The children of yordim–Israelis who have settled permanently abroad–are often the key to prompting their families to return to Israel, according to Absorption Ministry official Yosef Kuchik. At present there are about 40,500 children of yordim living in the U.S. 75 percent of them born there, and approximately a third live in New York City.
The figures, contained in survey conducted for the Absorption Ministry by the Central Bureau of Statistics, were made public by Kuchik Wednesday, They are based in part on U.S. Census Bureau data.
The survey found that in 1980 there were 34,500 households in the U.S. and Canada in which at least one spouse was Israel-born. Only 15,400 of them had children under the age of 20.
Kuchik said that past experience showed that yordim return to Israel out of concern for their childrens’ future Israeli identity and because many of the children want to come back to Israel. Kuchik heads the Ministry’s efforts to encourage yordim to return.
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