News from the aliyah and absorption fronts: a successful aliyah information day in the UK and a home in Israel for senior olim who need a hand up.
In the London suburb of Hendon, over one hundred people attended the Jewish Agency’s annual Israel Information Day for potential olim. “We were delighted to see such a high turnout at the event,” noted JAFI Aliyah Department Director in London, Avi Hausmann. The gathering was addressed by Dan Shacham from the Israeli Embassy, after which participants had a choice of seven workshops on a range of issues, including: retiring in Israel; the national/health insurance system; housing and mortgages; the compatibility of British appliances with Israeli electrical systems; shipping goods to Israel; taxation issues; and the banking system.
Meanwhile, in the Hadar neighborhood of Haifa, the Ariel Center for Torah, Judaism and Society in Israel has opened the Oleh House, for those elderly new immigrants from the former Soviet Union who are in financial straits. Needy new immigrants, both singles and couples, live in the eight-story building, a soup kitchen serves nourishing meals to some forty people each day and a senior citizens club provides cultural activities. The project is supported by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ) and was initiated by Haifa’s Chief Rabbi, Shear-Yashuv Cohen. The formal inauguration of the House was attended by Haifa Mayor Giora Fischer, Chairman of the Labor party Amram Mitzna, Rabbi Cohen, and Rabbi Yehiel Eckstein, President of the IFCJ, along with other public figures, representatives of the donors, rabbinical court judges, and visitors from abroad.
In the London suburb of Hendon, over one hundred people attended the Jewish Agency’s annual Israel Information Day for potential olim. “We were delighted to see such a high turnout at the event,” noted JAFI Aliyah Department Director in London, Avi Hausmann. The gathering was addressed by Dan Shacham from the Israeli Embassy, after which participants had a choice of seven workshops on a range of issues, including: retiring in Israel; the national/health insurance system; housing and mortgages; the compatibility of British appliances with Israeli electrical systems; shipping goods to Israel; taxation issues; and the banking system.
Meanwhile, in the Hadar neighborhood of Haifa, the Ariel Center for Torah, Judaism and Society in Israel has opened the Oleh House, for those elderly new immigrants from the former Soviet Union who are in financial straits. Needy new immigrants, both singles and couples, live in the eight-story building, a soup kitchen serves nourishing meals to some forty people each day and a senior citizens club provides cultural activities. The project is supported by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ) and was initiated by Haifa’s Chief Rabbi, Shear-Yashuv Cohen. The formal inauguration of the House was attended by Haifa Mayor Giora Fischer, Chairman of the Labor party Amram Mitzna, Rabbi Cohen, and Rabbi Yehiel Eckstein, President of the IFCJ, along with other public figures, representatives of the donors, rabbinical court judges, and visitors from abroad.