Post by Paddy by Grace on Jul 10, 2009 20:21:34 GMT -7
www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/132252
The first chartered Aliyah flight of 2009 arrived at Israel's Ben-Gurion Airport at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday. Two hundred and thirty-two olim (new immigrants) from the United States and Canada were aboard the flight.
The immigrants are the first of 3,000 olim from North America and the United Kingdom to arrive this summer, on the first of 15 chartered Aliyah flights sponsored by the Nefesh B'Nefesh organization and the Jewish Agency.
Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky and Minister of Immigrant Absorption Sofa Landver were present to greet the new Israelis.
Forty percent of the new arrivals are children, the youngest a mere seven weeks old. Tuesday's flight also included 60 singles.
Twenty-two of the new arrivals plan to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces. Others will begin jobs in fields ranging from advertising to photography to medicine.
Among the 232 arrivals are those hailing from 19 American states and the Canadian city of Quebec. The immigrants are heading for new homes throughout Israel, from the village of Chispin in the Golan Heights to kibbutzim (cooperative communities) in the south.