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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