What do Ariel Sharon’s neurosurgeon, last year’s Israeli Nobel Prize winner and my seven-year-old daughter have in common?  They all speak English, but only one of them was born in Israel, and she’s just in the first grade.

Learning how to speak English may seem natural to the English-speaking parent of an Israeli child, but many a Floridian Bubby will tell you, “Oy, he’s so cute, but what did he say?”  Getting a new generation of Israelis to speak (and read and write in) English has turned out to be a difficult task.

I made aliya nine years ago. As I struggled with new customs, new language and new social cues, I was content with the knowledge that my as yet unborn children would not have these problems.  I was secure in my belief that they would also speak English with native flair and produce lovely grade school compositions just as I had done.

Imagine my consternation when my darling two-year-old didn’t seem to know any English words. She could understand me, but where were her flowing sentences in English?

English-speaking immigrants with children must ask themselves three basic questions:
1)    Why is English literacy important for my children?
2)    Can they be taught to speak English at a native level rather then as a second language, like other Israeli born children?
3)    How do I get them to speak?

English literacy is crucial in Israel’s current economy.  In our global economy, Israeli companies need English-speaking workers to succeed. Intel, the computer chip company, is a case in point. They received 1.1 billion U.S. dollars from the Israeli government to build an additional plant here..  Although Intel has brought increased revenue and jobs to the city of Kiryat Gat, most of the employees do not come from within the development town.  Yehuda Gradus, director of the Negev Center for Regional Development at Ben Gurion University of the Negev told the Jerusalem Post, “Intel jobs can only be provided to those who are trained, have the necessary education and speak English.”   Kiryat Gat’s citizens just don’t have the English skills to enter the hi-tech world.

Providing your child with English literacy is a necessity.

“Okay, my child understands me when I speak English,” you think.  “She has a good base.  She’ll do fine in school. We don’t need to worry about English.”  That’s the first mistake.  Many native English speakers honestly believe that somehow their children will learn English skills by osmosis.

your child English as a second language, as a foreigner, can certainly be done within the confines of the public educational system.  Teaching your child English close to the level of his English-speaking peers cannot be accomplished this way.  More investment is needed. I believe that every parent owes this to their child.  I have worked with too many children who struggle with English, who hate every moment of the experience and can’t wait to pass the exemption course (if they’ve made it that far) so that they never have to think about English again. I gently try and remind them that English is everywhere, in their textbooks, in academic journals and on the Internet.

So my child understands English, but her skills are limited.  What can I do?  I can’t make her learn English.  AHA!  The second mistake.  Of course I’m not recommending that you lock your child in a closet until they answer you only in English, but there is a great deal that you can do to encourage your child to speak/read/write in English. Below is a list of 9 things that I have learned over the years from Gaila Morrison, director of A.H.A.V.A., an Israeli nonprofit that promotes English literacy:

1) Read your children English books – Lacking a good English public library system here means that you may have to beg, steal or borrow them, but it is worth it.

2) Only speak English to your children – Many new immigrants are so proud of their growing Hebrew vocabulary that they pepper their conversation with Hebrew words. When in English, stay in English.

3)  Don’t respond to them unless they reply to you in English – This reaffirms the old adage ‘You have to be cruel to be kind’.  I know my children think I have a serious hearing loss because I say, “What’s that you said?” until they repeat their statement in English.

4)  You must maintain a serious attitude regarding the importance of English – To quote my friend, Gaila, “your kid would rather watch TV or play soccer than do English.  Any normal kid would.”  Your job is to give them little choice about the matter. English is a given, just as is going to school or looking both ways when crossing the street.

9) Sign them up for English lessons- If you’ve been speaking English to your children then they certainly have a head start but they will need reinforcement in writing and reading.

