A special Independence Day celebration was held on Wednesday by the Orthodox Union (OU) at Jerusalem's First Station for Jews who immigrated from English-speaking countries.
"For someone who was born here it is obvious to live in a place where everyone speaks Hebrew, behaves like Jews, a place where people are not afraid to walk around the streets or receive derogatory remarks and anti-Semitism," said Jenny Rosenbaum, who immigrated ten years ago from Los Angeles.
"I, who immigrated to Israel only in recent years, know very well what I mean when I celebrate Israel Independence Day here," she added.
Simon, who immigrated from Montreal, said that "The decision to immigrate to Israel is perhaps the hardest decision I've ever made in my life, I lived in a good community and made a good income, but it was clear to me that I had to come to Israel. The distance makes it difficult and not always easy to find work here, but I am a Zionist and this is my country, and I wish I could bring all the family members. "
OU Israel Executive Director Rabbi Avi Berman said that "We stand here united to say a huge thank you to our Father in Heaven who gave us a state with an army, with infrastructure, with a strong economy and a wonderful and amazing and exciting nation that we have Independence Day each year, to thank and praise the amazing miracle that is gathered Together all the Jews of the world. "