donderdag 12 juli 2012

Nefesh B’Nefesh celebrates tenth birthday with a planeload of new immigrants

229 olim, including 99 children, touch down at Ben Gurion Airport and head to their new homes in Israel


A 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.”

“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).

Source: timesofisrael.com

Nefesh B'Nefesh - assisting American Jewish families to make aliyah