This Rosh Hashanah will be a very special occasion for 54 teenagers from the former Soviet Union who are participating in the Jewish Agency's Selah Program. Living at the Kfar Saba Absorption Center, the Russian-speaking newcomers reached Israel at the end of August and are looking forward to celebrating the High Holy Days in Israel for the first time in their lives.

The name Selah comes from the Hebrew acronym for "Students Before Their Parents." The participants in this educational preparatory program are high school graduates who have come to Israel on their own to pursue post-secondary academic or vocational studies.

Darya Pustilnik, 17, typifies a new generation of youth in the former Soviet Union that is familiar with the Jewish heritage. Unlike their parents who lived under a communist regime, which suppressed any expression of Jewish culture, many young people today have benefited from the extensive infrastructure of Jewish community life across the former Soviet Union which has been set up over the past decade.

"For the past two years I have attended a Jewish school," explained Pustilnik, who comes from Kazan in Russia. "I have also participated in social activities at the local Jewish Agency center so I have regularly celebrated Rosh Hashanah and all the Jewish festivals."

"I expect I will be eating a lot of apples and honey during Rosh Hashanah," she added, "and I hope the whole country will enjoy a sweet year."

Pustilnik's father Leonid died of a heart attack three years ago and, as an only child, she hopes that her mother Frieda will be able to join her in Israel in the next few years.

"This is the first time I've been to Israel," she said, "and so far I've been very impressed. The people seem very warm and welcoming. I'll be spending Rosh Hashanah with friends."

Pustilnik explained that she was very happy in Kazan, where she had never experienced anti-Semitism, but she felt that Israel is her country and a better place to build her future life. "Eventually I would like to study medicine at university," she remarked.

Timor Mamedov, 17, is from Tumen in Siberia. He had never been to Israel before and found the country much greener than he had imagined. Mamedov said that during the past year he had regularly attended a recently opened synagogue in his city.

"But on several occasions the synagogue was attacked by neo-Nazi skinheads," he said. "So I was a bit scared to go there. In Israel I don't feel scared at all despite the security situation. In fact I'm looking forward to going into the army and my ambition is to be an officer in the IDF. I would also like to study computers or electronics at university."

Katerina Zhukova, 17, from Yoshkar-Ola near Nizhny Novograd in Russia, has never before celebrated Rosh Hashanah. "I attended Jewish Agency seminars in my home town and learned about the festivals," she said. "I do not have any family of my own in Israel, so I will be spending Rosh Hashanah with an adopted Russian-speaking Israeli family. I have already had time to visit Tel Aviv and it is a very attractive city. My mother and younger brother would also like to make aliyah," she said.

Maya Baras, 17, who is also from Kazan, has visited Israel every year for the past five years. Her parents are divorced and her father lives in Lod where he has remarried and has a son. "So I have a Sabra half-brother called Gabi," she said. "Obviously I will be spending Rosh Hashanah with my family."

Baras has always wanted to live in Tel Aviv and her ambition is to study psychology at university. Like all the Selah students, Baras is looking forward to the celebrating the New Year in her new country.