December 28, 2007

By Cnaan Liphshiz

Through an unlikely collaboration, new immigrants from Iran have recently become Telfed's responsibility, Anglo File has learned.

As of last month, Telfed - officially the Israel office of the South African Zionist Federation - has been formally in charge of absorbing new Iranian immigrants from a technical and professional point of view, Telfed Director Sidney Shapiro said on Wednesday.

Shapiro said Telfed became involved at the request of a very large Jewish organization. A spokesperson for the organization confirmed, but requested the body not be named. The project is a joint venture of the organization, Telfed and the Merage Foundations Israel - a charity owned by the Iranian-born American-Jewish philanthropist David Merage of Denver, Colorado. Absorption is managed by a steering committee of representatives from the three bodies and from the Iranian immigrants' umbrella group, the Central Organization of Iranian Immigrants in Israel.

"This committee decides on the program for the coming year," said Telfed's director of project development Dorron Kline. The first meeting on the 2008 program is scheduled for next month. With funding from Merage, Telfed currently employs three Iranian-born field workers who operate from Jewish Agency absorption centers in Ashdod and Jerusalem, where some of the new Iranian immigrants live.

"If Merage approves our budget proposal, we will give out the money out as scholarships to Iranian students and adults for retraining," Shapiro said.

Such programs, Shapiro says, are especially important for new Iranian immigrants whose financial status is often lacking.

According to Shapiro, the Jewish organization enlisted Telfed because of its long tradition of helping non-South African immigrants (see box) and high administration standards. Telfed chair Maish Isaacson said he was proud the group's experience is acknowledged by other organizations. "If we're able to help with our expertise, we will," he said.

Telfed, which was founded in 1948, does have extensive experience, but a more than 300-percent increase in immigration from Iran over the past year (from 65 Jews last year to 200 in 2007) might also account for the call for help.

Delicate questions

On Tuesday, 40 Iranian Jews landed in Israel - the largest single group to come since Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979. The immigrants each received a $10,000 grant from international Jewish organizations.

Beside the surge, Telfed's involvement was connected to assessments by professional absorption officials who said the Iranian immigrant associations weren't quite up to the task.

"David Merage asked the Jewish organization to find a body to oversee and advise," Shapiro said. According to Shapiro, the man entrusted with the project at the Jewish organization had worked with Telfed on other immigration projects involving non-South Africans. "It sounded very exciting." But there was quite a long negotiation period ahead.

Before accepting, Shapiro says he asked why a local Iranian immigrant association couldn't take the mission upon itself. "Indeed, they have quite a few organizations, but we understood that the foundation felt the program being offered by the Iranian organizations did not meet their needs."

Shapiro says he was told the Iranian organizations are not sufficiently adept at reaching out to the community and initiating projects.

"Merage apparently realized no support system currently exists within the community's organizations and splinter groups," Shapiro said. Shapiro says he was at first hesitant about involvement with another community, but was assured by the cooperation of the Iranian immigrants umbrella group.

When Shapiro presented the project plan to Telfed's executive board, more delicate questions came up. "I was asked whether this would detract from the services we give our community. And the answer was categorically no. We're being paid for this - albeit a nominal amount," he says.

Shapiro says Merage is reimbursing Telfed for its overall time and effort.

"We're not losing time or resources, and there's no indication that our community will suffer in any way," Shapiro says. "In the long run, our community will benefit, because it could open doors to further cooperation with Merage. We can only gain by this."

Both Isaacson and Shapiro say South Africans remain the top priority for Telfed.

"That said, part of our mission statement speaks about developing Israeli society," Shapiro says. "Now, the services available to Iranian immigrants are not what they should be. So I think it's really kadosh what we are doing."

Merage Foundations project manager Adi Abada confirmed she had been instructed to look at non-Iranian organizations to devise a plan of action.

"My goal is reaching Telfed's level. After my first meeting, I decided I had to copy their methods. I've been consulting them and brainstorming together with them since."

Abada also said she was interested in implementing Telfed's direct-absorption strategy where the organization offers immigrant families apartments at reduced rent. "I want to have 92 apartments to rent out to immigrants, too, but I'm not there yet," she says.

Kline, her Telfed counterpart, says he thinks Telfed's model of volunteer-based regional committees could work with the Iranian population as well. Telfed has 10 regional committees, of which five are very active.

"The committees are headed by successful immigrants who are now welcoming the newer immigrants and running programs for them. Telfed is just in the background to give the framework," says Kline.

"This was a complete shift for the Merage Foundation. They were locked into this idea that the money should come to the local workers and they do everything," Kline says. "But the regional committee model allows new immigrants to feel empowered and more involved. Merage is now going to tap into our expertise on regional committees, and we're going to adapt the model for them."

Two of a kind

Both Telfed's Iranian team and Merage Foundations Director in Israel Anat Gilead say they were surprised to learn of the communities' similarities during their meetings. "The two communities are very different, but with surprisingly similar needs," Gilead says.

"By the second meeting with Telfed, I noticed that what they were saying about their community could have just as easily applied to the Iranian immigrants," Abada recalls. Shapiro says he, too, was surprised to learn in the meetings of the similarities.

"But all new immigrants share the same basic problems," Kline proposes. "When you get down to it, it's always about language, employment, and where to stay."