New immigrants study Hebrew in ulpan, intensive language training course.

Lev, a physician from Russia, arrived in Israel full of hope for his new life in Israel. A small community in the Shomron, biblical Samaria, opened its arms to the doctor, his wife and four young children. But starting life over in a new country is not easy.

After Lev completed an all-too-short Hebrew ulpan (intensive language training course) program, he had to participate in a medical retraining program. His wife, a nurse who also required an Israeli nursing course for immigrants, remained at home with a young baby while she helped her other children adjust to their new country, their new home.

Because of Department of Absorption restrictions, even though Lev was working toward his Israeli medical certification, the family did not qualify for the subsistence loan that they so desperately required. This family is not alone. There are about 125 new immigrant families living in the 33 communities that make up the Shomron Regional Council. The immigrants have arrived over the last three years from the states of the Former Soviet Union, Ethiopia, North and South America, India, Yemen, France and Peru.

Many of the immigrants have come to our communities, such as Shavei Shomron and Einav, directly from the plane. One of our communities, made up of about 60 families, many of whom are recent immigrants themselves, is representative of these. As the community grew and families moved into permanent housing, the settlement found itself with a number of caravans that had been used for temporary housing. Instead of demolishing or selling the caravans, the community agreed to create a small absorption center, with the approval of the Department of Absorption.

A group of families from Kafkaz, Russia arrived together to the center about two years ago, with extremely limited funds and no Hebrew language skills. After an extensive ulpan, many of the heads of households – who were professionals in their former home - found jobs in several factories in the area. All of the families still live in the caravans, most sharing an old refrigerator in the main caravan of the center. Very few of the families have a washing machine, and also lack important small appliances such as space heaters and hot plates. Their homes are sparsely furnished and some lack basic necessities.

In addition to their material needs, many of these families or individual members of these families arrived with emotional problems that have only been exacerbated by the stress of the absorption process, compounded by the uncertainty of the current security situation.

We are assisting these families by following up on the progress of their children in their schools, providing job-retraining programs tailored specifically for each individual, offering Hebrew ulpan, and establishing a program to assist many among the immigrant community to convert to Judaism.

We are turning to you to help these families. With your assistance, we can provide them with the food, clothing and appliances they need to live a normal day-today life. In addition, you can help them to gain the skills they need to make their integration into Israeli life successful. The requests below are not included in the government basket of new immigrant services.

Here is how you can help…