Paula Edelstein, Danny Liwerant and Sondra Sokal visit the Former Soviet Union and return with a sense of urgency.

 “There is a wealth of Jewish potential, and in another five years it will be gone. Now is the time to tap into it,” says an emphatic Paula Edelstein, Immigration and Absorption Committee Co-Chair. She and Aliyah Sub-committee Co-Chair Sondra Sokal, recently returned from a fact-finding mission to the Ukraine and Moldovia to evaluate existing JAFI functioning and to assess prospects for the future. “We speak glibly about aliyah from the East as an aliyah of choice like aliyah from the West. It isn’t,” states Sondra. “If young Jews are not brought out from these areas, they will be lost to the Jewish people. Assimilation is endemic, intermarriage is hovering at 85% and knowledge of what it means to be a Jew is acutely fragile.”

	Russia “The Jewish Agency must be a primary advocate of ensuring conversion possibilities to accommodate the growing numbers and increased percentage of non-halachic Jews amongst the olim. In addition, conversions from all streams of Judaism must be recognized.” Danny Liwerant Co-Chair, Immigration and Absorption Committee Ukraine “Our shlichim are experts at building bridges in the community, whether it is with the Chabad or with the Progressive Jewish movements. For instance, we have children from the Chabad school in Kiev coming on our Na’aleh program.” Sondra Sokal Co-Chair, Aliyah Subcommittee Moldova “I feel certain that if we don’t get the young people involved now in Jewish Agency youth clubs and camps and activities which develop interest in Israel, there won’t be an opportunity to do so in the future. We have a window of opportunity to work with them. Paula Edelstein Co-Chair, Immigration and Absorption Committee

All that Glitters

Kiev, explains Paula, is brimming with cultural activities, a profusion of Western products and a strong JAFI presence within the Jewish community. ‘We were there for major aliyah fairs and for Israeli Independence Day celebrations.” says Paula. Sadly cognizant of how much Jewish blood had flowed in the Ukraine, “it was particularly moving for me to see an unabashed, upright Jewish community making itself seen. ” Sondra continues, ‘In Kharkov, a magnificent display was put up in the main square for Israel’s independence Day. Large, bold blown-up photograhs of life in Israel were backdrops for a video showing a loop of Israeli scenes. People wandered amongst the booths where information about classes and programs was distributed. It was very impressive, but I must add that a Molotov cocktail was hurled at that grandiose display the night before we came.”

Paula continues, “Our shlichim in the cities of the Ukraine and Moldova work under great pressure: negotiating often unfriendly governments, undercurrents of anti-semitism, an unstructured and directionless Jewish community and a fiercely proprietary ultra-orthodox establishment. With persistence and creativity, they perform the balancing act quite admirably. To function under these circumstances, a shaliach needs to be not only devoted, but savvy and flexible. About a month ago, an elderly woman was stopped at night at the Ukranian border which she had to cross to get her flight to Israel. The border guards refused to let the woman pass, claiming her papers were out of order. At close to midnight, she notified the shaliach, who immediately drove to the border. He finally closed a deal with the guards and sent her off on the next plane to Israel.”

The Russian Reservoir

Danny Liwerant, Co-Chair of the Immigration and Absorption Committee, recently returned from an evaluatory mission to Moscow and St. Petersburg. “More immigrants are coming from the FSU than from anywhere else in the world and I believe that Russia can be a source of ever-increasing aliyah for the next decade. In these two large cities, there are active ulpanim, Jewish schools, even government-funded Jewish schools. There is an emerging community with an increasingly confident leadership. But there is still a relatively small percentage of involved Jews and the existing institutions are dependent on outside support. This is a window of opportunity before losing a large chunk of our people to assimilation. We need to construct a new strategy from the resources we have; linking our programs to the larger Jewish educational networks. Our summer camps have to be reinvigorated; University and academic programs in Israel must be promoted vigorously.

