Urgent Appeal to support Youth Aliyah rescue operation
Published on: 26.9.2023
By: A. Howard Flower, ICEJ Aliyah Director

The pace of Aliyah has exceeded 40,000 new Jewish immigrants to Israel so far this year, with over 80% coming from former Soviet republics severely impacted by the war in Ukraine. Youth Aliyah is also very strong right now and this autumn a record number of young Jews will be getting ready to fly to Israel, but they need our help to make it here.

The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem has just received an urgent appeal on their behalf from Danielle Mor of The Jewish Agency For Israel, our main partner in our Aliyah operations.

Danielle’s message said: “We are in the midst of bringing to Israel some 600 Jewish teens – boys and girls from ages 14 to 20 – who are coming to Israel from all across the former Soviet Union. We have the ability to do so through our Naale and SELA programs for aspiring students. Through these programs, these brave teens are leaving everything behind; leaving their home, their family, their parents, their siblings, everything that they know and trust, and setting out on a courageous journey to come to Israel on their own.”

“Friends at ICEJ, we need your help to be able to do this,” Danielle added. “We need your help to facilitate their visas, their preparation, their coming on buses and trains and internal flights all the way from across Russia, crossing the border from Ukraine into neighboring countries, coming on flights to Israel. All this is going to happen in the next few weeks and we really need your support at this time. Once in Israel, they will be placed in schools and boarding schools and villages, where they will be cared for over a period of between eight months to three years, depending on their age and needs. At the end of this, they will be poised to become new citizens of the State of Israel and join the IDF as lone soldiers to serve and study in Israel’s universities.”
ICEJ sponsored SELA students 2021

Youth Aliyah programs have proven to be a huge success over the years in bringing Jewish children to Israel ahead of their parents, as it is easier for the youngsters to learn a new language and adjust to new surroundings, and then help their parents integrate once they arrive. It has been a great blessing for the Christian Embassy to support these unique and highly effective Aliyah programs over the years. The next group coming on Youth Aliyah will be SELA students ages 17-19 who will begin their preparations to enter universities in Israel this October.
ICEJ sponsored Youth Aliyah Seminar in Latvia over Rosh Hashanah weekend

SELA is an educational live-in program for Jewish high school graduates who are looking to pursue a highly respected international education, take lessons in Hebrew and other languages, engage with Israeli society and culture, meet new friends, and experience life in Israel. By the end of the eighth month, all program graduates will receive an Israeli identity card.

The SELA program offers prospective students an intensive Hebrew class, as well as English, mathematics, extracurricular activities, and a preparatory course to pass the exam for admission to an Israeli university.

The war in Ukraine has had a significant impact on young people in the countries of the former Soviet Union. According to a United Nations report, since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine more than four million people have fled the country, with two million of them being children. The war also has disrupted education for more than five million children in Ukraine alone, with thousands of schools, pre-schools, and other educational facilities being damaged or destroyed due to the use of explosive weapons in the war. As classes resume this month, many schools are operating in underground bomb shelters, metro stations and other safe locations.

The entire region of the former Soviet Union has been affected, explained Danielle Mor, and children from Jewish families are coming from all over, especially Russia and Ukraine, plus Belarus, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Georgia and more.

“ICEJ has been dearly supporting our work during the war still raging in Ukraine, and the threat of living under terror and conscription into the army in Russia,” she said. “There is now even a conflict near Russia between Azerbaijan and Armenia, so at this time we are seeing an urgent need to rescue these Jewish children and bring them home to Israel.”

Please help us to step forward at this time and assist with this urgent Youth Aliyah rescue operation.

