Arutz-7\'s Kobi Sela was on hand at Ben Gurion International Airport today for the arrival of the olim, and collected the following sounds:
Shlomo Nissenbaum from Chicago related that Arutz-7 was instrumental in his aliyah:
\"I receive the Arutz-7 email news in English every day, and I think it was in November one day when I saw item #8 or 9 about this new organization Nefesh B\'Nefesh. I happen to know Rabbi Joshua Fass, as we studied together in Kerem B\'Yavneh ten years ago. My wife and I immediately filled out forms, and [here we are]...\"
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, President of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, which donated $2 million towards the cause, said,
\"Hundreds of thousands of Bible-believing Christians in America have helped 200,000 Jews experience what these Jews are experiencing now - Jews from former Soviet Union, from Ethiopia, from Argentina, and now also from America... They do so not because of the hogwash about missionary activity that you read so often in the media; the reason they are doing it is simply to be a blessing to Israel and the Jewish People; G-d said to Abraham that He would bless those who bless Abraham, and they want to be blessed. They want to stand with [Israel and the Jews] at their time of need and show solidarity with them, in fulfillment of the Biblical scriptures that talked of this day that we are witnessing. For this and for their commitment, we owe them a great deal of thanks.\"
Former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who helped interest the International Fellowship in the project, said,
\"The fact that 400 olim are coming from the U.S., of all places - people who have the opportunity to go anywhere they want, yet chose to come here, in the midst of all the terrorism that is going on here - this is the best, strongest answer there is to the terrorists, whose purpose is none other than to drive us out of here...\"
Netanyahu stressed the importance of North American aliyah:
\"After these people get set up here, I would love to see them get organized to bring more olim from America - just like the Koreans did in New York... We must start bringing more olim from North America. This is the strongest Zionist response to terrorism, and it\'s the bottom line of our State; it\'s why we\'re here.\"
Rabbi Eckstein emphasized that immigrants to Israel from Western countries do not receive an \"absorption basket\" of financial benefits, as other immigrants do, such that the money today\'s olim received was no different than the incentives received by others. He said that the average allotment to today\'s olim was about $3,800 per person.
The aforementioned Shlomo Nissenbaum explained that the grant given by Nefesh B\'Nefesh is important for young couples who want to make aliyah:
\"It\'s hard to save up enough money, and by the time enough money is saved, the children are already older, etc... In my case, part of my education as a Jew always included the centrality of Eretz Yisrael [the Land of Israel]. I always knew that this was an important aspect of my Judaism, and my wife and I agreed that when it would be possible, we would come...\"
Shlomo Nissenbaum from Chicago related that Arutz-7 was instrumental in his aliyah:
\"I receive the Arutz-7 email news in English every day, and I think it was in November one day when I saw item #8 or 9 about this new organization Nefesh B\'Nefesh. I happen to know Rabbi Joshua Fass, as we studied together in Kerem B\'Yavneh ten years ago. My wife and I immediately filled out forms, and [here we are]...\"
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, President of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, which donated $2 million towards the cause, said,
\"Hundreds of thousands of Bible-believing Christians in America have helped 200,000 Jews experience what these Jews are experiencing now - Jews from former Soviet Union, from Ethiopia, from Argentina, and now also from America... They do so not because of the hogwash about missionary activity that you read so often in the media; the reason they are doing it is simply to be a blessing to Israel and the Jewish People; G-d said to Abraham that He would bless those who bless Abraham, and they want to be blessed. They want to stand with [Israel and the Jews] at their time of need and show solidarity with them, in fulfillment of the Biblical scriptures that talked of this day that we are witnessing. For this and for their commitment, we owe them a great deal of thanks.\"
Former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who helped interest the International Fellowship in the project, said,
\"The fact that 400 olim are coming from the U.S., of all places - people who have the opportunity to go anywhere they want, yet chose to come here, in the midst of all the terrorism that is going on here - this is the best, strongest answer there is to the terrorists, whose purpose is none other than to drive us out of here...\"
Netanyahu stressed the importance of North American aliyah:
\"After these people get set up here, I would love to see them get organized to bring more olim from America - just like the Koreans did in New York... We must start bringing more olim from North America. This is the strongest Zionist response to terrorism, and it\'s the bottom line of our State; it\'s why we\'re here.\"
Rabbi Eckstein emphasized that immigrants to Israel from Western countries do not receive an \"absorption basket\" of financial benefits, as other immigrants do, such that the money today\'s olim received was no different than the incentives received by others. He said that the average allotment to today\'s olim was about $3,800 per person.
The aforementioned Shlomo Nissenbaum explained that the grant given by Nefesh B\'Nefesh is important for young couples who want to make aliyah:
\"It\'s hard to save up enough money, and by the time enough money is saved, the children are already older, etc... In my case, part of my education as a Jew always included the centrality of Eretz Yisrael [the Land of Israel]. I always knew that this was an important aspect of my Judaism, and my wife and I agreed that when it would be possible, we would come...\"