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SERGEI RETURNS TO SCHOOL Twenty-two year-old Sergei Moshon made aliyah from the Ukraine on his own five years ago as part of the Jewish Agency's Selah (Students Before Parents) program. At the Jewish Agency absorption center in Kiryat Gat, he learned Hebrew and prepared to enter Tel Aviv University. However, after completing his preparatory studies, Sergei decided to postpone his higher education and enlisted in the army, thereby fulfilling his dream of serving in an elite combat unit. His dream came true when he passed the rigorous selection process and was accepted into the very prestigious paratroopers unit, where he was trained as a sharpshooter. Last October, special IDF units entered Beit Jala to end to the shooting at Jerusalem's Gilo neighborhood. Sergei was seriously injured in the stomach by sniper shots. After a series of complicated operations, he was released from the army. Shortly thereafter, his parents and brother joined him in Israel to encourage him and give him strength. Compounding the difficulties of his own rehabilitation were the hardships of his family's absorption including severe financial problems. The Jewish Agency Fund for the Victims of Terror helped Sergei and his family overcome this crisis through a NIS 50,000 grant. He can finally fulfill his second dream - of studying at university, as he had planned before joining the army. Sergei's family is one of 120 families - including both wounded and relatives of those murdered by Palestinian terrorists - who received assistance, totaling one million dollars, from the Jewish Agency Fund for the Victims of Terror. The Fund was established about three months ago in light of the continuing Palestinian violence and the large number of victims - new immigrants as well as veteran Israelis, soldiers and civilians. Through the Fund, the Jewish Agency, in conjunction with Jewish communities around the world, assists the wounded, particularly new immigrants. The Fund operates in cooperation with the National Insurance Institute, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Absorption, and local social services agencies to provide supplementary assistance, such as help with mobility following a physical injury, adaptation of the home for special needs, acquisition of basic supplies, and additional assistance that is not provided by government agencies. To date the Jewish Agency has collected some NIS 16 million from world Jewish communities. It hopes to at least double that amount by the end of 2002. The Fund's policies are set by an advisory committee, headed by the Vice President of the Jerusalem Regional Court, Judge Ezra Kama, and including representatives of the Jewish Agency, contributing Jewish communities, the National Insurance Institute, and the Ministry of Defense.
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