Zionist Caravan Seen by 7 Million in 21 Communities in Nine States

The Israel Scene Mobile, also known as the Zionist Caravan, on information and aliya project conducted by five former Americans now living in Israel, concluded its hectic tour of 21 communities in nine states, in the course of 35 days. It began its activities with a Washington, D. C. send-off calls and finished its circuit here and was seen by an estimated seven million people.

“I think we have broken through certain old barriers in the concept of ‘shlichut’ or the sending of emissaries from Israel, to spread the Zionist message,” Charley Levine, project director, said. “Most visiting Israelis go to the larger cities. We went to the small to medium range Jewish communities.

“Most Israelis come to raise funds or to work on specific projects. We came to do something completely different — to discuss what Zionism is all about, and to discuss the joys and challenges of living in Israel.”

Levine, 28, moved to Jerusalem over two years ago where he presently serves as director for North America of the World-Zionist Organization information department, a principal sponsor of the Zionist Caravan. He was formerly the director for Zionist public relations with Hadassah in America.

Bobby Brown, project co-director, agreed with Levine’s contention: “It is a much more natural, sensible approach when emissaries iron Israel can directly relate and speak in the some partance as the people who come to hear them. The audience looks up and says, ‘Hey, these are American Jews just like me, not foreigners so to speak’ — then the aliya and information message we want to get across is that much more indelibly inscribed.”

Brown, 29, moved to Israel in 1978 and works as the head of the WZO’s aliya movement English-speaking division. He also serves as the Mayor of Tekoah, a new settlement which he helped found a few years ago.

TIRING BUT REWARDING EXPERIENCE

The Caravan brought not only speakers to the communities it visited, but an exciting array of short and full length films, audio-visual presentations, exhibits and printed literature. It remained in each community for one to three days, often operating from 8 A.M. until 11 P.M.

“It was a tiring but very rewarding experience,” said Levine. “We demonstrated the very real need for Israelis to visit this type of town. We selected the south for this initial swing, but with any luck the Caravan will become a permanent feature of the Jewish calendar in many other parts of the country.”

Typically, the Caravan would meet with the Mayor of each town shortly after arrival, whom they would present with a gift book from the Mayor of Jerusalem. This event usually attracted media coverage, which was later fleshed out into full-scale TV, radio and newspaper coverage during the group’s remaining time in the community.

Simultaneously the Caravan would present programming for all kinds of audiences: Zionist organizations, meetings with prospective olim, day schools and Jewish community centers, communal leadership briefings, campuses and churches. “We were especially pleased that there was absolutely no resistance to the concept of aliya,” Brown said. “We thought that perhaps some people might still object to the very nation of talking to Jews about the opportunities of living in Israel. On the contrary, we found interest and genuine curiosity everywhere we went — we also did the unthinkable in explaining the aliya challenge to Christian audiences so that they might understand our Jewish motivations for returning to the Land of Israel. This was the Bible Belt we were in and believe me, they were very receptive to this message.

“In fact, Charley appeared on one particular interview show that reached over three million people and gave a straight aliya message, and stations were getting scores of calls — not to question our presence on the airwaves but to find out more about Israel.”

WARM, DEEP APPRECIATION OF ISRAEL

“We found a much warmer, much deeper appreciation of Israel and our role in international affairs than we initially anticipated,” Levine added, “We expected, frankly, to find resistance to our positions here and there, but it just didn’t materialize. We found only good will and personal experiences from the hundreds of thousands of people who have already been to visit Israel and want to keep their ties with it fresh. We were on a number of call-in radio shows and did not even get one hostile question.”

The Caravan is sponsored by the WZO information department with the support of the WZO aliya department. In the U.S. it was coordinated by the American Zionist Federation with back-up sponsorship by the B’nai B’rith, North American Jewish Students Network. Israel aliya centers. North American aliyah movement and other national organizations.

“It is a difficult project to evaluate in terms of success,” Levine suggested. “But if numbers mean anything, I think we did a remarkable job. We spoke to 6000 people face-to-face, and reached 7.5 million others through TV, radio and newspaper coverage of the Caravan. We met with 18 Mayors and countless civic and religious leaders. And we did not mince words. We told them all that Israel is the best and only reliable friend the U.S. has in the entire Middle East — and we told our fellow Jews that everything they do to help Israel counts, but nothing so much as coming to live with us.”