Complete the Russian-speaking Aliyah

“Nothing can guarantee Israel’s existence and strength more than Aliyah,” Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said at a commemoration honoring the refuseniks who led Soviet Jewry’s struggle for freedom in the 1970s and 1980s.

The Russian-speaking Aliyah “changed Israel,” he said. Olmert’s words echoed those of Jewish Agency chairman Ze’ev Bielski, who told the hundreds of assembled guests - including hundreds of refuseniks and those recognized as Prisoners of Zion - that “the work [of Aliyah] has yet to be completed, since there are hundreds of thousands [of Russian-speaking Jews] in the former Soviet Union, Germany, the US and Australia. We have to continue to act to bring them to the only home of the Jewish people - the State of Israel.”

“Your struggle was a symbol and an example that Aliyah is the future of the state,” Immigrant Absorption Minister Ya’acov Edri said. “All Jews who come to Israel strengthen it, so I call on the Jews to come to Israel.”

While most of the speeches centered on Aliyah, the purpose of the evening was to remember the struggle of the thousands of Jews who suffered years-long harassment and imprisonment by Soviet authorities because they wished to immigrate to Israel.

“The Soviet regime couldn’t stand up to the Jews who were demanding their basic rights,” Olmert said. “This struggle contributed to the downfall of the Soviet regime. This was David against Goliath. The Soviets tried to destroy the Zionist movement [in the Soviet Union], but more and more joined it.”

For former MK and cabinet minister Natan Sharansky, a famous refusenik who spent over a decade in Siberia for his Zionist agitation, the movement was a lesson about strength. While the Soviet Jewry movement included “demonstrations of hundreds of thousands” around the world, “these came after the demonstrations of just a few brave activists who were then sent to Siberia.” The movement, he said, found “a source of strength in the State of Israel and its achievements and military victories.”

The event was part of a series of events throughout the year marking 40 years to the Soviet Jewish movement, which was sparked by the Six Day War in 1967. The event brought together the Immigrant Absorption Ministry, the Jewish Agency and the Public Committee for Commemorating 40 Years to the Soviet Jewish Struggle for Freedom, which Sharansky heads.

It was attended by refuseniks living in Israel, along with former and current activists and members of the organizations, such as Nativ and the Jewish Agency, which worked to bring Soviet Jews out from under the Soviet regime. (Haviv Rettig)

Ethopians Protest Plan to Cut Aliyah

Under banners reading "Our children in Ethiopia love Israel too: Bring them home" and "You have money to bring white Jews, why no money to bring black Jews?" hundreds of Ethiopian immigrants demonstrated in Jerusalem to voice their anger over a government decision to end Aliyah from the African state within the next year.

"The government agreed to bring these people here and now they are going back on their word," Avraham Neguise, head of the coalition of Ethiopian organizations in Israel, told The Jerusalem Post just minutes before addressing the angry crowd, many of whom were waving photos of loved ones still in Ethiopia.

"In 2003, the government agreed to certain criteria [based on a 1999 survey of the Ethiopian Jewish population], but now, suddenly, 8,500 names have been removed."

"We have a list of people who we believe are eligible for Aliyah, and all we are asking is for the Interior Ministry to look into it," he said.

The Interior Ministry was planning to wind up its operations in the Gondar region of Ethiopia sometime in January, the ministry's spokes-woman, Sabene Hadad, told the Post. The ministry processes Aliyah applications for the Falash Mura (Jews whose ancestors were forced to convert to Christianity more than a century ago) in Gondar, she said.

"We are following a government decision and have processed all those who are eligible according to the government criteria," Hadad said. Neguise's claims were false, she added.

Neguise, however, said, "Closing the gates would leave many immigrant families divided," with close relatives remaining in Ethiopia.

Shati Desta, who made Aliyah with his mother in 2003, told the Post stopping Aliyah from Ethiopia would mean that his father, two siblings and other close relatives would be left behind.

"The Interior Ministry keeps telling me to be patient, but I have lost hope," said the 28-year-old father of one, who is employed in a metalworks factory in Petah Tikva. "My brother and sister are also still there and [so is] my wife's brother."

Due to the difficult economic conditions and the lack of employment opportunities in Gondar, Desta said, he must send much of his meager salary to his family in Ethiopia to help provide for their daily needs.

Asked whether Ethiopian Jews should be brought here considering the economic depravation faced by many of the Olim, Neguise responded: "Every person should be able to decide for themselves whether or not they want to make Aliyah." 

(Edited from Article by Ruth Eglash)

150,000 Olim Move to the Capital Since 1967

"More that 150,000 immigrants have moved to Jerusalem since the reunification of the capital in 1967", the city said.  Last year, nearly 2,500 new Olim, 13 percent of the immigrants to Israel, made the capital their home, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics.

The new immigrants who moved to Jerusalem last year included 794 Americans, 571 French, 349 from the former Soviet Union and 211 Britons.

The statistics reflect a growing trend of native English and French speakers moving to the city, and a decrease in the number of Russian speakers coming to the city. (Etgar Leftkvits)

Imprisoned for Being Jewish

My father-in-law was a Prisoner of Zion! He has born in 1929 in Zhmerinka, Ukraine. During the years 1944 to 1948 he was a member of the Einikeit organization, distributing Zionist literature, Jewish songs and poetry among Jews. He was arrested and charged with Zionist activity and sentenced to 25 years imprisonment. He was only 19 years old at the time. He spent 7 years in jail and one year in exile, and was released in 1956 after Stalin’s death. It was only in 1996, two years after his daughter (now my wife) made Aliyah to Israel, that he gathered enough courage to come to Israel himself. He now lives down the road in Jerusalem, but is suffering after a severe heart attack recently. Please pray for Michael Spivak, and his wife Polina. Look for Michael Spivak’s picture on the web at:

http://www.angelfire.com/sc3/soviet_jews_exodus/English/POZ_s/POZ-49-2.shtml                    

(Glen Haines)

Word from the Prophets

  But then if you turn back to Me and do what I have commanded you,

I will bring you back to the place where I have chosen to be worshiped,

even though you are scattered to the ends of the earth.

(Nehemiah 1:9)

Thank You for Your Prayer & Financial Support

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