One of the new immigrants from the FSU wounded in the racist terror attack in Dusseldorf.

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"The racist attack in which six Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union (FSU) were injured, has resulted in unifying the members of the Jewish community in Dusseldorf," said Michael Lubomirski, Vice President of the Dusseldorf Jewish Community. A hand grenade which exploded last week at the Dusseldorf train station injured 10 immigrants from the FSU, six of them Jews.

"Almost 80% of the members of our community have come from the FSU over the last decade," said Lubomirski, himself an immigrant from the FSU. "It's no secret that the high percentage of new members in the community has led to tensions between them and the established Jewish population against the backdrop of absorption difficulties as well as social and cultural gaps."

However, as a result of this recent incident, ties between the two groups have been strengthened. Those injured, who are currently hospitalized, are receiving a constant stream of flowers, letters, parcels and even financial assistance from the established community members who are trying to support them in every way." We hope that the German authorities will succeed in putting an end to the acts of terror by extreme fringe elements," he said.

Dusseldorf's Jewish community, headed by former Israeli Ezra Kohn, numbers 6,500, more than 5,000 of whom have arrived from the FSU in the last decade. All the Jewish communities in Germany now have a similarly high proportion of Jews from the FSU.

Prior to the fall of the Berlin wall, there were just 28,000 Jews in Germany, mostly families of Polish Holocaust survivors and German-born emigrants from Israel who were not successfully absorbed in Israel. During those years, the community "lost" many members, a result of emigration to other countries, including aliyah to Israel, as well as from high rates of intermarriage - which in some areas reached 70%.

Today, however, the Jewish Agency estimates that there are more than 92,000 Jews in Germany and the country's Jewish community has become the third largest in western Europe. Community leaders realized that absorbing immigrants from the FSU could inject new breath into Jewish life in Germany and they worked to create good absorption conditions for their new members. The German government gave Jews from the FSU preferred refugee status, which provides them with a series of aid packages and economic benefits.

Several local Jewish Agency employees in Germany help those Jews who wish to make aliyah. The Jewish Agency has recently increased its efforts to encourage aliyah from Germany, and, in conjunction with the Bnei Akiva youth movement, sent several short-term emissaries to the Jewish community to help strengthen Jewish identity and promote Jewish Zionist education. Two months ago, the Agency's Aliyah Department held a special seminar in Frankfurt designed to train local aliyah coordinators to work in Germany's Jewish communities similar to the way to which the Agency operates in the FSU.

At the end of the year the Jewish Agency intends to hold its first aliyah fair in Germany, in which potential olim are presented with work and study opportunities in Israel. Over the last 18 months 160 olim have arrived in Israel from Germany.

Thirty Jewish graves were desecrated in mid-June at the municipal cemetery in Samara, in central Russia. Zami Brampov, head of the Jewish Agency delegation in Samara, reports that unknown persons vandalized the headstones on the main path in the Jewish section of the cemetery. Most of the headstones were completely destroyed and some were sprayed with swastikas. So far, no one has taken responsibility for the act, nor has it been condemned by any local government official.

Immediately after being informed about the incident, the Jewish Agency office in Samara filed an official complaint with the local police station. Brampov said that the police opened an investigation, which will also involve undercover investigation. In addition, the commander of the Samara police force promised to tighten security around Jewish burial sites in the city in order to prevent a repetition of such incidents in future.

The act of vandalism was discovered when a woman from the Jewish community went to the cemetery to tend to the grave of a family member and was shocked to discover that it had been completely destroyed. The stunned woman reported the incident to Aharon Kuznetzov, sexton of the local synagogue, who immediately called the police and informed Jewish organizations in the city.

The local independent press condemned the desecration and called it "a terrible act of vandalism" and a "Jewish pogrom." The official press however, did not refer to the incident at all.

