Task Force leaders in Metulla, listen to firsthand report on needs in the field
(from right to left: Head of the Metulla Council, Kobi Katz; Chairman of UJC, Charles Bronfman; Chairman JAFI Executive, Sallai Meridor; Chairman JAFI Board of Governors, Alex Grass)
Photo credit: Israel Sun

"If there is no Kiryat Shmona there will be no Tel Aviv. 28% of the town's residents want to leave, 74% of the children live in fear of katyusha rockets. Kiryat Shmona has reached a turning point. Today it is the uncertainty of the peace, tomorrow it might be the return of the terrorists." This statement was made by Kiryat Shmona mayor Haim Barbivai to members of the special task force formed by the Jewish Agency and Jewish communities world wide in an effort to learn about the needs of the residents in the Confrontation Line settlements following the IDFs withdrawal from south Lebanon.

Shlomo Buhbout, Mayor of Maalot, who is also the Chairman of the Forum of Confrontation Line settlements said: "We will not move away, this is our home, but the Jewish Agency, which has done so much for settlement in Israel, must now adopt the confrontation line. Our response to the withdrawal must be expansion. We must create the right conditions so that our children will come home - at present we are competing against the center of the country. We need jobs, we need to foster higher education, and informal education and increase cultural activities."

During the visit, which took place at the beginning of the week, Jewish Agency leaders announced that they would be wiping out debts owed by the confrontation line settlements which in recent years have accumulated to the tune of NIS 156 million. The delegation led by the chairman of the Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency, Alex Grass, Jewish Agency Chairman, Sallai Meridor, Chairman of the United Jewish Communities of North America (UJC), Charles Bronfman, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Keren Hayesod, Daniel Liwerant, and the Treasurer of the Jewish Agency, Chaim Chesler, met with Prime Minister Ehud Barak on their arrival in Israel and then left for the north to bear eye witness reports of events there back to their communities.

Members of the delegation held meetings with confrontation line settlement leaders, with veteran residents and new immigrants who have been absorbed through the Jewish Agency's "First Home in the Homeland" project, as well as with a group of South Lebanese Army soldiers and their families who fled to Israel following the Hezbollah takeover of South Lebanon.

Charles Bronfman, Chairman of the UJC, praised the pioneering spirit of the settlers, emphasizing the fact that he felt honored to be in the area and assist in the efforts to help.

Stephen Hoffman, Executive Vice President of the Cleveland Jewish Federation said, that the delegation came to learn about the immediate needs of the population. Until now they lived in the shadow of katyusha attacks. From today they also fear terrorist cells who may take them back to a previous period of suffering. Israeli society at large and residents of the north of Israel are pleased that the soldiers have left Lebanon, but local residents are worried about their day to day life, about their young children at school. "We must now find the appropriate answers for their concerns," Hoffman added.

Carol Smokler, Chair of the UJC Partnership 2000 Committee, expressed her appreciation for the extensive activity being undertaken by the communities in North America together with local municipalities in the area through the Jewish Agency's Israel Department.

Jewish Agency Chairman Sallai Meridor said: "Wiping out the debts is just the beginning. We are currently putting together a special task force comprising representatives of the settlements, representatives of Jewish communities around the world and heads of UJC and KH in order to prepare a list of programs to help local residents. The team will complete its work within three weeks so that the conclusions can be submitted to the Jewish Agency's Board of Governors."

After the visit, a TV tele-conference discussion was held via satellite from Tel Aviv to 85 communities all over North America. The discussion was chaired by the outgoing UJC Nation Campaign Chair, Carole Solomon. Her successor, Robert Schrayer, defined the needs of the confrontation line. Israel's Consul General in New York, Shmuel Sisso, reviewed the Government's aid program for the area and Jewish Agency Treasurer Chaim Chesler summed up the Agency's on-going efforts in the confrontation line area and called upon Israeli banks to join the decision to erase the debts in order to ease the burden in the area. Chesler stressed that this is an opportunity for the entire Jewish people to connect with Israeli society and link those who live in the center of the country with residents of the north in order to help eliminate gaps in living standards.

