First Home in the Homeland - ″Brought us and our parents…″

Dear Friends, today it's more a fellowship of mine than project newsletter. I'm sorry to bother you with my personal story but as you took an active part in the dreams of our family come true I feel happy to share this news with you.

As you know and might remember, my daughter and I made aliyah on November 11, 2011, so six years ago. And the greatest desire of my heart was to bring the rest of my family to Israel, my mom and my aunt who stayed in Ukraine. My aunt lives in East Ukraine, in the war zone which is closed from the other parts of Ukraine as well as from the entire world. And my mother used to live in Kherson, in the Southern part of the country. Yes, you read it correctly – used to live! – because on October 15, 2017 she made aliyah! We went back to Kherson for a couple of days to help her with all the preparations. It's not an easy task for a 70-year old lady to leave everything behind. But "It was the Lord our God himself who brought us and our parents up out of Egypt" (Joshua 24:17).

My mother shares with Natalia her mixed feelings of fear and joy

Jewish life in Ukraine went through various periods, some of them very tough. Anti-Semitism never stopped in Ukraine, so after the iron curtain fell in 1991, about 1.3 million Jews left the former USSR. My mom is a second generation Holocaust survivor, so Israel always had a special place in her heart. The Ukrainian team of Christians for Israel came to our former (!) home - a small one room typical soviet flat - and picked us up with their white minibus. Everyone who visited Ukraine on a working trip remembers this white minibus for sure!

The "white horse" of Christians for Israel on the background! The black plastic bag on the front is with paintings of my grandfather (may his memory be blessed), the most valuable material thing for my family.

Natalia and Yuri took us to the airport and shared with us these touching last moments before aliyah. On behalf of my family I want to express our sincerest gratitude to all our friends from different nations who pray for the Jewish people and help them in a practical way to return home from the diaspora and especially from Ukraine.

At the airport heading for Israel.

Now, after returning from Ukraine I am back to the First Home in the Homeland project, which thanks to the support of Christians for Israel welcomes olim in 45 kibbutzim all over Israel. By the end of December 2017 we expect another eighty-four people, including singles to make aliyah via our program!

Orly Wolstein
'First Home in the Homeland'
Projectmanager Jewish Agency for Israel

Please look at the pictures, they tell the story better than my words – now all of these photos are in our family album… It's hard to pack seventy years of life in three bags – 23 kilograms each. But when a granddaughter is helping…

The team of "Christians for Israel" at work

Many Jewish families from the Former Soviet Union want to join the 'First Home in Homeland' program. Also Jews from France have indicated that they want to join this program. Assisting a family in the "First Home" program costs € 230 euro / US $ 250 a month. Please support this 'First Home' program and help the people settle in the land of Israel! Any amount is welcome!

*Donate in €*	*Donate in US $*

More news...