"The people of Belarus and in other former Soviet Union countries were witness to the horrors perpetrated by the Nazis against the Jews in Eastern Europe during the war. For this reason the USSR was among the first countries to support the establishment of the State of Israel, the state of the Jewish people," said Alyksandr Lukashenka, president of the Republic of Belarus in Minsk, at this week's inauguration ceremony of the memorial to the Jews of Belarus who perished in the Holocaust. Lukashenka praised the heroism of the Jewish fighters who served in the Red Army and pledged to create better conditions for all peoples living in Belarus, including the Jews.

Vladimir Yermoshin, the Belarus Prime Minister, said that his Government "will continue to fight anti-Semitism and will do everything possible so that the Jews of Belarus are able to live in complete safety." He spoke at a meeting with Jewish Agency Treasurer Chaim Chesler, on the occasion of the dedication of the memorial site. Chesler thanked Yermoshin for the cooperation between the government of Belarus and the Jewish Agency and welcomed the involvement of the Belarus government in setting up the memorial site. He recalled that his father and the families of many Israeli leaders originated in Belarus and that both peoples have a common history of suffering and pain caused by the Nazis.

Dov Sharfstein, representing the Jewish Agency's FSU Department, who was at the dedication ceremony, reported that almost 2,000 people attended the official ceremony, including the Vice President of the Lauder Foundation, George Baan; representative of the American Jewish Committee, Rabbi Andrew Baker; Chief Rabbi of the Chabad communities in Russia, Berel Lazar; and other Jewish leaders from all over the world.

Belarus President Alyksandr Lukashenka, and Jewish Agency Treasurer Chaim Chesler during the dedication ceremony of the Minsk memorial site.

Thirty-six Jewish students from the FSU this week arrived for a nine-day visit in Israel as part of Birthright. This is the students first visit to Israel and they will visit Jewish historic sites all over Israel in a program prepared by the Jewish Agency's Education Department.

The students will also visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum and will climb Massada, tour Israel's northern border and meet with student olim from the FSU to learn about academic studies at universities in Israel.

This is one of the first groups of youngsters from the FSU to visit Israel through Birthright. The students were chosen from a large number of youngsters who are active in the Jewish Agency's youth clubs in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldava and the Baltic States.

Eli Itzhaki, head of the Jewish Agency delegation in Ukraine, said that all the youngsters from Ukraine were especially prepared for the upcoming visit. They attended a seminar on the geography and history of Israel and the Jewish people and on the Holocaust. The seminars were held at the new Sha'ar LeAliyah Education Center in Kiev and were led by a team of Jewish Agency teachers and emissaries.

In Israel the students will be accompanied by a professional tour-guide, a former Prisoner of Zion and a counselor who made aliyah from St. Petersburg two years ago, where she herself had been a counselor at a Jewish Agency youth club.

Birthright is an educational project run jointly by the government of Israel, the Jewish Agency, Jewish philanthropists and communities around the world. The project budget is $210 million for five years, of which the government is investing $70 million.

Following a six-week rest period at a convalescent home in Pyatigorsk, Russia, 44 Chechen orphans will arrive in Israel next week. In addition to the Jewish Agency, which took the orphanage under its wing, the Russian Jewish Congress also assisted in rescuing the children and paid for their visit to Israel.

The orphans, together with the entire staff, will be accommodated at the Jewish Agency - Hadassah Neurim Youth Village. The children will enjoy a variety of cultural activities and trips all over Israel for four months.

Youth Village director, Amran Shauli, said that every effort will be made to ensure that the children, who have endured the horrors of war, will now be able to enjoy every minute of their stay in Israel. Their program includes swimming, children's shows and movies, and tours around the country.

The connection between the Jewish Agency and the children was first made last year by journalist Isabella Ginor of the daily Ha'aretz. As soon as the plight of the children was published, Alla Levy - head of the Jewish Agency delegation in Russia, set out for Ingushetia in order to locate a young Jewish girl, Natasha, who was found at a temporary refugee camp among other orphans. Jewish Agency emissaries were shocked by the harsh living conditions of the children, who had fled from Grozhny to Ingushetia during the bombing of Chechnya.

For the last nine months, the Jewish Agency has been helping the orphanage to survive by sending the children clothing, medicines and food. A month ago, the Jewish Agency transferred the children to a convalescent home in the safe town of Pyatigorsk. Natasha Sochakova, the Jewish girl who has since completed her high school education in Pyatigorsk, will be arriving in Israel together with her friends, in preparation for her absorption in the Jewish Agency's Chalom program. Within this framework, Natasha will reside at one of the Jewish Agency's absorption centers and take vocational studies.

