More Aliyah flights ready for Takeoff!

By: Anastasiya Gooding

Amid the ongoing corona travel bans and economic uncertainty, Jews are still finding their way home to the Promised Land and projections are that Aliyah will even accelerate over the coming months. So far in 2021, over 18,500 Jews have immigrated to Israel. And as always, the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem is right there in the midst of this Aliyah wave, helping to bring over 2,200 of these new Jewish immigrants home to Israel this year. This includes our sponsorship of Aliyah flights for more than 1,300 Jews coming home from all directions.

Talya Kestelman made Aliyah from South Africa this summer on an ICEJ-sponsored emergency flight. As a 23-year-old young woman, she came with joy and bright expectations for the start of a brand new chapter in her life. Talya visited Israel for the first time when she was 15 years old as part of a school program.

“I just absolutely fell in love with this country”, she recalled. “I felt so connected to Israel and my soul was on fire.”

She then came back for a second visit to Israel with her family, and there was no doubt about where she belonged. “God was sending me a message that I needed to live in Israel”, she said with a smile.

Talya shared her desire to live in Israel with her family and asked permission to move here. The response from her family was simply that she first needed to finish her university degree. So, she faithfully worked at her studies and received her diploma.

“I’m going to Israel. I need to be there”, she insisted afterwards. “I need to live my life and meet my people. I need to experience life as a true Israeli.”

Talya is the first member of her family to blaze the trail back to Israel. She is looking forward to seeing her father in December when he plans to come visit her and see what life in Israel really looks like.

“I really hope that my whole family will move to Israel within a couple of years”, Talya confided.

Talya also was thankful to know that Christians around the world are supporting the Jewish return and that the ICEJ helped with her life-changing flight to Israel.

“I’m so grateful to have been given this opportunity to come to Israel”, she said. “Knowing that I have a country that will accept me no matter what just because I’m Jewish is a real blessing, and this is very special for me.”

After coming out of quarantine, Talya’s first step in Israel was starting an intensive Hebrew language course at Ulpan Etzion in Jerusalem.

“It is something special to be in this group of people from all over the world. We all have the same visions and calls in our lives. We all left everything behind to come to this special place, to learn a new language, and we have all started our lives over here. It is very special to be a part of this”, she explained.

Taking one step at a time, Talya is settling into an apartment and is looking forward to beginning her master’s degree in environmental studies.

“There are a lot of opportunities in Israel in terms of green design and green architecture. That is the field I want to go into”, she said.

We pray this young Jewish lady from South Africa will achieve her dreams and aspirations in her new/old homeland of Israel.

Meanwhile, the months ahead will be packed with many more Aliyah flights. For instance, we have committed to helping with several hundred more immigrants coming from both the Ethiopian Jewish and Bnei Menashe communities this fall, plus additional flights from Russian-speaking countries and even from the United States of America.

One family we hope to help make Aliyah soon is the Singsit family from the Bnei Menashe community in northeast India. Osher Singsit, along with his wife, four sons and two daughters, all hope to arrive in Israel in a few weeks, and with your help we can make that happen. Osher has a brother he has not seen since he made Aliyah some 14 years ago and settled in the Israeli town of Maalot. He also has two sisters who made Aliyah more recently, plus several nephews who were born in Israel.

“With your help and prayers, my family will be making Aliyah to Eretz Israel this year”, said Osher. “My kids are very excited about it! We are the children of Menashe. Our tribe had been lost for many years and now we want to be re-connected to our roots in Israel”, he pleaded.

Together, we can finish this year strong with an amazing testimony of Christians bringing thousands of Jews safely home to Israel even in the midst of a global pandemic. So, please give your best gift today to support the ICEJ’s Aliyah efforts.