"The Pittsburgh incident cannot be explained. It is uncivilized, unimaginable behavior which is in no way connected with quality of life or level of education. The tragedy is that our society, despite being the most advanced, is also the most violent." This was stated by Congressman Jim Leach, (R-Iowa) Chairman of the House Committee on Banking and Financial Services to Jewish Agency Chairman Sallai Meridor at a meeting between the two in Meridor's Jerusalem office.

Meridor opened the meeting, which was devoted to the subject of the restoration of Jewish property from the Second World War period, by expressing his horror at the racist attack in Pittsburgh, in which five innocent people were killed and a local synagogue was shot at.

Meridor stressed that we cannot ignore the present when discussing the rights of Jews from the Holocaust and that we must remember that the restoration of Jewish property is a debt owed to the survivors and their heirs: "Due to the terrible events of the Holocaust, the issue of the Jewish property has been pushed aside but it can no longer be ignored."

The Jewish Agency Chairman, who also acts as co-chairman of World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO), further asked Congressman Leach to act to publicize the list of all the account holders at Swiss banks during the holocaust, and the names of those who held insurance policies with European insurance companies during this period.

Meridor also asked for the Congressman's assistance in bringing pressure to bear on the German insurance companies to publish the names of the policy holders, before the American administration approves the last agreement drawn up on this subject with Germany.

After sharp anti-Semitic statements, the extreme nationalist Vitautas Sostauskaus was elected at the end of last month as mayor of Kaunus (Kovno), the second largest city in Lithuania. There are some 600 Jews presently living there.

Ephraim Medan, Jewish Agency representative in the Baltic States, reported that during the week preceding the elections, Sostauskaus had made threatening anti-Semitic comments: "I will not evict the Jews, but let them not forget that they are in Lithuania," he said. In other extreme comments, the nationalist referred to "Jewish wealth", claiming that they are buying up all the city's principle assets in an effort to take control of the city. Sostauskaus also made light of the Holocaust and said that "if the Jews had not been shot, I would now be polishing their shoes".

This week Ephraim Medan spoke with Grecas Zakas, chairman of the Kovno Jewish community, for an up to date briefing of the situation of the Jews in the city following the election of the racist. According to Zakas, the new mayor is currently trying to moderate his comments and even sent a letter of goodwill to the Jewish community before Passover.

According to Medan, it would appear that Sostauskaus used his anti-Semitic comments as a populist exercise aimed at attracting votes. Now that he has won the campaign, he is trying to soften the extreme expression he created.

Kovno, which has 416,000 inhabitants, defines itself as Lithuania's "city of opportunity" and nationalists praise it as "the most Lithuanian city in the country". According to Jewish Agency estimates, there are 600 Jews in Kovno, which is the second-largest Jewish community after the capital Vilnius (Vilna). The Jewish Agency has a local delegation in the city and runs a youth club of the Beitar youth movement and a Hebrew ulpan. There is also a Jewish Sunday school and Habad activities.

Over the last decade some 6,200 olim have come to Israel from Lithuania, of which 200 arrived during 1999.

The Russian Supreme Court last week rejected the appeal submitted by the parents of Nikita Krivchun, a neo-Nazi youngster who attacked Leopold Kaimovsky, director of Moscow's Jewish Cultural Center. This was reported this week by the Jewish Agency's FSU Department.

Last summer, 20-year old Krivchun attacked 52-year old Kaimovsky, stabbing him during an attempt to carry out a mass terrorist attack on Jews and set the main synagogue in Moscow on fire. The attacker's parents recently petitioned the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation with a request to release their son, who is being held at a closed psychiatric hospital under constant surveillance. In their petition the parents praised their son's scholastic achievements, stating that he was a law student at Moscow University, and asking for his release so that they could attend to his medical treatment themselves. After the hearing, the court rejected the request on the grounds that Krivchun constitutes a danger to the public.

