Program Stories

Isaak and Isabela, a married couple in their 70s, couldn’t contain their excitement as they packed their bags to make aliyah (immigrate to Israel) with IFCJ Canada. After all, they waited an entire year for this due to the COVID-19 crisis — but, really, they’ve been waiting their entire lives. As a faithful Jewish couple, they’ve always prayed and wished to live in the Holy Land.

As 85-year-old Victor volunteers both at a Fellowship-supported soup kitchen, as well as an interpreter for Israel’s courts, those he helps would never know the hard life this gentle man has faced.

Last Hanukkah was very special for 81-year-old Raisa. It was the first Hannukah the Holocaust survivor had celebrated in Israel!

“In peace I will lie down in sleep, for you alone, LORD, make me dwell in safety.” (Psalm 4:8)

Veronica is only in the third grade, but she has already seen what the help of others can do. Her grandmother, Lyudmila, spent her life as a nurse, helping others in their native Ukraine. And because her daughter — Veronica’s mother — is unable to care for her two children, Lyudmila has raised her granddaughters as if they were her own.

Hand in hand with his beloved grandfather Boris, 7-year-old Ilya once skipped through the melting snow on the way to synagogue in Ukraine.

Life has always been hard for 10-year-old Alina and her 6-year-old brother Vladislav, and faith and hope have often been hard to come by. They once lived in a small dirty apartment in eastern Ukraine, an area mired in war and poverty.

Dagan had nearly given up his dream of becoming a father, but when he met Ronit, the connection was instant. Soon the couple married and prepared to bring their first child into the world.

Tova’s face tells so many stories. So many sad stories. This precious Jewish woman in her 90s has so many sad stories to tell.

Solomon was just a boy, barely a teenager, when he not only survived the Holocaust but was thrust into service during World War II. And still, Solomon survived.

Seventy-year-old Mili has given so much, helping her biblical homeland, Israel. In the 1970s, she lost her husband when he was killed defending the Holy Land in a war with Syria. This left her to raise their family alone, working as a housekeeper.

Before the past year and a half, Yamikar’s family lived a simple life. Gathering for simple meals after work at Ben Gurion Airport — where the 43-year-old Ethiopian olim (immigrant) worked in the kitchen and her husband carried luggage — the couple and their six children gave thanks to God for giving them a home in the Holy Land, their biblical and historic homeland, where they can practice their Jewish faith during the High Holy Days and all year round.