Israeli immigrants from Ethiopia and Belarus visited Monmouth County recently, spreading a message of hope, understanding, and love for their adopted country.

Elisheva Solomon, 26, who was born in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, and Irina Kopytova, also 26, who was born in Gomel, Belarus, spent March 6-8 talking to students at Monmouth Jewish day schools and addressing synagogue members about their respective journeys to Israel.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Monmouth County sponsored the visits of Solomon and Kopytova, as well as Ahuva Volk, their American-born chaperone from the Jewish Agency for Israel.

In an interview with NJ Jewish News, the two described journeys that were spiritual as much as physical.

Solomon arrived in Israel at the age of nine with her mother, two sisters, and two brothers.

“On his journey to make aliya from Ethiopia, my grandfather spent nearly nine months in Sudan,” said Solomon. “There was only a small amount of food to go around, but he always gave his food to the children. He talked about Zion and Jerusalem and gave hope to the other people around him. On the day before he was to make aliya he died from an illness. I am carrying on his dream in Israel.”

Solomon and her family were welcomed into a JAFI absorption center in the northern city of Acre. They remained there for two years before moving to Netanya.

After graduating with honors from high school, Solomon was drafted into the Israel Defense Forces, where she served in an education unit that helped new immigrants become acclimated to Israeli culture and heritage. Her army placement was a perfect fit, she recalled.

“On my first day in the absorption center, soldier-teachers came to help us,” Solomon said. “They tried to make things easier for me, to help me, to introduce me to their friends. I decided I wanted to be like them and give this help to others. I wanted to give something back.”

She continues to give back; last April, Solomon organized a group of friends and students to help lower-income families in Haifa paint their homes. The group completed work on more than 70 houses within a one-week time frame, and are planning to resume the project this spring.

“You don’t have to be rich to help other people,” she said. “You can help in many ways.”

Solomon is now a law student at the University of Haifa (her education has been partially funded by a JAFI-supported student scholarship), where she is also a member of the debating team. She plans to open her own law firm someday, and does not shy away from the hard work that such a goal entails.

Solomon is also acutely aware of her status as an immigrant role model. After her arrival in Israel, she was determined to become part of Israeli culture, learning Hebrew quickly. Her pursuit of higher education has made her one of the few Ethiopian women studying law.

“I know I will achieve my goals,” she said. “When I want something, I work very hard to get it.”

Kopytova’s path to Judaism began when she was 10 years old, when her parents told her and her sister that they were Jewish. She enrolled in the JAFI school in their city and met other Jewish children, and became active in JAFI youth clubs and summer camps.

“It was an unbelievable time of growth for me,” Kopytova said.

By the time she was 15, she decided to come to Israel on her own with the Jewish Agency’s Na’aleh program, a program for high school students from the former Soviet Union who come to Israel ahead of their parents.

“In the years I’ve been in Israel, I’ve never looked back,” Kopytova said.

After Kopytova arrived, she was housed in an absorption center near Ashkelon while she waited for other family members to arrive. A year later, her sister arrived through the Na’aleh program and in 1997, her maternal grandparents and parents made aliya. Kopytova and her sister rented an apartment for them in Ashkelon and guided them through the absorption process.

Kopytova also has not been daunted by hard work. She was an aliya counselor during her IDF service, working with new immigrants from the former Soviet Union, Ethiopia, France, and Argentina.

“One of the soldiers told me that she stayed in Israel because of me,” said Kopytova. “It was during my army service that I really began to feel Israel.”

She has since received a bachelor’s degree from Bar-Ilan University (like Solomon, her education was partially funded by a JAFI student scholarship) and worked as a counselor for several JAFI programs. She now plans to study for a master’s degree in social work.

“I feel that I epitomize the wandering Jew,” Kopytova said. “And now, I finally feel at home.”