February 2020 - Page 3 of 3 - 100 Heartbeats

New logo for Keren Hayesod’s centennial

Posted on February 9, 2020July 29, 2021 by idoz

2020 marked 100 years since the establishment of Keren Hayesod. In honor of this festive occasion, Yaacov Agam, the greatest Israeli and Jewish artist alive today, was chosen to design and create a new logo. The new logo shows a beautiful, colorful rainbow floating above a Magen David, the Star of David. According to the artist, the rainbow and the Magen David represent the values of Keren Hayesod – support for Israel and the Jewish people. Agam says that the rainbow, with its nine colors, was created from red feminine strength and blue masculine strength. It is a symbol of defense and protection, from which unity and prosperity derive. Agam expanded further on his choice of a rainbow: “The rainbow is one of the most ancient and universal symbols in the Bible and in Jewish art, representing the blessing of peace bestowed upon creation by God after the destruction caused by the great flood. The rainbow is made up of different colors, and yet they all coexist in harmony, creating beauty and strength out of togetherness”. The logo has been incorporated into Keren Hayesod’s centennial celebrations, and is used in recognition awards and souvenirs of this special year.

Photo: Logo for Keren Hayesod’s centennial celebrations designed by artist Yaacov Agam

Keren Hayesod World Conference – opportunity to meet, to listen, and to make decisions

Posted on February 8, 2020July 29, 2021 by idoz

150 delegates from 40 countries participated in the first Keren Hayesod World Conference, held on December 20, 1960 in Jerusalem. President Itzhak Ben-Zvi and Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion delivered greetings. Various figures were presented: $700 million – the amount raised by Keren Hayesod since the birth of the state, the absorption of 970,000 immigrants and the establishment of 485 settlements in the previous 12 years alone. The Conference passed a series of resolutions, among them the establishment of a 24-member World Council and a target of raising a billion dollars in the next decade. Since then, Keren Hayesod’s annual World Conference has become a tradition. The encounters among different delegates enabled Keren Hayesod to adapt to new times that require new methods of action, to continue to accommodate itself to new periods and to successfully move new initiatives forward . Once a year, hundreds of delegates from different countries and continents gather in one place, listen to each other, exchange ideas and discuss Keren Hayesod’s modus operandi. And who knows? Perhaps they also make new friends or find potential mates.

Photo: The first Keren Hayesod World Conference in Jerusalem, December 20, 1960

The massive aliyah from the Soviet Union and the special Exodus fundraising campaign

Posted on February 7, 2020July 29, 2021 by idoz

From the 1970s and until the beginning of the 2000s, over a million olim came to Israel from Soviet countries. 160,000 Jews came from the USSR in the first part of the wave of aliyah, but the largest number came in the 1990s, following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The vast number of immigrants who arrived during this period changed the history of the state. In 1990, the question was how to deal with 30,000 new immigrants a month. Keren Hayesod and the Jewish Agency for Israel faced a serious challenge. Planning, along with complicated and complex logistical organization in Russia, Europe and Israel, was needed. A special fundraising initiative – the Exodus Campaign – was launched, with spectacular results. In just three years, world Jewry donated over half a billion dollars, enabling the massive number of immigrants to be successfully absorbed and socially integrated, to find employment and to learn Hebrew.

To watch the full movie

Photo: Olim from the USSR arriving in Israel,1999

First rescue operation bringing Iraqi Jews to Israel – Operation Michaelberg

Posted on February 6, 2020August 3, 2021 by idoz

On the night of Wednesday, August 20, 1947, a small American C-46 (“Commando”) transport plane landed in the airport in Baghdad. The airport was deserted. A single person emerged from the plane, Shlomo Hillel – a member of the Mossad LeAliyah Bet, who stole into the capital to organize the first group of olim to be flown from Iraq to Israel. The plan was for 50 immigrants to break into the airport, which was surrounded by guard dogs, go through a small breach in the fence, lie on the ground until the plane approached them while warming up its engines and then run to the plane, which would fly to Israel. The pilots were two American World War II veterans, who offered their services for the clandestine operations. Organizing the olim into small, covert groups was not easy, and the operation was sensitive and dangerous. Shlomo Hillel, later world chairman of Keren Hayesod, describes the operation as truly life-threatening. It was precisely executed with great success, and the plane bearing the first immigrants landed safely in a temporary landing field near Yavne’el, several hours after taking off from Baghdad. Two similar operations were subsequently carried out, one from Italy and the second, once again from Baghdad. This was the first time that the Hagana’s Mossad LeAliyah Bet, under the sponsorship of the Jewish Agency for Israel, carried out a secret, dangerous air rescue operation from a hostile country. Since then, the Jewish Agency for Israel and Keren Hayesod have executed many clandestine aliyah operations in hostile, distant countries, under difficult conditions. In 2017, 70 years after the rescue, a plane that was identical to the one that participated in the rescue operation was brought to Israel in a special ceremony, to which some of the rescued Jews were invited, along with Shlomo Hillel and other leaders of the operation. The plane was placed on display at the Atlit Detention Camp.

