Project Rescue

I want to live in Israel” – it has been my strong desire and dream! I am happy that my dream has now come true!   I lived in Kharkiv; I liked my city. I grew up there, and studied there. I got a law degree, planned to build a career, and thought about starting my own family. But the war intervened in my plans!  As soon as the capture of our city began, Russian troops with tanks and Grads (rocket launchers) appeared on the streets, and planes began to fly in the sky dropping missiles on us. I left Kharkiv. I managed to go to Germany, and lived there as a refugee. A year passed in a European country, and then another year and I felt that this was not my place at all! I increasingly began to remember a short trip to Israel, which left such a pleasant mark on my heart. I went to Israel on a tour under the Taglit program from the Jewish Agency. Although I had enough of everything: enough money for living, I was in a safe place, I made friends, but my heart refused to live in Europe. Suddenly a real desire to go to Israel and a dream appeared - to live there!   My father is staying in Ukraine and he doesn’t want to go anywhere yet, and I’m worried about him. But I hope that he will join me in Israel soon! Finally, I went to the consulate to get the right to live in Israel. To my surprise, I received a list of missing documents needed to get a visa. Of course, I was very upset because I could not come to Ukraine to get everything I needed. But, to my great happiness, I was advised to go to Ezra! I did so, and Ezra made sure that I could bring the consul everything I needed and get a visa as a potential citizen of Israel!  I plan to focus all my efforts on learning Hebrew! I want to confirm my diploma and work in my specialty. I am thinking about creating a family.  Ezra helped me get the necessary documents from the archives, and this was very important for me! Simply invaluable help! They also helped me get a police clearance certificate and sent it to Germany, where I lived. Without this, I would not have been able to pass the consular check either!  I am grateful for your work! It is simply priceless! You help make the dream of Jews who want to live in their own country come true! Thank you for your work! **Bridges for Peace partners with Ezra, providing financial support for the processes that open the doors for Jewish immigrants to “make Aliyah” – to come home to Israel. Upon arrival, BFP works to connect with the new Olim (Aliyah immigrants) to bless them gifts that help to settle into their new Israel home.

My whole family is already in Israel and I am going there with great joy to live close to my relatives! My daughter and granddaughter were the first to leave for Israel. This was long before a full-scale war in Ukraine. They settled in very well there, they like everything and are happy. Then my mother expressed a desire to repatriate to Israel, so she got ready very quickly and left. She has been living there for 5 years now. And my wife and I were planning the move, but could not leave everything here.  Later, I regretted that I did not decide to repatriate to Israel earlier, since so much grief awaited us ahead! Firstly, the war began, and I was not allowed to travel abroad due to my age. And then my wife began to feel unwell and we learned that she was very ill. The doctors said that she had an oncological disease - cirrhosis of the liver.  As soon as we learned about this diagnosis, we decided to immediately send her to Israel alone, and I remained in Ukraine. I have health problems and after the stress and nervous tension I experienced, my health also worsened. I passed the medical examination and received an exemption from military service due to disability. This process took me half a year, but now I can join my family! My mother and daughter and granddaughter live happily in Israel and are proud to be citizens of this country. My wife is also happy now. During these six months, while we were apart, she has already settled in there, received the necessary medical care and feels much better. Of course, she is still on the road to recovery, but she is alive, and that is the main thing! Also, my wife has calmed down from the constant stress she was under after the start of the full-scale war! So I want to forget everything that happened to me during these 3 years of war, like a bad dream! I plan to find a job and live a full life! I also want to receive quality medical care. We received a lot of help and support from Ezra. First of all, you took care of my wife when she urgently needed to leave! You carried her to the place where there was hope for saving her life! Ezra supported me morally and didn’t let me give up! They provided me with financial assistance, helped me get a police clearance certificate, and took me to a consular check. Ezra covered these expenses, and I am so grateful for that. After all, due to my health, I couldn’t work, so I needed the money so much! Only thanks to you I was able to go through this entire process! Many thanks for taking me to Vinnitsa and helping with my luggage, because I can’t lift more than 5 kilograms. Ezra took full care of me! From Vinnitsa I went to Moldova and Israel. It's so amazing that there are people who take part in the lives of others who need it! You have no idea how much you do! Without your help and support, it would have been much harder for me to go where I need to be! Thank you for everything you've done for me and my family!