Samara (formerly Kuybishev) is situated on the banks of the Volga River in central Russia and has a population of some 1.5 million. The Jewish Agency's Department for the Former Soviet Union, estimates that some 13,000 Jews currently live in the city. During the first half of 2,000, more than 500 Jews made aliyah from the Samara region, 120 of them from the city itself.

"Uri was a Zionist Jew who loved the people of Israel. More than anything, he loved Jews. He was a teacher and many of us were his disciples. He understood that aliyah from the West was the key to the future of the Jewish people and of the State of Israel. The disability from which he suffered throughout his life was overcome by his strong spirit which accompanied all his actions. We will do everything, Uri, to ensure that your Zionist spirit prevails, and to strengthen the Jewish, Zionist, democratic state which you worked for throughout your life." These moving words were said in a eulogy delivered by Chairman of the Zionist Executive and Jewish Agency, Sallai Meridor, at a memorial service for the late Uri Gordon, Member of the Zionist Executive and President of the Zionist Council in Israel, held in the courtyard outside the National Institutions in Jerusalem.

Uri Gordon, aged 65, passed away at the beginning of the week, at Sheba Hospital, following a serious illness. Before the funeral, Gordon's coffin was placed in the courtyard of the National Institutions in Jerusalem, where the memorial service was held. His family, friends, students and admirers all came to pay their last respects. These included Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg, Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert, Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, Ministers Avraham Shochat, Binyamin Ben Eliezer, and Haim Ramon, Members of Knesset, and Jewish Agency leaders.

Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg praised Uri Gordon's vision and action: "A rare person with so much faith in such a cynical era. A rare person with so much hope at such a pessimistic time."

Chief Rabbi Meir Lau eulogized Gordon as someone who had succeeded in removing the cliches associated with the terms Zionism, homeland, rebirth and love of Israel.

Yossi Kucik, Director General of the Prime Minister's office, who defined himself as a disciple of Gordon, said that he learned from him to fight for his opinions, not to begrudge others and to bring people together.

Jewish Agency Treasurer, Chaim Chesler, said that Gordon was the personification of the beautiful, genuine Israeli, the trail-blazer, the ideologue and the man of action who always knew how to surprise everyone by achieving the objectives which he set for himself, and which no one believed were attainable.

Gordon was born in Tel Aviv in 1935 and as a teenager was a youth leader in the "Noar Haoved" movement in Givatayim. For many years he was a member of Kibbutz Mishmar David and during that period, together with other members, he was a founder and leader of the Labour Party's Young Guard.

During the late 1960s and early 1970s he set up clubs for the younger generation in the country's development towns. In 1974 he was called to head the Zionist Movement's Young Leadership Division and succeeded in creating a bridge between the younger leadership in Israel and Jewish young leaders in the Diaspora. In 1978 the Zionist movement sent him as an emissary to the US, where he established 'Telem,' the Movement for Zionist Fulfillment, whose top priority was Jewish-Zionist education and aliyah to Israel. Members of Telem undertook a commitment to make aliyah and many of them in fact now live in Israel.

When he returned to Israel, Gordon was chosen to head the Jewish Agency's Youth Aliyah Department. In 1987 he was named head of the Jewish Agency's Immigration and Absorption Department and was responsible for bringing 14,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel in Operation Solomon. During his term of office he took part in the aliyah and absorption of almost half a million immigrants from the former Soviet Union and other countries. Uri Gordon published dozens of articles on Zionism, aliyah, the Jewish people, and the relationship between the State of Israel and Jews abroad. In 1977 he was elected as President of the Zionist Council in Israel.

Uri Gordon, who passed away on July 30, 27 Tamuz, was one of those secular Jews with a perpetually effervescent Jewish soul. Many knew Uri Gordon from the Jewish Agency, but very few knew him as the warm and believing Jew that he was. The touch of his hand, his shining countenance, and uncompromising Zionist fervor were his trademark.