Worldwide Jewish Task Force delegation ,meeting the Prime Minster Ehud Barak.
Right to Left: Shmuel Sisso Consul General of Israel in New York, Chairman UJC Charles Bronfman, Prime Minster Ehud Barak, Yossi Kucik Director General PM's office, Sallai Meridor Chairman JAFI Executive and Chaim Chessler JAFI Treasurer
Credit Tav Or

The allocations of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany in the field of Jewish education and for projects in the State of Israel will remain intact. This was decided during discussions last night in New York following a demand by Jewish Agency Chairman, Sallai Meridor,

During recent months, the Planning Committee of the Claims Conference has met in order to define, among other things, the principles of allocating funds for the coming years out of the heirless funds or from the return of communal properties. The final meeting of the Committee took place last night in New York.

The head of the Planning Committee recommended that the Claims Conference reduce its annual allocation for documentation, research, and education about the Holocaust, which would come out of the funds that in the past equaled 20% of the total amount allocated. It was also recommended that one-quarter of the new amount be directly allocated to projects dealing with documentation, research, and education about the Holocaust, while 75% would be allocated to a special fund that deals with these issues.

Last night, in response to Meridor's demand, a decision was taken to leave the allocations in these areas intact, while the new fund to be set up would total $20 million, which would come from reserves and not from the amount set aside for allocations.

Furthermore, the Committee recommended giving priority to projects in Israel without defining a precise exact budget framework. Here too, Meridor scored a victory, when his demand to preserve the principle whereby 60 percent of the money is allocated to projects in Israel and 40% to projects abroad is preserved.

One hundred new immigrants from Ethiopia - members of 15 families -- arrived in Israel Tuesday afternoon and have been resettled at a new absorption site in Safed. In the coming weeks an additional 350 new immigrants from Ethiopia, who are coming as a result of new procedures worked out during last months visit to Addis Ababa and Gondar by Minister of the Interior Natan Sharansky and Director General of the Jewish Agency's Immigration Department, Mike Rosenberg; will be housed here. A large staff, mostly local residents, has been hired to provide services at the site, which is operated by the Jewish Agency.

Dan Biron, director of the Absorption Division at the Jewish Agency's Northern Region, notes that once the new population has settled in, summer camps will be opened for the younger children and summer ulpan for elementary and junior high school aged youngsters. The adults will start Hebrew ulpan programs.

The absorption effort is a joint endeavor of the Jewish Agency, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Social Services, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Absorption, and the Municipality of Safed. "The municipality, headed by Mayor Yossi Oz, went all out to ensure the success of this project," notes Biron.

Jewish Agency absorption centers currently house some 3,000 Ethiopian immigrants. Recent arrivals have also been accommodated in Kibbutz Cramim in the south.

Similarly, it was approved this week that the Ministry of Absorption will open a new section to handle the immigration of the Falash Mura in order to expedite the procedures for checking their eligibility to make aliyah.

Ethiopian children who made Aliyah this week at the Israeli Embassy in Addis Abeba

Chairman of the Jewish Agency Sallai Meridor sharply attacked Minister of Justice, Yosse Beilin's repeated attacks against the national institutions: "There is no more just movement than the Zionist movement, a movement that established a state for a people that went through the greatest trauma in human history. The attacks against Zionism and the National Institutions is tantamount to spitting into the well of the Jewish people." Meridor spoke at the first Israeli Zionist Congress, which took place in Jerusalem, with the participation of some 1,100 Israeli delegates.

"The attackers are marginal," added Meridor: "Beilinists, post-Zionists, people exhausted by the continuous struggle to protect Jewish sovereignty as if theirs bodies are in Israel but their souls are in modern Babylon."

