Urgent action to help Israel absorb the tens of thousands of Soviet Jews beginning to arrive there has just been announced by the State of Israel Bonds Organization and by Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America.
Hadassah has allocated $1 million for a wide range of absorption needs.
The Bonds Organization’s aim is to help Israel build housing and create jobs for the Soviet Jewish immigrants.
The announcement by Bonds’ North American chairman, William Belzberg, cited reports of a dangerous rise of anti-Semitism in the USSR.
The organization will launch an emergency effort to convince investors of $10,000 or more to purchase bonds immediately, to provide loan funds to Israel for the absorption of Soviet emigres.
That will be followed during the Passover season in April by Operation Aliyah, a special mass campaign, to be conducted in synagogues all over the United States and Canada, for bond subscriptions to help Israel’s absorption effort.
Hadassah’s special allocation, approved at the midwinter meetings of its national board, was announced by Carmela Efros Kalmanson, the group’s national president. It will provide for a wide range of programs in career counseling and vocational retraining.
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