Photo: A plane that is identical to the one in Operation Michaelberg at the Atlit Detention Camp

11 Points Operation – settlement of the Negev

Posted on February 5, 2020July 29, 2021 by idoz

How did it happen that the largest and most complex settlement operation until then took place in one day, with 11 new settlements established in the Negev? The answer is vision, faith and meticulous planning. At night, after the end of Yom Kippur in 1946, a convoy of trucks travelled the dirt roads of the Negev in complete secrecy. The following morning, the Jewish Yishuv awoke in amazement: 11 new settlements had been established in an impossible region, under almost impossible conditions. But the challenge did not end there. The new settlements, which were established with the support of Keren Hayesod, had to survive for a while without a source of water or a means of livelihood. Within a year, however, they were connected to the first water pipeline to the Negev – and the rest is history. Today, too, Keren Hayesod continues to help strengthen communities in the Negev, such as Dimona, Yeruham, Beersheba, Netivot, Sderot and the Gaza border communities.

Keren Hayesod contributes to the security of residents of the South and enhances their quality of life

Posted on February 4, 2020July 29, 2021 by idoz

Seeking shelter in just 15 seconds has become routine for thousands of Israelis! 2014. The Gaza Strip is ablaze. Dozens of barrages of missiles fall on Israel’s South. The alarms sound continuously. Men, women and children are trapped in safe rooms, forced to spend days and nights there. Their lives are on hold. The range of the missiles has increased over the years, turning into a tangible threat to more and more Israelis. In response to the increasing distress, Keren Hayesod sets up 350 mobile shelters near kindergartens, schools and agricultural fields, and works on renovating and renewing 400 shelters. Keren Hayesod helps enhance the safety of the residents of the South in an effort to restore their daily routine and improve their quality of life.

Photo: Mobile shelter in Netivot.

Absorption centers – new immigrants’ first step in Israel!

Posted on February 3, 2020July 29, 2021 by idoz

To ensure a soft landing after a long ship or plane trip, in December 1967, the first absorption center was opened in the town of Arad, not far from the picturesque Sodom Mountains. Although Hebrew language ulpanim for new immigrants already existed, the massive waves of immigration required a framework to address the new immigrants’ needs. Within two years, a further 12 absorption centers were established in Haifa, Ashdod and Karmiel and many other places around the country. At their height, there were 50 absorption centers. Today with the assistance of Keren Hayesod and the Jewish Agency for Israel, 23 absorption centers operate throughout Israel. The new immigrants learn Hebrew, receive employment training and acquire the tools needed to integrate into a modern, vibrant society. New immigrants who choose not to go to absorption centers have the option of alternative absorption packages with various benefits and possibilities to help ease their transition. Since the establishment of the state, Keren Hayesod has helped over 3 million Jews make aliyah. One third of them have passed through the absorption centers. Not bad for 50 years.

Photo: Etzion Immigrants House in Jerusalem, where Hebrew was taught, 1950

Sign over the door: Jewish Agency for Israel, Department of Absorption, Etzion Immigrants House, Jerusalem

Border settlements booklet reviews activities for Keren Hayesod donors

Posted on February 2, 2020July 29, 2021 by idoz

In the 1950s, in an attempt to cope with and prepare appropriately for the enormous waves of anticipated aliyah to Israel, dozens of settlements were established, even in the more remote peripheral areas along Israel’s borders. Keren Hayesod was involved in bringing the new immigrants to Israel, absorbing them and helping them establish new settlements. In the mid-1950s, the situation of the border settlements was very bad. In addition to the challenging economic situation, the residents were vulnerable to attacks by terrorists who infiltrated from the bordering Arab countries. In order to strengthen the settlement enterprise, Keren Hayesod published a special booklet entitled Border Settlements at Work and in Defense, which was distributed in a number of languages to Keren Hayesod emissaries around the world. The booklet, which included many photographs, told the story of the settlements and explained in detail the need to strengthen them. Publication of the booklet helped raised money for the border settlements and helped to strengthen them.

Photo: From Border Settlements at Work and in Defense, published by Keren Hayesod, 1955

Esther Tafara – the story of a new immigrant (olah) from Ethiopia

Posted on February 1, 2020July 29, 2021 by idoz

Esther Tafara, chief technician at the new Heart Cath Lab suite in Hadassah Hospital Mt. Scopus, is one of the thousands of Ethiopian olim who came to Israel with the support of Keren Hayesod. Her journey to Israel is almost unbelievable. At the age of six, she moved with her family from the village in which she grew up to the city of Addis Ababa, where they waited for the right moment to come to Israel. That moment arrived three years later, when Esther was nine. She was put on a plane to Israel with a family she did not know. She recalls that she was afraid to close her eyes during the flight, lest she be left behind. When she landed in Israel, she was taken in by family members who had come through Sudan in Operation Moses. She finished elementary school, high school and an undergraduate degree, and worked at Hadassah Ein Kerem for 14 years before being offered her new prestigious position. Esther is just one of hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Ethiopia who came to Israel with the help of Keren Hayesod, which continues to support the aliyah of Jews from Ethiopia.

Photo: Esther Tafara at work in Hadassah Hospital, Mt. Scopus, 2019