I remember when I first met him. That was at the time of the establishment of Telem (the Movement for Zionist Fulfillment) when Uri was an emissary in Los Angeles, accompanied by Rocheleh and the girls. He founded Telem and I was working for an Israeli daily in New York. He would "bombard" the newspaper with ideas that seemed somewhat messianic. He announced to both Israelis and Jews, "Zionism is something you do; not something you just talk about." His words echoed like thunder in the Jewish community, which perceived him as a "threat," Heaven forbid.

In his great wisdom, Uri stressed his Israeli nature, of which he was not ashamed. Who, if not Uri Gordon, from the "Borochov Nest" youth movement in Givatayim is the authentic representative of the Jewish Agency. He was not ashamed to open every lecture he gave with "I am an Israeli. And I like Jews . . . ."

Natan Roi, formerly a journalist for Davar, works at the Jewish Agency.

• $9.5 million - the Jewish Agency's budget for the year 2000 for Hebrew ulpanim in Israel for new immigrants and Jewish tourists. The ulpanim include courses in basic Hebrew as well as more advanced classes, ulpanim for the younger population and cultural and Jewish heritage activities for ulpan students.

• $104,000 - the Jewish Agency's budget for the year 2000 for conducting the South African Ulpan, in which 135 school students from South Africa are participating. The three-month program offers the students an opportunity to become acquainted with the State of Israel and Israeli society, by living in Israel, travelling around the country, and participating in seminars.

• $19,000 - Jewish Agency support in the year 2000 for a special tutoring program for blind school children by blind university students who assist those younger than themselves in improving their learning abilities. The project is run by ALEH - the Association for the Promotion of Blind Students in Israel.

• 200 leaders and volunteers from 13 Partnership 2000 areas will this year take part in a program to develop "voluntary community leadership" designed to encourage volunteer work in the community and develop new channels of community involvement.

• 450 Israeli students studying at three colleges in the eastern Galilee - Tel Hai, Safed and Jordan Valley this year received student grants from the Jewish Agency and UIA Canada.

• 1035 olim from all over the world arrived in Israel this week, 754 from the FSU. The rest are from France, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico, Argentina, Austria, Germany, England, South Africa, the US, Canada, India and Ethiopia.

Last week, four Jewish students returned to Romania at the end of a two-week visit to Israel, during which they participated in a seminar for young leadership in the Diaspora. Tova Bin Nun, Jewish Agency emissary in Romania, reports that the four students were sent by the Jewish Agency's Bucharest aliyah club, in order to obtain information and tools to fulfill leadership roles in the Jewish community in Romania.

During the seminar, which was organized by WUJS (World Union of Jewish Students), the Romanian students met Jewish students from all over the world, including Israel. They broadened their knowledge of Israel, Israeli society and Jewish identity and toured the entire country.

The Jewish Agency's Bucharest aliyah club has 250 members who are high school and college students. Club members participate in educational activity to increase Jewish education and to strengthen the bond with the State of Israel, in preparation for aliyah. Since the club was founded 7 years ago, 2,100 people have made aliyah from Romania, 76% of whom are young adults below the age of 45.

Romania's Jewish community numbers some 13,000, most of whom live in the capital Bucharest 80% of whom are over 60. Romania has only one Jewish school, "Reut", which was founded four years ago thanks to a donation by millionaire Ronald Lauder. "Reut" is the first Jewish school to open in Romania after 50 years of Communist rule, and is located in the same building which originally housed a Jewish school.

The Jewish Agency emissary, who also serves as president of the Romanian educational fund, reports that 130 pupils attend the school. She said that this month a three-week long summer ulpan was held at the school, during which 44 students learned basic Hebrew, about the State of Israel and Jewish heritage. They also engaged in sports and arts.