"It is important to emphasize that the attackers are a tiny minority of Israeli society. The majority bear aloft the banner of Zionism and love for the land such as the youth that volunteer for elite units in the Israel Defense Forces to defend the homeland. This tiny minority, however, that attacks Zionism, does unforgivable things. They are comparable to people sitting in a boat who drill a hole in it, and who yell that the boat is drowning. Some of them have a sense of guilt, as if Zionism was born in sin. We must free ourselves of ennui and alienation, from spitting into the Jewish well. We must march forward with justice, in order to lead the Zionist movement from success to victory," said Meridor.

JAFI's chairman emphasized that the response of Zionism to such attacks is continued aliyah and the continued Jewish character of the state, while preserving its democratic values: "This is the only way to cope with the demographic danger, whereby 80% of the Israeli population is Jewish today, with the forecast for the year 2020, if aliyah is moderate, no more than 73%." He emphasized that we must strengthen the Arab population through affirmative action, without damaging the Jewish character of the state.

Meridor summarized his remarks: "We will let the voices of the minority make noise, but the Zionist caravan, which includes the vast majority of the people, will go from success to victory."

More than 1,100 delegates took part in the first Israeli Zionist Congress that took place at the Binyanei HaOooma International Convention Center in Jerusalem, including representatives of youth movements, members of Knesset, academics, and representatives of the Druse community.

The congress was initiated by the Zionist Council in Israel, in order to examine the goals of Zionism today, and to adapt them to current Jewish and Israeli reality. Speakers included Chief of Staff, Shaul Mofaz, ministers, members of Knesset, academics, mayors, members of the Jewish Agency Executive, rabbis and school principals.

A survey conducted by the Zionist Council in Israel before the opening of the Congress revealed that 81.4 percent of Israelis sees themselves as Zionists. Of these 49% identity themselves as very Zionist. This contrasts with the 17% who do not regard themselves as Zionist. Two percent of the Israelis have no opinion.

At the beginning of the month the Minsk district court rejected an application filed by Leonid Levin, Chairman of the Belarus Jewish community against the publishers of an anti-Semitic book recently distributed all over Belarus which preaches the destruction of the Jews.

According to reports received from Baruch Kamil, Head of the Jewish Agency delegation in Belarus, it appears that the court accepted the respondents' position, who claimed that this was a scientific study which was not intended to hurt the sensitivities of ethnic groups mentioned in it. Levin, who filed the application both ex officio and as a private person, expressed his grave disappointment at the outcome of the hearing and said that the work is an "encyclopedia of anti-Semitism." "This is a book which incites and calls for pogroms. It is a real danger to the lives of the Jews. I am particularly concerned that so far no government officials have addressed this episode and no-one has condemned the publication of the book."

Levin together with Jewish community leaders, has filed an appeal against the Court's ruling, he is also planning to file a petition to the Belarus Supreme Court. "We will go all the way with this, as far as the President of the Supreme Court, and possibly even as far as the State President so that anti-Semitism and fascism will not be able to rear their ugly heads here," said Levin.

A book, which was published at the end of last year, titled "War according to the Laws of Contempt" calls the Jews traitors and states that they are inferior to Christians. The book's authors cal upon all Slavic peoples "to finally and permanently resolve the Jewish issue" and to prevent the dangers mentioned in the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion."

Baruch Kamil expressed his concern in view of the many instances of anti-Semitic propaganda all over Belarus. He said that the Jews have become a victim of local politicians struggling for votes through mutual accusations of abetting zionism.

At the beginning of next week the Jewish Agency will be holding an aliyah fair in Paris, in order to expose thousands of French Jews to the absorption possibilities currently available in Israel with regard to employment, accommodation and education. Israeli organizations and companies, including hi-tech companies, universities, construction companies, will be present at the fair.

According to Arieh Azoulay, acting Chairman of the Jewish Agency's Aliyah Committee, the fair is part of the comprehensive efforts on the part of the Jewish Agency to encourage aliyah from France, which has a Jewish community of 650,000.