As with many of life’s challenges, maintaining English in your home is an active choice that must be implemented and maintained if it is to be successful.  We must believe that we are helping our children and attempt to ignore the “NO’s” as much as possible.  The other day I told my little first grader, my future Nobel Prize winner/neurosurgeon Israeli, how one day she’s going to get down on her knees and thank me for teaching her English.  A raised eyebrow of doubt was her only response.

Published originally in ESRA Magazine www.esramag.com
The English Language Community Magazine in Israel.

Aviva Yoselis is director of development for Amutat A.H.A.V.A.  For more information about getting your children to speak/read/write in English, feel free to contact her at yoselis@netvision.net.il.

JERUSALEM

OLD CITY
8:00pm Prayers @ the Kotel
8:45pm Festive Dinner
11:15pm Holy Cow! Eating Dairy and Shavuot, Rabbi David Abromovits
12:30am (@ Chalonei Rokea) Shavuot & the Self-Help Craze: Paving the Path to Personal Perfection w/Rabbi Abba Wagensberg
2:00am Men – A Taste of Yeshiva
Women – Shavuot: Biblical, Rabbinic, and Kabbalistic with Chana Deutsch
3:15am Education and the Male-Female Dynamic Eli Deutsch
4:30am Sunrise Minyan @ the Kotel followed by Coffee & Cake
Location: 17 Bet El Street, Old City, Jerusalem

NACHLAOT
Va’ani Tefilah
11:30pm-dawn Study circles in search of the personal and national connection with Torah. Hosted by Israelight and (Hebrew)- Rav Raz Hartman, Rav Aaron Leibowitz and others
Location: Rechov Aryeh Levine opposite R’ Aryeh Levine’s house

Kol Rina & Isralight
11:30pm-dawn Study circles in search of the personal and national connection with Torah. By Rabbi David Aaron
Location: Kol Rina, in the bomb shelter, Rechov Be’er Sheva Nachlaot
Contact: R’ Aaron Leibowitz 054-469-0330

RECHAVIA
Beit Knesset Mayanot together w/ Yeshivat Simchat Shlomo
at Mayanot Shul (28 Narkis Street)
11:45-12:45am A Revolution in Jewish Thought
Understanding the Maharal’s impact on Jewish Thought w/ R’ Yaakov Moshe Poupko
12:50-1:50 am L’Chaim: The Torah of Joy/ The Baal HaTanya explains the importance and the secret of joy w/ R’ Sholom Brodt
2:00-3:00 am A New Torah will come forth from Me! Indeed? Strange Midrashim that shed light on the essentials of Judaism w/ R’ Shlomo Gestetner
3:00-4:00am Farbrengun: Join Rabbi Eli Levine for a farbrengun and prepare for Matan Torah
with song, stories and Torah insights.
4.00 am Walk to Kotel for Shachrit!
For more info please call Tali at 02 623 6563
or email: tali@mayanotisrael.com

BAKA/TALPIOT
Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies
11:00pm-12:30am Dr. Avivah Zornberg: ”The Unknown Woman: Becoming Ruth”
12:45-1:30am Rabbi David Levin-Kruss: “In Praise of Envy, Adultery and Disobeying One’s Parents:The 10 Commandments Revisited”
1:45-2:45am Yaffa Epstein and Rabbi Jon Kelsen: “A Compelling Torah: Theological and Halakhic Perspectives”
3:00-4:15am Daniel Landes, Rosh HaYeshiva: “Can Conversions be Revoked?”
Air-conditioned, shabbat elevator available
Location: 29 Pierre Koenig (corner of Rivka)
Contact: 02-673-5210, http://www.pardes.org.il

Sea of Torah
11:00pm “Identity Crisis: What is Shavuot Really About?” by Rav Yossie Bloch
Midnight “Revelation & Revolution” by Rav Aytan Kadden
1am “First Among Fruits: The Untold Story of Bikkurim” by Rav Yossie Bloch
Contact: (02) 672-9067; (052) 626-1588
Location: 4 Rechov Ashriel Buzaglo (off Rechov Rivka), Apt. #35 (5th floor in Shabbat Elevator)

