Page 20 - Demo

Thank you for speaking to us. What is Israela?Israela was originally founded by Shalom Vach 32 years ago, with the vision to help olim integrate into Israeli communities. Originally from Belgium, Vach began the program to help French-speaking Jews make Aliyah. Since its inception, Israela has helped 10,000 Jews make Aliyah through its unique model. The core idea is to create a group before making Aliyah and to have an Israeli community that will welcome them, helping them integrate into Israeli society. In the past, I always told people to make Aliyah to an Anglo community, but this offers a new model. You go with Anglos, but to an Israeli community that will embrace you. It allows you to maintain your Anglo life while integrating into Israeli society, and it helps make the process a lot quicker. Most of these olim did not initially plan to live in an Israeli community, but this new model provides olim with a massive advantage.How do you go about creating a group?We work with people who have decided to make Aliyah or are considering it. We reach out through the Jewish Agency and Mizrachi, who work with families oriented toward Aliyah. We partner with the Jewish Agency, Nefesh b%u2019Nefesh, and Mizrachi, who are dealing with people pre-Aliyah. We cater to families with school-aged kids at the moment (though we are considering including empty-nesters), mainly Modern Orthodox. On the Israel side, our Community Absorption Coordinator, Mali, works on finding communities, schools, rabbanim, and municipalities, narrowing it down as we get to know the group. She starts with 15 places, and the group then chooses which ones to visit. We have a checklist of criteria: the community needs to be interested, etc. We appoint someone to be the on-the-ground contact for the first 18 months to escort the families. We sign them up for schools before they%u2019ve even While thousands of Jews from around the world made Aliyah this past summer, one group stood out with a particularly unique story. %u201cKvutzat Daniel,%u201d a close-knit group of families from Australia and the UK, embarked on their journey to Israel together, coordinated by the group Aliyah organization Israela. Rabbi Ilan Goldman shared with Rabbi Aron White the innovative approach behind this initiative and Israela%u2019s exciting plans for the future.IsraelaBringing Group Aliyah to the English Speaking World20 |