O

Rabbi Aids Distressed
Parents of Immigrants

BEN GALLOB

Special to The Jewish News

N

ew York — A Brook-
lyn, N.Y., rabbi has
devised a ceremony in
his synagogue which he
hopes will help ease the con-
sternation felt by some
parents of immigrants to
Israel (olim).
The project was described
by Rabbi Abraham Feldbin, a
member of Parents of North
American Israelis (PNAI), in
an article in The Bridge, the
official PNAI publication.
He said when parents learn
that he and his wife Betty are
planning a visit to Israel,
they ask that he contact their
olim children to try to per-
suade them to return to the
United States. The Feldbins
themselves have two married
daughters and seven grand-
children in Israel.
Such appeals conflict with
the Feldbins' deepest values
as Jews and Zionists. They
feel instead that as American
Jewish parents wholly sup-
portive of their children set-
tled in Israel "we want to
make the reluctant parents
proud and happy." They also
want to make "the already
happy (American) parents
boastful that they have a
piece of themselves in Israel
and part of its future."
But it is a fact of American
Zionist history and culture
that Jews who pay homage to
the ideal of aliyah may feel
differently when their
children take that historic
step.
Speaking as president of
the Brooklyn chapter of the
Zionist Organization of
America, Feldbin commented
that "as an organization, or
as individuals in our local

communities, or even as ac-
tive members of a Zionist
organization, perhaps we can-
not do much to stem the tide
of yeridah (emigration from
Israel) on the part of sabras or
those who have been in Israel
since childhood."
But he added that, except
for PNAI, he felt that too lit-
tle was done to prevent the
return of American Jews who
went to live in Israel "with
such high hopes and dreams.
We have to help the parents
in every way we can."
Pondering what his con-
gregation, Shaari Israel,
might do for that goal, he
decided four years ago to
honor the parents of olim dur-
ing the annual Israel Bond
breakfast. "These parents
were urged to invite other
personal guests to the
breakfast, and many did," the
rabbi explained.
Each set of parents "was
presented with a specially
designed and appropriately
worded framed certificate of
honor," he reported. "They
were suitably praised, several
responded with pride, and the
certificates hang proudly on
walls in most of their homes."
He noted also that he and
Betty shortly thereafter
visited Israel, where he con-
tacted the olim, "arranged a
get-together in Jerusalem,
and presented each one with
a duplicate of the certificates
their parents had received."
He thought few of his
honored congregants had ever
received special recognition
before. He acknowledged that
one such event was unlikely
to have a strong impact on
Jewish parents who did not
want their children to settle
in Israel, but he hoped it car-
ried a meaningful message

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