July 29, 2010 / 19 Av 5770 

The Jewish Agency for Israel brought 1,000 new immigrants from 17 countries to Israel this week – including 550 new olim from France, more than 100 from the UK, 60 from South Africa and 170 from South America.

Upon arriving in Israel, the new immigrants received all the initial absorption services – from opening a bank account to signing up for health insurance – at a mini-expo organized by the Jewish Agency; they also received their new Israeli ID cards at a ceremony at the Western Wall (like the group of British single olim, pictured above).

Also this week, the Jewish Agency launched a first summer camp program in Israel for teens from the Former Soviet Union, in partnership with the Genesis Foundation. A group of 240 teens, ages 13 to 16, are touring the country and engaging with Russian-speaking Israeli peers (and staying cool, at the Tzipori guest house in the Jerusalem Forest, below). A second group will arrive in August.

Photo credits: top – Brian Hendler/Jewish Agency for Israel; bottom – Sasson Tiram/Jewish Agency for Israel

For these photos in high resolution see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jewishagencyforisrael/4841644458/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/jewishagencyforisrael/4841040481/