Immigration News & Opinion
Sat - May 19, 2012

JUFNews, February 2. Lia Dolinsky was born in 1987 in Kiev, Ukraine. At the age of two, her family, like other Soviets, left their home in hopes of a better life. En route, however, the collapse of the Soviet Union began and suddenly their documents were no longer valid. They could not return to the Soviet Union and the United States wasn't an option. Luckily, they were able to go to Israel. They received Israeli citizenship, began learning Hebrew, found jobs and sent Lia to ballet school. Their hopes of reuniting with the rest of their family were answered when the Dolinsky family won the Green Card lottery. After living in Israel for six years, they moved to Chicago. Alexey Abramovich was born in Angarsk, Russia. He didn't know anything about being Jewish growing up. When he was 15, his family saw an article in a local newspaper about a program for teens, sponsored by the Jewish Agency for Israel, to study in Israel. Alexey applied and was accepted. He immediately fell in love with this country. It opened a whole new world for him where he discovered his Jewish identity.