Azoulay stressed that the decision to intensify such efforts was taken during a seminar for shlichim and following a series of discussions held last week in Paris between representatives of the Aliyah Department, lead by Caryn Adelman from Chicago, who is a member of the Jewish Agency's Board of Governors, and leaders of the French Jewish Community.

It was also decided to run the Na'aleh program in France, which is designed to bring Jewish youngsters to Israel; to prepare a step-by-step aliyah program adapted to aliyah from the west, to intensify plans to absorb olim in the relevant areas in the Israeli economy; to encourage absorption among local municipalities; and to involve community organizations in France in aliyah encouragement activities.

A program to address violence, alcohol and drug related issues was introduced earlier this month at the Jewish Agency's Ibim Student Village. The village, between Beersheva and Ashkelon, houses a variety of new immigrant student populations - Selah high school pupils, and various ulpan groups studying in programs at the nearby Negev Regional College. The overwhelming majority are from the former Soviet Union.

According to Hagit Gross, the social worker who initiated the program in response to behavioral problems that arose, many youngsters from the FSU arrive in Israel with an inherent distrust of the establishment. "They have been brought up to solve their own problems -- through the use of force, when necessary," she says. "But their expectations and norms are incompatible with those in Israel."

Following a questionnaire in Russian to assess attitudes, small groups of seven to ten were organized, with the facilitation of the social worker and counselors, in which personal experiences, were discussed. Common questions are: "Is there legitimate violence?" "What are the effects of substance abuse?" and "What links are there between alcohol and violence?"

The next stage is a series of meetings with local police representatives and reformed drug addicts, to explain the role of the police and clarify legal issues, as well as to expose students to the horrors of drug-related experiences. "We want to bring this issue out in the open," Gross says, "and put it on the public agenda in village. I am confident that open discussion is the initial step towards a change in concepts and behavior."

Ibim is partnered with the United Jewish Federation of San Diego, whose members are actively involved in running the village.

Eighteen families from Georgia, in the former Soviet Union, were honored last week at a special ceremony at the Knesset. The honorees were among the first Jews to petition the Soviet government for permission to immigrate to Israel.

The ceremony began with opening words by MK Yitzchak Gagula (Shas), himself a Georgian Jew, who praised the group for sparking the Refusenik movement. Gagula, and other Knesset members urged Georgian Jews to work together to preserve their rich heritage. He also called on religious and non-religious Georgian Jews to work together to strengthen their community.

Rabbi Reuven Elbaz, head of Jerusalem's Ohr Chaim Yeshiva, addressed the group, similarly encouraging them to preserve their unique heritage. "People that reject their past don't have a future," he said.

His words were followed by greetings from MK Naomi Blumenthal, chair of the committee for Aliyah, Absorption and the Diaspora. She spoke with great emotion about her own experiences as the child of immigrants (from Germany), and the difficulty of being accepted.

"But we now clearly see," she said, "that Georgian Jews have successfully made the transition from Russian immigrants to citizens of the State of Israel."

The ceremony concluded with a presentation of a plaque to each of the honorees.

Jews first arrived in Georgia shortly after the destruction of the first Temple in 586 BCE. Over the centuries their numbers grew, and the area became a thriving center of Judaism. But like all other Jewish communities, its members never lost their dream of returning to Eretz Yisrael. In 1863 a small number of Georgian Jews established a community in Jerusalem, building a Talmud Torah and a synagogue -- Shearit Yisrael. In 1876 they founded a new settlement beyond the city walls named Kirya Ne'emana.

By the time World War I broke out, there were approximately 500 Georgian Jews living in Jerusalem. The difficult war years forced most of the community to leave. However, after the war ended the Georgian Jews flocked back to Jerusalem and by 1920 the community numbered 1,700.

