Two weeks ago, 150 new immigrants arrived in Israel from South America on a first-ever chartered flight for olim. with some 50 new immigrants from Brazil, 50 from Argentina and the rest from Uruguay and Peru.

Two hundred twenty new immigrants from France arrived last Tuesday in Israel, and received their new Israeli ID cards at a special ceremony at the Western Wall hosted by Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky and the ministers of Interior and Immigrant Absorption.

Among the new immigrants are a group of realtors who already received training and certification in France to work as real estate agents in Israel.

Over the summer some 5,000 new immigrants are expected to arrive in Israel, many of them on 20 special olim flights, run in partnership with Nefesh B'Nefesh in North America and the AMI organization in France. The Jewish Agency anticipates an increase of 15 percent in the number of immigrants compared with 2008.

Here are some of the support services provided by Nefesh b'Nefesh, as listed on its Website at www.nbn.org.il: Absorption services

Nefesh B'Nefesh's Absorption Department works closely with a host of governmental and institutional bodies such as the Ministries of Interior and Immigrant Absorption. The Absorption Department coordinates and streamlines the Aliyah processing in order to ease the complicated and time-consuming procedures. allowing the oleh a smoother integration into Israel as a new citizen.

Aliyah flights
Nefesh B'Nefesh's chartered and group aliyah flights provide invaluable emotional support for olim. The NBN professional staff accompanies each flight, assisting the new Olim and expediting the processing of all paperwork on board, minimizing the bureaucracy upon arrival in Israel.

Financial assistance
Financial concerns are often perceived as a major obstacle to Western aliyah. The costs associated with relocating and starting afresh in a new country can be overwhelming. To overcome these monetary obstacles, Nefesh B'Nefesh provides financial assistance to eligible aliyah candidates, enabling them to feel more secure in making the move.

Employment services
Nefesh B'Nefesh has developed a full-service employment department, which assists Olim throughout the entire process of searching for jobs. The employment team provides career guidance, conducts counseling sessions and secures job placements for Olim. More than 94 percent of Nefesh B'Nefesh olim find employment within one year of arrival.

Guidance and community resources
The Guidance and Community Resources Department is in constant contact with olim from the initial stages of their Aliyah, continuing well beyond their arrival. NBN provides advice and acts as a support network, assisting olim with identifying suitable communities, finding appropriate education for their children, and integrating into Israeli society.

Overseas programming
Nefesh B'Nefesh runs a comprehensive calendar of events throughout the year in dozens of cities across North America and the U.K.

The schedule incorporates seminars, workshops, personal meetings, and aliyah events.

In order to ensure that olim receive information that is most relevant to them, expert seminars on specific topics are presented. Webinars Online seminars on various aliyah topicsarealso available on the NBN Web site.

For more information, in North America call 1-866-4-ALIYAH.