By: Anastasiya Gooding

Back in May, the four members of the Fraerman family were placed on a specially chartered ‘evacuation flight’ sponsored by the ICEJ which brought them on Aliyah from Moscow to Israel. The mother, Tatyana, was 32 weeks pregnant with twins and needed a lot of extra paperwork and persuasion with airport authorities to get her on a flight so close to term. Israel and Russia also were both in the midst of strict Coronavirus lockdowns and their flight was the last opportunity for her to travel to Israel before giving birth. But they made it!

We reported their story several months ago, and after their two-week quarantine the ICEJ TV team also caught up with the Fraerman family in Nahariya, where they were still settling down into their new life in Israel after their frantic journey from Russia.

“At Ben-Gurion Airport, we were immediately met by ICEJ staff and the Jewish Agency,” recalled the father Serguei. “Our children were presented with gifts and sweets, and we were photographed. Everything seemed to happen very quickly. l had not slept for two days before that, packing our luggage.”

Serguei and Tatyana shared an especially touching story about their eldest daughter Olga which happened during their departure. She wanted to bring her favorite scooter to Israel. However, when they reached the airport, they found out they could not do so.

“All our luggage was at the maximum weight allowance for every person. We simply did not have a place to take something else. The scooter is considered a separate luggage, and we needed to pay extra for it,” said Serguei. “I told my daughter: ‘Let’s leave it, and we will buy another one when we get there.’ We told her that there is a sea there; she was dreaming about the sea, and she agreed to leave her scooter,” he recalled.

Aware of Olga’s story of sacrificing her scooter to reach Israel, the ICEJ team finished the interview with the family and took the children outside, where they were presented with new scooters for both daughters, as well as a new double stroller for the expected twins. [Make sure to watch our TV interview with the Fraerman family to learn more about their journey to Israel.]

Recently, we received an update from the Fraerman family. The twins were born in late June; the oldest is named David and the younger one is Semyon. Both boys are gentle and like to smile. Meanwhile, Olga has started school online and has many Russian-speaking friends in her class, who are helping her to learn Hebrew and understand her teachers. The youngest daughter, Lisa, goes to kindergarten and has already learned the count to ten in Hebrew. Tatyana takes care of the house and four children, while Sergei has found work.

It is very gratifying to see new Jewish arrivals getting settled in Israel and putting down their roots here. The Fraerman family has quickly grown from four to six, and are becoming part of the fabric of Israeli life. But there are many, many more Jewish families in nations near and far waiting to fulfill their dream of reaching the Land of Israel.

The ICEJ is now planning to assist with an expected wave of 2,000 Ethiopian Jews being brought to Israel in coming months. This special Ethiopian airlift has been approved by the Israeli government, and the first Aliyah flights are scheduled to start in December. The costs for bringing them to Israel is currently higher than normal, but the Jewish Agency says it is an urgent situation and is looking to the ICEJ to fund as many of these Ethiopian Jewish immigrants as we can.

We know firsthand that most have spent years in rickety transit camps waiting and dreaming of their moment to return to Zion. But this will only be possible if Christians like you join with us in bringing them back to the Promised Land.

Please consider what you can do to help us meet this great humanitarian need, and to fulfil biblical prophecy at the same time!

Give your best gift today to support the ICEJ’s Aliyah efforts.