The vast majority of the community, however, remained in Georgia, where they were allowed to openly retain some semblance of religious life. The first stirrings of the Refusenik movement were heard from the Georgian Jews, who had always retained a strong bond with Judaism and love for Eretz Yisrael. The Six-Day War in 1967 galvanized them into action. They sent a letter to the UN Human Rights Commission asking for assistance in immigrating to Israel, thus sparking what would later become known as the Refusenik movement. When the Soviet Union bowed to international public pressure and opened its gates a bit in the 1970s, 12,000 Georgian Jews rushed to Israel.

Because most of the Jewish population has left Georgia, many of its ancient synagogues and cemeteries are abandoned and have fallen into disrepair.

Ten Jewish Agency professionals returned to Israel this week after visiting ten Jewish Federations in the United States. The purpose of the exchange program was to better understand the activities and operations of Federations, to explore the changing nature of the relationship between the Federations and Israel, and to create a fruitful dialogue between Federation and Jewish Agency professionals in order to strengthen their overseas partnership.

The Federations hosting the professionals were Atlanta, Baltimore, Central New Jersey, Cleveland, Denver, Metrowest, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Richmond and Tidewater.

The program began with three days of briefings by leaders of the United Jewish Communities in New York, covering such topics as the mechanics of a Jewish Federation, the North American view of pluralism, financial resource development, and the ONAD process.

The Jewish Agency participants then split up, with each visiting two Federations. They met with the executive directors, campaign directors, women's campaign chairs, allocations committee heads, marketing professionals and others. They also toured and met with leadership of the Federations' beneficiary agencies, including Jewish Family Services, Jewish Community Centers, Jewish Old Age Homes and the like. They visited Jewish day school s and after-school programs, meeting with principals, directors and teaching emissaries sent to the communities by the Jewish Agency. To become better acquainted with each community, they visited synagogues on Shabbat, met with lay leaders, youth workers and editors of local Jewish newspapers.

Barcelona was the venue this week of the major bi-annual meeting of Presidents and top leaders from Jewish communities and organizations in Europe. This 2-day retreat was dedicated to brainstorming, long-term planning and personal networking.

A significant number of top leaders from other communities in Israel, North Africa, Central Asia and the US also participated, reflecting the globalization of the Jewish agenda, and the increasing commonality of issues.

The program defined the following themes as major issues to Jewish leaders today in Europe:

• Attracting the missing generation (20-45 years old) back to community life
• Jewish co-existence in times of increasing polarization
• Leadership and community: the challenge of planning for the future

The Meeting began with a welcome cocktail hosted by the Community of Barcelona and leadership of Spanish Jewry. The Opening Plenary was on "Future trends for the Jewish world: Anticipating challenges & opportunities for Jewish leadership, inside the community and with the surrounding society."

This Presidents Meeting follows the 1999 European Jewish Assembly held in Nice in May which attracted 630 participants from 39 countries.

The European Council of Jewish Communities is a Paris-based organization, representing European Jewry in community development and matters related to education, social welfare, culture and heritage, leadership training and restitution. Its 56 affiliates in 36 countries represent over 3 million Jews living in Europe.

Forty-nine Jewish students from Canada have arrived in Israel to spend their summer as volunteers in Magen David Adom stations in the Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem areas. The volunteers, who completed a first aid course in Canada will live in Jewish Agency absorption centers.

The volunteers are also participating in educational seminars on subjects such as: "Medicine in Israel," "Israeli Society," and "Aliyah Opportunities." They will also have the opportunity to meet Israelis of their age group, both in the MDA stations, and in the Absorption Centers.

This is the tenth year of this program, which is sponsored by the Jewish Agency's Aliyah Movement. "This program is different from all of the other programs because it gives you space to try and survive on your own in Israel, with a security net underneath if you have questions or problems," says Daphna Bowman, one of the participants.

The Aliyah Movement sponsors programs in Israel to encourage aliyah for Jews from abroad who come to Israel as tourists. Several of the participants from past years have made aliyah, and others have returned to Canada to become active members of the Jewish community and contributors to MDA Canada.

