From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Chicago woman makes aliyah — to Beersheba
A 26-year-old Chicago resident announces that after immigrating to Israel this morning, she plans to move straight to Beersheba, even as Code Red alarms sound and rockets fall all over Israel’s south.
The immigrant, Becky Kupchan, is one of 64 new olim — ranging in age from 8 months to 91 years — who moved to Israel from the United States this morning.
The immigrants, who hail from from Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Virginia, will be moving to Beit Shemesh, Givat Shmuel, Hadera, Jerusalem, Karmiel, Modiin, Nes Tziona, Ra’anana, Ramat Beit Shemesh, Ramat Gan, and Tel Aviv.
But one of them, Kupchan, has chosen Beersheba, the capital of southern Israel.
“Although the security situation in Israel is very tense right now, and in Beersheba, where I’m about to move, rockets are falling, I am not afraid and I trust the Israeli government and the IDF,” says Kupchan. “I’m a Jew and I’ve always dreamed about making aliyah to Israel, my home — and at home you always feel safe.”
Rabbi Yehoshua Fass, who co-founded the Nefesh B’Nefesh organization with whose aid Kupchan has made aliyah, remarks, “The Olim who’ve chosen to make Aliya to Israel during these challenging days are real heroes, and each one of them fills our heart with pride and great inspiration. Becky from Chicago, who has chosen to live in the city of Beersheba in the South, is one of them and we will do whatever we can to assist her in her new home in the State of Israel.”