GERMAN COLONY
Hadassah-Merkaz HaMagshimim
Ta Shma and Merkaz Tarbut Amim
10:30pm-2:30am Various lectures, workshops of movement, poetry, and text study. This is an opportunity to encounter Tanach within the context of today’s society, and within the framework of culture. Bring warm clothes!
Location: 7A Dor Dor VeDorshav Street. Contact: Ofra at 02-561-9165 *204 or
ofra@themerkaz.org

Tal Torah
Tikkun Leil Shavu’ot for Women and Girls
11:00pm-Midnight Class for teens given by TAL TORAH teens (Hebrew). By Nina Medved, Adiella Djemal, Eden Golan & Tamar Goldschmidt.
Midnight-1:15am “Blessing resides in that which is hidden from sight: Quiet footsteps of Redemption in Megillat Ruth” by Nili Arbel
1:30-2:45am “Like the Wings of a Bird is the Advice of our Elders.” by Ariel Ben Moshe (English)
Location: Emek Refaim 64, 2nd floor
Contact: 02-566-5403 or see www.taltorah.org

KATAMON
Yakar
Open Beit-Midrash with chavruta learning, personal learning, small workshops & group learning.
23:30-1:00am Yuval Dolev: “Can Everything Become Idolatry?” (Hebrew); Gila Rosen: “God’s Different Voices at Mt. Sinai” (Hebrew); Daniel Sharshevski: “From the Oral Law to the Internet.” (Hebrew); Avi Steinhart: “Devorah & Mt. Sinai”
1:30-3:00am Meir Rosen: “Different Ways to Prepare for Matan Torah” (Hebrew); Shlomo Dov: “Relationships Between Secular & Religious in Halakha” (Hebrew); Jessica Sacks: “The Giving of the Torah & Chocolate Cookies”
3:00-4:30am Tish/Hitva’adut for Matan Torah/Preparation for Davening
Location: 10 HaLamed-Hey St.

Shir Hadash

11:30pm-12:30am Rabbi Gedaliah Gurfein (at the Pear Home)

12:30am-1:30am Rabbi Ari Cutler (at the Pear Home)

Dessert Break

2:00am-3:00am Rabbi Avi Poupko (at the Pear Home)

3:00am-4:00am Rabbi Ian Pear (at the Pear Home)

4:30am Reading of Megilat Ruth at Shir Hadash’s Katamon Facility, Cheyl Nashim #4

4:55am Shacharit Vatikin at Shir Hadash’s Katamon Facility, Cheyl Nashim #4

Location: Pear home, HaPalmach 54/3

HAR NOF
11:30pm Rabbi Ephraim Polaikoff: “Is Shavuous the Zman Matan Torah or Zman Kabalat Hatorah?”
12:30am Rabbi Ephraim Polaikoff: “When does the end Justify the Means?”
2:00am Rabbi Ephraim Polaikoff: “Does the Israeli Gov’t have the Right to give Away Land?”
2:45am Rabbi Ephraim Polaikoff: “Is there Bikkurim during a Shmittah Year?”

Walk to the Kotel for sunrise.
Location: 60 Katzelbogen, Har Nof
Contact: Baruch 054-209-9200

Home of Irving & Helen Maisel
Starting at 11:15pm Speakers for the evening include: Rav Yitzchak Tratner, Rav David Orlafsky and Rav Karish.
Location: 26 Brand Street. All are welcome. Light refreshments will be served.

She’arim for Women
11:30pm-12:15 Rabbi Yaniv Regev: “The Fiftieth Day”
12:30 - 1:30am Rabbi Avraham Manning “Beyond Talmud Torah”

1:45 – 2:45 Rabbi Chaim Levy
“Are You Sure?”