Twenty-five students, mostly from prestigious Ivy League schools, will be spending the coming months as interns in Israeli offices or laboratories, thanks to an innovative program launched by Tehilla Tzeira, the collegiate offshoot of the Tehilla movement. The program, which offers valuable work experience in Hebrew, is designed for collegiates from the US who are planning aliyah.

The matches between the students - who are studying at schools such as Princeton, Harvard, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, and Yeshiva University - and the employers, range from positions in molecular biology at Hadassah's Hospital research department, the internet department at Gesher, to clerking at Yigal Arnon law offices and the Justice Ministry, and work in financial start-ups. Housing is provided, and a variety of lectures, trips, and cultural activities introduce participants to different aspects of Israeli society.

Tehilla is the voluntary non-political movement for religious aliyah. Tehilla Tzeira started in 1997, for the purpose of focusing on young adults studying at yeshivas and seminaries before starting college. "We speak to students who wish to make aliyah," says Rachel Berger, director of the program. "We speak about different programs. Once they are interested we help turn the dream into a very practical reality." This involves providing job counseling, facilitating social frameworks, even making shidduchim!

This year's annual Community Holocaust Commemoration 2000, was a very special one for San Diego. The event, held at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center Jacobs Family Campus, attracted an audience of 800. Local dignitaries included California State Assembly Member Susan Davis and San Diego County Supervisor Ron Roberts.

During the ceremony, survivors spoke of their different experience during World War II, of cherished heirlooms, and secret social relationships.

Prime Minister Ehud Barak will US President Bill Clinton today. Their meeting will focus on ways to advance negotiations with the Palestinians and implications of the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.

Tense quiet along Confrontation Line in the North after massive demonstrations and stone throwing at the border fence following Israeli withdrawal.

Race for the presidency begins. On July 31, the Knesset will choose the next president of the State of Israel. The new president will be sworn in on August 1. The two candidates for the position are Minister Shimon Peres (One Israel) and Moshe Katzav (Likud). Both have started lobbying lobbying members of Knesset in order to advance their candidacy. The Yisrael B'Aliyah and Shinui factions support non-political candidate like former Supreme Court Judge Meir Shamgar. President Ezer Weizman will step down in mid-July.

Drop in unemployment. According to figures released by the Central Bureau of Statistics for the first quarter of 2000 indicate a drop in unemployment to 8.5%. At the end of 1999, unemployment stood 8.9. Ministries that deal with the economy anticipate that unemployment will drop to 8.3% by the end of the year. This will mean fewer that 200,000 unemployed.

Three weeks after having taken part in the March of the Living together with more than 6,000 Jewish youth from all over the world, Polish President Aleksander Kwaisniewski visited Israel. He met with Prime Minister Ehud Barak and visited Yad Vashem.

Members of Worldwide Jewish Communities Task Force the border at Metulla
Photo credit: Joe Malcolm

"On the morning of the day of our visit, the last surviving Jewish man in [the Hungarian village of] Nagykallo died, and many things, which had still been a bit in the present, became memory," writes Dora Szego, a student at the Lauder Yavne Jewish Community School in Budapest. This is a striking example of how the search for the past depends on days.......I think it is worthwhile to rush after the past, because you can catch many things, and you don't let them die totally. They survive on paper."

A moving photograph exhibition, entitled, "In the 24th Hour...." documenting the architectural relics of the perished Jewish communities of Northeast Hungary was opened this past month in at the Lauder Yavne Jewish Community School in Budapest. The exhibit includes 51 photographs taken by high school students as part of a School Literary Yearbook project, designed to provide an opportunity for talented high school youth to learn about journalistic and literary traditions of Hungary and Central Europe, and to publish their work.

