EZRA INTERNATIONAL
Rescue, Return, Restore – Poor Jewish People to Israel
Stories from the Field
Stories of Jewish people we’ve helped make aliyah (emigrate to Israel).
To Date
Helping – Today
Last Month
Reynan S from Sao Paulo
“My name is Reynan, I am from São Paulo, Brazil. Aliyah for me means a new start in life in the Holy Land. I decided to make Aliyah because I am Jewish and I believe that it will be the best option. I am looking for stability, studies and work, even feeling the...
Khamlet and Samira I from Baku
“We consider that making Aliyah is important. If we didn’t think so we would not be leaving here!” “Here it’s difficult with work. I worked as a tour operator in Turkey. After the introduction of quarantine due to the pandemic I had to leave everything and return...
Eliana A from Sao Paulo
“My name is Eliana, I am a widow from São Paulo, Brazil and I’m making aliyah with my son Leo and his wife Kesia.” “Aliyah means a search for greater spirituality, a change of life for the whole family, with unity, love and hope. I want to live life as a Jew, a...
Vladimir y Tatyana B from Sebastopol
“Twenty years ago, my parents moved to Israel, my dad is already ninety-two years old, and mom is ninety. Two years ago my father had serious heart problems and underwent surgery. Thank God, the operation was successful. My parents are of such an age that it is no...
Viktor and Marina Y from Donetsk
Viktor is making Aliyah with his wife, Marina and son, Dmytro. He tells their story: “My wife and I are from Donetsk and are both doctors by profession. I am a surgeon, and my wife is a rehabilitation therapist. We have two sons – the elder is 24 years old. He...
Aleksandr and KseniyaT from Uzhno Sakhalinsk
Aleksandr is making Aliyah with his wife, Kseniya and two sons – Artem and Daniil. Aleksandr (Sasha) is from Uzhno Sakhalinsk which is the furthest point in Eastern Russia. This is where the sun rises, and it is close to Japan. Aleksandr is Jewish on his father’s...
Stories
Luiz and Helena L from Rio de Janeiro
“My name is Helena and I’m making Aliyah with my husband, Luiz, daughter, Thayanni, and son, Theo. We are from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil”.“Aliyah, for us, means a fresh start! We have high expectations of improvement in our quality of life. We want to be closer to our...
Ruth P from Sao Paulo
“My name is Ruth, I’m from São Paulo, Brazil.” “Aliyah means my return home. To make aliyah is much more than to live in Israel, it means to be Jewish, in a JEWISH COUNTRY. I am going alone in a new stage of my life; returning to the roots of our patriarchs. I hope to...
Anna K from Melitopol
“I have always wanted to live in Israel. While I was still a student, I wanted to leave on one of the Jewish Agency’s programs but then got married and my son, Nazar, was born. So, the question of aliyah was postponed for a while. Then my husband and I divorced, and...
Maxim and Natalie Z from Marseille
Ezra France helped Maxim and Natalie, along with 9 of their children, to make aliyah! Maxim tells a little of their story. “Making aliyah is important to us because it is part of the process of spiritual elevation by connection to the Holy Land. The decision to make...
Smadar B from Sao Paulo
“My name is Smadar and I am from Sao Paulo in Brazil. I’m a single mother with three teenage children – Hanan 16, Haim 14 and Itai 14. I have decided to make aliyah because this is what my boys want. They want to study and live in Israel in the Naale school. I...
Pavel and Tatyana O from Bendery
Pavel and Tatyana made aliyah along with their children Dmitri and Anastasia. “The seasons come and go, and along with the approaching season our long-held dream of making aliyah is also approaching! No-one in our family, which is living in Moldova, has ever been to...
Antonio P from Porto Alegre, Brazil
“My name is Antonio, I´m from Porto Alegre, Brazil.” “To me, aliyah means returning to my home.” “I decided to make aliyah when I found out that I belonged to the people of Israel. I feel sad about leaving Brazil, but I hope to adapt myself to the new life reality of...
Antonella M from Manta in Ecuador
Antonella made aliyah with her daughter Santa Lucia and son, Jose. Antonella is originally from Venezuela, following her divorce, she decided that there are better opportunities in Israel for herself and her children. Ezra helped pay for documents and extra...
Laurent and Izabelle F from Marseille, France
Laurent and Izabelle made aliyah with 3 of their children (Samuel, Ethan and Ora) in July 2019 – our first family from France! Laurent and Izabelle heard about Ezra France through an advertisement in the magazine published by the Jewish Community in Marseille. They...
Aleksandr and Irina F from Tiraspol, Moldova
Aleksandr’s surname in Yiddish means ‘the sparkling, shining, stone’. Aleksandr was born in December 1978 and made aliyah with his wife, Irina. Aleksandr didn’t know his grandparents, but he knows that the family comes from his great-grandmother Chai-Sura and...
Tamara and Esther L from Sao Paulo
Sisters Tamara and Esther from Sao Paulo made Aliyah together. Tamara tells their story: “Aliyah for us means to have a new opportunity in life, to grow and to develop.” “My sister and I made the decision to make Aliyah as life in Brazil is not easy and also because...
Sergei and Snezhana Y from Krivoi Rog
Sergei and Snezhana made Aliyah along with their daughters, Anastasia and Valeria. Sergei tells their story: “It is our dream to go to Israel. My wife has relatives who have been in Israel for more than 20 years. Our eldest daughter has already graduated from school...
Koba and Nina L from Tbilisi
Koba tells their story: “Israel is ours and we have to be there! This is more than words for me – it’s also our emotions. We love Israel.” “There are many things happening in this world now. I was brought up and raised as a Georgian. It is very difficult for me to...
Dinah N from Sao Paulo
Dinah tells her story: “My name is Dinah, I´m from São Paulo. I have family in Brazil, but I always wanted to live in Israel. Aliyah for me means a return to a wonderful country which I can call ‘my home’. I decided earlier this year to make Aliyah because I love...
Vira Z from Kherson
Vira Tells her story: “My Dad made Aliyah twenty years ago and now is seriously ill and I am going to care for him. I am originally from Crimea and, due to the war and the occupation of Crimea, living there is getting worse every day.” “My parents divorced when I was...
Igor S from Mariupol
“I just made the decision to leave a month ago!! Before that I was a little afraid of change but now I realise that in Ukraine I wasn’t doing anything, the country is heading for the abyss and getting worse and worse every year. There are no prospects, little work –...
Irina S from Tbilisi
Thanks to Irina’s Jewish roots that stem from her Ukrainian grandmother, she is able to make Aliyah. She said she is very happy about that. Irina said: “You know if it wasn’t for Ezra, I really don’t know how I would have done everything. I had the visa in my hands...
Jacob and Edilamar S from Belem, North Brazil
“My name is Jacob from the city of Belem in the North of Brazil. My family (wife Edilamar and son Iago) had a strong desire to live in Israel. We have a dream of living in peace, with security and dignity, and we know that Israel offers us good conditions as...
Natalya and Dmitri M from Tbilisi, Georgia
Natalya tells the young couple’s story:“My husband and I are a couple who love a challenge! We want to change our life. We have overcome a lot of stress and want to have a better life for our family. My grandmother always told me that Israel is our land. This...