Leopold Kaimovsky praised the Court's ruling and said that the rejection of the plea was to be expected since the attacker had been recognized as "mentally unstable" by the most senior committee of Russian psychiatrists. "I feel a lot safer with this maniac behind bars and isolated from society," said Kaimovsky, "Nevertheless, I am alarmed by the flourishing of anti-Semitism all over Russia and it hurts me to see that anti-Semitic literature is being sold freely all over Moscow."

Last weekend Kaimovsky was awarded the Russian National Order of Valor by President Vladimit Putin at a special ceremony held at the Kremlin. At the ceremony, the Russian President cited Kaimovsky's bravery, noting that despite his severe injury he managed to save his secretary's life and call for help which prevented the attacker from setting the synagogue building on fire.

After receiving initial medical treatment in Moscow, the Jewish Agency brought Kaimovsky to Israel to recuperate. It should be noted that the Jewish Agency maintains close ties with the Moscow Jewish Cultural Center and participates in the funding of activities.

• 55 high school students, all recent immigrants from Quara and residents of the Jewish Agency's Kiryat Yam Absorption Center, attend the prestigious Leo Baeck High School in Haifa. Each student is coached individually by a classmate, often another new immigrant who has been in Israel a few years longer.

• The Central Region Partnership 2000 Consortium funds a special course to teach new immigrants from Ethiopia at the Hazrot Yassaf caravan site in the northern region of Israel the basics of business enterprise and economic initiatives. It encourages them to consider becoming entrepreneurs.

• The Hungarian Union of Jewish Students operates out of the Jewish Agency's offices in Budapest. It has 1,200 members, making it the largest Zionist-affiliated organization in Hungary.

• $83 million will be invested in building 157 community projects in Israel during the year 2000 by the Jewish Agency's Israel Department with the assistance of the Israel Education Fund.

• $6 million has been budgeted for Project Renewal expenditures in the year 2000 for 31 communities in five regions throughout Israel. Project Renewal expenditures during the 20-year period from 1979 - 1999 totaled $439.7 million.

• Approximately $7,000,000 has been budgeted by the Jewish Agency for Strategic Initiatives for the year 2000.

Five members of Knesset from different factions of the house yesterday saluted in Moscow veterans from World War II, who gathered at a Jewish youth center in the Russian capital to mark 55 years since the victory over Nazi Germany. The Treasurer of the Jewish Agency, Chaim Chesler, who participated in the ceremony, said, "The Jewish people salutes the veterans, who due to them a remnant of our people was saved. We express our special thanks to the Russian people for recognizing the State of Israel upon its inception, thereby contributing to its establishment."

On behalf of the Members of Knesset, MK Michael Nudelman from Yisrael Beiteinu, who immigrated to Israel immediately after the gates of the former Soviet Union were opened and has since managed to be elected for a second term to the Knesset, said "We thank the Red Army for having liberated the Death Camps. The Israeli people appreciate your efforts and showed this when the Knesset and the Government decided to support a bill which ensures the rights of World War II veterans in Israel."

The delegation of Knesset members which also includes MK Nachum Langenthal from the National Religious Party, MK Eli Ben-Menachem from One Israel, and MKs David Tal and Yair Peretz from Shas today ended a five day visit to Georgia and Russia as guests of the Jewish Agency for Israel. Before leaving Israel the MKs met with the Chairman of the Jewish Agency in his office. Meridor said "The purpose of your visit is to bring the message of the Jewish people which works for Aliyah together with the Government of Israel to the Jewish communities and Governments in Russia and Georgia. During your visit you will be able to learn about the activities of the Jewish Agency in strengthening Jewish identity and preparing Jews for immigration to Israel."

The five MKs arrived on Sunday night in Georgia, where they met with the leaders of the Jewish communities from the capital Tbilisi and the town of Guri and also with the heads of the Foreign Relations, Defense and Welfare committees of the Georgian Parliament. The MKs also visited a Jewish Agency Hebrew Learning center and a new project for enhancing Jewish identity.

