The Times of Israel..
12 July '12..
Nefesh B’Nefesh charter flight packed to the gills with new immigrants from the United States and Canada landed Thursday morning at Ben Gurion International Airport, marking the immigration aid organization’s 10th anniversary.
Among the 229 arrivals were over three dozen families and their 99 children, as well 13 young adults who planned to serve in the IDF in the coming months. The new olim hailed from locations as diverse as Colorado and Quebec, New Mexico and New Jersey. Among them were musicians, mediators, and mechanical engineers; programmers, publishers, and pensioners.
“Living in Israel has more meaning in day-to-day life,” 18-year-old Rivka Rumshiskaya, who was planning on enlisting in the IDF, told The Times of Israel. “I fell in love with the land and the people last year during a year of study.”
Published on Jul 12, 2012 by medicoz1
“The financial support provided by Nefesh B’Nefesh was what made my aliya possible,” she added.
As the Boeing 777 touched down on the tarmac, its passengers erupted in jubilant applause and began singing. The new immigrants and their families and friends then assembled in Ben Gurion’s Terminal 1 hall, where they were greeted by Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky, Minister of Immigrant Absorption Sofa Landver, and MK Danny Danon (Likud).
Relating his own experience to the new Israeli citizens, Sharansky hailed Nefesh B’Nefesh’s accomplishment in helping thousands of immigrants come to Israel. Generations of Jews had yearned to return to a rebuilt Jerusalem, and the latest planeload of immigrants were realizing that dream, he said.
“Each of you is proving that there is no golden curtain [American wealth; a play on the Iron Curtain that once kept Soviet Jews from emigrating] or any other barrier which can stop Jews from their desire to come and join us in Israel,” Sharansky added.
Danon said the recent influx of migrants into Israel was a threat to the country’s Jewish character that would not by mitigated by the current colume of immigration. “Today, unfortunately, there are more African infiltrators coming to Israel annually than olim, so the government must do more,” he said.
“The best place to raise a Jewish family is here in Israel. You will not regret it. It will not be easy. It will be hot. You will encounter Israeli bureaucracy. But overall, in the future, you will understand it.”
North American New immigrants pose in front of the Nefesh B'Nefesh chartered plane on Thursday (photo credit: Sason Tiram)
North American New immigrants pose in front of the Nefesh B’Nefesh chartered plane on Thursday (photo credit: Sason Tiram)
A detachment of IDF soldiers from the Tel Hashomer enlistment base stood in front of the audience, amid fanfare and ceremony, as young and old immigrants alike rose for their first singing of the national anthem as citizens.
When the ceremony ended, the new immigrants were processed by officials from the Immigrant Absorption Ministry and Interior Ministry. By the time they had collected their luggage, they were holding national ID cards and cash in hand. Taxis lined up outside to whisk them away to their new homes in Israel.
Link: http://www.timesofisrael.com/nefesh-bnefesh-celebrates-tenth-birthday-with-a-planeload-of-new-immigrants/
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