Photo Report Aliyah: A Long Way Home
After you think about it for a while it is quite exceptional: knowing that there is a country in the world where you can always go to – or better– can return to. Israel’s gates are wide open for everyone who is Jewish.
But why would you exchange one country for another? For Jews as well this is not something obvious. Sometimes they don’t even know they have that choice –sometimes– it takes almost a whole lifetime before they take the plunge. And others just don’t have the possibility to make the long journey and others just deliberately choose to stay put.
Whether somebody intends to go to Israel or not, in Ukraine we first help with what is often urgently needed: food. Such a food parcel contains a flyer, so in case there are questions or if help is needed, they know where to reach us all the time. | Photo credit: Christians for Israel
For those who are curious about what Israel has to offer, there are seminars and fairs. So, in one day you can learn quite a lot about Israel. What are the job opportunities, do they have good schools, can I bring my dog, can I return to Ukraine to visit my relatives? | Photo credit: Christians for Israel
Koen Carlier leads the Ukrainian team. He speaks with people, explains what he knows about the return to Israel as the Bible says, encourages people and is always ready to help with advice and counsel. | Photo credit: Christians for Israel
And when people decide -sometimes after years of deliberation – they want to go to Israel, there is an interview at the Israeli embassy or consulate. We take the people there. They often live in the country, hundreds of kilometres from the big city. | Photo credit: Christians for Israel
When the day of departure has finally come, we collect the people. They leave Ukraine with only a few bags, but with a lot of memories | Photo credit: Christians for Israel
Close to departure at the airport with all the luggage. The awareness among the people that they are about to embark on an entirely new chapter in their lives, materializes only after they set foot on Israeli soil. | Photo credit: Christians for Israel
Nataliya Krizhanovski, one of Christians for Israel fieldworkers in Ukraine helps a man who cannot walk, to make aliyah. It are moments like these that so strongly remind you of Jeremiah 31:8 | Photo credit: Christians for Israel
“See, I will bring them from the land of the north and gather them from the ends of the earth. Among them will be the blind and the lame, expectant mothers and women in labor; a great throng will return.”
Jeremiah 31:8
That first foot on Israeli soil – even if it is the concrete of the Tel Aviv airport – is one of the most impressive moments of coming home to Israel. Finally home! | Photo by Miriam Alster/Flash90
Your Israeli passport is waiting. Now we only have to find the right person belonging to the right passport. | Photo by Hadas Parush/Flash90
Home! Family embracing you. Tears of happiness. Reunited with the people you love and the country you dreamed of. | Photo by Moshe Shai/Flash90
Studying is necessary. English may be spoken throughout the world, Hebrew is the official language here. And you start at the back – Hebrew is read and written from right to left. | Photo by Nati Shohat/Flash90
Much learning is required now that they are building a new life in Israel. Ethiopia and Israel may not be so far apart as the crow flies, as far as culture and the standard of education is concerned, there is a difference like night and day | Photo by Anna Kaplan/ Flash90
Support our Aliyah work
Since 1997, Christians for Israel has helped more than 130,000 Jews home to Israel from the Former Soviet Union, Ethiopia, France and India. You can help us in this exciting fulfilment of Biblical prophecy!
If you wish to support Aliyah, click here to read more.