The five MKs, who were the guests of Victor Kaplansky head of the Jewish Agency's delegation in Georgia were moved to tears during the Yom Ha Shoah memorial ceremony, held in Tbilisi and organized by the Jewish Agency which was conducted entirely in Hebrew.

The MKs traveled from Tbilisi to Moscow where they were received by JAFI Treasurer, Chaim Chesler and head of the JAFI delegation in Russia Alla Levy, who briefed them on the extensive activities of the Jewish Agency in Russia from St. Petersburg in the West to Khabarovsk in the East. In Moscow, the five MKs met with families of youngsters serving in the Israel Defense Forces, who came to Israel within the framework of Jewish Agency youth programs.

Similarly the MKs visited ulpanim and a project for enhancing Jewish identity and met with activists at the Jewish youth club in the Russian capital. At the end of the visit the members of Knesset called to further efforts to bring the Jews of Russia to Israel as long as the opportunity availed itself and expressed their support for the project to deepen Jewish identity which they called 'Holy Work'.

Over 400 Jewish youth from across Canada departed from Toronto on the 7th International March of the Living this week. The group of teenagers, which includes more than 100 Torontonians, is the largest Canadian contingent to take part, along with 6,000 other worldwide participants, in the bi-annual pilgrimage to concentration camps in Poland.

The climax of the commemorative 14-day journey, was a 3-km march from Auschwitz to Birkenau, the largest concentration camp complex built in Poland by the Nazis during World War II. At Birkenau, participants took part in a ceremony, broadcast live around the world, which included addresses, by Israeli President Ezer Weizman and the President of Poland.

Judy Cohen, one of four Canadian Holocaust survivors accompanying the delegates, joined the March for the third time to impart her first-hand knowledge of Holocaust atrocities which she suffered as a child prisoner at the infamous Birkenau.

"The most important lesson we can teach these young people is not to be silent and indifferent in the face of hate and injustice," says Cohen. "No matter how young they are I want them to know that they have a voice and choice in helping to make sure the Holocaust is never repeated."

This important message was also delivered at Toronto's largest-ever Holocaust Day Commemorative Service. The theme of the event was "Survival of the Spirit, and highlighted the struggle of those who were persecuted solely because they were Jewish. Whether in the ghettos, labor camps or concentration camps, they conducted clandestine religious services, celebrated Holy Days, married, gave birth and were buried all according to the "forbidden" traditions of Judaism.

"While entire generations of families perished, the survival of their spirit continues to inspire and enrich us all," noted Lou Greenbaum, Co-Chair of the event, along with Craig Rimer.

This year for the first time, 300 Hebrew teachers and youth counselors from the FSU participated in the March of the Living at Auschwitz as part of a special project organized by the Jewish Agency's Education Department.

They toured the concentration camps and Jewish sites and learnt about the horrors perpetrated by the Nazis during World War II. After these visits, the counselors and teachers will teach the subject of the Holocaust at the Jewish Agency's youth clubs and Hebrew learning centers all over the FSU.

Four groups from Russia, the Ukraine, Belarus and the Baltic States took part in the project. Following their visit to Poland, the group of 20 from Samara in eastern Russia continued on to a seminar in Israel at the Massuah Institute, which deals with Holocaust research.

Another Jewish Agency group, numbering 40, arrived in Poland from Moscow lead by Alla Levy, head of the Jewish Agency delegation in Russia. This group visited the Warsaw ghetto and learnt about the contribution made by Zionist youth to the organization of the Warsaw ghetto uprising in 1943. According to Levy, the trip enabled the youth counselors to appreciate not only the horrors of the Holocaust but also the heroism of the Jewish people in resisting the Nazi occupation.