All classes will take place on Agassi 23 in She’arim’s Beit Midrash.
for more info 02- 651-4240 ext 101

BAT AYIN
Midrasha (Midreshet B’erot Bat Ayin)
11:00-12:00am Dimensions and Inner Dynamics of Matan Torah (Devorah Nov)
12:15-1:15am What G-d Wants of Us (Rav Daniel Kohn)
1:30-2:30am Tehillim Recital/Chevrutot/Gentle Stretches (Student facilitator)
2:30-3:00am Matan Torah – Pro’s and Con’s (Rav Eliyahu Berkowitz)
3:00am + Hitbodedut and Movement (Student Teacher)

Yom Shavuot, Monday, June 9
5:00-6:00pm Women and Matan Torah (Rebbetzin Chana Bracha Siegelbaum)

EFRAT
Shirat Shlomo
11:00pm-12:00am Rav Yehoshua Reich-Hebrew Topic TBA, Rav Natan Siegal-English “Liberating the Music”
12:10-12:50am Rav Zvi Leshem –Hebrew “הנשיקה של משה והבאר של מרים,” Rav Riskin-English Topic TBA
1:00-2:00am R. Naftali Moses-Hebrew”גישות שונות למשמעות המוות,” Batya Yaniger –English “The Seven Weighty Mitzvot”
2:10-3:10am Mordechai Zeller -Hebrew “משה ובודהה סיפורי הארה והתגלות”, English- TBA
the entire evening is dedicated to the memory of Rav David Zeller, z”l, whose first yartzeit is 8 Sivan.

 

Beit Knesset Magen Avraham-Rechov Tamat 19A, Rimon

11:00pm HaRav Eli Attia: The Relationship between 8 to 50, and between Atzeret to Atzeret (Hebrew)

Midnight HaRav Chaim Brenner: Yeshivat Eretz Yisrael (Hebrew)

1:00am HaRav Chaim Brenner: Daf Yomi (Hebrew)

 

Beit Knesset Merkazi

11:15pm HaRav Riskin: Conversion: Megillat Ruth & the Rabbanut in Israel Today. (Iyun B’Halacha- Hebrew)

12:15 Ayala Paz: Creativity & Art in Reading Megillat Ruth (Hebrew)

1:15am Yochanan Broyer: Is it mutar to change accents in Tefila? (Hebrew)

2:15am Menachem Katz: Story of Maaseh Mirkava (Hebrew)

4:15am HaRav Atzmon: Between Individual Mitzvot & Collective Mitzvot (Hebrew)

 

 

MIZRACH RIMON

11:00pm Atara Snowbell: “No free lunch! Freedom and Slavery in Jewish Thought”

12:15 Rabbi Bini Freedman: “Kabbalat HaTorah: How could something that started so right, go so wrong?”

1:10am “Kedushat Eretz Yisrael and Shem Eretz Yisrael: Does Zahal get to sanctify the land?”

2:05am Rabbi David Markus: TBA

3:00am Rabbi Natan Siegel: “A hitchhikers guide to the galaxy of Hassidut”

3:50am Joshua Daniel: “Triage– Playing God according to the Halacha?”

Location: Maresky Home – Mishol HaKramim 19

 

 

LEV EFRAT

Beit Knesset Lev Efrat

11:00pm Mois Navon “SPIN” – Interpretation of the famous video clip

 

Lev Efrat

Midnight: Maier Becker: “Enemy Civilians and Wartime Ethics”

01:00 Rabbi Dr. Howard Deitcher, “David, Batsheva and Uriah: Love, Tension and Conflict in II Samuel 11”

02:00 Dr. Baruch Sterman “Shogeg: Sin or Slip-up”

03:00 Rabbi Dr. Bernard Weinstein “The Disappearance and Reappearance of the Greatest Event in World History”

04:00 Rabbi Jonathan Snowbell “Counting – What is it good for? – A study of the mitzvoth of sefirah in the Torah”

Location: Home of Gershon and Ilana Adams – 11 Hagoel St.

