By: Anastasiya Gooding

Over recent months, the ICEJ has sponsored special ‘evacuation flights’ every week bringing Jews on Aliyah to Israel, despite the coronavirus crisis. There are three such Aliyah flights coming this week alone, all arranged by the Jewish Agency and sponsored by the Christian Embassy. This includes 100 Russian and 34 Ethiopian Jews all who arrived in the last week. With the latest cancellations of most regular flights into Israel, these are about the only flights currently arriving at Ben-Gurion airport, which only adds to the miracle now taking place thanks to our faithful supporters.

Each Jewish olim (newcomer) on board these flights has their own family history and unique life stories on how they came to make Aliyah, but all are united by the sense of joy and expectation concerning their new home in Israel. Last week, the Klokov family arrived from the Far East as part of a group of 61 new Jewish immigrants from all across Russia who came on a rescue flight funded by the Christian Embassy. Eugene Klokov came with his wife and two children, and he shared his fascinating story with us.

Eugene was born in 1987, in the city of Khabarovsk, in far eastern regions of Russia. All his life, he knew about his Jewish identity and wanted to explore it further.

“I was fascinated by this and for many years I have worked on re-creating my family tree,” said Eugene. “I was very interested to know who my distant ancestors were. I collected the information bit by bit. Sometimes, I just got on a plane and flew to relatives across the former Soviet Union whom I had never seen.”

Most of his relatives lived in small Jewish communities. And for them, Eugene became a hope – a hope that the family history would not vanish without a trace, but will be passed on to the next generation.

Eugene’s grandparents were from Crimea and the Ukraine. But after graduating from university, they were moved to the Far East to work by the Soviet state, which wanted to ‘populate’ the vast, empty region. Soviet officials said it would be “for just a few years.”

“It wasn’t surprising that they were sent east,” said Eugene. “The central government didn’t want Jews anywhere near the center of the country.”

The system was set up so that after five mandatory years of work, the Soviets offered his grandparents a small promotion if they stayed a few more years, and so on and so forth.

“My grandfather and grandmother lived all their lives with the thought that they would move the next year,” he explained. “They lived with packed suitcases, they didn’t buy new furniture, they literally limited themselves in everything. Yet eventually, they never left.”

“Maybe it is no coincidence that my grandparents never grew roots in Russia. Maybe it is no coincidence that I am here now, of all times, during a pandemic, finally planting roots for my family in Israel,” Eugene confided.

From an early age, Eugene passionately studied the history of Israel, which he viewed as inextricably linked with his family history. Once, Eugene was able to take part in a Taglit (Birthright) tour of Israel. During a visit to Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, he was shocked to find information about his relatives murdered in the Holocaust, including children as young as four years old.

“I felt a chill come over me when I looked at these photos and records of eyewitness testimony. And when I held in my hands these old documents, I felt very strong feelings. A huge desire arose within me to do something for the Land of Israel,” said Eugene. But he quickly adds that this was not his only reason for making Aliyah.

“I wanted to show my children a different life, I wanted a different future for them. Education, medicine, and the caring attitude of the government towards its people made me feel Israel can be my home,” said Eugene.

After making Aliyah last week, Eugene is filled with great expectations. He wants to start a new business in construction.

“I believe that our life consists of actions,” he insists. “We can make history today, here and now!”

“I would be extremely happy if my children appreciate what I am doing, that I moved from a distant town in Russia to the center of the world, to the country that was waiting for me,” Eugene concluded.

Indeed, the Klokov family started their Aliyah journey home nearly a century ago and thousands of miles away from even their old home. Now they are finally home, in Israel.

Please help us bring more Jewish families like the Klokovs home to Israel. It is still possible thanks to the ‘evacuation flights’ the ICEJ is now sponsoring. We have brought over 1250 Jews to Israel over the past five months of the coronavirus crisis. And to build on this remarkable achievement, we are now calling on our Christian friends and supporters worldwide to join us in helping more Jews reach Israel safely through our “Rescue250” campaign.

The Rescue250 campaign is a challenge to Christian supporters of Israel around the globe to partner with the ICEJ is keeping up our current pace of flying at least 250 Jews per month home to Israel while the coronavirus pandemic is still severely impacting the world. This is both a prophetic mandate and a humanitarian mission, and we welcome your involvement in making this miracle happen.

Learn more on how you can be a part of this urgent campaign at: on.icej.org/rescue250