Showing posts with label Move to Israel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Move to Israel. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 22, 2018

First Ethiopian Jews to Move to Israel with 'Official' Permission Since 2017 - BREAKING ISRAEL NEWS


First Known Ethiopian Jews to Move to Israel with 'Official' Permission Since 2017

Family of Chidon HaTanach participant Sintayehu Shaparou to arrive in the country later this month; will resettle in northern Israel


Some 8,000 Ethiopian Jews remain abroad, living in poverty

August 22, 2018 ------------- The mother and siblings of Sintayehu Shaparou, the Ethiopian who competed in Israel’s April 2018 Chidon HaTanach contest, will arrive in Israel later this month. The family is being granted residency status after months of lobbying the government.

“We are finally seeing progress,” said A.Y. Katsof, director of The Heart of Israel, who raised $10,000 for flights and early resettlement costs of the family in Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu in northern Israel.

The Shaparous are members of the Falash Mura community in Ethiopia. Sintayehu Shaparou’s father and half-siblings immigrated to Israel 17 years ago while Shaparou, his mother, and other siblings awaited approval for Aliyah in Ethiopia – though the approval never came.

Sintayehu Shaparou was granted residency by the Interior Ministry in April 2018 after it became public that Sintayehu was forced to deposit money with immigration and border control officials as a guarantee that he would leave the country following the Bible contest.

The Shaparous have never learned the reason for the rejection of their immigration application, according to Katsof, who stressed that the family’s situation is just one example of hundreds whose families have been separated and left in limbo.

The government decided in 2015 to bring the remaining members of the Falash Mura community to Israel. The government brought a first 1,300 in 2017 and has yet to approve a budget for any further immigration. Since the government would not pay for the Shaparou's Aliyah, the Heart of Israel raised the money from private donors.

Interviews available.

For more information: Maayan Hoffman at +972-50-718-9742 or maayan@israel365.com.
WATCH: The Heart of Israel visits Sintayehu's family in Ethiopia. 
Pictured above: (Photo 1) Sintayehu's mother, Alma, presents Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked with a hand-made Ethiopian gift. Shaked visited the last Jews of Ethiopia earlier this year. Credit: The Heart of Israel. (Photo 2) Sintayehu Shaparou receives a National ID from Israel Minister of Interior Affairs Aryeh Deri in April 2018. Credit: Struggle for Ethiopian Aliyah. Click on photos to download larger versions.
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Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Aliyah Prophecy Fulfilled as N. American Jews Move to Israel, U.S. Ambassador's Daughter Among Them - CBN News Julie Stahl, Chris Mitchell

Aliyah Prophecy Fulfilled as N. American Jews Move to Israel, U.S. Ambassador's Daughter Among Them
08-23-2017
CBN News Julie Stahl,
TEL AVIV, Israel – Despite troubles in the Middle East, immigration to Israel continues as Jewish people from around the world are making aliyah, which is the term Israelis use for this return to the Holy Land.
This week, joy and excitement filled the air at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport, when 233 Americans and Canadians, young and old landed in Israel.
"This is the only place I want my kids growing up. Land of the Jewish people, land of our ancestors," said Shmuel Modes from Richmond, Virginia. He arrived with his wife, Tzipora, and children Tamima, two-and-a-half, and Eliahu, eight months.
"For thousands of years Jews have been wanting to come here and they weren't able and now we have this opportunity and it's amazing. And I wouldn't just say 'thanks God, but no thanks,'" Tzipora told CBN News. "I just want to take the opportunity that I'm given and live the dream and make the most of it."
Newly retired Pinhas and Toby Fader arrived from Baltimore, fulfilling a decades-long dream.
"I couldn't be happier," Pinhas said.
"I'm very, very excited, and a little nervous, a little apprehensive," said Toby. "We have left five children and five grandchildren behind. That's a tough one. But we've been looking forward to this for a very, very long time."
One of the newcomers is Talia Friedman, the 24-year-old daughter of David Friedman, the new U.S. ambassador to Israel.
"I'm celebrating my daughter Talia realizing her dream of being part of the State of Israel," Friedman told CBN News. "My beautiful daughter made aliyah today. We love her very much. She's realizing a dream and we just couldn't be happier."
"I am so happy to be here, so grateful for everyone here, Nefesh B'Nefesh, my amazing parents, all my friends, all my family," Talia said. "It's amazing."
Sixty of the new arrivals are joining the Israel Defense Forces. IDF soldiers were on hand to welcome them.
"I was actually born in Israel and moved to California and my older sister did it – made aliyah – four years ago," said 18-year-old Ron Cohen. "It was something that I felt was in me. I always wanted to come back here.  So, I just felt like it was time."
"Because I really wanted to be part of my nation and my country and like help build the future here and have a say in what it looks like," said Tzipora Gluck, 19, from Brooklyn.
On the other end of the spectrum is the Levine family – David, Melissa, Nate, 12, and Joan, 8.  About 70 friends and relatives all dressed in the same blue T-shirt greeting them at the airport.
"We had a lot of people meet us. We're very lucky we have a lot of friends and family in Israel," said Melissa.
"I think it's good. I'm going to miss a ton of people in America but otherwise I think it's a very good opportunity for our family," said Nate.
Nefesh B'Nefesh chartered the flight, adding to the more than 50,000 North American and British immigrants they've helped bring to Israel since 2002.  
"This is the 57th Aliyah flight. I've been here for 10 years and every time it's so emotional. It's just amazing," said Nefesh B'Nefesh Executive Vice President Zev Gershinsky.
Gershinsky said his organization helps the new immigrants deal with the bureaucracy and any other potential issues.
"Many, many Jews in North America want to immigrate to Israel and to make Aliyah, but there are different hurdles along the way and what we do is we try to remove those hurdles and those barriers and help streamline everything so they can fulfill their dreams," Gershinsky told CBN News.
It will be a big adjustment for most of the newcomers. But they're fulfilling prophecy about the Jewish people returning to Israel, as well as pursuing their dreams and the hope of generations.
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Saturday, December 17, 2016