The 70 members of the group from Belarus and the Baltic States, led by Baruch Kamil, head of the Jewish Agency delegation in Minsk, this week joined thousands of Jewish youth from all over the world in the "March of the Living" held in memory of those who perished in the Holocaust.

The Jewish Agency is preparing a plan for a national fund designed to substantially increase on an immediate basis, the number of Israeli high-school students who visit the death camps and ghettos in Poland, and hear first-hand testimony from Holocaust survivors. Jewish Agency Chairman Sallai Meridor, who also co-chairs the WJRO (World Jewish Restitution Organization), and Jewish Agency Treasurer Chaim Chesler, raised the subject before the Claims Conference and other bodies in order to guarantee that some of the money being received from the restoration of Jewish property to those without heirs or originating in community property, should be directed to subsidizing these trips.

At meetings which were held in Washington several weeks ago between the Jewish Agency Chairman and US Undersecretary of Treasury Stuart Eisenstadt, together with Dr. Israel Singer, Secretary General of the World Jewish Congress, it was agreed in principle that as part of the agreement with the Jewish community in Poland for the restoration of community property, some of the money would be also be allocated for this purpose.

Another source being examined is the allocation of funds to subsidize these trips within the agreement being drawn up with Swiss banks and industry. The possibility of raising funds for this project among Israelis is also being examined.

According to Meridor, the plan is aimed at allowing less-privileged Israeli youth to visit the Polish death camps and ghettos, and not just those who come from comfortable families: "In our generation, everyone must consider that they too were present at Auschwitz, and it is our duty to enable every Jewish youth to visit this site in order to remember and to learn the lessons," said Meridor.

The Jewish Agency Chairman added that the visit to the concentration camps is also a duty for the memory of those who perished, and is an essential component of our national heritage and well-being, as well as necessary to build the human, Jewish and Zionist identity of the younger generation.

In addition to establishing the fund, the Jewish Agency is also examining the possibility of assisting in the organization and preparation of educational programs for Israeli high-school students visiting Poland, so as to reduce the cost of the trip.

Isser Kruglin, an 83-year old Holocaust survivor from Brooklyn in the US, who lost his wife, children and many other family members in the concentration camps of eastern Europe, arrived in Israel this week for a visit, to participate in the dedication of the Student Center at the Shaar Hanegev Academic College. The new center, which was established with a donation from the Poalei Zion movement via the Jewish Agency's Israel Educational Fund (IEF), will be dedicated in memory of his family who perished in the Holocaust.

Isser, who emigrated to the US after the war and remarried Sarah, is one of a group of Jewish donors who belong to the New York based Poalei Zion movement. Most of the movement's members are Holocaust survivors now in their eighties and nineties, who arrived in the US following WWII, after having suffered the horrors of the Holocaust and losing many of their relatives. They were faced with the challenge of building a new future. The movement, whose slogan is "Embracing the State of Israel", has made contributions to the State of Israel via the Jewish Agency's IEF for many years.

The movement's initial contact with the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council was initiated 13 years ago by then Jewish Agency Treasurer Akiva Lewinsky. Following their first visit to the Council, members of the movement formed close ties with the area and have since helped in building the Sapira Academic College at Shaar Hanegev.

When the large wave of aliyah from the FSU began during the 1990's, the movement contributed to the establishment of a community center at the Jewish Agency's "Ibim" student village, in order to assist the absorption of young olim arriving in the Negev.

Shai Hermesh, head of the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council, who has become a personal friend of the group since their first visit 13 years ago, said that every year, during the week between Holocaust Martyr's Day and Remembrance Day for the IDF fallen, movement members visit Israel. This week too, they once again visited the area.

As part of their visit, members of the movement will today dedicate another project at the Shaar Hanegev College, the Student Center. The new building which was funded by the movement and the Krugler family, will be dedicated in memory of Isser's family who perished in the death camps.