A group of 45 Jewish youngsters from Azerbaijan and other Central Asia republics will arrive in Israel in two weeks for an educational visit as part of a joint project by the Jewish Agency and Rishon Lezion municipality. The youngsters, aged 15-17, will stay at a Rishon Lezion summer camp for two weeks. During this period they will travel all over the country, visit museums, and IDF bases and kibbutzim and will also learn about study options in Israel.

Aryeh Resnik, head of the Jewish Agency delegation in Baku, capital of Azerbaijan, said that most of the youngsters in the group are from Azerbaijan. They will be joined by several youngsters from Georgia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Two days before they leave for Israel, the youngsters will gather in Baku to prepare for their next trip, where they will meet with the Jewish Agency counselor who will prepare them for their visit and accompany on their flight to Israel.

The project is the result of an initiative by Meir Nitzan, mayor of Rishon Lezion, who earlier this year visited a Jewish Agency winter camp in Baku, where he was impressed by the local Jewish youth activities, and invited the children to be guests of his city. Nitzan accompanied the United Jewish Community's "Voyage of Discovery" to Baku. Mission members included leading donors and active members of the Jewish Federations in the US and Canada. Joining them were opinion makers and municipality heads from Israel as well as Jewish Agency and JDC officials.

"I spent two days in Baku and saw the difficult situation and poor conditions in which Jews live there. Consequently, I suggested inviting the youngsters to visit Rishon Lezion in the hope that they will fall in love with Israel at first sight and make aliyah," said Nitzan.

Amos Lahat, director of the Jewish Agency's Department for the Former Soviet Union, expressed the hope that the project will serve as an example to other municipalities and contribute towards strengthening ties between Jewish communities in the former Soviet Union and cities in Israel.

This week, 80 young Israelis, including 15 couples, completed an intensive training program to serve as emissaries for Torah Mitzion, a Jerusalem-based organization designed to encourage the study Judaism and Zionism. Within the next few weeks they will depart Israel for over 20 cities around the globe, joining 25 couples already in the field, where they will run "Zionist Kollels" for the local population. The young men are recent graduates of Hesder Yeshivot in Israel, which combine Torah study with army service. They will run Torah study centers in North and South America, Europe, South Africa, and Australia.

The unique program is supported by the Jewish Agency, the Joint Program for Jewish Education run by the Jewish Agency in conjunction with the Minsitry of Education and the World Zionist Organization, and the WZO's World Center for Religious Affairs in the Diaspora.

The program, designed to assist the local leadership strengthen Judaism and Zionism in their communities, comprises a wide range of activities, including organizing study in hevrutut or couples, lectures, holiday activities, weekend and outreach seminars to smaller communities.

There are Zionist kollels in Atlanta, Boca Raton, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Memphis, New York, Omaha, Washington DC, Syracuse, Montreal, Melbourne, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Moscow, Stockholm, Marseilles, Caracas, and Montevideo.

The Jewish Agency's Strategic Initiative team, dealing with special immigrant populations, will embark on a new initiative targeting at-risk immigrant groups. Rimona Weisel, director of the team, announced this week that the program will initially focus on single parent families, women, and immigrants from Ethiopia, three groups that have particular difficulty coping with the demands of aliyah.

Their successful absorption requires skilled and sensitive professional handling on the part of all the agencies involved in the absorption process, she notes. Since JAFI, which deals directly with aliyah, can most easily identify the immigrants' needs, even before they arrive in Israel, it is uniquely situated to facilitate, promote, and initiate activities even if it does not provide all of them directly.

An inter-organizational forum, comprised of all relevant JAFI departments and units, government ministries (Absorption, Labor and Social Affairs, Education, Health, etc.) immigrant associations and representatives of local authorities, the JDC, and other relevant bodies, has been set up. An information and development center will work along the forum to gather and disseminate information on immigrant groups at risk.

"Since we're dealing with socio-economically deprived groups, it is important that even before making aliyah, they have the opportunities to meet with professionals who will direct them to the most appropriate absorption channels," says Weisel. "Since the first encounter of the potential olim is with the Jewish Agency, JAFI must identify the needs and find solutions, with the assistance of relevant service providers."