Svitlana and Yuri K. Our children have been living in Israel for over 5 years, but my husband and I did not want to leave yet. But when the war in Ukraine dragged on and things got really bad here, we finally decided to leave everything and join our children. We were quite sure that we would pass the consular check without any problems, but when we came to the consulate, we were very upset because we received a large list of documents that the consul demanded to bring. Of course, our hands dropped, because we did not know where to look for all this! At some point, we even decided that Israel needs young people, and we are no longer promising, so they do not want to take us. Somewhere in our souls there was a breakdown, but praise God, our friends advised us to contact Ezra! After speaking with the Ezra representative, we perked up again and realized that there is hope! And this is not a refusal, but just a temporary difficulty. They helped us find the documents that the consul demanded and accompanied us on the way to Israel until the flight! Ezra also prayed for us and God performed a miracle! My husband is still of draft age, but he has a disability. Because of it, my husband should have been removed from military registration. But the Recruitment Center refused to do this, so he could not leave the country. For us, this was an insoluble situation, but after our need was put to the prayer list and they began to pray for it, the incredible miracle happened! When my husband again applied for removal from registration, he was released from service without any problems! Finally, we will be close to our children again! We plan to learn the language and work. I worked in a kindergarten with children for 20 years, I want to continue working there in this direction. The help from Ezra was simply priceless! Firstly, Ezra representatives supported us morally in everything and did not allow us to give up in the face of difficulties! They found documents for us, paid for police clearance certificates, provided financial assistance. They transported us to a consular check and delivered us to Vinnitsa before we were taken on to Kishinev and flying to Israel.

  I am 86 years old. I was born and raised in Russia, in Ural. I studied at the institute there and after graduating, I worked in the Kherson region in Ukraine, in the city of Tsyuryupinsk, now Oleshki. This is where I met my husband. We both worked at a paper mill. We got married and had three children.   Years passed and the children grew up. Two of them repatriated to Israel, but the youngest daughter and her family stayed in Kherson. Then my husband died, and I lived alone in Oleshki.  The full-scale invasion of Russian troops into Ukraine was a real shock for all of us. I couldn't believe that reality! Our region was very quickly occupied. Russian troops entered our city. Military terror and looting began. I wasn’t afraid for my life because I’m already too old. I was alone in my house, and I forced my daughter and her family to go abroad. They managed to leave Kherson despite the shelling. I refused to leave with them despite all my children trying to persuade me because I wanted to be where my husband was buried.   I didn’t know then that the hardest time was yet to come! There was a flood due to the blowing up of the Kakhovka dam by Russian troops. The water rose rapidly, and volunteers took me by boat to a safe place. My house, all the things in it, my husband’s grave and everything that I was so attached to was underwater!  But I was alive! Others were not. It is difficult to convey the horror of everything that was happening!   Everything that was dear to me remained there. Memories, my whole life, the house that my husband and I built with our own hands and where our children grew up. I lost everything in a moment! It's very hard.   As a result, I ended up in Kyiv with my friends. I could hardly move as my legs had stopped obeying me. In order to leave for Israel, I needed help. The youngest daughter came to accompany and help me get to Israel. I am going to my children who have been very worried about me all this time. Because of my stubbornness, I did not go earlier, causing them a lot of trouble. But now I had to leave everything in the past and go to my new home. The children want to take care of me, and I am grateful to them for that.   Ezra helped me with consultations. They provided me with financial assistance and advice, and gave me contacts of organizations helping in Israel. Before flying to Israel, my daughter and I were taken to Vinnitsa, from where we went to Kishinev and then to Israel. Many thanks and deep gratitude for your support and help. I was broken mentally and physically after the stress I experienced, and you gave me a helping hand in difficult times when I needed it so much! Thank you very much!

Israel is the country for Jews. My daughter’s future is in this country. The time has come for us to return home. When I was at the consulate before the war, I was told that there were not enough documents to open a visa, that more evidence of my Jewish roots was needed. Therefore, despite my desire to go to Israel, I put this question off, because I did not want to look for the documents. But then the war began, and our Kharkiv was under fire, and my family was in danger. Praise the Almighty, we met you on our way, and you helped us find what was missing. This process, including trips to consular checks, took my family almost three years. Now we are going to the country of our dreams! We were given consultations in the process of collecting documents, and some of them were obtained for us. You paid for travel to consular checks and provided financial assistance. We were supported morally during this entire period of searching for documents, and this made life easier in military Kharkiv. Our hope did not fade. You also helped us get to Vinnitsa before the flight, and from there we went to Moldova and Israel. May the Almighty send you much joy, good health, happiness and His shalom! You have done so much good for my family, and I wish you good in your life! Thank you so much for your help!

