From the Ends of the Earth
Ezra International, a Christian ministry helping the Jewish people return to Israel, is part of God's hand at work today as He keeps His unfailing promise to them: "I will say to the north, 'Give them up!' and to the south, 'Do not hold them back.' Bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the ends of the earth" (Isaiah 43:6).
Working in Europe, Central Asia, South America, and the Middle East, Ezra International assists Jewish people as they return to the biblical land of their forefathers. We help them document their Jewish heritage, cover the costs of international passports and visas, arrange for transportation to the closest airport for their flight to Israel, and provide special assistance as needed. God's restoration of the Jewish people to Israel proves His faithfulness to all who call upon His Name.
Partner with us as He expresses His unchanging love to the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: "The days are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when I will bring my people Israel and Judah back from captivity and restore them to the land I gave their ancestors to possess,' says the LORD" (Jeremiah 30:3).
Aliyah from Ukraine
When Zhenya and her daughter Nelia telephoned our offices in Ukraine from their new home in Israel, they told us about their wonderful life there. They live near Haifa, close to the Mediterranean Sea. Now in Israel for more than two years, they have started a new life there—when Nelia’s young children ask their mother, “When will we go back home to Ukraine?” her reply is always the same: “This is our home now, and we’re not going back to where we were before.” And that answer is the one the youngsters want to hear—they love their new homeland, their friends there, and on a hot day, a quick trip to the beach for a swim in the sea.
A few years ago, though, Nelia and Zhenya were not at all sure that they wanted to leave Ukraine for Israel. Zhenya was the first to consider the move, not long after Nelia got married. Israeli law requires anyone with Jewish ancestry to document his or her Jewish heritage with notarized copies of birth certificates, marriage records, and other documents. As Zhenya began this process, she found that much of the paperwork she needed to prove her Jewishness was not available to her. Ezra International’s team in Ukraine stepped in to help her as she contacted archives and government offices to obtain the documents she was missing.
At last Zhenya received her visa and began to plan her departure to Israel. Nelia found it almost impossible to be separated from her mother, and a year later she prepared to make aliyah with her two children. Soon they joined Zhenya in Israel.
An extended family reunion in Israel occurred soon after Nelia’s arrival there when Zhenya’s sister Rita decided that she, too, should make her home there. It was not an easy decision for Rita, and our team in Ukraine frequently found ourselves comforting her as she dealt with her anxieties and uncertainties. “How can I leave Ukraine?” she often asked herself. “What’s waiting for me in Israel?” Finally, though, she decided that she would make aliyah, and now she is living near Zhenya and Nelia in Israel.
As we think of this family of courageous women, we pray that they be blessed abundantly in their new homeland. We know that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is faithful, and that He will provide for them there according to His Word through the prophets: “In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers as an inheritance” (Jeremiah 3:18).
Names changed to protect privacy.
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