Youth Aliyah will implement a new educational approach that will focus on such subjects as mathematics and literature, while improving other skills such as team work and the ability to express feelings, from the start of the coming school year. According to Eli Amir, director general of the Jewish Agency's Youth Aliyah Institutions, "In recent years the intake at Youth Aliyah villages, has been of children from distressed and at risk backgrounds. The massive immigration from the former Soviet Union and Ethiopia, and rising poverty in development towns, have put enormous strain on the country's educational infrastructure. Youth Aliyah now only has room for the children at highest risk. We are literally saving children from the street."

The curriculum will place greater emphasis on sport and especially art. "Music, dance, drama, drawing and sculpture will enable pupils to articulate their feelings - pain, frustration, rebellion, happiness and hope," said Amir. The new curriculum, which involves lengthening and diversifying the school day, will meet the special needs of these children.

Youth Aliyah is now implementing a training program for its senior staff being taught by leading experts from Israel and around the world.

"Mei Eden," one of Israel's largest mineral water companies, lent its support two weeks ago to a campaign run by the "Spirit of Israel" for youth at risk and in distress. As part of this joint campaign, Mei Eden will encourage the public to buy its products by undertaking to allocate a share of its profits for the welfare of youngsters living in Youth Aliyah villages.

Joe Dushansky, director of the Spirit of Israel campaign, explains that cooperation with Mei Eden is carried out as part of the campaign's efforts to enlist the business sector to contribute to Israel's needy.

The joint campaign with Mei Eden will last three months, at 20 sales points in shopping malls all over the country. Mei Eden will encourage the public to purchase its products, and will allocate a percentage of the income for children in need of a warm home and a loving environment. Plans are underway for future campaigns with Mei Eden to raise funds for youth in distress.

The Spirit of Israel has, in the past, recruited the support of Israeli businesses for community welfare. These include McDonalds, which donated a portion of its profits to the "Chaim" Association for children with cancer at the Schneider Children's Hospital. Marketing chains and construction companies were also recruited to support social welfare community projects. The program encourages the culture of giving and volunteerism both in Israel's business sector as well as among customers.

This week a Bar Mitzvah ceremony was held at the Jerusalem Great Synagogue for 34 Ethiopian youngsters who had previously lived in the Chatzrot Yasaf caravan site near Acco. This project, now in its third year is funded by the United Jewish Israel Appeal (UJIA) of Great Britain.

The 34 children were picked up from their new homes in Ashdod, Netanya, Haifa, Kiryat Yam and other locations. Before the Bar/Bat Mitzvah the children attended a three day summer camp, which prepared them for the ceremony. On the day before the Bar Mitzvah the parents were invited to join their children for a tour of Neot Kedumim biblical gardens and Jerusalem.

"This year presented us with an enormous logistical challenge," explained Sefton Bergson, UJIA Community Representative for the Galilee. "The Chatzrot Yasaf site has nearly closed down and most of the children have already moved out."

Close to 200 women entrepreneurs from throughout the country took part this week in the National Businesswomen's Conference in Ashdod. The program was sponsored by the Municipal Women's Council in conjunction with the Jewish Agency, the Municipality of Ashdod, the Ashdod branch of the Center for Business Initiatives, and Bank Discount. Participants included new immigrants and members of business clubs established by the Jewish Agency.

The participants' businesses ranged from clothing boutiques, alternative medicine services, insurance companies, electronics firms, to art studios, hi-tech companies, economic consulting firms, and communications services.

They were addressed by former Minister of Trade and Industry MK Ran Cohen, and the Director General of JAFI's Israel Department Meir Nitzan, Dr. Dalia Fisman, the Women's Business Coordinator at the Jewish Agency, Dr. Naomi Liran, Chairman of the Authority for the Advancement of the Status of Women under the aegis of the Prime Minister's Office, Chaya Graff, Director of the program for small businesses at the JDC, and Ashdod Municipal leaders.

