Mukosieiev family at Ben Gurion airport
Mukosieiev family at Ben Gurion airportDaniel Bar-on

The Mukosieiev family is eager to be starting a new life in Israel. The family consists of  Serhii (age 46), Elena (age 44), their son Davyd (age 14) and Serhii's mother Alla (age 78). They will be making aliya from their native city of Dnepropetrovsk where they’ve lived for most part of their lives. 

Elena had been employed as a sales manager and her husband was an assistant-captain on a trade vessel.

In Serhii's words, "The idea of moving to Israel is something we've been thinking about for more than 20 years, but it was difficult to make the step. The war in Ukraine has provided the extra push to take this important step. The economic consequence of the war has been one of the main reasons for our decision. The central office of the company where Elena was employed was in Donetsk.  After the conflict broke out, many people were forced to leave the city and eventually lost their jobs. However, even people like Elena who remained employed suffered a huge salary decrease."

The family has adhered to Jewish traditions and Davyd has attended a Jewish school in Dnepropetrovsk. "We love the beautiful customs and activities", says Elena. "My parents returned to their roots when the FSU fell apart and observance because legal.  We're sure that once in Israel it will be even easier to observe the traditions."

The family learned about The Fellowship's Freedom Flight program through the internet. "We got all the initial information we needed", says Elana. "We learned what our expectations should be about our future in Israel.  We also found out about The Fellowship's aid and assistance to new olim".

The family will be moving to Haifa. "At first we thought of moving to Ashdod", says Davyd. "But after thinking about it for a while, we decided that it would be much better to live near the sea, so we've chosen to live in Haifa. We have very positive expectations for our new life in Israel. Of course there is some uncertainty and apprehension about how quickly we'll adapt to life in a new country and in a new community, but we know that Israelis are very warm and open to new olim. We're not too worried".

Alla is a Holocaust survivor and tells this story about her mother: "Her real name was Itta Mendelejevna.  But that was an obviously Jewish name. Because the Jews of her day were living in constant fear of being persecuted, she always presented herself as Lydia Mykhajlivna, which is a Ukrainian name. The fear of oppression was so strong that she even decided to write down this false name in her last will and testament. Thank G-d we're finally moving to a country when one can be completely proud of his Judaism."