26 | OCTOBER 14 • 2021 

ERETZ

W

e were stuck in the 
U.S. for months 
after our wed-
ding,
” says Zach Herschfus, 
formerly of Southfield. “But 
once Maureen got involved, we 
knew we were in good hands. 
She knew the best way to work 
within the system and managed 
to get us back to Israel.
”
Herschfus and his new bride, 
Sabine, are just two of many 
individuals who have been 
locked out of Israel due to the 
COVID-19 pandemic. The 
Israeli government has iden-
tified new strains coming in 
through Ben Gurion Airport 
and has done its best to keep the 
infection under control by shut-
ting down tourism — much to 
the chagrin of family members 
of olim and other Israelis who 
haven’t seen their families since 
before March 2020.
Since this past April, Maureen 
Ash, formerly of Michigan, has 
been helping people all over the 
world get to Israel to see their 
families or to simply go home. 
 Anyone who is not an Israeli 
citizen, Herschfus included, 
cannot simply travel back and 
forth to Israel these days. You 
need special approval (an Ishur) 
to travel, and Maureen knows 
how to help you get one.

HELPING UNITE FAMILIES
At the beginning of the pan-
demic, for many months, no 

one was traveling to Israel 
unless they had a first-degree 
relative’s wedding; a birth, bar 
mitzvah or bat mitzvah of a 
grandchild; a child who was a 
Lone Soldier in active duty; or 
a funeral. And you had to apply 
through the U.S. [AZ1] consul-
ate in those days. Israelis started 
complaining that they couldn’t 
see their relatives.
Former MK Michal Cotler-
Wunsh was the voice of the 
olim in Israel and got involved 
in helping them get their fam-
ilies to Israel for a visit. The 
Ministry of the Interior posted 
on its website that you could 
get an Ishur through its office, 
and once that hit social media, 
the ministry was flooded with 
requests for family members’ 
Ishurim. This past July, the 
requests were switched to an 
online portal.
Ash works around the clock 
to help people get their Ishurim. 
Gail Berkove says, “
After I 
submitted my initial paper-
work, someone told me about 
Maureen. I sent her what I had 
submitted, and she found an 
error that I was able to easily 
correct. Once I sent in the cor-
rected paperwork, I was able to 
get my Ishur three days before I 
left for Israel. Judging from sto-
ries I have heard, my acceptance 
was received in record time!”
Jill Greenbaum’s experience 
was a bit different. She was able 

to file on her own, she says, but 
she did get a tremendous educa-
tion from Maureen’s WhatsApp 
group. The wealth of infor-
mation that was shared about 
peoples’ experiences prior to her 
filing was invaluable. She hadn’t 
seen her son Avi, a recent Lone 
Soldier, in 15 months, and she 
was grateful for the help she got 
in securing her Ishur.
There are many different rea-
sons for people to want to visit 
Israel during this time. Joanne 
Lorkis’ son got married in 
August. “Maureen was incred-
ibly helpful,
” Lorkis says. “She 
held our hands the whole way 
through and helped with advice 
and paperwork to get many 
family members to Israel. We 
even called her from the airport 
when they told me I was miss-
ing something!”
There have been some 
unusual situations, each with its 
own nuance, that have had to be 
addressed. 
“I had a couple call and say 

that they wanted to go to their 
grandson’s bar mitzvah, but 
their son had died and now they 
didn’t have a first-degree relative 
living in Israel. I sent them to 
the Israeli Consulate in Miami, 
and they explained everything 
and got their Ishur.
”
Former MK Dov Lipman 
started the NGO Yad L
’Olim to 
help olim navigate any kind of 
Israeli bureaucracy, including 
getting their relatives to Israel. 
Ash and Ariella Bernstein, 
who both work for Yad L
’Olim, 
are the dream team for those 
who are applying for Ishurim. 
Bernstein lives in Israel and 
Ash is in Chicago, so they work 
a combined 24 hours a day to 
help as many people as they 
can.
Greenbaum is grateful for 
them: “No words can describe 
the energy and effort they have 
put into this. It’s a very stressful 
process to get the Ishur, and my 
heart goes out to anyone who 
doesn’t get one.
” 

Yad L’Olim is helping olim and family 
travel to Israel during the pandemic.

Getting to Israel 
– One ‘Ishur’ 
at a Time

AVIVA ZACKS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Jill Greenbaum 
is greeted in 
Israel by her 
son Avi.

