Federation Agency Bringing Imperiled Ukrainian Jews to Israel
As anarchy, violence, anti-Semitic incidents and socioeconomic uncertainty continue in Ukraine, members of the Jewish community are faced with two difficult options: to take shelter at home or to leave the area. While Federation’s overseas partners, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), The Jewish Agency for Israel, World ORT and NCSJ: Advocates on Behalf of Jews in Russia, Ukraine, Baltic States & Eurasia, continue to provide vital assistance to traumatized and imperiled individuals and families in Ukraine, The Jewish Agency is also reporting a sharp rise in the number of Ukrainian Jews seeking to immigrate to Israel.
In a Jewish Agency report sent to Federation on April 30, “emissaries write from Ukraine, ‘We believe that we are living through a historic process today that will probably bring even harder times. Suddenly, Israel is again seen as a real security alternative to what is taking place in Ukraine.’”
Jewish Agency offices throughout Ukraine have seen significant growth in aliyah numbers, as well as in prospective olim seeking information and assistance. The trend is reflected in the registration for aliyah flights to Israel for May and the following months. From January through the end of April, 2014, more than 750 new immigrants had arrived in Israel from Ukraine, representing a 142 percent month-over-month increase compared to the same months last year. Most of the new immigrants come from Odessa and the region, Dnepropetrovsk, Kharkov and Simferopol. The Jewish Agency estimates that the trend will continue in the next months, as more than 200 Ukrainians have already registered for May flights to Israel, and registration for June is still growing.
Once in Israel, new olim receive assistance from The Jewish Agency to help them acclimate to their new surroundings. Resettlement services include intensive Hebrew-language instruction, housing, medical care, employment training and counseling, and more.
Two Jewish Agency programs attracting interest by Ukrainian families are Na'aleh, a three-year study program in Israeli high schools that provides boarding and other amenities to students from the former Soviet Union (FSU), and Selah, a 10-month academic preparatory course and aliyah program for recent high school graduates from the FSU who immigrate to Israel prior to their parents or on their own. As young candidates are screened for acceptance in these programs, the interviewers have written, “We met very particularly impressive children who are most likely to successfully integrate into Israeli society…To our surprise, we met wealthy parents, business people, who had not visited the offices of The Agency before the crisis…We have repeatedly encountered parents who are eager to send their children off from Ukraine as a first step for the whole family.”
With summer camp season approaching, The Jewish Agency is also considering building a summer camp in Israel for children from the troubled regions of Donetsk, Slovyansk, Kharkov, Odessa and Crimea.
The Annual Greater Miami Jewish Federation/UJA Campaign funds a vital infrastructure of programs and services in place 365 days a year in Miami, in Israel and in more than 70 other countries worldwide. Because Federation’s partner agencies — including The Jewish Agency for Israel, JDC and more — were already working in Ukraine well before the recent crisis occurred, these critical organizations were able to mobilize immediately, delivering emergency food, medicine, in-home care and added security to the most vulnerable.
If you have already made a gift this year to the Greater Miami Jewish Federation/UJA Campaign, we thank you. Please consider making an additional gift at this challenging time.
If you haven’t yet made a gift, please join in solidarity with our Jewish family and make your voice heard through a contribution to the Federation/UJA Campaign.
To make a gift securely online, click here. To make a gift by phone, call 305.576.4000. Or you may send your check by mail to Greater Miami Jewish Federation, 4200 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami, FL 33137.