GEFFEN

Mishkan Yair

Tikkun Layl Shavuot- Nusach Teiman (no other shiurim)

Beit Knesset Beit Aharon

11:00pm HaRav Shabtai Rappaport

Midnight HaRav Yehoshua Reich

1:00 HaRav Shlomo Riskin

2:00 Michael Sperber, Adv.

3:00 HaRav Eitan Ansbechar

4:00 HaRav Raphel Zer

Tiferet Avot

10:15 Shiur for Children Grades 1-5.

Location: Marcus Family, 10 HaLamed-Hey

11:00pm HaRav Menachem Schraider on HaRav Kook

Midnight HaRav David Marcus

1:00 HaRav Shimon Golan

2:00 HaRav Daniel Epstein

WEST DEKEL

10:15pm Penina Esses: “The Story of 784 Cheese Cakes” (Grades 6-8) (Hebrew)

10:30 Dr. Robert Lederma: “Planting Heaven on Earth” (English)

11:00 Sara Halevi: “Piercing, Tatoos & Cutting” (High School, English)

11:30 Harav Shimon Golan: “Ma-amad Ha-Ger” According to Maimonides & Rabi Jehuda HaLevi” (Hebrew)

Midnight Penina Esses: “The Secrets of Shavuot” (Hebrew)

12:30 Shmuel Wasserman: “Pidyon Shvuyim” in Our Times

Location: Assis Family, 10 Koresh

SHAVUOT DAY

WOMEN’S BEIT MEDRASH

5pm Lisa Fredman: “Yiftach’s daughter- was she really sacrificed?”

Location: Samson Family, Koresh 7, Dekel Maarav

 

 

5pm Sara Jo Ben-Zvi: “Kabbalat Shabbat, Kabbalat Shavuot, Kabbalat Malchut Shamayim”

Location: Stern Family, Netzer Yishai 23, Te’ena

 

5pm: Batya Hefter: “Yehuda & Tamar, Ruth & Boaz, From Alienation to Recognition, Sod to Geula”

Location: Beit Knesset Shemen HaMishcha, Zayit

*All shiurim at the Women’s Beit Medrash are in memory of Sara Blaustein (z”l)

 

RAMAT BEIT SHEMESH
Kehillat Ahavat Tzion
Beit Midrash open all night for chavrutot . Shiurim held in main heichal.
10:30pm Children’s shiur (grade 2-4) - given by Daniel Rosenfield
11:00pm Boys shiur (grade 5-6) - (at the shul) by Rav Menachem Copperman, Rav Kehilla
11:00pm Girls’ shiur – at Copperman residence, Nachal Dolev 50/13, by Michal Copperman
11:45pm “Torah from the heavens, and not in the heavens” By Rav David Bagno, Ra”m, Machon Gavoha LaTorah, Bar-Ilan University [Hebrew]
12:45am Topic: TBA. by Rav Menachem Copperman, Rav Kehillat Ahavat Tzion [Hebrew]
1:45am “Halachic Issues of Cosmetic Surgery”, by Dr. David Kallus, Maggid shiur
Location: Nachal Timna 2

Yeshivat Lev Hatorah
2:45am “Eishet Chayil and Megillat Ruth” by Rav Itiel Ariel, Rav Beit Knesset Merkazi
3:45am “The Vulnerability of Wisdom” by Rav Eli Duker, Maggid shiur, Yeshivat Netiv Aryeh
4:45am Birkot Hashachar

BEIT SHEMESH
Ohel Yona Menachem
11:00-11:50pm (Hebrew) Learning program: grades 1-6 & their parents: Together this Night
11:00-11:50pm “Honor thy Father and Mother… in-Law” by Larry Rublin
12:00-12:50am (Hebrew) “Bribery in Halacha and Law” by Rabbi David Spektor
1:00-1:50am (Hebrew) “The Basis of Rabbinic Law” by Rabbi Yosef Wolicki
2:00-2:50am (Hebrew) Topic TBA by Rabbi Oren Duvdevani
3:00-3:50am (Hebrew) Megillat Ruth and the World of Halacha by Rabbi Artie Fischer
4:00-4:40am (Hebrew) Confucius on Mount Sinai by Doron Kline
4:45am Megillat Ruth
5:05am Shacharit [1st minyan]
8:20am Shacharit [2nd minyan]
Location: Rechov Shivtei Yisrael, Givat Sharett