The project, supported by the Jerusalem-based L.A.Pincus Fund for Jewish Education in the Diaspora, focuses on "research pilgrimages" which include interviews with elderly Hungarian Jews. The Pincus Fund was established in 1977 through the joint efforts of the the Jewish Agency, the World Zionist Organization, and the Government of Israel. "This is a last chance for the young people to meet with witnesses to pre-war Jewish life in Hungary, and for the elderly to transmit their memories and traditions," says Susan Bass of the Pincus Fund.

Since 1997, students in the Judaic Research Group have participated in several "research trips" throughout Hungary spending many hours with elderly survivors. They have documented these visits both in writing, and in photography.

Sites depicted include: the synagogue of Tarcal built in 1779, and transformed into a Gallery; the synagogue in Bodrogkeresztur, constructed in 1906, now deserted and empty; the 19th century synagogue of Mezocsat, which is now municipal property after having been the warehouse of a cooperative. Also shown are the classic-style synagogue of Gyongyos, built around 1816, currently used by the local TV studio, and the famous yeshiva in Mad, which is now an apartment building. Several photographs document Jewish cemeteries throughout Hungary.

As an outgrowth of this Judaic Research Group project, a group of students from the Lauder high school spent a week of intensive work, in conjunction with Jewish community members from Mazsok repairing the Jewish cemetery in the town of Tahitofalu (Tahi), where no Jews survived the Holocaust. They hope to participate in similar restoration projects in other parts of Hungary.

Kansas City, right in the center America's cornbelt, is hardly known for sartorial innovation - and certainly not for developing Jewish religious apparel. But a new "integrated" kippa straight from America's heartland conjured up by Asher Smith and Zvi Fisher, emissaries of the WZO supported by the Zionist Kollel in Kansas City, is the "latest thing" in men and boys headgear in that city, and has been widely emulated in other locations.

The new kippa, consisting of a knit white semi-circle and a black semi-circle has the words "Ani ohev kol Yehudi" - I love all Jews - emblazoned on it. The kippa is designed to symbolize the bridging of gaps within the religious sector. Smith and Fisher note that, when they ended their military service, they would wear black kippot with informal clothes and when they were dressed in suits, they would sport knit kippot. "The idea was to break stereotypes and separations. We then came up with the idea of the integrated kippa - to bridge between both worlds.

The Russian language library in the Jewish Agency's Beit Canada Absorption Center in Ashdod is preparing to celebrate its eighth anniversary next month! A joint project of the Jewish Agency and the Municipality of Ashdod, the library has expanded, since its inception in June 1992, from a few bookshelves to an attractive 80 square meter room, utilized by students, researchers, and members of Ashdod's 60,000 strong Russian-speaking population, in addition to the some 200 Russian speakers at the Center. The only Russian speaking library of such magnitude in an absorption center - although it has as yet to be computerized, due to lack of funds -- it has become a social center where the elderly, young adults, and other groups congregate to exchange ideas, argue, and just to get together in a comfortable, non-threatening environment.

The 13,000 volume collection includes both academic and popular works in all fields: classical world literature, philosophy throughout the ages, art and music, science, mathematics, psychology, pedagogy, and history as well as bestsellers, tour guides, and self-help books.

The library's crown jewel, according to Rosa Lapidah, a trained librarian is its Judaica collection -- more than 1,000 volumes on Israel, Jewish identity, tradition, history, and the like. Formerly the Director of the Arts Department at the Vilna Information Center, she has conceived and nurtured the idea of the library since her aliyah nine years ago. She has been pro-active in helping new immigrants acclimate to Israel and their Jewish heritage. Seven years ago she solicited a special contribution of 100 Bibles in Hebrew and Russian.

More than 1,000 Jews from Samara, in central Russia, today celebrated Jerusalem Day with events organized by the Jewish Agency at the municipal opera house. Zami Barmapov, head of the Jewish Agency's delegation in Samara, said that this year the Jewish Agency prepared a special program in which hundreds of Jewish youngsters from the region took part.

