this year!

Koen Carlier
Aliyah Field worker in Ukraine
Christians for Israel

Help the Jews come home!
Please support our action ‘Bring the Jews Home’.
It costs 135 euros or 145 US $ to assist one Ukrainian Jew for making aliyah.
Any amount is welcome!

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