Karen Frusin in the Surf, Haifa Bay, Kiryat Yam, Israel, 1997
Made Aliyah from St. Petersburg, Russia, 1989
Patricia Dalzell
gelatin-silver, selenium toned photograph
16" x 20"

Since 1989, over one million Russian Jews have left the former Soviet Union to make a new life for themselves and their families in the historic land of Israel. Forced for so long to live in the shadows and deny their faith, they have emerged into this light-filled Middle Eastern landscape to take their place in government, in industry, in the arts, in the army, in life. Karen Frusin and her family left the frigid cold of St. Petersburg for the warm breeze of Haifa bay and now, Karen is a nurse in the Israeli Army. Despite the hardships of starting life all over in a land embroiled in turmoil, Karen is hopeful about her future. She is home.

"Voices of Ascent – The Return of the Soviet Jews to Israel" is the work of photographer Patricia Dalzell and writer Michele Clark that tells the story of the heroic sacrifices of these new immigrants who for so long nurtured their faith in the private recesses of their own souls to finally emerge, triumphant, as citizens of Israel.