• $19,000 - Jewish Agency support for the "Kelim Sheluvim" project run by the Eden Foundation, which promotes educational projects in the Negev. The project assists children and youth with learning difficulties and emotional problems through the use of art, physiotherapy, speech therapy, etc.

• $526,000 - operating budget of the Pedagogic Center at the Jewish Agency's Education Department. The center, which is located at Kiryat Moriah Educational Campus, provides advice and educational materials, in part via Internet, to Jewish teachers and institutions all over the world.

• $2.34 million - the Jewish Agency's budget for the year 2000 for assisting in the rehabilitation of former Prisoners of Zion.

• 3,110 youngsters participated in winter camps held at 21 sites throughout the FSU, during the first four months of the year.

• 1,036 olim arrived in Israel this week - 918 of them from the FSU. The others came from France, Belgium, Switzerland, Venezuela, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Colombia, England, South Africa, Holland, Australia, Denmark, the US and Canada.

• 50 high-school students from Kiryat Malachi, including native-born Israelis and new immigrants from Ethiopia and the FSU, are taking part in a program to encourage excellence in the natural sciences, the purpose of which is to promote cultural integration and strengthen the identity of new immigrants with Israel via tours of the country. The program is run by the Jewish Agency's Israel Department together with the Society for the Protection of Nature.

The JDC this week inaugurated a center for Jewish organizations in the city of Tumen in central Russia. The new center will coordinate the activities for all the Jewish organizations that operate in the city including the Jewish Agency, the local Jewish community organizations, the Chessed organization and the Jewish Sunday school. The Jewish Agency will open a Hebrew ulpan class at the center, a youth club and various other programs related to aliyah and Jewish education.

The opening ceremony was attended by Ilya Pestrikov, head of the JDC delegation in the Ural region, Asher Oliamperel, head of the Jewish Agency delegation in Yekaterinburg, Vladimir Zegwasinski, governor of the Tumen province, and Raphael Goldberg, chairman of the Tumen Jewish community.

To celebrate the opening of the center, the Tumen Jewish community organized a performance in which Jewish troupes from the area participated. Oliamperel who is responsible for Jewish Agency activity in Ural, said that there was a warm atmosphere of cooperation at the ceremony between the various Jewish organizations active in the town: "The Jewish Agency and the JDC work in full cooperation on all aspects of local community development, intensifying Jewish identity, and a range of other joint projects."

Tumen lies beyond the Ural mountains in western Siberia and was the first town to be established in Siberia in 1686. The Jewish Agency estimates that some 2,500 Jews live in the town - out of an overall population of half a million. The Jewish Agency runs a youth club, a Hebrew ulpan class and has a local aliyah coordinator in Tumen.

Microsoft's global R&D division in Haifa recently adopted two Jewish Agency youth villages in the north of Israel, through the Spirit of Israel campaign. The villages are Ben Yakir and Ramat Hadassah where youngsters from disadvantaged families live and attend school.

This latest Microsoft project is part of a campaign organized by the Spirit of Israel campaign, aimed at helping thousands of children and youngsters in distress who live at the youth villages in Israel. It includes a contribution of ten grants for enrichment courses for the children at the youth villages, located near Haifa.

In addition to the grants, Microsoft has also donated software programs to four youth villages as well as computer room furnishings at the Ben Yakir youth village. The company intends to increase cooperation with the Spirit of Israel through volunteerism by its employees, in part by tutoring the children in computer skills and personal contributions.

Ties between Microsoft Haifa and the Spirit of Israel Campaign, which is the Israeli fund-raising arm of the Jewish Agency and Keren Hayesod, began in April last year, when the company contributed to the Jewish Agency's Campaign for the Kosovo refugees through the Spirit of Israel.

"I have gained so much from my year in Israel and I am really looking forward to giving something back to the people of Israel," said Karen Finesilver, a 19-year old counselor from Wembley.

Karen is one of 20 young adults from Great Britain, members of the Bnei Akiva youth movement, who are participating in a one year educational program in Israel.

This summer they will serve as counselors for 400 youngsters from the Confrontation Line in summer camps that will take place in the Merom Ha'Galil region.

Great Britain is partnered with the Merom HaGalil and Ma'ale Yosef Regional Councils, and with the Shlomi Municipality within the framework of the Jewish Agency - Keren Hayesod - UIA Partnership 2000 program.

