CPCL #9 • Shabbat Parshat YITRO •
contact: aloh-naaleh@aaci.org.il The Korean Klita Connection • A high-ranking Korean ministerial delegation recently visited the Jewish Agency's Mevasseret Zion Merkaz Klita (Absorption Center), mentioned in this issue's "Here To Stay" column. The delegation came to study methods of integrating their new immigrants - North Korean refugees. North Americans polled about their Merkaz
Klita experience for this article did not have North Korean neighbors.
However, they did meet Jews from all over the world - all struggling with
their first steps in a new country. The Merkaz Klita, suitable for olim with little knowledge of Hebrew and prior experience in Israeli life, provides temporary housing, classes and activities before holidays and sometimes an Ulpan. Olim in the Mercaz Klita have an opportunity to adjust to Israeli smaller living quarters - since the apartments can only get bigger from the cramped apartments offered in many of the centers. The emotional support, warmth and openness that North American olim shared with each other helped with their klita. Most olim remember fondly the friends they made, and the friendships that lasted after they moved to other parts of Israel. Meeting olim from Latin America, Europe, Ethiopia and the Russia is also part of the klita experience. Akiva Werber, director of the Jewish Agency's North American Section discusses the Merkaz Klita and North American olim: "Over the years, the majority of North American olim went to direct rentals and not the Merkaz Klita. There is an advantage to being in a Merkaz Klita with other newcomers - everyone is in the same milieu sharing a new adventure. The disadvantage is not benefiting from the experience of more veteran olim or Israelis." As of December 1st, '02, Western olim started to receive the "sal klita" (absorption basket) for eight months. According to Werber, these olim have the option of staying in Merkaz Klita buildings for up to two months. The Jewish Agency and government bodies
develop programs to encourage employment, sometimes using the Merkaz Klita
as a residential center. Werber describes a program in the north: "College
graduates interested in teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) have the
opportunity of a 15-month program in the Merkaz Klita in the north. They
will then be accredited ESL teachers for the 2004 school year." This
program, involving the Merkaz Klita, helps olim to become productive Israeli
citizens. Assisting the Oleh • The MiLev Center for
Crisis Counseling was founded in 1997 by Prof. Joshua Ritchie to meet the
needs of the large and varied English speaking population in Israel. It is a
volunteer, non-profit organization that provides necessary services and
educational programs. MiLev is looking for volunteers to be trained by the MiLev Center to work on the Crisis Hotline. The next 30-hour professional Crisis Counseling Training Certificate Program begins on Tuesday, February 4. For registration, please contact Yocheved at 055-992-383, or email: chasidot@pobox.com. • MiLev Crisis Hotline: 9:00am - 11:40pm • 02-654-1111 • MiLev Office Line: 02-652-1970 Aliya Pen Pals • Potential olim have contacted this list for advice. Please continue sending your name, year of aliya and city of origin, profession and email address to David Magence at magence@netvision.net.il if you are willing to correspond with potential olim, providing whatever assistance possible. Potential olim can email magence@netvision.net.il for names and addresses. Here to Stay • Inspiring stories of olim
from different periods of aliya are welcome. The essay should be up to 450
words long and emphasize one of the following: motives for aliya,
contributions to Israel, how Israel contributed to the oleh, the main
challenge in aliya and overcoming it. Please avoid publicizing businesses.
Send the essay to:
aloh-naaleh@aaci.org.il. It all started when the applause of all the passengers got so loud that we woke up and realized that in a matter of minutes we would be landing at Ben-Gurion Airport. My family made aliya in ‘91. I was nine at the time. Now I'm 20 — couldn't be a better time to thank my parents for the best decision they ever made. We spent the first two years of our life in Israel at the Merkaz Klita in Mevasseret Zion. Not only coping with the miniature house (the size of our bathroom in chutz la'aretz), but also having Ethiopian neighbors on one side and Russians on the other, was something which took a lot of getting used to. I don't know how my parents did it, but playing Barbies with an Ethiopian was definitely an experience that I won't forget. If people would have asked how we managed during the first two months of living in Israel, I just think of my mother talking on the pay phone in the pouring rain, and that would be enough. What kept my family going was looking at our special neighbors and knowing that, yes, we're from diverse backgrounds and live different life styles, but we were all in Eretz Yisrael together. We all felt that we could no longer "sing a song of Zion in a strange land". After an interesting two years in the Merkaz Klita we moved to Efrat. I was upset with my parent's decision of moving to a heavily American environment, but as the years went by I realized that being an Israeli does not mean that you must erase your identity. It's much deeper than that. Being an Israeli means understanding that the commandment to be a "king- dom of priests and a holy nation" means being a holy nation in the Holy Land. It's understanding where we are and why we're here, and that we have a reason to live and unfortunately a reason to die. The most challenging difficulty that I had was school. I'm from Richmond, Virginia. We were 10 kids in the class, with 30 students in the entire school! The class in Jerusalem was big; the school was huge! It took a long time to get used to it. I was in a school with many Americans, so I didn't feel strange or different. The girls, especially the Israelis, were really nice and friendly, and helped me feel at home. My sister finished university after two years of Sherut Leumi, my brother completed his army service, and I am now in my second year of Sherut Leumi. We all feel that we had wanted to give to our country before we started our personal lives. Packing your life in a suitcase is very hard. We all did it with a lot of dream- ing, love and G-d's help. May we be worthy of seeing more and more families join us here. "…Then our faces will be full of joy and are mouths full of song". Efrat by David Magence, Licensed Tour Guide • Efrat, located in Gush Etzion, appears eight times in the Bible as the alternate name for Beit Lechem. The modern town is named for its proximity to Beit Lechem, about six kilometers away. Seven of the eight times Efrat is mentioned, the name appears as Efrata (with HEI added to the end). Although maps and official road signs identify the town as Efrata, the majority of the town's residents prefer the form Efrat. Efrat is built on hills named for the seven species with which the Torah praises the Land of Israel. It is a short drive via the modern Tunnel Road to Jerusalem, where many of its residents are employed. One of the founders of Efrat in 1983 was American oleh Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, who serves as the town's Ashkenazi chief rabbi. The ideal of the founders of Efrat was to create a mixed religious and secular community. Today, the overwhelming majority of Efrat's popula- tion of 8,000 is religiously observant. Many educational institutions for all ages have been established in Efrat. About a third of the population is
English-speaking. The fact that Efrat continues to grow is a clear statement
of dedication to living in the heartland of Biblical Israel. The expertise of these public figures was put to use for educational purposes. The IDF general lectured about appreciating the value of life as a basis for careful driving. The government minister and his family lectured during a Shabbaton. The director of the government agency discussed the importance of volunteering and accepting people with special needs. Yet besides their public role, these busy people find time to be dedicated fathers. At the meetings at the beginning of the school year, they introduce themselves as "Abba shel…", like Israeli parents do from their children's pre-school days. On parent- teacher's evening where waiting time can sometimes be 45 minutes for a two-minute meeting with the teacher, they wait their turn on line like all the other parents, although at times they are called away on urgent calls! It's heartening to see these senior officials participate in their children's education. It's hard to imagine Pentagon or Capitol Hill executives being introduced as "Abba shel"…— Batsheva Pomerantz “May my eyes behold Your return to Zion in compassion” V'TECH'E'ZENA EI'NEI'NU B'SH'V'CHA L'TZION B'RACHAMIM OLIM: Don’t you feel thankful to G-d that
you have a front-row seat? [The Parshat
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