Doing What We Do Best

Arieh Azoulay, Co-Chair of the Immigration and Absorption Committee

Serious introspection and an openness to change are prerequisites for attaining the highest level of efficiency. This premise guided a thorough examination of the utility of Absorption Centers owned and run by the Jewish Agency. "With no holds barred, we asked if Absorption Centers are still relevant," explains Arieh Azoulay, Co-Chair of the Immigration and Absorption Department, "And our findings demonstrate unequivocally that Absorption Centers are an essential anchor for aliyah promotion and immigrant absorption."

The role of Absorption Centers has evolved since their inception in the 1960s as ulpanim for college-educated immigrants and their families. "They have come to embody the core goals of the Jewish Agency," stresses Arieh Azoulay. "Absorption Centers continue to be a first home for new immigrants, providing them with a period of adjustment before confronting the full complexities of a new life in Israel. Absorption Centers are community centers, a venue for the meeting of veteran and new Israelis, and a resource for both. Absorption Centers promote the settling of Israel's periphery, the Negev and the Galilee. Absorption Centers are a model of partnerships, both within the community and with Diaspora Jewry. Absorption Centers provide a locale, housing the Jewish Agency's programs for young immigrants and professionals. Absorption Centers are a base for Jewish volunteers from abroad. Absorption Centers concentrate a wealth of experience in the field of immigrant absorption and community development. Absorption Centers, by facilitating successful aliyah, are one of the best tools for aliyah promotion."

The Absorption Center as a First home

"Our job is to make the aliyah of our immigrants successful," says Robert Berl, Director of the Upper Nazareth Absorption Center. Statistics show that immigrants who have spent their first months in an Absorption Center are more likely to have a successful aliyah. "There are enough obstacles in absorption.

Dear Friends, Over the past four months, the Immigration and Absorption Department has devoted much time and energy to the Jewish Agency-wide strategic planning process. We recently presented recommendations which include both the discontinuation of certain activities and the introduction of new initiatives. In doing so, we addressed issues such as the Department's role in absorption vis-a-vis the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption, and how we can better collaborate with the Jewish Agency's Education and Israel Departments. We all hope that as a result of the process, the Jewish Agency will indeed be better equipped to reach its goals. If, as a result, the Agency's three mission departments work in greater unison; and if, as a result, we are able to nurture a greater support base among the Agency's partners, then we will have all succeeded in this important effort. Mike Rosenberg, Director-General Immigration and Absorption Department

We are here to ensure that the immigrant's first experience is a positive one. He or she enters a warm, clean, supportive, welcoming home, suffused with an atmosphere of Israel, and a social network base for the following decades."

Setting the dial on a microwave, opening a bank account and filling a supermarket cart don't strike most of us as complicated, but for new immigrants from countries such as Ethiopia, these simplest of tasks would be comparable to the average Westerner grappling with quantum mechanics. An extended Absorption Center period is imperative to prepare these immigrants for life in Israel.

The Absorption Center as
a community and
resource center

Absorption Centers have become social, educational and cultural hubs for new, as well as veteran Israelis. Absorption Centers are a base for Babayit Bayachad (At Home, Together) activities which bring new immigrants and veteran Israelis together. Immigrants living outside the Absorption Center visit regularly for lectures, programs or to obtain assistance from the Information Centers in Absorption Centers around the country.

The Absorption Center as a draw to the periphery

For over half a century, the Jewish Agency has been a partner to the State of Israel in its efforts to encourage the settling of the periphery. Absorption Centers in places like Tiberias, Arad and Kiryat Gat ensure that a good percentage of those leaving the center will begin their lives in the Galilee and the Negev, strengthening those areas and strengthening Israel.

The Absorption Center as a partner

"We are involved with the city and the city is involved with us," says Sima Tzarfati, Director of the Ashdod Beit Canada Absorption Center. In a triangle of cooperation, the Absorption Center plays a crucial role in promoting healthy relations in the community and advocating for new immigrants. In addition, partnerships between Jewish communities worldwide and Absorption Centers offer a solid platform for individual exchange and fruitful cross-pollination.

The Absorption Center as
a base for student and professional programs

Tens of thousands of immigrants have graduated from the Immigration and Absorption Department's pre-academic and professional retraining programs, all of which are held in Absorption Centers. Interest in the pre-academic (Selah, Taka, Rom, Kedma) and professional (Aliyah 2000) programs remains high and acceptance remains selective.

Preparing immigrants for further study or employment requires much more than intensive ulpan and academic studies. Lectures, celebrations and field trips have connected each of these individuals irrevocably to their Jewish heritage. A secure home, a built-in social network and support framework enables them to study and adapt to Israel with assiduous perserverance. Graduates of these programs move directly into steady jobs, the army, or university studies, and their great success rate is a direct reflection on the intense preparation they undergo.

The Absorption Center as a base for Jewish volunteers

From the forty English-speaking volunteers in the Karmiel Absorption Center to the twenty-five Israeli volunteers living in the Beer Sheva's Ye'elim Absorption Center,each Absorption Center integrates volunteers from abroad and from Israel, providing a setting for fulfilling interaction and leadership development. Hundreds of participants in Tnuat Aliyah's Professional Internship, Firefighters and Magen David Adom programs reside in Absorption Centers.

The Absorption Center as a concentrated wealth of experience

"The Absorption Centers allow us to do what we do best," says a JAFI official. The accumulated experience and in-house facilities offered for the effective absorption of new immigrants is irreplaceable.

The Absorption Center as a tool for aliyah promotion

Committe Co-Chair Arieh Azoulay concludes, "Good absorption means good aliyah promotion. In our connected world, successful immigrants pass the word back to friends and family via email, letters, or telephone. This is the key to promotion and a deciding factor in attracting new immigrants."