By: Anastasiya Gooding

Aliyah is the fulfillment of God’s promises to one day return the Jewish people back to their Promised Land. Over three million Jews have immigrated to the Land of Israel in modern times, and behind each one is a unique life story.

The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem has been a part of this prophetic return, assisting nearly 160,000 Jews in making Aliyah in the past four decades. And amazingly, the Aliyah has not stopped amid the Corona crisis, as we have brought 1,350 Jewish people on emergency flights just in the past five months. Those on board are being given priority based on urgent health concerns, rising antisemitism, poor socio-economic conditions, and other humanitarian factors.

Among the recent arrivals brought by the ICEJ are the parents of Olga Mursalieva, who is going through a very difficult period in her life and needed her father and mother here at her side. Olga made Aliyah from Russia herself in November of last year. She came as a single mother with three children and settled in the city of Haifa. From that moment, her life should have been full of hope for a brighter future. But shortly after landing in Israel, she received shocking news. Olga was diagnosed with cancer and is now receiving life-saving treatments.

In this difficult situation, it was encouraging for Olga to know that her parents, who were still living in Russia, also quickly decided to move to Israel to be near their daughter at this critical time. When they learned of their daughter’s diagnosis, they immediately began the Aliyah process and by the beginning of April everything was ready for them to make the move. They had quit their jobs, sold their house, said goodbye to everyone, packed their belongings and were ready to leave. Then, literally on the way to the airport, they were overtaken by shocking news once more.

Due to the rapid spread of the Coronavirus in Russia at that time, flights in and out of the country were suspended. Suddenly, the skies were closed and they had to turn around – but to where? They also were very anxious about how to share this news with Olga, who they feared would fall into despair, not knowing when her parents might arrive.

They returned to their home city of Saratov, where they restlessly sought a way to reach Israel and care for their daughter. And thanks to help from the Jewish Agency and the Christian Embassy, soon Olga’s parents could fly on one of the evacuation flights we are sponsoring to Israel. They made it into the country in June and after two weeks of quarantine, they were reunited with their daughter Olga and their three grandchildren. The fact that it happened so quickly seemed like a miracle to them.

Now they are caring for their three grandchildren and are so grateful to be here in Israel as a family together. Olga is currently in the Rambam hospital in Haifa, where she is preparing for an operation. She is hopeful knowing she is in the best of hands with her doctors, her parents, and her faith in God.

There are many more Jewish families desperate to reach Israel amid the Corona crisis. Thanks to Christian donors around the world, the ICEJ has managed to bring an average of over 250 Jewish immigrants per month on evacuation flights to Israel since March of this year. We have launched a special ‘Rescue250’ campaign to challenge Christians to help us maintain that current pace of bringing at least 250 Jews on flights to Israel each month until the Corona threat subsides.

You can help reserve a place today for a Jewish family in urgent need of boarding a flight to Israel! Please join our ‘Rescue250’ campaign!

Book a seat today at: on.icej.org/rescue250