The conference dealt with ways to advance the status of women and develop their business opportunities.

Due to the overwhelming enthusiasm and interest in such programs, the Jewish Agency is planning a similar conference in Kiryat Shmonah in November. "It is essential for women to provide support for each other and to develop leadership skills," notes Dr. Fisman. "For this, we are trying to provide them with knowledge, strategies, and techniques."

Prime Minister Ehud Barak today met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, in an intensified effort to reach a peace agreement with the Palestinians before the Knesset dissolves. Yesterday 58 opposition members voted for early elections. They were joined by David and Maxim Levy of One Israel and Haim Katz of Am Ehad, in the motion to dissolve the Knesset, for a total of 61 MKs. 29 coalition members voted against the motion. They were joined by the 10 Meretz MKs, the 12 MKs representing the Arab parties, and Hadash. A total of 51 MKs voted against the motion. The six members of Shinui abstained.

The vote gives the coalition a break of almost two months in which to promote the Peace Process before the motion is presented for its first, second and third readings. In order to defeat the government before this date, the opposition will have to obtain the signatures of 61 MKs to hold a no-confidence motion.

Moshe Katzav was elected eighth president of the State of Israel. Katzav surprised the world media by gaining the support of 63 MKs as opposed to just 57 who voted for Shimon Peres. Political commentators attributed the surprise to a political coincidence which went against the Labor Party. Katzav, formerly a minister in both the Netanyahu and Shamir governments, was born in Iran 55 years ago and came to Israel when he was five. He graduated from the Hebrew University with an economics degree and began his political career 24 years ago when he was elected mayor of Kiryat Malachi.

His election was received jubilantly by large segments of the Israel public but was met by widespread criticism among the country's elite. Both expressed personal sadness at the defeat of Peres - Israel's most active elder statesman.

"If I have been elected, then each of you can also become president," said Katzav to the children of the town where he grew up and lives to this day. "I will represent my supporters as well as my opponents equally. I will concentrate on internal issues and Israeli society, and will steer clear of politics."

A record temperature of 107⁰F was reached in Jerusalem on Sunday. This was the highest temperature in Jerusalem in 112 years.

An emotional and unusual wedding took place this week at the Ethiopian Jewish Spiritual Center in Beersheva. Seven bridegrooms, all new immigrants from Ethiopia, who live at the Jewish Agency's Nurit Absorption Center in Beersheva, married seven Ethiopian immigrant brides.

The wedding of the seven couples, who in fact were married for the second time, was held this time according to Jewish tradition. The ceremony took place at the end of a halachically recognized conversion process that the couples underwent, organized under the auspices of Rabbi Yosef Adana, Rabbi of the Ethiopian community in Israel. 28 olim from the Nurit Absorption Center have just completed their studies in the first conversion course, which lasted 10 months, and were converted.

The wedding took place in accordance with all Jewish halachic requirements. In the morning the brides and grooms immersed in the ritual bath (mikveh). They then went to the Spiritual Center in Beersheva, where the seven wedding ceremonies were held, one after another.

Shalom Cohen, director of the Nurit Absorption Center, said that the children of the seven couples attended the wedding ceremony, as did Jewish Agency representatives and representatives of the organizations that sponsored the conversion course, including the Ministry of Absorption, the Chief Rabbinate, and the Ministry of Education. According to Cohen, all those invited were particularly excited when the rabbi read the Ketuba (marriage contract) and the grooms broke the glasses.

One hundred Jewish singles from New York, ages 25 - 40, in Israel on a United Jewish Communities National Singles Mission, got an authentic taste of Israel through a "hands-on" visit to Jerusalem's community centers this past week. The participants had the opportunity to mingle with various sectors of Israel's population at community centers in different parts of the capital.

