8 aliyah fairs to be held in North America

Nefesh B'Nefesh, Jewish Agency to hold eight large fairs in major cities in Canada, US, to give hundreds of potential immigrants information, guidance on making aliya

Shalom Life news staff |Published: 03.06.10 , 12:59

Nefesh B'Nefesh has decided to accelerate and deepen its activities in North America, in order to realize the potential increase in the number of immigrants to Israel during 2010. In cooperation with the Jewish Agency and government offices, the organization will hold next week, between March 7 and 14, eight large fairs in major cities in the US and Canada, in order to give hundreds of potential immigrants reliable information, guidance and inspiration on immigration to Israel.

More than 1,500 North American Jews are expected to participate in the fairs. They will be able to meet representatives from government ministries, tax authorities, social security, health maintenance organizations, hospitals and transport. In addition, a series of consultation meetings is planned with the personal guidance of consultants from Nefesh B'Nefesh and the Jewish Agency. All advisors participating in the fairs are being especially flown in from Israel.

Immigration fairs will be held in the following cities: New York (March 7), Baltimore (March 8), Los Angeles (March 9), Montreal (March 10), Toronto (March 10), San Francisco (March 10), Chicago (March 11.3), South Florida (March 14). The first fair in New York will open in the presence of Minister Silvan Shalom, PMO General Manager Eyal Gabbay, and Israel's consul in New York, Asi Shariv.

The fairs will include seminars, workshops and personal meetings with advisers, and they will deal with various aspects related to the immigration and absorption process in Israel such as: Job opportunities in Israel, housing options and mortgages, financial planning, taxes, pensions in Israel, community selection, the health system, education in Israel, the immigration process, shipping property to Israel and information on Nefesh B'Nefesh project “Immigrating to the North”.

During the fairs in New York and Los Angeles, special seminars will be held simultaneously for Jewish physicians considering immigration to Israel and integrating into the Israeli health system. Also, for the first time, dentists who are scheduled to immigrate in the coming years to Israel will be able to use the fairs to take the first part of the test by the Federation of Dentists in Israel and thus shorten the licensing process after their arrival in Israel.

"According to data gathered and based on our current estimates, we expect that in 2010 over 5,000 new immigrants from North America will arrive in Israel. This is a record that is unparalleled since the early seventies," said Erez Halfon, vice chairman of Nefesh B'Nefesh. "We view this as a unique opportunity to accelerate and deepen our operations in encouraging immigration, so we decided to initiate the fairs, an operation which is unprecedented in its scope and contents."