A French Jew Finds a New Home in Israel

Thibault felt like an outcast in his native Paris. He grew up in an assimilated household and felt disconnected from the Jewish community. But his last name left him a target for anti-Semitism.

The terror attack on a kosher supermarket in January 2015 was the last straw for this grandson of Holocaust survivors. “That was it,” he said. “I knew I had to make a change.”

Federation partner The Jewish Agency for Israel was there to help him through the aliyah process every step of the way. Thanks to their assistance, Thibault is now living at an absorption center near Tel Aviv, surrounded by fellow French olim just like him starting new lives in Israel.