Making 'Aliyah': Why Thousands of Jews Move to Israel Each Year - JULIE STAHL,CHRIS MITCHELL CBN NEWS

Walking on the streets of Israel (CBN News)

Making 'Aliyah': Why Thousands of Jews Move to Israel Each Year

Join us on our podcast each weekday for an interesting story, well told, from Charisma News. Listen at charismapodcastnetwork.com.

It's called aliyah, Hebrew for "going up," or immigrating to Israel. Each year, thousands of Jews from around the world resettle in Israel. It can be a tough transition for many from Western nations. So, why do they do it? And who helps them?
To find out, we talked with Neal Brinn, who relocated to Israel with his family just three weeks after he completed 20 years in the U.S. Navy.
"The highest position I had was the commanding officer of the U.S. warship, the USS Carter Hall, which was an amphibious ship about 200 meters long," Brinn said.
Brinn, his wife, Shoshanna, and their four young children, now live in a religious neighborhood in Jerusalem. Some might say they gave up a lot to live here, but they say they're home.
Brinn spent his summer accompanying his 4-year-old twins to school on the public bus because they don't have a car—well, sort of.
"We do have a car," Brin quipped. "It's got four wheels; it's got one seat. Only one person can sit in it and that's Yudi, who's 5 months old. The propulsion system is human legs attached to arms. It's a stroller. That's our car. It holds everything we need. If we need to go shopping, we can take it everywhere, even up the steps," he said.
About eight years ago, Brinn's life took on major changes. He became more religious, met Shoshanna and married. They knew they would come to Israel at some point; they just didn't know when.
Brinn told us he didn't know how long he'd stay in the Navy—20 years or 30. "For staying 30 years, I'd make two-point-four more times retirement pay every month, which is a tremendous difference," he said.
Moving 'Home'
But the Brinns decided that Israel was their home, so he retired and they made the move right away.
"This is where we feel every Jew needs to be," Brinn said. "And our children will learn the language so much better at the ages of between 5 months, 3 1/2 and our twins who are 4, than if it was 10 years later."
They've faced some adjustments, however. Brinn said he was astounded by the amount of litter in his neighborhood, and that it's tolerated. To combat the problem, he has organized a weekly cleaning project called the "Hour of Power," an idea he got from his time as the executive officer of a ship.
"We're hoping this will be a habit and stays and can really clean this space up. We go from just picking up litter to be actually cleaning," he said. "I mean, these stone stairs could look like clean stone as opposed to stones with weeds here and dirt here."
Why Give Up Life in America?
Some wonder why they would give up life in America.
"I can't tell you why some people would move, but I can tell you why a Jew would," Brinn said. "We have a national anthem called HaTikva—which means 'the hope"—and it says in HaTikva that as long as the heart of the Jew beats—I'm not quoting it exactly, but—as long as the heart of the Jew beats, this 2,000-year dream is just finally being realized."
Rabbi Yehoshua Fass and his organization, Nefesh B'Nefesh, helped make the dream become reality for Brinn and his family. 
"We have this modern-day miracle of the state of Israel that is just unfathomable. It's fantasy stuff. For 2,000 years of wandering and dreaming and all of a sudden, you get on a plane and change your status and become a citizen of this country. It's incredible," Fass said.
Two hundred twenty-three North American immigrants arrived on a flight just weeks after the Brinns, including 75 young people who came to join the Israeli Defense Force, the IDF. One of them was Nefesh B'Nefesh's immigrant No. 50,000, Rebekkah Glanzer from Brooklyn, New York.
A Feeling of Belonging
"There's a feeling of belonging here that you really don't have anywhere else, and I just couldn't see myself spending the rest of my life any other place. So I'm here," Glanzer said.
"IDF service is part of what makes Israel such a united country," Glanzer continued. "It makes everyone feel like it's really their own. So I didn't feel I could make Aliyah without contributing or participating in that way."
Different Reasons Brought Ally Strauss and Zachary Olstein to Israel
"It's something I've dreamed about doing since [I was] 7 years old," Strauss said. "I think Israel has a right to be a country, and I want to do what I can to make sure it stays a country as long as possible."
"I went to Poland. I saw the concentration camps, I saw the ghettos. It became so much more real," Olstein said. "My purpose for coming to the army, I think, is that I want to help protect the one place that I know—God forbid it ever happens—the place that's safe for the Jewish people."
Tammy and Gene Berman are from Washington, D.C. They decided to retire to Israel, and summed up the reason for coming home this way: "It's our destiny, we're Jewish. America's a wonderful, fantastic country; I love it. My parents were immigrants to America, but we're visitors there," Tammy said. "We belong here." 
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