At the Neve Yaacov Community Center, the singles helped a group of seven year olds recycle litter they found in the forest into an innovative art masterpiece. At the Community Center in Baka, they met with Russian immigrant pensioners, and learned from them about the history of the neighborhood and the problems new immigrants face. They watched a dance performance by immigrant children, and listened to Russian musicians.

At the senior citizen's program at Lev Ha'ir's Community Center in the city center, veteran Israelis welcomed the guests at several food stations, where they prepared delicacies from their country of origin: Morocco, Iran, Yemen, Turkey, and Kurdistan. Food enabled the elderly, who did not speak English, to communicate with the visitors. Members of the group said the visit enabled them to learn about Israeli culture. Furthermore, they added, "This has been, without a doubt, the best meal we have had here so far."

"There was a strong sense that people succeeded in communicating with each other, bringing these two seemingly divergent groups together," said Cindy Breakstone, director of Beit New York-Jerusalem that coordinated the visit in Israel. "So much connects Jews from all around the world with the people of Israel."

"Compulsory Service," a unique exhibit of portraits, drawings and paintings focusing on soldiers and army related themes opened earlier this week at the Chelouche Gallery for Contemporary Art in Tel Aviv. The artwork was done by teenage artists from the development town of Ofakim

The artistic activity is the product of a special educational project conducted by award winning artist David Wakstein and supported by the Jewish Agency - UJC's Partnership 2000. In the past three years Wakstein has integrated his own artwork with an educational and social effort. His initiative came in response to a wave of unemployment in Ofakim.

Wakstein organized groups of talented youngsters in Ofakim and helped them cultivate their skills through weekly workshops held at the community center. They continued together until the teenagers were drafted last year.

In September, Wakstein organized a new group of young artists, whose art is currently on exhibit. The Betzalel Academy sent students to serve as mentors for the budding Ofakim artists. To ensure that the youngsters would be able to draw and paint at home, a special fund was set up to enable them to purchase materials.

"This project exists primarily thanks to Partnership 2000, which provided us with the support that made it possible to hold the workshop every week," notes Wakstein. Ofakim is partnered with MetroWest and Bergen County in the Partnership 2000 framework.

Tisha B'Av (the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av) is the saddest day in the Hebrew calendar. A day of national mourning, it culminates the three-week period of mourning that began on the 17th of Tamuz. It was on that day, in 586 BCE, that the First Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians. The Jewish population was slaughtered or exiled to Babylon.

It was on Tisha B'Av in 70 CE that the Roman forces, led by Titus, set fire to the Second Temple. The Romans cruelly crushed the revolt, killing innumerable Jews, and exiling the remainder throughout the Roman Empire, where they were sold as slaves. This marked the end of Jewish national sovereignty over their homeland.

Tisha B'Av is marked by abstinence from food and drink from sunset till sunset. Traditional mourning customs, such as refraining from wearing leather shoes and refraining from bathing, are also observed. On the eve of the Ninth of Av, the book of Lamentations is read in the synagogue, which is draped in black and, in the Sephardi tradition, darkened. Kinot, poems of lamentation, follow. The following day, the Kinot are recited again. In the State of Israel restaurants and places of entertainment are closed.

According to the Talmud, Tisha B'av is a day marked for national calamity. It was on that day that it was decreed that the Children of Israel would wander in the desert for 40 years before entering the Promised Land, following the sin of the Spies; it was on that day, in 135 CE that the Bar Kochba revolt against the Romans was crushed and the city of Betar, the stronghold of the rebellion, was captured and destroyed. It was on the Tisha B'av of the following year that the Temple Mount was plowed under by the Romans. Jerusalem was rebuilt as a pagan city - renamed Aelia Capitolina - to which entry was forbidden to Jews. Only on Ninth of Av were they permitted to visit Jerusalem, to mourn the destruction of their land, their city, and their Temple.

