Over 500 people attended Shuk Olim this past Friday, held at the Nefesh B”Nefesh Aliyah Campus in Jerusalem. The event, launched in partnership with the Jerusalem Municipality”s Absorption Authority, was free of charge and saw participants flock from across the country to come and support the Olim vendors. The “Shuk” celebrated the achievements of Nefesh B”Nefesh”s Olim who have made Aliyah with the cooperation of Israel”s Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, the Jewish Agency for Israel, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael, and JNF-USA, through exclusively featuring Olim-owned businesses.

“We are excited to open our building to offer Olim this extraordinary opportunity to display their goods and promote their businesses to both fellow Olim and the general Israeli public. These small business owners succeeded in establishing their ventures in a brand new market while acclimating to their new homes, and in doing so are contributing each in their own capacity to the Israeli economy,” said Naama Degani Rabin, Director of the Nefesh B”Nefesh Aliyah Campus. “It was amazing to see the number of people who came out to support our Olim at the event and we hope for this to be the first of many more Shuk Olim.”

There were about 40 vendors at Shuk Olim, displaying and selling their unique products, from all around Israel. These vendors included Neshikha, selling their homegrown honey from Tzfat, Ceremonie Tea from Migdal HaEmek and the Gush Etzion Brewstillery. Also in attendance were a number of local Jerusalem vendors, such as Muffin Boutique, Infused JLM and Kinamon Caterers. In addition to food and beverage vendors, there were four Olim artists, three clothing vendors and three jewelers, including Made by Maggi selling personalized door signs, and Orange Duck Designs who did custom paint designs to revive old denim jackets.