A major step in the organization of a national council of Jewish community leaders working toward increased aliya from North America was achieved this week with the formation of Regional Aliya Councils in Detroit and Miami.
The establishment of these two Regional Councils is a result of a National Aliya Planning Conference which took place in New York on March 2 when Pinhas Sapir, chairman of the Jewish Agency and the World Zionist Organization Executives, approached the American Jewish community to undertake the responsibility for American aliya.
The conferences in Detroit, attended by 111 delegates, and in Miami by 96 delegates, included workshops on the viability of aliya for American Jews, methods of education so as to create a fertile atmosphere for aliya, and ways to facilitate aliya for American olim. There were also discussions with recent olim and American Jews who are planning to learn their experiences and views on aliya. The Regional Aliya Councils, once formed, will offer a continuity of programming for aliya in the local Jewish communities, and offer assistance to aliya offices.
Plans are now in progress for the establishment of Regional Aliya Council in Cleveland, Montreal, San Francisco, Washington, D.C. St. Louis, Seattle, and Los Angeles in the near future.
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