“My name is Ioram. My wife, Marcela, and I are from São José dos Campos, São Paulo, Brazil. Aliyah means being able to have the possibility of living in the state that we have felt throughout our life to be our country. It means living a Jewish life, giving Jewish education to our future children, and being in touch with values that are in line with our identity.”
“We had been thinking about this for some time, but the trigger was the financial issue, which is delicate here in Brazil. The hardest thing about leaving Brazil is leaving family, friends, the Brazilian culture that we love, and the language.”
“My hope is to be able to have children, to live Judaism with them more closely, and to be able to live more fully. I’ve had religious discrimination issues at work when I was the general manager of a hotel, and a guest insulted me for being Jewish. When I studied at the University of São Paulo I saw a lot of graffiti against the State of Israel. My wife got judgmental looks when she told her UFF colleagues that she was traveling to Israel.”
“One of the Jewish organisations told us about Ezra who have helped us with the reimbursement of amounts spent on documentation (passport, handouts), translation, and transfer to the airport on the day of aliyah. We both worked with a theatrical group – working mainly in hospitals, nursing homes etc.”
During the pandemic the groups disbanded and they lost the family’s only income. Ezra was able to help them during this period, when they could complete the delivery of all documents required by the Jewish Agency and airlines, and requirements of Health Agencies in Brazil and countries that had to transfer through.
“I want to tell Ezra’s sponsors that they are contributing significantly to our destiny of living in Israel. We are in a delicate financial moment, and this help is quite significant. Thank you!!!”