Other disasters befell the Jews on Tisha B'Av: Pope Urban II declared the First Crusade, in which tens of thousands of Jews were killed, and many Jewish communities destroyed; King Ferdinand of Spain issued the expulsion decree ordering all Jews to leave Spain, setting Tisha B'Av 1492 as the final date for them to leave; World War I broke out on Tisha B'Av, setting the stage for the Holocaust; deportation of the Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto began on that day.

It is told that Napoleon chanced to enter a synagogue on Tisha B'Av. He saw the Jews sitting in darkness on the floor, weeping inconsolably. When he was told that they were weeping over the destruction of Jerusalem, he asked when the tragedy had occurred. "Two thousand years ago," he was told.

"A people that remembers its land for two thousand years, will certainly return," the emperor responded.

Forty four new immigrants from Bulgaria will arrive in Jaffa next month where they will be absorbed as an urban aliyah group. The olim will be coming from Sofia the capital of Bulgaria, on a special Balkan Air flight, organized by the Jewish Agency. An additional, 63 more olim from Bulgaria will be arriving on the same flight, and will be absorbed in various absorption frameworks around the country.

Bulgarian Jews fell in love with the port of Jaffa already during the great wave of aliyah in the 1950s, and since then many more have settled in the town. To this day the Maccabi Jaffa football team is identified with the Bulgarian accent associated with the cheering crowds.

Ori Konforti, the Jewish Agency emissary in Bulgaria, reports that this is a unique absorption model which was developed last year within the context of the Jewish Agency's Aliyah 2000 program. At that time, the first urban group of 9 families from Bulgaria was absorbed. According to Konforti, following the successful absorption of the first group, another group of 13 families will be arriving this month.

Last May all group members took part in a preparatory seminar in Sofia, during which they met with representatives of the Tel Aviv-Jaffa municipality, the Ministry of Absorption, the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare and the Jewish Agency. They received information on the absorption process in the city.

The new immigrants will be absorbed in Jaffa as a group and will be accompanied in the process by various bodies. They will assist the families in the areas of housing, education and employment. A Hebrew language ulpan will be opened for all the families.

The special flight will also bring a collection of Jewish archival materials, which were photocopied by Konforti over the last year. The materials will be transferred to the national archives.

The Bulgarian Jewish community numbers some 5,000 persons, most of whom live in the capital, Sofia, with a small minority in Plovdiv, Bulgaria's second city. The rest live in small communities in outlying cities. Over the last four years, 1520 olim have come to Israel from Bulgaria, 70% of them holding post-graduate degrees. These include doctors, engineers, musicians, sportsmen and paramedics. Since the establishment of Israel, 55,000 olim have made aliyah from Bulgaria, many of whom have settled in Jaffa.

To this day, if you wander the streets and alleys of Jaffa, you will find typical Bulgarian restaurants and delis that specialize in eggplant salads, smoked fish, sheep cheese, burekas and marzipan, the native Bulgarian delicacies.

Ingredients:

10-12 cups of hot water
31/2 oz. butter
1 chopped onion
2-3 cups flour
3 eggs
9 oz. grated Bulgarian cheese
9 oz. yogurt
3 - 5 sprigs of chopped mint
Ground black pepper

Preparation:

• Melt the butter in a pan, add the chopped onion and fry lightly, add the flour and mix well. Add the hot water and bring to a boil.

• In a plastic container mix the eggs and yogurt thoroughly; chop the mint leaves (without the stalk) and add to the yogurt, mix and add the grated cheese.

• Pour the mixture into the boiling soup slowly, while stirring gently, add the black pepper, season to taste.

• Serve hot

B'Te'avon! Bon Appetit!

THE GLOBAL JEWISH AGENDA WILL NOT APPEAR NEXT WEEK, AUGUST 10^TH, WHICH IS TISHA B'AV. THE NEXT ISSUE WILL APPEAR ON THURSDAY, AUGUST 17^TH.