緊急呼籲支持「青年阿利亞」救援行動
發佈於：2023年9月26日
作者：A. Howard Flower，ICEJ Aliyah 主任

今年到目前為止，以色列新猶太移民的「回歸」步伐已超過 4 萬人，其中超過 80% 來自受烏克蘭戰爭嚴重影響的前蘇聯加盟共和國。青年回歸現在也非常強大，今年秋天，數量創紀錄的年輕猶太人將準備飛往以色列，但他們需要我們的幫助才能到達這裡。

耶路撒冷國際基督徒大使館剛剛收到以色列猶太機構的丹妮爾·莫爾（我們在回歸行動中的主要合作夥伴）代表他們發出的緊急呼籲。

丹妮爾的消息稱：「我們正在將大約 600 名猶太青少年（14 歲至 20 歲的男孩和女孩）帶到以色列，他們從前蘇聯各地來到以色列。 我們有能力透過 Naale 和 SELA 計畫為有抱負的學生做到這一點。 透過這些計劃，這些勇敢的青少年正在拋開一切； 離開他們的家，他們的家人，他們的父母，他們的兄弟姐妹，他們所知道和信任的一切，並踏上勇敢的旅程，獨自來到以色列。”

「ICEJ 的朋友們，我們需要你們的幫助才能做到這一點，」丹妮爾補充道。 「我們需要您的幫助，以方便他們辦理簽證、準備工作、搭乘巴士、火車和國內航班從俄羅斯各地出發，從烏克蘭越過邊境進入鄰國，再搭乘飛往以色列的航班。 所有這一切都將在接下來的幾週內發生，我們此時確實需要您的支援。 到達以色列後，他們將被安置在學校、寄宿學校和村莊，根據他們的年齡和需要，他們將在那裡得到八個月到三年的照顧。 最終，他們將成為以色列國的新公民，並作為孤獨的士兵加入以色列國防軍，在以色列的大學服役和學習。”

ICEJ 贊助 2021 年 SELA 學生
事實證明，青年回歸計劃多年來在將猶太兒童先於父母帶到以色列方面取得了巨大成功，因為年輕人更容易學習新語言並適應新環境，然後幫助他們的父母融入以色列到達。多年來，基督徒大使館能夠支持這些獨特且高效的回歸計劃，這是一個巨大的祝福。 Youth Aliyah 的下一批學生將是 17 至 19 歲的 SELA 學生，他們將於今年 10 月開始為進入以色列的大學做準備。

ICEJ 在猶太新年週末贊助拉脫維亞青年回歸研討會

SELA 是一項針對猶太高中畢業生的教育住宿計劃，他們希望接受備受推崇的國際教育，學習希伯來語和其他語言課程，參與以色列社會和文化，結識新朋友，體驗以色列的生活。 到第八個月末，所有課程畢業生都將收到以色列身分證。

SELA 計畫為未來的學生提供強化希伯來語課程、英語、數學、課外活動以及通過以色列大學入學考試的預科課程。

烏克蘭戰爭對前蘇聯國家的年輕人產生了重大影響。 根據聯合國報告，自俄羅斯入侵烏克蘭以來，已有超過 400 萬人逃離該國，其中 200 萬人是兒童。 光是在烏克蘭，戰爭就擾亂了超過 500 萬名兒童的教育，數千所學校、學前班和其他教育設施因戰爭中使用爆炸性武器而遭到破壞或摧毀。 隨著本月恢復上課，許多學校在地下防空洞、地鐵站和其他安全地點上課。

丹妮爾·莫爾解釋說，前蘇聯的整個地區都受到了影響，猶太家庭的孩子來自世界各地，尤其是俄羅斯和烏克蘭，以及白俄羅斯、摩爾多瓦、哈薩克、烏茲別克、格魯吉亞等。

「在烏克蘭戰爭仍在肆虐期間，以及在俄羅斯生活在恐怖和徵兵威脅下，ICEJ 一直大力支持我們的工作，」她說。 「現在阿塞拜疆和亞美尼亞之間甚至在俄羅斯附近發生了衝突，所以此時我們迫切需要營救這些猶太兒童並將他們帶回以色列。”

此時此刻，請幫助我們挺身而出，協助這項緊急的「青年回歸」救援行動。