Diaspora Jewry
Irina Shur, 90, was a former professor at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography.
According to the Jewish Agency, its joint emergency fund has helped Jewish institutions bridge immediate gaps in cash flow, enabling them to continue to function, provide services for their community members and avoid complete collapse.
The Jewish Agency chairman tells Diaspora leaders that his organization provided some $10 million in interest-free loans to communities hit hard by COVID-19 lockdowns.
Although family and friends still need to surround babies with love, the ceremonies designed to officially receive them into the world have rarely been logistically trickier.
It comes on the heels of an unprecedented increase in interest from North American Jews to move to Israel.
They say most Jews in the United Kingdom believe the land is Israel’s historically and legally, and acknowledge that Israel is a competent democracy that has the right to make its own decisions.
Bringing the last of the Falash Mura to Israel “needs to be a priority, ” says Israeli Aliyah and Integration Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata.
Many of the arrivals come from regions of the former Soviet Union where local economies are struggling and COVID-19 has been peaking.
With the mix of the “idealism of a Jewish person owning property in Israel” and positive real estate trends over the last year, purchasing apartments is a safe investment in the long term, said U.S.-based investor and investing consultant Nathan Silver.
New immigrants on the early-June group flight ranged from the oldest, 87, to a year-old baby.
“I’m not an experienced environmental activist, but I suddenly saw the state of the beaches here and unlike France, this is my country,” said new immigrant to Israel Samuel Guelem.
Applications for aliyah in the spring of the coronavirus are breaking records, as Jews in the Diaspora see Israel as a safe haven.