Beit Medrash Torani-Leumi
10:15-11:00pm Parents & Children Learning Together
11:00pm Midnight Shiur for Women, Rav Yehuda Rock (Hebrew)
12:30-2:00am Shiur on Rav Soloveitchik, Rav Avishai Dovid (Hebrew)
2:10-3:10am Aseret HaDibrot: Do not Steal, Rav Avishai Dovid (Hebrew)
3:20-4:20am Daf Yomi: Sotah 15, Rav Avishai Dovid (Hebrew)
Location: Rechov Reuven, corner of Asher

TZFAT

Beirav Synagogue

7:25pm Mincha

8:10pm Maariv

Open learning & singing from midnight on…

4:10am Megillat Ruth

4:45am Shacharit

Shavuot Day, June 9th

5:30pm Women’s Class in Hebrew

7:25pm Mincha & Carlebach Songs

8:10pm Maariv & Havdalah Carlebach style

#10 Maginim, near Maginim & Jerusalem Squares.See www.beirav.org

Mr. Lupolianski, everyone knows the Mayor and the founder of Yad Sarah. As mayor, you are so busy with the daily running of Jerusalem.  Do you have time to promote Yad Sarah? How are you still connected to Yad Sarah?

As you rightly said, I am extremely busy with Jerusalem matters. This is a unique city, the mosaic of its residents, its size and the challenges of the capital city, the eternal capital of the Jewish People.  Nevertheless, when children get married, they are still their parents’ children, and that’s how I feel about Yad Sarah. Yad Sarah has an excellent executive director and a superb staff. I come to Yad Sarah House some evenings and some Fridays. Sadly, I no longer know every volunteer by name, but I am most definitely involved in what is going on, in the development of new services and new branches, since the demand for Yad Sarah’s services is growing. I am happy to take part in the periodic gatherings of volunteers.  I always served Yad Sarah as a volunteer and please G-d with continue to do so.  Through Yad Sarah, too, I am still serving the residents of Jerusalem.

Why did you decide to move from the NGO sector to the public sector?

I don’t see this precisely as you put it.  I see my work in City Hall as a public service exactly in the same sense as my work in Yad Sarah.  Yad Sarah’s thousands of volunteers also work for the welfare of the capital’s citizens.  They have their areas of action and their individual ways of contributing.  You can’t deny the fact that there are differences between the volunteer sector and the work in City Hall, but in the end we are all there to help and to serve.

Yad Sarah was founded in memory of your late grandmother, your father’s mother, who perished in the Holocaust. Tell us about her and your family.

I never knew my grandmother Sarah z”l.  She was killed in the Holocaust and Yad Sarah, as you said, is named after her.  My late father told me many times that she was a paragon on hesed and used to help people in her neighborhood.  They say I look like her.

I was born in Haifa in 1951. I served as a medic in the IDF, studied public administration and worked as a teacher for some years.  As a young man I entertained the idea of being an actor, and even signed up for theater studies.  When I married I moved to Jerusalem, to the Ezrat Torah quarter, where Yad Sarah started in our own apartment in 1976.  Our flat kept a supply of vaporizers and inhalators to help neighbors whose children had breathing problems.

The great success of this little “center” propelled my late father, Jacob, to donate the money he had received for the sale of his small shoe store to expand the Gema”ch I had founded.  We called it Yad Sarah in memory of my grandmother.  With time, the stock of equipment grew to include wheelchairs, crutches, walkers, blood pressure meters, baby scales and more.

