Navigating the North

Listening and learning:
A delegation investigates absorption first-hand.

Twenty-year old Ziv Amiri receives the Honorary Distinction for Service in Absorption certificate (Yakir Klita) from Immigration and Abosprtion Committee Co-Chairman Arieh Azoulay (Yitzchak Blonder, Director of the Northern Region to his right).
Ziv, as part of his army service, leads nature and hiking groups for immigrant children at the Ayelet Hashachar Absorption Center. His bonding with the children and their families led him to spend many extra hours at the Center, organizing activities for the immigrants, from assisting the elderly to preparing teenagers for army service.

Setting out on a winter's day for some northern exposure, Immigration and Absorption Committee Co-Chair Arieh Azoulay was anxious to get his feet wet in candid conversations with Jewish Agency staff, new immigrants and the growing number of local volunteers. Heading up the twisting road to Upper Nazareth, Arieh, accompanied by the Director of the Northern Region Yitzchak Blonder, Assistant Director Dan Biron and other staff, reached their first stop - the Upper Nazareth Absorption Center.

Welcomed into the centrally-located complex, the delegation met with new immigrant families and students, and conducted lengthy and "heartwarming" discussions with local volunteers. The Friends of the Upper Nazareth Absorption Center and the mentoring families (families who "adopt" new immigrants) insisted that "we are the ones who benefit from the relationship." In addition to the privilege of assisting newcomers, "we are getting to know lovely, friendly, interesting people who, by enriching Israel with their cultural background and talents, will make this country a better place to live."

Good Neighbor Doctrine

(l-r) Immigration and Absorption Committee Co-Chair, Arieh Azoulay and Upper Nazareth Mayor Menachem Ariav

Later, at a meeting with Mayor Menachem Ariav, a known promoter of aliyah and absorption projects involving veteran Israelis and new immigrants, Upper Nazareth was lauded as a model "absorbing community." New immigrants account for over half of its fifty-five thousand plus population. In addition to discussing absorption, the Mayor stressed the importance of continued positive cooperation with adjacent Nazareth, the largest Arab city in Israel.

Traveling northwest to Karmiel, the delegation's first stop was a meeting at the Absorption Center with students from the FSU, France and Latin America. Although the students had been in Israel under five months as part of either the Selah or ORT programs, their Hebrew was fluid and expressive. They were particularly pleased to explore their Jewish heritage and unanimously felt a strong sense of belonging to both the Jewish people and the State of Israel. Friends of the Karmiel Absorption Center, who have also organized dozens of mentoring families in the framework of Babayit Bayachad (At Home, Together ) "recognize the great significance of aliyah," and many who were immigrants themselves want to "help provide a soft landing" for those who follow in their footsteps.

Above and Beyond the Call of Duty

In the late afternoon the delegation headed for Haifa for the opening of the Northern Gallery, and for the third annual presentation of Yakir Klita (Honorary Distinction for Service in Absorption ) certificates. In a packed auditorium, the ceremony commenced with short addresses by the Director of the Information Center Leo Open, MK Roman Bronfman, Arieh Azoulay and Yitzchak Blonder. Arieh commended all the veteran Israelis involved in absorption. "New immigrants need to build a new social network and this would be impossible without your help."

The audience was treated throughout the ceremony to cultural interludes by immigrant troupes, beginning with Tziporei Tzfat (Birds of Tsfat), a choir of young Ethiopians residing in the Tzahal Absorption Center. The girls wore bashful smiles and squeezed each other's hands as they stepped onto the stage. But soon the music took hold, and the young performers broke into relaxed smiles as they swayed together to the tuneful tempos.

With a Little Help from my Friends

Yitzchak Blonder illustrated the importance of the help of the "next door neighbor" with a personal anecdote from his tenure as an emissary in Budapest in the early 1990s. "I speak the language, am familiar with the culture and confidently moved in with my family with the comprehensive assistance of the local, established Jewish Agency staff. On one of our first weekends, my daughter was invited to a birthday party for which she was to bring a bouquet of flowers. She and my wife went to the nearby florist where my daughter saw a pretty oval-shaped bouquet from flowers she had never seen before. She chose that bouquet, bought it and headed back to our home where the bouquet was placed on a table in the front entrance.

Later that day, our next door neighbor stopped by to introduce herself.

Prof. Sophie Menashe holds her Yakir Klita certificate and a gift of Ethiopian embroidery given to each of the recipients.

As she noticed the bouquet on the table, she stepped back and inquired falteringly what it was there for. I told her that it was for a birthday party. The woman took me aside and quietly explained that this type of bouquet is traditionally put on the graves of dead relatives. Needless to say, we ran out and bought another bouquet." Yitzchak smiles, "It was the lady next door, not the language and not the trained staff, who saved us from embarrassment. And that is where each and every one of us can begin helping new immigrants."

The first of the fourteen recipients of the 2004 Yakir Klita, was Professor Sophie Menashe of Haifa University, who has taken upon herself the recruitment and integration of students from Latin America. Today, there are seventy Latin American students studying in the preparatory program. The Rector of Haifa University, Aharon Ben Ze'ev contragulated Sophie on her strong will, and "refusal to take no for an answer." He conceded that we all have something to learn from her determination. "Everyone can do something when it comes to contributing to successful absorption."