A record number of 1,300 people registered to attend this year’s Nefesh B’Nefesh New York City aliya fair this Sunday, according to NBN Executive Vice President Zev Gershinsky.
“We ended 2015 with nearly 3,800 olim,” he told The Jerusalem Post at the event. “We are aiming to pass our 4,000 people goal this year and the registration for this event indicates we are on the right track. It was the highest ever and we see great interest in moving this year.”
“We ended 2015 with nearly 3,800 olim,” he told The Jerusalem Post at the event. “We are aiming to pass our 4,000 people goal this year and the registration for this event indicates we are on the right track. It was the highest ever and we see great interest in moving this year.”
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The aliya fairs are all co-hosted by NBN, the Immigration and Absorption Ministry, the Jewish Agency, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund and JNF-USA.
In each city, NBN aims to provide potential olim with critical information about the immigration process with vendors and programs represented in the different booths in order to give potential olim a chance to inquire about the logistics and long-term implications of making aliya.
Gershinsky told the Post that the main concern for olim in general is usually finding employment in Israel but also learning Hebrew and navigating Israeli bureaucracy.
“I think our motto here is ‘One step forward,’” he explained. “Not giant leaps, not a huge move but ‘One step forward,’ which means ‘Come and explore.’ “Aliya is something we encourage, we want to help you feel confident it’s something you can do and be successful at,” he continued.
“This event gives you the empowerment and confidence you need to make that one step forward.”
Aliya from North America, Gershinsky also explained, is “aliya by choice,” whereas aliya from countries like France or states of the former Soviet Union can sometimes be a way to escape anti-Semitism.
“We know that people making aliya from the United States or Canada are choosing Israel because they believe it is the right place for them to be,” he told the Post. “That’s how we view it and how we treat the olim.”
Among the attendees at the fair were Rachel and Bentzion Raice and their 15-year old daughter Abby.
“I’ve always wanted to live there, and then you get caught up in America and the kids are young and then at some point you stop and think, ‘Hang on, I’m still here. Why am I still here?’” he told the Post.
“I follow what’s going on in Israel, I’m always following the news and my heart is there,” he added. “We know it’s gonna be a challenge, we know it’s gonna be tough and we’re happy Nefesh B’Nefesh helps us because without it I don’t think we’d be doing this at all.”
Bentzion’s wife, Rachel, admits that the idea of moving took “a little more warming up” for her but she now feels more ready than ever before to take the leap. The couple’s oldest son already lives in Israel and has been pushing for them to move.
Abby Raice, one of four siblings, told the Post she is excited about the idea of moving to Israel and feels a “pull toward the land.”
“You know, Americans have America, the French have France and the Jews have Israel,” she said.
“My biggest worry is that I’ll go and I’ll hate it or I won’t be able to adjust properly,” Abby admitted. “It’s a hard process, it’s a lot of emotional energy, it’s scary as a teenager but I think that overall when you know you’re doing something that’s right it doesn’t really matter what it takes to get there.”
Moshe Greene who also attended the event, said the situation for Jews in America could constitute a reason to move to Israel.
“You see Europe being taken over by the Muslims, and you see slowly but surely Canada, America, Australia; these places are also affected. You can’t escape it,” he said.
“I won’t call Israel safe, but I’d rather be fighting with a country that is definitely there for our security,” Green added.
Since it was founded in 2002, Nefesh B’Nefesh has organized more than 50 aliya flights from North America and is approaching the 50,000 olim mark.
7 comments:
I pray to hashem and I hope that satmar chasidim don't read this article, o my god, for this article alone,? They would ban smartphones especially with internet,?
Echter schmuck is the correct name you should choose according to your attitude,foolish idiotic hateful and ignorant comments
In which concentration camp were your papa/mama/zaidy or bobby kapos at?
To you anonymous,bananamous, nobody is at fault or to be blamed that your parents educated you in to satmar chinuch, which means ,hate and hate against everyone, especially against the Israeli government,,and especially someone who doesn't go in the satmar shitah,, from your commenting every time we can see that your coming from a crazy strict satmar house, and got educated in a sick satmar house, where every problem was blamed on the medinah,,but I am sorry its /2016/ and all this garbage expired allready, especially when both of the satmar rebbes, keep on visiting eretz yisroel, time on and time again,,( the old satmar rebbe rabieni joel never visited Israel so much) like the satmar rebbes of today, so blame who ever you want, keep on cursing the entire universe its not going to help you ,so sorry,so next time try better,,
Echter schmuck is really my name believe me, no not because I am not blaming all my problems on the entire universe,? no not because I am not blaming all my problems on the medinas yisroel,? And no I am not saying that I can do all (avieres shebatorah) and I will blame it on the medinah,,or keep on screaming ,tziyonim, tziyonim, kufrim, kufrim, foy,foy,foy, no absolutely not,?, I am a echter schmuck, for not suing every single of the rabunim who knew about one of the biggest dangerous pedophile in New York not only didn't they stop him from molesting children further,?, when calls kept on coming in to them that a pedophile keeps on molesting children in every community where a jew is living,? From new york, to Monsey, to Monroe, to flatbush, queens, and something must be done to stop him,?, but not only didn't they do nothing about all this calls what kept coming in to them,? But they kept him and supported him,and gave him safe haven in one of the biggest shulls in Williamsburg Brooklyn? there is victims of him around the globe and no one cared about it,? but one ,echter crazy shmuck,cared about it, but one ,echter crazy shmuck, did something about it,? No not the rabunim did something about it,? ( oy the rabunim didn't had time to do something about it because they where busy blaming all the problems on the internet and on the smart phones) but in the zechus of this,crazy echter shmuck, thousands of yiddisha kinderlech,precious children when they walk on the streets could smile that they are safe and sound every single day /8years/24/7/ and not molested, yes I am proud to be called, crazy, mental, shmuck, you name it, as long I did my tafkid on this world And did everything in my power to be able to say ,that I did and tried everything in my power to keep yiddisha kinderlech safe and sound,normal, and not molested, or damaged,or raped, (ashrieni shezuchini lasos as hatafkid hazeh letovas bnie yisroel)
And now that your asking me in which concentration camps where my grandparents kapos,?, sure i will tell you, they came from Satmar concentration camps,?, yes yes yes , I have family in one of satmar zuli boys camps, and it looks like concentration camps,,they built long and big dormitory rooms ,pushing in hundreds of boys in one big room triple bunk beds,, with out no fire sprinklers in case of a fire,,no emergency exits, no fire alarms to pull in case of a fire,,and few bathrooms has to be enough for hundreds of boys,? Yes its a perfect concentration satmar camp, and my grandparents came from there,
Never mind the big question why don't DIN make aliya zich alein.
A better question is if he loves aliya so much why don't he bend over to kiss the behind of that guy on the ground?
Yes ,yoely, we could see that your name is yoli, because it looks like that you are a,,satmar, because you talk like a yolish,,we klal yisroel, yidden maminim bnie maminim are praying every day ,3, times,a day, crying to,hashem velirushalayim irchu berachamim tushiv) every yid wishes to be in Israel, every yid is thinking every day about Israel but unfortunately not everyone is zocha to be now in Israel, and not every yid is able today to make an aliya,( for lots of reasons) but at least we pray we daven to hashem to be able to zocha zien to be in Israel,? but you satmar chasidim, and the yolis not only they are not praying not only they are not davening to hashem to be zocha to make a aliya leretz yisroel,?, but your being educated to hate the medinas yisroel, hate Israel, call them, tziyonim, kufrim, memsheles hakufrim,
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