Anna and Albert B from Moscow

“I cannot ignore the fact that I am Jewish…”

These words of Anna Brinkman sounded like a confession – not only to herself, but also to God. Her story is a story of return. Returning to the roots, to the land that God promised to her people, to the place where the hearts of her ancestors beat.

Anna always knew that Jewish blood flows in her veins. But only a year and a half ago, when her husband Albert suggested that she quit her job and take a rest, did she have time to seriously search for her roots. And then the hardest part began.

Her grandmother, despite being married, refused to change her last name – in documents she was referred to with three different surnames.  This created huge difficulties: how to prove that she was Jewish? How to confirm kinship?

But Anna did not give up. She dug through the archives, found old work books, records of moves from one region to another (after all, her grandfather developed virgin lands in Magadan, and her grandmother worked as a doctor in different cities). As a result, she came to the meeting with the consul with a huge folder of documents – the only one in the whole line.

Anna had been to Israel before, and when she stepped on this land, she felt an inexplicable peace. As if something inside was saying, “You are home.”

When she heard the biblical prophecies about the return of the Jews at a meeting with Ezra’s representative, Svetlana, her heart fluttered. “God scattered us across the earth, but promised to gather us back…?”  These words turned her soul upside down. She suddenly realized: her search for documents, her attraction to Israel – this is not just a coincidence. This is God’s providence.

Now Anna and Albert are preparing to move. She dreams of a quiet life in Israel, of building a solid house. To develop, work, and continue her hobby – making holiday gingerbread houses. And – for their future children to grow up in the promised land, among their people.