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FIRST TIME: FORMER FSU RESIDENTS ON SOLIDARITY MISSION FROM U.S. DELEGATION FROM BOSTON VISITED HAIFA IN FRAMEWORK OF JEWISH AGENCY'S "PARTNERSHIP 2000"
 Members of Boston delegation welcomed with flowers by young olim, living at Jewish Agency student dorms "Aba Chushi" in Haifa (photo: Beni Rom) One hundred and eighty-five Jews from Boston USA, including a group of immigrants from the FSU, are currently visiting Haifa as part of a solidarity mission to Israel. The Boston community partners Haifa within the context of the Jewish Agency's Partnership 2000 program. The mission, led by Boston Jewish Federation President Barry Shrag, comprises leaders of Jewish organizations in Boston, including heads of educational and cultural institutions, rabbis, and community centers. Members of the mission met with Haifa's Mayor Amram Mitznah and were given a political, defense and economic review of the state of affairs in Israel. This is the first time that a solidarity mission from the U.S. has included a group of Jews from the FSU. The 32-strong group was organized through a joint initiative by the Jewish Agency and the Boston Jewish Federation, in an effort to enhance their ties with Israel. Some 70,000 Jews from the FSU live in Boston. The Jewish Agency has decided to foster ties with them and to assist them in guaranteeing their continued Jewish identity. "We hope that this group, representing a culturally vibrant Jewish community, will be the forerunner of many such visits by the quarter million Jews from the FSU who have settled in North America over the past ten years", said Menachem Ravivi, head of the Jewish Agency's North American desk. Ravivi added that the community has a strong sense of Jewish identity and takes a keen interest in Israel. The Jewish Agency wishes to expand activities suited to their needs together with them. The Boston - Haifa partnership has been active for a decade, working to enhance inter-personal ties between the two communities and promote issues of common interest, including: women's status, building a religiously non-affiliated society, environmental development, fostering leadership, assisting with the absorption of Ethiopian olim, promoting pluralism and more.
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