I want to give a future to my son, Matvei. I dream of a better life for myself and for my family! For me, moving to Israel is a chance for a new life, a different future. I also take care of my mother and stepfather. They are both disabled, so I take care of them the best I can. When full-scale war came to our country, life became completely unbearable. Our city was surrounded and constantly under fire. I was afraid for my son, for my parents and for my life. As soon as the opportunity arose, I began to collect documents for a consular check for repatriation to Israel. My mother is Jewish, and I was sure that everything would be quick and easy. Unfortunately, it did not work out quickly and everything turned out to be quite difficult! And then I was advised to contact you for help. I greatly regretted that I did not know about you before! If I had found you earlier, I would have avoided such problems! You told me where to get the necessary documents, and provided all the necessary assistance. Without you, we would not have been able to leave at all! We were consulted on the documents, you provided financial assistance to take the necessary things for the consul from the registry office and helped us to translate my parent’s documents into Hebrew. I just don’t have enough words to express my gratitude and appreciation! I know for sure that without your moral and financial help, my son and I would not have been able to leave for Israel. As it turned out, in our case, desire is not enough. We needed finances, time and patience to pass these tests! You supported, helped and gave hope.

In 2022, when the war came, I, my wife, her mother and grandmother left for Western Ukraine. I was called up and taken to the front, and my wife, Nika, went to Poland with her mother and grandmother. My wife and family repatriated from Poland to Israel, and I was at the front. I was injured and was treated for a long time. It took a lot of time to pass a medical examination in order to be commissioned out of the army. The greatest help was provided at the stage when my wife and her family tried to pass a consular check in Poland. There were not enough documents, and you helped to collect everything necessary. Some documents had to be taken from the archives, and you helped us get one from Russia! That was just an incredible miracle! Thanks to this, I was able to join the family in Israel! I am infinitely grateful that you exist! Thanks to you, now we, a family, three generations, can live in Israel! If you hadn't taken the necessary documents for us, we wouldn't have left! Thank you for the financial support! You are incredible! We will remember and pray for you!

We were alone in Ukraine because our entire family lives in Israel. We decided to join them because of the war in Ukraine. My wife and I lived a quiet life in Zaporozhye. Our relatives and children left for Israel long ago, but we didn’t want to. Our friends and community are here. We have a small but well-equipped apartment. We visited our children and that was enough for us. We weren’t going to change anything in our lives. The war in Ukraine invaded our measured and familiar life and changed everything! At the very beginning of the war, we thought that it would end quickly, we would endure a little, and everything would return to how it was. Unfortunately, almost 3 years have passed, and we no longer have any illusions! The situation in our city is getting worse – shelling has become more frequent, destruction, loss of life and power outages. Prices are rising terribly, so it is simply impossible to live on our pension. We are under moral pressure, we are very nervous, and because of this we often get sick. Of course, in the end we could not stand such living conditions and decided to go to the children. By and large, Israel is our native land! My wife and I are both Jews! Of course, it is very difficult to leave, but the situation has changed dramatically and living here has become simply unbearable. Our children and grandchildren have been waiting for us for a long time, not as for guests, but as for permanent residence. Now we have definitely decided to join them. We really want to calm down and improve our health. We understand that we will need to adapt to new conditions, but we are already ready for this. We knew for sure that we needed to contact Ezra when we decided to repatriate. All because Ezra had previously helped almost all of our relatives leave! And they took care of us! They helped with consultations before the consular check, provided financial assistance, helped to get and pay for the necessary certificates. We were taken to Vinnitsa when we were already registered for the consular check. My husband and I are the last ones from our family to leave. There is no one else left here. Because of this, we had a lot of luggage. Ezra took such good care of us, helped us with our bags and drove us comfortably to Vinnitsa. From there, we went to Kishinev in Moldova for the flight to Israel. There is only great gratitude in our hearts for the honor bestowed upon us and our entire family! The fact that Bridges for Peace and Ezra helps Jews is very valuable and necessary for us. Firstly, it inspires and supports confidence that we need to go to our land. Thank you for your care, for the finances that were spent on our departure. It is incredible that you donate your money in order to serve Jews! Thank you for everything!

