Cover Story
Returning To Zion
The Fisher family of Southfield fulfills a family legacy to make aliyah,
with help from the Nefesh B'Nefesh program.
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YEHOSHUA HALEVI
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Special to the Jewish News
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Jerusalem
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Dr. Moshe and Nessia Fisher and their four children: twins Elisheva and Avigail, 8, Yoni, 3, and Ariel, 5.
ighty years ago, Moshe Eliezer Fischer
stepped off a boat at the port of Jaffa,
concluding a long journey from
Hungary. He had fled persecution to
begin life anew in Palestine.
No bands, no diplomats and no journalists greeted
his arrival. He carried only a few possessions, along
with his hopes and dreams for building the Jewish
homeland. The British officials granting him entry
offered no assistance to help him acclimate to his
new environment and forced him to Anlicize his
name by dropping the "c."
Fisher headed north to clear the swamps in the
Galilee, but fell sick with malaria. The illness forced
him to go to Jerusalem to recover. There, he met his
future wife, Leah, and the couple later lived in the
Old City with their two children. Following the
Arab riots of 1929, the family settled into an apart-
ment in the center of the city. Then, in the early
morning hours of Feb. 22, 1948, Fisher stepped out
onto his balcony overlooking Ben-Yehuda Street just
as a large explosion was detonated in the street
below. He was killed along with 49 others.
Last week, a different kind of journey with a simi-
lar purpose began for 400 North American immi-
grants participating in the inaugural flight of Nefesh
B'Nefesh (Souls United). Among the 103 families
who arrived at Ben-Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv was
Yehoshua Halevi is a writer and photojournalist in
Efrat, Israel.
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