A plaque will adorn the entrance to the new center, on which the names of all the members of Isser's family who perished in the Holocaust will be inscribed; The Beit Medrash (Study Hall) will be dedicated in memory of his parents; and each of the fixtures in the Beit Medrash, including the Torah scroll which Isser brought with him from the US, will be dedicated in memory of a member of the family who died in the Holocaust.

The center provides a variety of student services, including a cafeteria, guestroom, bookstore and reading room. At Kruglin's request, another room in the building will be dedicated in the name of the late Eliezer Shavit, former director of the Jewish Agency's IEF, who was a close friend of the Kruglin family.

Those participating in the dedication ceremony will include representatives of the Jewish Agency, the Israel Education Fund, Shaar Hanegev Regional Council, Sapir College, students and a delegation from the organization committee in the US. At the end of the ceremony, Isaac Pulbermacher, chairman of the New York Council of Organizations, will lay a corner stone for the Poalei Zion Square to be established at the college. A ceremony upon the presenting of the Torah scroll to the Beit Medrash will also take place.

"Musical Echoes from the Holocaust", the first exhibition of its kind dealing with Jewish music from the Holocaust period, opened in Israel this week. The exhibition, which is being held at the Ramat Aviv Mall, documents the use the Jews made of music, as a means of consolation and protest, and the cynical use which the Germans made of music as a smoke screen to conceal their real intentions. It includes documents, musical notes and pictures taken in the ghettos, at the death camps and in the hiding places used by the partisans all over occupied Europe.

Participating in the exhibition's opening ceremony were Israels' Minister for Regional Development Shimon Peres, Jewish Agency Treasurer Chaim Chesler, Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai, and Pini Cohen CEO of Africa-Israel. The evening's artistic program included a new, mournful rendering of four songs from the Holocaust performed by Arik and Aviv Livnat.

Jewish Agency Treasurer Chaim Chesler said that the exhibition reflects the spiritual wealth of our people, even during their most difficult moments when they marched towards the crematoriums: "The location of the exhibition, in the Ramat Aviv Mall, a symbol of affluence which is the complete opposite of the Holocaust that our people suffered 50 years ago, is a sign of the continuity of the Jewish people and the victory of "spirit over evil", said Chesler.

Minister Shimon Peres said that Judaism is characterized by an incessant dialog, through the use of language, signs and music: "Since words alone are not always adequate, we require music which penetrates the soul and emotion. Music from the Holocaust period will always appear pale in comparison with the terrible tragedy which befell our nation, but we must ensure that the tunes of that terrible experience do not disappear from the music of the Jewish people", said Peres.

Chesler added that the Jewish Agency together with the Government of Israel and other bodies is examining the possibility of assisting all young people in Israel to visit the concentration camps, in order to enable the younger generation to see with its own eyes the terrible tragedy which befell our people, and to pass this memory on to their children and grandchildren.

"The Jewish Agency assists dozens of organizations which deal with the memory of the Holocaust. The responsibility undertaken by the Institute for Holocaust Music in imparting the memory of the Holocaust to our youth and future generations, to ensure that a tragedy of this kind will not be repeated, is a task of supreme importance," said Chesler.

The exhibition, which has also been shown in Zurich and Moscow, is part of a series of educational historic projects dealt with by the Institute for Holocaust Music, as a means of teaching the third generation about the cultural - spiritual facet which existed during the Holocaust even in the midst of the horrors. The Institute is currently engaged in two other projects: producing a journal which will document Jewish music during the Holocaust, and a remake of Holocaust songs in order to connect with the younger generation.

Some 1,500 young olim from the FSU and Ethiopia, mostly single olim who have arrived in Israel in recent months within the context of the Jewish Agency's youth-absorption programs, yesterday climbed Massada on foot. The event was organized by the Jewish Agency's Aliyah Department, as part of the celebrations marking a decade of aliyah from the FSU and in preparation for Israel's 52nd Independence Day.

