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GURI GROSSMAN
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Special to The Jewish News
imona, Israel —
the decorative
and protective
ironwork on the
windows of the
Dimona Music Conservatory
reveal a Bach concerto. But
the real music comes from in-
side the Conservatory, which
is staffed almost entirely by
new immigrants to Israel —
most from the Soviet Union.
Anna Smolier, for example,
emigrated from the Soviet
Union with her husband, two
children and her parents. The
extended family began its
new life of freedom in the
Jewish Agency Absorption
Center in Dimona. Since its
establishment, Israel has ab-
sorbed 1.8 million im-
migrants with the help of the
> Jewish Agency, funded by
American Jews through the
'---)
Ap-
Jewish
/— United
peal/Federation Campaign.
Anna almost immediately
found work teaching at the
Dimona Music Conservatory,
where she discovered that the
level of musical studies in
Israel through her participa-
tion in a local chamber music
trio.
The Conservatory, an essen-
tial element in the cultural
life of this desert development
town in Israel's Arava region,
- was built with funding pro-
vided by Project Renewal.
Yossie Hartman, an im-
migrant from Romania,
directs the Conservatory. He
is proud of his facilities and
his staff of 21, of whom 18 are
immigrants from the Soviet
Union.
The 460 Dimona youngsters
who study at the Conser-
vatory are taught recorder,
saxophone, clarinet, cello,
violin, piano, mandolin and
> /
organ by teachers who main-
tain high standards and use
modern equipment. In fact,
computers are now used to
assist the youngsters in lear-
ning musical scales. The Con-
servatory is especially proud
of its two students who
returned to Dimona as
teachers after they completed
advanced music studies.
Soviet Jews are using their
talent and skills in many dif-
ferent fields in Israel, in-
cluding the arts. Today, there
are approximately 2,200
Soviet musicians in Israel;
500 are teaching music.
Some of those who have im-
migrated had visited Israel
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Making music in Israel has
become a song of freedom
for Soviet immigrants.
earlier as part of Jewish
Agency sponsored tours.
Reeva Motzachen is one of
these. She recently im-
migrated to Israel from Vilna
with her son and daughter-in-
law and their two children.
Reeva knew little about Israel
before she came as a tourist.
Tourism to Israel is not a
simple matter for the average
Russian Jew. The process is
difficult and the cost of the
ticket represents an average
of two years' savings.
Approximately 30 tourists
arrive in Israel daily from
Russia, as well as from the
Caucasus, Bukhara, Georgia
and Kazakhstan. They do not
come in organized groups, but
arrive singly or in families
and are met by relatives at
Ben-Gurion Airport.
Each month approximately
1,000 Soviet tourists request
Jewish Agency tours and
about one-third of the par-
ticipants have requested a se-
cond, follow-up tour.
Participants on the tours
are often astounded to find
that food is plentiful, the land
beautiful and jobs available.
They are surprised at the
wide selection of goods in the
stores and at what they
regard as an almost excess of
democracy.
Henya Goldene, who works
for the Jewish Agency and is
herself a former new im-
migrant from Russia, recent-
ly accompanied a group of
Soviet Jewish tourists as they
travelled in Israel.
"For me, this was a tour of
self-discovery," Henya ex-
plained. "For the par-
ticipants, this was an oppor-
tunity to see how many
misconceptions they had
about Israel before they
came."
Before tourism to Israel was
possible for Russian Jews,
they were forced to rely on let-
ters from friends and
relatives living in Israel for
information about daily life.
As these letters tended to be
full of the trials of everyday
life, Israel did not always look
especially attractive. But as
Reeva's son Alexander said,
"When you get to Israel, you
see that the reality is much
better than it seems on Rus-
sian television or even than it
seems in letters."
Reality today for the Mot-
zachen family is Hebrew
studies at their absorption
center. When that is behind
them they can start to search
for work. ❑
United Jewish Appeal
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
109