JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s Cabinet approved a program to encourage aliyah from the former Soviet Union.
The more than $7 million program approved Sunday will be funded equally by the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption, according to the Jerusalem Post.
The program, for immigrants who come during 2009, can support up to 1,300 households. It will provide about $6,000 to help cover the first year of rent and for vocational training. The program is in addition to the regular absorption basket offered to all new immigrants.
About 800,000 potential olim are living in the former Soviet Union, according to the Jerusalem Post.
