The backpack may be new. The classroom certainly will be. There will be unfamiliar names to learn, new routines to follow, and perhaps Hebrew words that still take an extra moment to understand. But when the child of a newly arrived Jewish family walks through the school gates in Israel for the first time, something much bigger than a new school year is beginning.
This is a child beginning to build a life in the land their family has now come home to.
For weeks, we have been sharing the journey of these families through our From Exile to Israel project. They have left behind familiar homes, communities, languages, and entire chapters of their lives to begin again in Israel. Now another milestone is approaching as their children prepare to enter Israeli classrooms.
And we are almost there. Just 20 families remain.
For those of us watching from outside Israel, it can be easy to think that the journey ends when a Jewish family finally arrives in the land. In reality, arrival is only the beginning. There is a new language to learn, employment to find, paperwork to navigate, homes to establish, and children who must find their place in completely unfamiliar surroundings.
Even something as ordinary as starting school becomes part of learning to belong.
That is why this project has meant so much to us. We want these children to walk into their classrooms prepared and confident—not defined by everything their families had to leave behind, but excited about what lies ahead. Thanks to the generosity of friends who have stood with us, backpacks and school supplies are being prepared and we have already reached nearly every family we hoped to help.
Behind the final number are twenty homes getting ready for an important morning. A mother or father making sure everything is packed. A child wondering who will sit beside them. New teachers. New classmates. New Hebrew words. And perhaps that mixture of nervousness and excitement every child knows when stepping somewhere new.
But for these children, that ordinary first day carries another meaning.
Their families have made the greater journey home to Israel. Now these smaller experiences—going to school, making friends, learning Hebrew, recognizing familiar faces—will slowly turn a new country into their home.
This is where we have an opportunity to stand beside them.
We need just $1,000 to help the remaining 20 families and complete this back-to-school project. A gift of any size will help provide what these children need as they begin their new school year and take another step toward building their future in Israel.
Thank you for standing with Jewish families who are rebuilding their lives in the land and for helping their children begin this new chapter with dignity, confidence, and joy.
They have made the journey home. Now let’s help the next generation put down roots.