During the day, tours of historic sites in the Massada area were held; later, the youngsters climbed Massada on the Snake Path; they toured the site and concluded the day with a sound and light show at Massada.

Young olim, aged 17-21 who are in Israel without their parents, participated in the event, within the context of two of the Jewish Agency's major programs intended to encourage young aliyah from the FSU, "Selah" (an acronym for the Hebrew equivalent of- Students before Parents) and "Chalom" (an acronym for the Hebrew equivalent of Vocational Education Programs). The Jewish Agency has this year absorbed 1200 youngsters in these two programs, which are also designed to encourage their parents to make aliyah.

59 Jewish youngsters from 35 countries arrived in Israel at the beginning of the week to participate in the International Bible Quiz due to be held in Jerusalem on Israeli Independence Day (Yom Haatzmaut), in the presence of Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Jewish Agency Chairman Sallai Meridor.

Before next week's final stage, participants from all over world will today take part in a special quiz for Diaspora representatives which is being held at the Netanya Cultural Center attended by Netanya's Mayor Miriam Feuerberg, Amos Hermon, Chairman of the Jewish Agency's Education Committee, and Brig. General Elazar Stern, IDF Chief Education Officer. The 16 winners of the Diaspora quiz will compete next week against dozens of Israeli youngsters in the international quiz.

Amos Hermon commented that this year, within the context of the preliminary stages of the Diaspora quiz, the Jewish Agency's Education Department has focused on widespread activity in the FSU, with 3,000 youngsters from all over the FSU taking part in the preliminary stages. Eleven of the best candidates from seven different countries made it to the final round in Israel.

This is the fourth year in which the Jewish Agency's Education Department has organized the Bible Quiz in the FSU. Jewish Agency emissaries in Samara reported with considerable excitement that many of the youngsters discovered the Bible for the first time via participation in the quiz. "I never knew that the Bible was originally a Jewish work," "I am proud to be part of the Jewish people, whose book this is," they said.

This year, for the first time a representative from Buchara in Uzbekistan will participate in the Quiz. Perah Osher, 16, speaks fluent Hebrew and told us that the Bible is part of her family heritage. Yehuda Ariel from Sevastopol in the Ukraine, who just a short while ago was called Sergei Sarov, came to the Quiz in Israel directly from the "Shalabim" Yeshiva in Kharkov.

This yeshiva holds first place with regard to the proportion of its students who make aliyah. One of its outstanding graduates was Alexei Niekov, who came to Israel through the Jewish Agency's Selah program. Alexei gave his life during his military service in an effort to save a bus-full of children from a terrorist attack in the south of Israel.

Other young participants arrived from Tbilisi (Georgia), Samara (Russia), Gomel (Belarus), Baku (Azerbaijan) and other cities. All of them succeeded in passing the four preliminary stages organized in their countries by the Jewish Agency.

This year will also be the first time that representatives from Zimbabwe's Jewish community will be participating in the Quiz. Last week the Jewish Agency brought 16-year old Carla Sher and Taliah Wiesenbacher to Israel from Zimbabwe to participate in the Bible Quiz become acquainted with Israel.

A few months ago, during a short visit to Israel, leaders of the Zimbabwe Jewish community met with Jewish Agency Chairman Sallai Meridor. Following their first meeting, the Jewish Agency embarked on Jewish-Zionist activity among the Jews in Zimbabwe and invited community representatives to take part in the International Bible Quiz.

Ruth Bat Shlomo, the Jewish Agency's Bible Quiz coordinator in France, reported that three of the 36 youngsters who entered the first rounds in France, are among the finalists who will participate in the Quiz held in Jerusalem.

Three Finalist of the Bible quiz in France Emanuel Zawi (15), Raphael Amzaleg (15), and Yaniv Maimon ( 14) together with the Judges , Jewish Agency Emissaries in France and leaders of the French Jewish community

This week talks between Israel and the Palestinians resumed in Eilat, in preparation for the final settlement. The Israeli Government decided to postpone the vote on transferring Abu Dis and El Azariya to full Palestinian control, as a result of increasing opposition by some coalition parties, led by Sharansky's Yisrael Be Aliyah Party and the National Religious Party.