Moving to Israel has become an important step in my life. I am returning to my roots, going to my true homeland! Part of my family has been living in Israel for a long time. My dad is from a family of pure-blooded Jews. My great-grandmother's family was also pure-blooded and religious, apparently, the genes made themselves known and I wanted to go to Israel. After all, it would have been possible to choose any European country at the very beginning of the war, but I wanted to go to Israel! When I finally matured and decided to repatriate to Israel, I encountered difficulties when passing the consular check. It was necessary to add more documents about the Jewishness of my ancestors. But I did not have them, and I did not know where to get them. This upset me greatly and at some point, it seemed to me that nothing would work out. And I really wanted to leave Kharkiv, because it became simply unbearable to endure all the horrors of the war! I began to look for help, contacted various Jewish organizations, but no one could help me with this problem. In the Jewish Agency, they advised me to contact Ezra. And only because I listened to this advice, I was able to get everything I needed and get a visa! Initially I will live with my sister's family, they are really looking forward to seeing me. The whole time I was going through the consular check, they were very worried about me. I plan to learn Hebrew, and confirm my diploma. I want to work, live a full life, and achieve success! This help was simply priceless! I turned to Ezra when I had already lost hope that I would be able to find what I needed, but they breathed faith into me again and did not let me despair. I was referred to specialists who got archival records from neighboring countries. They paid for the costs of finding these documents! It was a miracle for me! All this time I was accompanied, supported with great care and attention!  I was given financial assistance, thanks to which I was able to pay for a police clearance certificate and a certificate of marital status.  When I was already traveling to Moldova to fly to Israel, I was worried that there would be difficulties crossing the border. I have a residence permit in Ukraine, but not citizenship, and my passport is that of a Russian citizen.    Despite the fact that I have been living in Ukraine for a long time, studied, worked here, but, nevertheless, I was afraid that they would not let me out of the country. I know that Ezra prayed for me so that everything would go well. And thank God, I crossed the border safely!  I feel very sorry for the people, the children who remain in Ukraine and they have to survive here in these terrible conditions! I am ashamed of Russia - this is the country where I was born and raised, but what is happening now, I cannot accept! I am very grateful to you that my repatriation took place! It is all thanks to you! I admire your care, warmth, attention, and kindness! Thank you for all the help you provided, both material and moral! I managed only thanks to you! Karolina K from Kharkiv   

Yevhen and Olha  from Kharkiv, Ukraine Israel is the country for Jews. My daughter’s future is in this country. The time has come for us to return home Everyone around me knows that I am a Jew. I am a deeply religious person. I attend synagogue. My aunt and niece live here in Ukraine, they are also religious people. But when I was at the consulate before the war, I was told that there were not enough documents to open a visa, that more evidence of my Jewish roots was needed. Therefore, despite my desire to go to Israel, I put this question off, because I did not want to make an effort and look for the documents.  But then the war began, and our Kharkiv was under fire, and my family was in danger. Then we still had to look for these documents. After all, we were not going to go to any other country, only to Israel! And in order to repatriate there, we need to get the "go-ahead" from the consul. Praise the Almighty, we met Ezra on our way, and they helped us find what was missing. This process, including trips to consular checks, took my family almost 3 years. And all this time we were in Kharkiv. We have already got used to the constant howl of sirens, to the explosions, but it is scary to understand that at this time someone was killed or injured, or that someone's home was destroyed. And the scariest thing is to realize that next time something like this could happen to my family. But we endured it and were able to get visas! Now we are going to the country of our dreams! We have no one in Israel, no relatives, no very close friends. We are going to a new place, but we believe that we can become a part of this country! We hope for positive changes in life, for development both spiritually and physically. We hope to restore our strength, to become physically stronger thanks to the advanced medicine in Israel. Yes, and most importantly, the Almighty Adonai. It is His will to gather us home to Eretz Israel. We believe that He does this for us for a reason. We think about the good - He is our Father-Abba. We had many questions and each time we received a qualified answer from Ezra. We were given consultations in the process of collecting documents, and some of them were obtained for us. Ezra paid for travel to consular checks, and provided financial assistance. We were supported morally during this entire period of searching for documents and this made life easier in military Kharkiv. Our hope did not fade. Ezra also helped us get to Vinnitsa before the flight, and from there we went to Moldova and Israel. May the Almighty send you much joy, good health, happiness and His shalom! You have done so much good for my family, and I wish you good in your life! Thank you so much for your help!