By: Aaron Hecht

Zechariah 2:6 says,“Ho there! Flee from the land of the north,” declares the Lord, “for I have dispersed you as the four winds of the heavens,” declares the Lord.

We are in a season of history when the Jewish people in “the Land of the North” are heeding this call! According to the Jewish Agency, 35,312 people made Aliyah in 2019, and 24,586 of them were from the former Soviet Union (FSU). The megacity of Moscow, capital of the Russian Federation, sent 7,200 Jewish immigrants to Israel in 2019, more than the number of immigrants from Ukraine and France combined. The ICEJ continues to reach out to Jewish communities in Moscow as well as other parts of the FSU to assist them in making Aliyah to the Jewish State.

“In 2019 we assisted 3,844 Olim on their way to Israel,” said ICEJ Aliyah Director Howard Flower. “This is up 46% over 2018.” According to Flower, this brings the total number of Jewish immigrants assisted by the ICEJ to 156,916 since 1980. “Our next ICEJ sponsored flight will be on February 20 from St. Petersburg and after that on March 17 from Helsinki, which marks almost to the day our 30th anniversary of Aliyah through Finland,” he continued. “The flights from Moscow will begin on March 1 to assist with the huge wave of Aliyah from Russia. Since 1990 we have brought more than 16,000 Russian Olim on ICEJ sponsored flights from the Former Soviet Union.” 

The ICEJ hopes to sponsor flights for at least 1,000 immigrants from Russia in 2020 at $400 per person. Additionally, the ICEJ is working together with the Jewish Agency to sponsor three-day informational seminars in Moscow, at a cost of $150 per person. These seminars are crucial to assist people interested in making Aliyah to plan and prepare for their journey.