Today the Ben-Basat Report was made public which includes the widest range of Tax Reforms in Israel's history. Among others, the report proposes to tax income from the stock market, savings, inheritance, and gifts. The Finance Ministry intends to implement these reforms on Monday. The Knesset's Finance Committee will first have to legislate transitional laws that will prevent the public from taking immediate steps to evade taxation in the interim period between publication of the recommendations and their enactment in January 2001.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard this week concluded a visit to Israel. During his visit Howard discussed compensation for the victims of the Maccabia disaster with Prime Minister Ehud Barak. Mr. Howard also attended Israel's annual Holocaust ceremony at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, held on the eve of the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day.

Dozens of passengers en route to Israel were stranded at Kennedy Airport in New York this week following the folding of Tower Air, the first company to provide low trans-Atlantic fares on the New York - Tel Aviv route.

Sasha Grayev, an eight and a half year old from the Ukraine suffers from hydroensephalitis, a disease that causes fluids to collect in the brain. He is receiving free medical treatment at the Schneider hospital for children in Petach Tikva. Members of his family who are at his bedside hope that his condition will improve as a result of the dedicated treatment given their relative in Israel.

Sasha and members of his family were flown to Israel by the Jewish Agency at the beginning of April, when it became certain that he was in need of emergency treatment that could not be had in the city where he lives.

His mother, Anya oldest brother and youngest sister reside at the Ra'anana Absorption Center.

Mike Rosenberg, Director of the Jewish Agency's Aliyah Department has visited the family twice: once immediately upon its arrival in Israel, and in recent days. He expressed his happiness to see the treatment that Sasha is receiving.

However, medical treatment is not only what the family needs. Charles Schiffman, the Executive Vice President of the Portland Jewish Federation, recently was in Israel and provided Sasha's mother, Anya, with a sewing machine that will enable her to return to work as a seamstress.

We apologize for the error in our previous report where it was stated mistakenly that two brothers accompanied Sasha to Israel when in fact they were his brother and sister. The decision to take him immediately to the Schneider Hospital was made upon landing at the airport and brought to our attention only after we went to press.

"The relationship between the Jewish Agency and El Al reflects far more than a business partnership. It reflects the way in which the National Institutions cope with two key missions: bringing the Jewish people back to its homeland and making the connection between the next generation in the Diaspora and the State of Israel". This statement was made by Jewish Agency Chairman Sallai Meridor, at a signing ceremony between the Jewish Agency and El Al, which took place at the beginning of the week at the Jewish Agency building in Jerusalem.

The agreement between the Jewish Agency and El Al relates to bringing olim to Israel from 40 destinations around the world, on regular routes and special flights, designated for olim only. The agreement also refers to bringing Jewish youth for visits in Israel on the Jewish Agency's "Israel Experience" program and sending Israeli shlichim to Jewish communities in the Diaspora.

The Jewish Agency chairman noted that in 1999 the value of the contract between the two bodies was $18 million and that he hopes that this year this will grow, reflecting an increase in the number of olim coming to Israel and the number of Jewish youth coming to visit Israel. Meridor added that according to Jewish Agency estimates, some 70,000 olim from all over the world are expected to arrive in Israel during the year 2000.

Yossef Chiechanover, Chairman of the El Al Board of Directors said that El Al is not only a financial body but also a national asset, which forms the bridge between Israel and the Diaspora. "Since I view both El AL and the Jewish Agency's past, present and future activities as value-based operations I believe there is great importance in the partnership between the two bodies," said Chiechanover.