In 1978 we moved to Sanhedria where we still live. The little lending center moved with us, and still operates in our apartment.  I was elected to the City Council in 1989, served as Deputy Mayor and Chairman of the Planning and Building Committee, and was elected Mayor in 2003.

When you opened Yad Sarah in your apartment, did you imagine it would grow into this size? How do you explain the enormous growth in its scope? What do you see as the most meaningful achievement of Yad Sarah?

Of course I didn’t know and never imagined the Yad Sarah would grow into the huge proportions of today. Maybe if I had known, I would have been put off. It grew little by little, branch by branch, service by service.

Today Yad Sarah has more than 100 branches all over Israel, 11 of them located within hospitals.  Yad Sarah has become a synonym for mutual social responsibility and the giving of hesed.  Travel agents know they can refer tourists to us if they need medical equipment while visiting Israel, or special transportation in a wheelchair-carrying van.  People come from all over the world to learn about Yad Sarah and to copy our model in their home countries.  We are goodwill ambassadors for Israel around the world.  The U.N. Secretary General even visited Yad Sarah and was impressed by what the volunteers do.

The most meaningful achievement of Yad Sarah, in my opinion, is our ability to connect with people who need help, to listen to their distress and to find real solutions.  I believe that every new project or service has to come from the heart.  When you are committed and give your all to the goal, you succeed.  And that is how Yad Sarah succeeded.  The numbers are truly impressive: every second family in Israel has been helped by Yad Sarah.  Nearly 400,000 people were helped in the past year.

Yad Sarah is built on volunteers.  By the way, the volunteers come from every sector of the population, including many English speakers, and that is a blessing in itself.  But one of the advantages of volunteers is their desire, their passion to be attentive, inviting, understanding, and really trying with all their might to give a full solution to every person who needs help.  Our goal is to keep improving. That’s the only way we can continue deserving the great love and confidence that the public gives us today.

What do you see as Jerusalem’s main challenge today?

When I began the job as Mayor, I set myself the goal to improving the service given to citizens. I set up the Center for Quality Service in the municipality to increase the service and minimize the municipal bureaucracy.

From the start of my term we prepared a multi-year strategic plan for Jerusalem with the goal of strengthening the city’s economic and civil status. The plan included drastic cuts in personnel and in the municipal apparatus, and instead the city invested large budgets in restoration and building of parks, giving the city a facelift especially downtown, and raising the level of service to the residents. We improved the absorption division with the aim of helping thousands of new arrivals from the United States to fit in quickly into the social and economic fabric of the city.

What does the City of Jerusalem do to encourage aliya and to blend the English speaking olim into the city’s life?

In the past year, 3,011 of the country’s 20,955 new immigrants came to Jerusalem – about 14.5 percent.  Most of the immigrants from the U.S. and Canada belong to the middle and upper socio-economic levels.  The olim in Jerusalem live in all parts of the city – Har Nof, Bayit Vegan, Ramot, Arnona, Katamon, Baka, Homat Shmuel and more.

The English speaking population contributes a great deal to Jerusalem in many areas.  This is a quality population, a population that leads the way and has already become part of the city’s fabric. They fit in smoothly in the areas of culture, tourism, and business and I hope we will see many more of them in our city.

Jerusalem is waiting for you with open arms.  The municipal Klitah Authority is working hard for the new olim.  They receive support and assistance every step of the way, personally and professionally.  Some of them are part of the community aliyah project and others receive other forms of help.

What message would you like to bring to the English speaking community and to the many who make the traditional pilgrimage to Jerusalem for Pesach?

I am happy that so many guests come to Jerusalem for Pesach.  Jerusalem is not only the capital of Israel, it is the capital of the entire Jewish People, and I hope every person visiting Jerusalem feels that way.  I invite them all to visit every part of the city, to enjoy the holy places, the museums, the historic sites, the culture and the beauty of this city.  I also recommend that the visitors meet and talk with Jerusalemites.  You will enjoy the warmth and love that they have to give….