The British counselors will serve together with their counterparts from the Confrontation Line.

Sefton Bergson, the UJIA's representative to the Confrontation Line, explains: "The volunteer work of the Bnei Akiva counselors is part of the "living bridge" program designed to strengthen personal bonds between members of the British communities and residents of the Confrontation Line area. Every pair of hands is needed in the summer camp and I am very glad that these 'extra hands' have come from Britain."

More than 20 projects designed to strengthen ties between the British Jewish community and Israel are taking place in the Confrontation Line through Partnership 2000 in order to develop the region, and to strengthen Jewish identity and continuity of young people in Israel and the Diaspora.

A group of 24 youngsters from Boston and Israel twelve from Boston, four from Haifa and four from the Yemin Orde youth village - are this summer "making the world a better place," within the framework of the Teens for Tzedek educational program, conducted by the Boston - Haifa partnership of the Boston Jewish Federation. During the six-week long educational program, the youngsters will work for social justice through volunteer work in Israel and in Boston.

The visit to Israel will last four weeks, during which the American youngsters will volunteer alongside their Israeli contemporaries for two weeks at an absorption site for Ethiopian olim in the north of Israel. The participants will also tour Israel and attend seminars which will teach them about Israel and Israeli society, strengthening their Jewish identity.

At the end of the visit, the youngsters will fly to Boston for a two-week trip, during which they will volunteer at senior citizen care centers, help the homeless at soup kitchens and lend their support at environmental projects.

The Teens for Tzedek project is being run for the third year in a row by the Jewish Community Center of Boston (JCC), the Jewish Community Relations Council of Boston (JCRC), and the Yemin Orde Youth Village on the Carmel coast. This year Beth Rothenberg in Haifa has also joined the project The project is financed by the youth and from funds provided by the Frieze family trust.

Jennifer Zwilling of the JCC noted: "The 12 high school students were chosen on the basis of their commitment to community service. We had very positive experience in the last 2 years and we hope the program will grow."

According to Nancy Kaufman, Executive director of JCRC, the program includes components of Jewish education and community service, and provides an opportunity for cultural exchange combined with important volunteer work. This experience will shape the Jewish identity of the participants."

Margalit Toledano, Jewish Agency emissary in New England, notes that this project is just one of a series developed by the Boston Jewish Community within the context of its Tikun Olam philosphy. According to Toledano, the JCRC, directed by Nancy Kaufman, organizes thousands of Jews in voluntary work in programs to promote literacy, social justice, improve conditions in the city, and provide computer instruction in disadvantaged neighborhoods populated mainly by African-Americans.

One hundred French boys and girls, members of the Ezra religious youth movement are currently attending a summer camp in Strasbourg, conducted by Shira Bergson, an emissary of the Israeli youth movement from Israel. The emphasis will be first and foremost on inculcating values of mutual respect and assistance. As a practical demonstration of this, a dozen counselors will proceed immediately after the camp, which ends on July 19 to Bordeaux, to perform voluntary community service for the elderly and other needy populations.

According to Secretary-General of the Ezra world movement, Danny Ellinson, the program is conducted in conjunction with the Yeshurun movement in France, a sister movement to Ezra, as part of a recent thrust on behalf of the organization to expand its activities in Europe. Within the next few months, Ezra plans to significantly expand its activities to Holland and Switzerland, notes Elinson.

Later this month, Ezra, which is supported by the Jewish Agency, is sending counselors to conduct JAFI summer camps in Belarus and Ukraine. Eighty youth are scheduled to participate in a camp near Minsk, and another 100 will take part in a camp in Dnepropetrovsk. The program will be based on strengthening Jewish roots, with an emphasis on aliyah, the Land of Israel, and Jewish history and tradition. "We want them not only to know that they are Jewish but to feel it," says Elinson. Ezra has 150 regular participants in Belarus and 250 in Ukraine.

Ezra is a religious Zionist youth movement dedicated to building the Land of Israel. It has about 8000 members in 35 branches throughout country, about half of the which are located in distressed neighborhoods and development towns. The world movement is devoted to encouraging Jewish education and strengthening aliyah to Israel.

One hundred and twenty five youngsters, ages 18 to 24, from throughout Canada arrived in Israel this past week to participate in Birthright. The ten day program focuses on specific themes, such as "Birthright and Covenant"; "Leadership and Responsibility"; "The Pioneering Spirit"; "To Build and Be Built."