Jewish Agency Treasurer Chaim Chesler noted El AL's contribution in bringing Jews from the FSU when the gates opened, and said that he views with considerable importance the on-going partnership in bringing olim to Israel and increasing Jewish tourism to Israel. "El Al is the national carrier with a soul and part of the family of the Jewish people", said Chesler.

El Al Director General Yoel Feldschu said that both bodies serve national assignments and that this year he expects to see greater airline traffic with an increase in both the number of olim and the number of visitors to Israel.

In 1999 the Jewish Agency brought 77,921 olim to Israel from all over the world, 23,000 of whom arrived on El Al flights. El Al also brought more than 8,000 Jewish youngsters this year, of the 12,500 who participated in the Jewish Agency's Israel Experience program. A further 1,500 Israeli youth leaders, trained by the Jewish Agency, will be travelling El Al to act as counselors at summer and winter camps being held in the FSU and North America.

From Right to Left: Jewish Agency Treasurer Chaim Chesler, Chairman of El Al Board of Directors Yossef Chiechanover, Jewish Agency Chairman Sallai Meridor and El Al Director General Yoel Feldschu. In the background JAFI Director General Aaron Abramovich.
Photo credit Flash 90

More than 900 Israeli youngsters, including 100 outstanding soldiers, are currently undergoing preparation at a special seminar organized by the Jewish Agency's Education Department, to be youth counselors at 150 Jewish summer camps held in the U.S., Canada, England, Italy, Greece and Hungary. 120,000 Jewish youngsters are expected to participate in these camps.

Before leaving for their destinations, the young counselors, who were chosen from thousands of candidates, have undergone a selection and training program organized by the Jewish Agency's Education Department which included a phone and face-to-face interview and workshops, which examine their leadership abilities, as well as a 5-day training seminar at Shoresh, just outside Jerusalem.

Jewish Agency Chairman, Sallai Meridor yesterday met with 450 of the young counselors currently participating at the Shoresh seminar. The seminar includes learning about the Jewish community in the country of destination, studying special training methods and educational programs to be used at the summer camps, and professional courses in imparting Zionist and Jewish messages.

Speaking to the counselors, Meridor said "Powerful forces are exerted against Jewish youth throughout the world and pull them out of their communities. We in the Jewish Agency exert tremendous effort to keep them with us. If you succeed in your mission, these young people will conclude their story as better Jews and more Jewish, and more committed to the State of Israel."

Among the 900 counselors who will attend the summer camps in North America and Europe, there are also 100 outstanding soldiers currently serving in one of the IDF field units.

It is worth noting that a further 300 Israeli youngsters will serve as youth and student counselors at summer and winter camps organized by the Jewish Agency in the FSU.

In 1999 the Jewish Agency sent 700 youth counselors to 130 summer camps in the U.S., Canada and England that were attended by 110,000 Jewish youth. An additional 335 counselors from Israel attended the Jewish Agency's summer and winter camps in the FSU, in which 18,000 students and youngsters participated.

Do you feel that keeping kosher outside the home is a hardship? Pierre Levy, an enterprising gourmet, came up with the idea of proving how advantageous kosher food can be. He initiated the Kosher Food, Wine and Gastronomy European Show to be held in Paris in two weeks time.

The show will include a number of workshops chaired by food specialists, dieticians, caterers and other professionals. There will be ample opportunity to discuss topics of common interest ranging from kosher gastronomy to mad cow disease - and also including how to deal with rabbinic controls.

Some 60 exhibitors will participate, creating what the organizers hope will be a forum for dialogue between European food companies, purchasing groups and professional caterers.

Ingredients (for 6 people)
1 kg. Filleted .............. cut into slices, weighing 250 gm.
Peeled artichoke head, cut into fingers
½ kg. beans peeled twice
2 sliced lemons
Small packet of chopped coriander
Small amount of saffron
6 whole cloves of garlic (peeled)
2 dried red peppers
1 cup of fish juice
Cup of olive oil
Salt to taste

Preparation