Holiday
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Israel's Sela Program
Helps Student Orphans
SHARONA MARCOVITCH
Special to The Jewish News
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difficult saying good-
bye to my parents," recalled
Dimitry Bersbn, a 17-year-
old student from Moscow,
who is enrolled in the Jewish Agency
for Israel Sela program. The Jewish
Agency is the main overseas beneficia-
ry of the Allied Jewish Campaign.
"They insisted I come but I could
see it was really painful for them to
see me go. They persuaded me that it
was time for me to leave Russia.
They said there is anti-Semitism and
there is crime. They convinced me
that I would get much better educa-
tion in Israel."
Mr. Berson is one of 82 students
residing at the Jewish Agency's Ibim
Student Village near Sderot in the
Northern Negev. Sela is a Hebrew
acronym for "Students in Israel
Without Parents." Participants are all
high school graduates from the for-
mer Soviet Union who want to fur-
ther their studies and who are pre-
pared to make aliyah in advance of
their families.
Despite their own disbelief in the
future of Russia, it does not seem
likely that Mr. Berson's parents will
follow him to Israel in the near
future. But a lot depends on how well
Mr. Berson succeeds in meeting his
parent's expectations.
Mr. Berson is attending an eight-
month course at Ibim, which began
with a four-month basic Hebrew
ulpan, followed by a four month pre-
academic preparation program at near-
by Sha'ar HaNegev Regional College.
Mr. Berson acknowledged that he
became "a bit depressed and home-
sick" after his first six weeks away
from home, but that soon passed.
"The winter sunshine is really uplift-
ing when I think about the cold in
Moscow. And I've made some really
good friends at Ibim."
Gadi Zohar, the coordinator of the
Sela program at Ibim, is optimistic
about Mr. Berson's future in Israel.
Based on his experience since the pro-
gram began one year ago, Mr. Zohar
is confident that Berson and his
Colleagues will fulfill the expectations
of the Jewish Agency program.
Mr. Berson, who plans to study
business administration at Tel Aviv
University after he concludes the Sela
program at Ibim, is already infatuated
with his new surroundings.
Sharona Marcovitch writes for the
United Jewish Appeal.
Dimitry Berson
"Israel is much more attractive
country than I anticipated," explained
Mr. Berson. "I hope my parents will
follow the advice they gave me. Israel
is the real future of the Jewish people."
No-Shot
Flu Vaccine
The world's first influenza vaccine in
the form of nose drops has been
found safe and effective and is in the
process of being approved by the
United States Food and Drug
Administration and other govern-
ment bodies.
The vaccine has been tested on 51
medical students, 24 of them given
one dose and others two doses. None
suffered side effects, and a single dose
was enough to provide immunity. the
successful clinical trials were
announced by Professor Zichria
Zakay-Rones, a senior virologist at the
Hebrew University-Hadassah School
of Medicine, who headed a team that
has worked on the new vaccine deliv-
ery system for six years.
Developing the flu vaccine was a
complex procedure, using three cur-
rent strains of killed flu virus that can
be absorbed effectively through the
mucous membranes, instead of going
directly into the blood stream.
In conventional flu vaccine, virus
<
antibodies are created and remain pri-
marily in the blood; this only pro-
vides partial protection because the
virus first enters the body via the res-
piratory system, where it begins to
multiply.
— WZPS