Imagine arriving in Israel with three children, a few suitcases, and an entire life to rebuild. There is a home to establish, a new language to navigate, paperwork to understand—and suddenly, the first day of school is right around the corner. For many of the families we have recently welcomed, that is not an imaginary scenario. It is their life right now.
Anna arrived in Israel just two months ago with her three young children.
Her daughter, Evelyn, is now preparing to enter an Israeli school for the very first time. “Starting life here with kids takes so much effort, and everything is expensive,” Anna told us. So when she discovered that help had already been prepared to get Evelyn ready for school, her response was simple: “It gives me such joy.”
And Evelyn was far from alone. This week, 150 children walked into a celebration prepared especially for them—and what happened inside became about much more than backpacks and school supplies.
For Dmitri and Marina, starting over could almost be measured by what they carried with them. “We arrived with three suitcases,” they shared. There simply wasn’t room to bring everything a family needs for everyday life, and rebuilding from scratch has been difficult. Then came school expenses—another long list at a time when nearly everything still needed to be purchased.
Having those needs met for their children was unexpected, but what touched Dmitri and Marina just as deeply was the realization that they were not beginning this new life entirely on their own. “What wonderful people around us who help, who care,” they told us. “You give us so much joy.”
And joy really was the word for this day.
We never wanted it to feel like families were simply coming to pick up supplies. Their children were about to begin school in Israel. That deserved a celebration.
Music filled the room, children danced, parents laughed, and everywhere you looked there were new backpacks being hugged, tried on, opened, inspected, and proudly carried around. We told the families, “We want to rejoice with you”—and before long, everyone was doing exactly that.
Pastor Israel also spent time with the parents, sharing about Christians around the world who love Israel and choose to stand with the Jewish people. Some of our visiting friends shared personally about why Israel matters to them and about the promises and faithfulness of God. For families who have only recently arrived, there was something deeply meaningful in discovering that people thousands of miles away—people they may never meet—had cared enough to help make this new beginning a little easier.
Then each child received a backpack filled with school supplies, along with a voucher to help their parents with additional school needs.
There were 150 children in all, but standing there that day, it didn’t feel like a number. It was Evelyn getting ready for her first classroom in Israel. It was Misha, Dmitri and Marina’s son, proudly slipping on his new backpack. It was Anna looking at one less expense she needed to worry about. It was parents who had arrived with only a few suitcases realizing there was now one important thing they didn’t have to figure out alone.
Another family, Alexei and Natalia, put into words what we had been seeing throughout the day: “Now we’re sure our kids will be good in school. They will be fine, because we have you.”
Friends, that “you” reaches much farther than the walls of Beit Hallel.
For weeks, you have walked alongside us through From Exile to Israel.
You gave before you knew Evelyn’s name. You helped before you could see Misha proudly wearing his new backpack. You stood with families like Anna’s, Dmitri and Marina’s, and Alexei and Natalia’s before you knew their stories.
And now we have the privilege of showing you what that kindness looked like on the other side: children dancing, backpacks ready, parents breathing a little easier, and families discovering an unexpected community of people rejoicing with them as they begin again.
Soon, Evelyn, Misha, and the other children will walk through the doors of their schools. There will still be unfamiliar words to learn, new friendships to make, and plenty for their families to navigate as they put down roots in Israel. But when that first morning comes, backpacks will be packed and waiting by the door—and what once felt like one more overwhelming expense will have become part of a joyful memory from their first weeks in their new home.
Thank you for helping make their first school year in Israel begin with joy.