"There is too much in Israel to enable them to take it all in ten days. Our goal is to give everyone who has never been on an Israel Experience Tour a feeling of connection to Israel, a feeling of belonging to something greater than themselves, that even if they have grown up in non-affiliated homes, they are part of this great picture called our collective Jewish history," says Adam Minsky, National Director of the Canada Israel Experience, has been chosen to run the Birthright programs in Canada. "Israel is a tool, we hope to get them involved in their home communities - whatever it may be."

The Canadian program, which has been cited several times by sociologist Dr. Erik Cohen as having the highest quality educational programming in the world, is unique in investing intensively in pre-program activities and in follow-up. The Canadian counselors come to Israel before the trip for on-site training together with the Israeli educators / tour guides. The Canada Israel Experience conducts and coordinates follow up activities such as Shabbatonim, study sessions, lectures, Pesach seders, and the like. "Israel is the catalyst for developing Jewish identity, which has to come in the post programming," adds Lorne Klemensberg, Israeli Director of the Canada Israel Experience. If these kids have a great ten days and not one person calls them when they get home, then we've essentially failed. Success will be measured in the long term.

Since the inception of the Canada Israel Experience four years ago, the number of participants has risen dramatically - from 300 in 1996 to an anticipated 2500 by the end of 2000. The body, which is supported by the Jewish Agency, is the product of a collaborative effort by the American Zionist Youth Foundation, United Israel Appeal, and the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies.

Two hundred women belonging to 44 Masorti communities in Israel participated in a special Masorti Women's Study Day last month at the Schechter Institute for Jewish Studies in Jerusalem. The seminar dealt with various aspects of women's life. The workshops, that were conducted in Hebrew, English, Russian and Spanish focused on Violence Against Women, Problems of Agunot in Israeli society, Women in the Bible, and women's community leadership.

In addition to the native Israeli participants, 65 new immigrants mostly from Argentina took part in the program. They were absorbed by the Masorti Movement near Haifa within the framework of the Jewish Agency's Aliyah 2000 program. Other participants included veteran immigrants from the US, England and South Africa.

The meeting was initiated and chaired by Diane Friedgut, liaison of the Women's League for Conservative Judaism, together with co-chairs Alice Shalvi, outgoing President of the Schecter Institute, and Karen Goldschmidt, Educational Director of the Masorti Movement.

Anbessa Teferra is the first Ethiopian immigrant to Israel to earn a Ph.D from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His area of expertise is the study of grammar of Ethiopian languages, particularly Sidaama.

Teferra was born in Awasa in 1962, a small town of some 20,000 inhabitants in southern Ethiopia. After matriculating from high school he left home to study in the capital at Addis Ababa University where he earned a BA and MA in linguistics, becoming a teaching assistant at the University.

He succeeded in making aliyah in 1990, but was forced to leave his family behind. His wife and two sons came a year after he made aliyah in the 1991 Operation Solomon.

"The subject of my doctorate, which I wrote in English, was the grammar of an Ethiopian language called Sidaama. One of the five major languages spoken in Ethiopia," he explains. "While it is a tongue spoken by two million people in south-central Ethiopia, Sidaama's grammatical structure had never been the subject of systematic modern scholarship."

Dr. Teferra believes that language is an essential tool in the absorption of fellow Ethiopians - particularly the youth. "Many of the young people born here don't know Amharic and it is important that they have some familiarity with the language to nurture inter-generational harmony and understanding," he stresses.

Today he is employed as an Amharic instructor at the Hebrew University. His students are not only linguistics majors and students enrolled in African studies, but also absorption personnel working with Ethiopian immigrants.

"I no longer am afraid to go to the Synagogue," says Anatoly Palvanov who made aliyah nine years ago from Uzbekistan, where he served as deputy Mayor of the city of Altimkul, but did not feel free to practice his Judaism openly. Today he is director of maintenance services of the Jewish Agency's Shoshana Absorption Center in Kiryat Gat. Despite his lowered status he is very happy to be in Israel.

Palvanov was a successful construction engineer in Uzbekistan. He began his professional career at an industrial plant in Altimkul - with a population of 100,000 including about 20 Jewish families. For almost a decade Palvanov served as a member of the regional council of Altimkul From 1986 he held the position of deputy mayor. Because of his high position, he was afraid to openly practice his Judaism.

