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August 26, 1988 - Image 41

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 1988-08-26

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

GET REMITS .

North Americans Make
Impact On Israeli Life

CARL ALPERT

Special to The Jewish News

H

aifa — During the
period of peak immi-
gration of Jews from
Eastern Europe to the United
States in the earlier part of
the century, the new arrivals
were quick to set up mutual
and self-help organizations,
known as landsmanschaften.
Their program ranged all the
way from social activity to
establishment of loan funds
and creation of their own
cemeteries. In their day they
performed a vital service in
easing the integration of the
immigrants into American
life.
Immigrants to Israel have
in recent years followed much
the same pattern. Jews from
Central Europe, largely
refugees from Nazism, set up
a body to help each other, and
the result became banks,
homes for the elderly and
even a political party.

There was
insistence that
members continue
their agitation for
causes of civic
interest.

There is an Association of
British Settlers, an organiza-
tion of Latin American olim,
a South African organization,
and most recently, no less
than a dozen different (and
sometimes competing) bodies
of immigrants from the Soviet
Union.
The largest, best organized
and most influential of all is
the Association of Americans
and Canadians in Israel
(AACI), which recently had
its annual convention.
Delegates represented 19,000
adult dues-paying members,
organized in chapters and
regions all over the country.
There are many, many more
Americans in Israel who are
not formally affiliated with
the AACI.
One of the controversial
currents at the sessions was
a proposal which would have
weakened the constitutional
provision that the association
is "non-partisan and non-
political." The change was not
adopted. The policy of
avoiding any political affilia-
tion or identification has been
the strength of the organiza-
tion in a country where
political partisanship is a na-
tional disease. Yet that policy

An outsider may have
detected a note of elitism in
the general mood. "We Make
a Difference," could well have
become the slogan of the con-
vention and of the association
as a whole. The delegates
were in effect affirming:
We North Americans who
now live in Israel make a dif-
ference because we bring to
Israel the spirit and mood of
American democracy. We
make a difference because of
the American spirit of
volunteerism for civic causes.
We make a difference because
we have the ability to pull fac-
tions together and work
together.-
And, indeed, the Americans
here display a unique spirit of
enthusiasm in everything
they undertake — with
energy and sometimes a
naive faith that others share
their enthusiasm and
sincerity.
Even in their resistance to
permitting a thin blade of
politicization to enter the
association, there was all-
around insistence that the
members continue their
agitation for causes of civic
interest. They will continue
to promote reform of the
health system, combat air
pollution, fight road ac-
cidents, agitate for a constitu-
tion or for revision of the elec-
toral system. The Americans
here are constantly seeking
to improve the quality of life.
Attention was given to em-
barrassing internal problems:
How to retain immigrants
who throw in the sponge and
go back to America? There
was much talk of "cultural
shock" and how to cope with
a new and different kind of
life. Many Americans are
drawn to a highly romanticiz-
ed picture of life in the kib-
butz, and then can't make the
grade. Perhaps there should
be more information and ad-
vice for small entrepreneurs:
how to go into business in
Israel.
The dominant spirit was:
How can we help each other,
and then, how can we con-
vince our friends and
relatives to come here?

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354-6060

has not prevented individual
Americans from entering the
mainstream of Israeli politics,
like Golda Meir for Labor,
Moshe Arens in Herut and
the previous national presi-
dent of the AACI, Hank Skir-
ball, in Shulamit Aloni's
Citizens Rights Movement.

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