“However, to increase aliyah from Russia in the coming years, we need to face reality. The percentage of people eligible to make aliyah under the Law of Return who are not recognized as Jews by the Orthodox establishment in Israel is only going to increase. Conversion must be made possible not only for future immigrants but for the tens of thousands of immigrants already in Israel. Conversions from all streams of Judaism must be recognized and the Jewish Agency must be a primary advocate of ensuring conversion possibilities to accommodate the growing numbers and increased percentage of non-halachic Jews amongst the olim.”

Into the shtetlach

Paula and Sondra also made their way into the periphery where the glitter of the cities was like a distant memory. “It was like going back in time, traveling from shtetl to shtetl,” says Sondra. Oxen-pulled carts are a still a primary source of vehicular transport; dwellings are simple, infrastructure minimal. “Here is where the dogged perserverance of our aliyah emissaries comes into play. They literally comb the backwoods to find Jews. Genia, an emissary based in the Ukraine, takes a driver every few weeks to tour outlying villages. The first stop is always the cemetery, and if she sees gravestones without crosses, she knows Jews may still live there. On the next market day, Genia returns to the town and meanders through the town square amongst the hawkers and stalls making subtle inquiries. Through Genia’s efforts, four youth made aliyah on JAFI programs this past year.

“The youth have very little to keep them in these backwater towns. If we don’t get more youth involved in camps and activities that develop an interest in Israel, they won’t be potential candidates. These programs will not bear fruit in another five years. It is now that we can connect the youth to Israel and a promise of a better future.”

The Former Soviet Union remains a rich repository of potential olim. In fact, for many of these individuals, aliyah is the single avenue through which they will retain their Jewish identity.

The Global Center nurtures Professionalism and Innovative Thinking.

Like a well-tuned motor, the Global Center has a healthy hum. Customer representatives answer a stream of daily calls, information is distributed according to carefully constructed lists and shlichim are appraised and consulted on a regular basis.

Yet behind the scenes, animated brainstorming precipitates a fast track of ideas. The Center has already initiated “Expert Days” to provide the best possible service to clients. Haim Rhein, the Content Advisor for the English-speaking Section, explains that “on complex topics where we have discerned multiple inquiries, we find a consulting expert, and then choose a day for him or her to be available to answer questions telephonically or electronically. Emails are sent out to individuals who queried the Center on that topic, and to others who we believe would find the subject relevant. On the designated day, the expert is available to speak directly with callers as well as answer emails. We have had experts on taxes, purchasing a home and higher education. We plan to expand the project to other languages and more topics.”

Batia Ehrlich, Director of Spanish-speaking Section, discusses the staff training and betterment schemes. “We have created a virtual meeting place for our customer service representatives. As they open their computers and sign into the telephone system to begin work, they immediately see a posting section with any notices, upcoming events, policy changes or new marketing/service materials which they can use. They then sign onto our virtual community forum which provides an arena for an informal exchange of ideas. Sometimes a representative is looking for an answer to a specific question which another representative may have encountered previously. If not, then we have content managers for each language who can research and respond to specific points. The idea is that sharing experience and information enriches for all involved.”

Outgoing Global Center Director Boaz Yardeni can see some of his visions come to fruition towards the end of his tenure. “This summer, we will begin our pilot immersion training for shlichim. A delegation from the Global Center will be assigned to two Aliyah Centers in North America where the shaliach and staff will undergo a ten-day training period for the synchronization of systems. That means one hundred percent coordination between the Global Center and the Aliyah Center abroad — to the point where we can get a call from, let’s say, Montreal and our customer rep in Israel will open the shaliach’s calendar and schedule an appointment.

“We are also initiating the process of enabling payments for all Jewish Agency programs via our customer representatives with a credit card. Paperwork will be reduced and the time has come to move into the realm of on-line credit card payments.”

The energies put into staff training and the implementation of unprecedented programming is paying off in ever-increasing calls and an ever-increasing efficiency in dealing with clients.