In preparation for this event, all the Jewish Agency's youth clubs in Samara and surrounding towns prepared Israeli songs about Jerusalem in Russian and Hebrew. Choral and dance troupes from clubs in Samara, Saratov, Ulianovsk, Temza, Oranburg and other central Russia townships performed, surprising the audience with the variety of songs about Israel and Jerusalem.

Samara is located on banks of the River Volga in the eastern part of European Russia. According to figures provided by the Jewish Agency's FSU Department, there are 35,000 Jews in the Samara district, 13,000 of whom actually live in Samara. In 1999, 1,722 olim came to Israel from the Samara district. A further 400 have made aliyah since the beginning of the year 2000.

Arthur Malicin, head of the Jewish Agency delegation in Dagestan, added that thousands of Jews last week participated in events organized by the Jewish Agency to celebrate Jerusalem Day in the area. The main event took place in Derbent, where hundreds of Jews gathered for a giant 'happening' around the city's synagogue.

A platform was created beside the synagogue, on which troupes from all the Jewish Agency youth clubs and local Jewish artists performed throughout the day. Beneath the flags of Israel and Dagestan which were raised above the platform, the Jews celebrated Jerusalem Day in true Israeli style - with picnics, barbecues and dancing.

Dagestan is the largest autonomous republic in Russia, and lies in the northern Caucasus bordering Chechnya. According to Jewish Agency estimates, some 8,000 Jews now remain in Dagestan, 4,000 of them in Derbent. Since the beginning of the year, 200 olim have arrived in Israel from Dagestan.

For many of the 250 new immigrants at the Beit Canada Absorption Center in Ashdod, next Thursday night will be their first Shavuot holiday, and they will celebrate it in a way that appeals to the senses, as well as the intellect. Veteran Israelis, many of them native Anglos, will join the new immigrants - from the FSU, South America, and oppressed countries - for a special Tikun Leil Shavuot led by Marcello Cholodenko, spiritual leader of the Shaarei Tikvah Congregation, which meets in the absorption center. The program, which is co-sponsored by the Conservative movement, will also include holiday services and a festive meal.

The meal, to feature typical Shavuot foods such as blintzes and other dairy delicacies, will be held in Beit Canada's recreation hall, appropriately festooned with greenery and wreaths to celebrate the festival of the First Fruits. After singing songs of Eretz Yisrael, participants will split into Russian, Spanish, English and Hebrew groups, where they will study texts and learn about the giving of the Torah and Jewish identity.

Dina Shalvi, Cultural Coordinator at Beit Canada, says that close to 100 people are expected to participate. She also notes that a special program will be held for elementary school children, who have been learning about Shavuot during the special daily mentoring program at the center.

Ingredients
5 eggs
2 tubs of cream cheese (9% or 5%)
1 tub of 15% sour cream
1/2 cup of self-raising flour
1 cup of sugar
1 tub of whipping cream
1 packet of vanilla pudding
1 cup of milk

Preparation
Separate the egg yolks and whites into two separate bowls. Add the cream and two tubs of cheese to the yolks. Mix until the mixture is smooth and gradually add the flour until a uniform batter is obtained.
Whip the egg whites and add the cup of sugar gradually until the whites stiffen.
Add the cheese mixture to the whites and fold in until the mixture is smooth.
Place the mixture in a size 26 baking tin. Heat the oven to 180 degrees celcius for an hour. Leave the cake in the oven for ½ an hour after baking.

Topping
Put the whipping cream, vanilla pudding and milk in a bowl and beat until the mixture is stiff. After the cake has cooled, place the topping on the cake and refrigerate.

B'Te'avon! Bon Appetit!

FOR YOUR INFORMATION: THE GLOBAL JEWISH AGENDA WILL NOT BE PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY JUNE 8, DUE TO THE SHAVUOTH HOLIDAY. IT WILL RESUME ON JUNE 15.

CHAG SAMEACH!