After the fall of the Soviet Union in November 1991, Palvanov made aliyah together with his wife and three children. Palvanov assumed his education and experience would ensure a suitable engineering position. But in the early 1990s, following the mass aliyah from the Soviet Union, there were few jobs available for engineerss. After completing ulpan in Dimona, Anatoly found a job as a construction worker, and later as a gas station attendant.

Ofer Baram, Director of the Shoshana Absorption Center in Kiryat Gat is delighted with the dedication, perennial good humor, and professionalism of his new director of maintenance services.

The dispute surrounding the nature of the peace process remains unchanged. This week the Camp David summit meeting opened in the US with the participation of US President Bill Clinton, Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat. President Clinton: "This is a difficult process, but agreement can be reached." Before the prime minister left for the US, Ehud Barak's coalition lost a no-confidence motion 52-54. The government however remains intact since under Israeli law the opposition must have a majority of 61 in order to disband the Knesset and hold new elections.

Anger in Shas: The Supreme Court rejected most of the charges in the appeal filed by Shas leader and former Interior Minister Aryeh Deri. Although he was acquitted of some of the bribery charges, the sentence imposed on Deri by the District Court was reduced by just one year and he was sent to jail for three years. Deri's Shas supporters are having a hard time accepting the ruling and they responded angrily.

President Weizman this week resigned from his position. Until the appointment of a new president, Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg will replace him. The presidential candidates are Minister Shimon Peres (Labor) and MK Moshe Katzav (Likud).

Some 80 senior educators and staff members of the Jewish Agency's five Youth Aliyah Villages participated this week in a two-day in-service course on "Art in the Service of Education." The seminar, which took place in Zichron Ya'akov, focused on various art forms which can be used in education to help children overcome their problems and learn to express their feelings.

The program included workshops on drama, pantomime, music therapy, masks and body language. Professor Adir Cohen, a Haifa University expert on bibliotherapy, lectured on the use of literature in dealing with parent-children relations, feelings and other important issues in the lives of children and adolescents.

Jewish Agency Director-General Aaron Abramovich met with the participants and presented an overview of recent developments within the Jewish Agency and its fund-raising partners. He stressed the importance of Youth Aliyah institutions in the priorities of the Agency's strategic plan.

Thousands of visitors, hundreds of dancers and the best dance troupes in Israel and from overseas, participated in the International Dance Festival in Karmiel which closed this week. The dance festival was organized jointly by the Jewish Agency's Partnership 2000 program, the Karmiel Municipality, the Ministry of Culture, Science & Sport, the Foreign Ministry, Ministry of Tourism and industrial plants in Karmiel.

"The Jewish Agency has decided to invest resources in developing the Negev and the Galilee, as well as promoting culture in Israel. Karmiel is an example of a town which has successfully absorbed both a large number of olim and veteran Israelis," said Jewish Agency Treasurer Chaim Chesler, at the festival's opening ceremony. As well as Chesler, the large audience was welcomed by Matan Vilnai, Minister of Culture, and Karmiel mayor Adi Eldar who also chairs the Organization for Local Government.

After the speeches, the festival opened with a performance called "Seeing the Sounds" directed by Barry Avidan, which saluted the visual arts in Israel. The performance included original choreography based on creations by Israel's greatest plastic artists. The most emotional pictures of the evening were presented by choreographer Oren Halaly, based on the painting - "House of My Dreams" by Sahar Pick, of Karmiel - a Downs syndrome child who is a gifted artist.

The Karmiel festival lasted three days and included dozens of performances of all styles of dance: folk-dancing, jazz, step dancing, classical ballet, Japanese, Indian and Colombian dancing, water ballet, etc. There was also a special performance dedicated to the late Ofra Haza - "Stopping the Tears," directed by Shlomo Maman, the artistic director of the Karmiel festival, and classical works performed by the Chinese National Ballet.

Eli Itzhaki, head of the Jewish Agency delegation in the Ukraine and Moldova, adds that the 16 Jewish youngsters and students belonging to the "Shachar" dance troupe in Kiev, and the "Doves of Peace" singing group from Dnepropetrovsk, also came to the festival. Both groups, which were founded by the Jewish Agency, participate in Jewish Agency youth club activities in Ukraine and appear all over the region. Recently, they also did a concert tour of the US.

The dance - House of Dreams, staged at the opening performance - Seeing the Sounds by choreographer Oren Halaly, in which 120 8-12 year Israeli dancers participated, including two new olim who arrived in Israel last month from the FSU.

Thirty-four Ethiopian youngsters, members of the recently organized children's choir at the Mevasseret Absorption Center, are preparing a 40 minute repertoire of Hebrew songs as well as several Russian songs. Two expert musicians - themselves new immigrants from the former Soviet Union conduct the choir: Rima Uchitel, an opera singer, conductor and teacher, and Yaakov Yuniev, also a conductor and teacher.

The youngsters, age ten to 14, all arrived from Quara within the past year. They sing in Hebrew even though they aren't yet fluent in the language.

Center Director, Avi Levinson, who initiated the choir, can barely hide his emotions: "We taught the children such songs Gesher Tzar - with its chorus meaning 'the main thing is not to fear'; Eli, Eli; and songs that give us the old-time Zionism, and we explained the meanings of the words. So they can sing from their heart. To me this choir is a symbol - a symbol of erasing stigmas, a symbol that they can succeed, a symbol that they have a future."

Olga Rodavitzkaya, a student in the Jewish Agency's Selah program and national girls' checkers champion, will represent Israel in the world checkers championship for youth due to take place in Holland at the end of the month. Immediately afterwards, Olga will take part in the European championships in Italy at the beginning of next month and the checkers Olympics to be held in London at the end of August.

19-year old Olga made aliyah alone in 1998 from Ukraine as part of the Jewish Agency's Selah program, in which Jewish youngsters from the FSU are accepted for academic studies in Israel.

The young girl, who currently resides at the Jewish Agency's Aba Chushi student hostel in Haifa, has recently completed a preparatory course at Haifa University and has been accepted to study statistics.

According to Benny Rom, director of the Haifa region and of the student hostel, temporary accommodation has been arranged for Olga at the Kalanit Absorption Center in Ashkelon while she trains for the competitions, so that she can be closer to her personal coach who lives near the center.

The last wave of aliyah from the FSU has brought prominent champions and coaches to Israel from all branches of the competitive sports, including senior grand-master checkers players. According to Lilly Carmi, who chairs the Israel Checkers Association, checkers is extremely popular among olim from the FSU and some of the Russian-language newspapers contain special sections devoted to the game.

The Bukharan Jewish community in Israel this week celebrated 130 years of the aliyah of the first Jew from Bukhara and the 30^th anniversary of the great exodus from Bukhara. To celebrate the event the Knesset hosted community leaders in Israel and its most prominent artists. Exhibitions were displayed all over the Knesset showing ethnic dress, musical instruments and other authentic creative pieces associated with the Jews of Bukhara. Bukharan folk music was played in the corridors and MKs were able to taste Bukharan foods. The Jewish Agency was represented by Director General Aaron Abramovich, who congratulated the Bukharan community in Israel.

The Knesset Immigration and Absorption Committee held a special discussion on the subject of the absorption of olim from Bukhara, which was attended by all the aliyah organizations that assist Bukharan olim in Israel. The meeting was chaired by MK Amnon Cohen of Shas, himself an oleh from Bukhara who is extremely active in absorption work with the community in Israel. During the meeting, representatives of the various olim organizations raised the problems encountered by Bukharan olim before Boris Mafzir, Director General of the Ministry of Absorption, particularly in the areas of education and social welfare. The establishment of a Bukharan Jewish Congress was announced, designed to provide assistance to members of the community by veteran olim, and will unite all the organizations working in this field. Businessman Lev Levayev will head the Congress.

The Bukharan community in Israel numbers 150,000 and has a rich tradition of mutual help which is reflected in a tendency to resolve problems independently with the help of older members of the community.

The Bukharan Jews are descendants of Jews who were exiled after the destruction of the First Temple and they are considered to be the most ancient Jewish community in the world. The community is renowned for its spiritual and cultural wealth which combines the magic of the east with Jewish tradition. The community is famous for its traditional dishes, whose recipes have been handed down from one generation to the next. We bring you one popular Bukharan dish, which is regularly served at almost every Bukharan restaurant in the world.

Filling:
11oz meat
7 oz onions
one egg
Salt, pepper, cumin
1/2 oz sesame seeds

Dough:
7 oz flour
1/2 oz yeast
Water

Preparation:

• Grind the meat coarsely, add the chopped onion, cumin, salt and pepper.
• Prepare the dough and roll out into round sheets (10 cm. diameter)
• Place the filling on the dough, seal in the shape of a triangle and coat with beaten egg. Sprinkle the sesame on top.
• Bake in a hot oven (300 F - 320 F) for 25 minutes

B'Te'avon! Bon Appetit!