This article contains content that is written like an advertisement .(February 2021) |
Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel (AACI) is a non-profit organization of American and Canadian Jews who have made Aliyah to Israel. [1] AACI is a resource center for Israel's English-speaking population. AACI assists its members with all facets of Aliyah and absorption into Israeli society. AACI has 5 branches throughout the country that offer absorption counseling services and social and cultural programs. AACI is funded mainly by program and membership fees along with donations. [2] [3]
AACI was established in 1951. It runs numerous program for the benefit of English-speaking immigrants from North America. In 1957, it sponsored housing projects for immigrants from the West in Kfar HaRoeh, Holon and Herzliya Pituah. [4] Another area of activity is consumer protection. In the 1970s, AACI organized appeals to the U.S. State Department to enable immigrants from America to retain their citizenship. It developed an English tutoring program to assist new immigrants from Russia and Ethiopia, launched a campaign for anti-smoking legislation and lobbied for the inclusion of immigrants over the age of 60 in the National Health Insurance Law. [5] In the past decade, it has launched public awareness campaigns to eliminate smoking in public areas and encourage the use of bicycle helmets. It lobbied for the inclusion of immigrants over 60 in the National Health Insurance Law and the inclusion of Western immigrants in basket of services granted to new immigrants. AACI initiated the construction of "Nofim", the first assisted living facility in Israel, which became the standard model for all assisted living facilities throughout the country.
In response to the dire need for housing shortly after the country's founding, AACI sponsored housing projects in 1957 for Western immigrants in Kfar HaRoeh, Holon and Herzliya Pituah. In 1958, AACI sponsored the first cooperative housing project in Nayot, Jerusalem. Other building projects include the area in French Hill, now known as "Tsameret Habira".
Marking the AACI's fiftieth anniversary, 21 American and Canadian immigrants were honored at the President's Residence in Jerusalem. [6]
AACI has a target population of over 300,000 North American and English-speaking Israelis as well as all potential immigrants to Israel from North America. AACI counselors provide the needed services for both newly arriving Olim and Olim who have been in Israel for a longer time period to have a successful Aliyah experience. AACI is committed to assisting Olim in achieving successful klitah (absorption) through counseling, employment assistance, mortgage and emergency loan assistance, and social welfare and related services. AACI addresses the issues that impact the lives of our members and their quality of life in Israel. In doing so, the AACI has become the preeminent voice of Israel's English speaking community.
One of the most crucial measures of success in the Aliyah process is the ability for immigrants to find appropriate work. Out of the array of absorption services that AACI offers, the single largest demand from its members is for its employment services. English-speaking jobs seekers – both new and not-so-new immigrants – need one-on-one counseling, adaptation of their resumes to the Israel job market, knowledge of available jobs, seminars and workshops with experts, networking opportunities and more to make their lives in Israel a success. The ability of AACI to provide these client-focused levels of service is critically important to the Aliyah success of many English speaking immigrants.
AACI offers a large array of country-wide tours, art exhibits, and organized trips to music and theater productions as well as numerous library services throughout the country. The Jerusalem branch's new program center, the Dr. Max & Gianna Glassman Family Center, with a 200-seat auditorium an additional program rooms, can host a wide range of events.
AACI hosts an English lending library, a library for the Visually Impaired, a DVD library and media club at its Jerusalem headquarters. The AACI English Language Library for the Visually Impaired and Homebound is the only one of its kind serving all of Israel. This volunteer-run English language library provides a crucial service for people who suffer from vision disabilities of all ages.
AACI hosts an annual memorial service in honor of Americans and Canadians who have fallen in the service of the State of Israel or as victims of terrorist attacks. The memorial to over 300 people takes place at the AACI Memorial Forest, near Sha'ar Hagai. AACI believes it is an obligation to remember and honor those from the North American Jewish community who made the supreme sacrifice to ensure the existence of a Jewish State. The Memorial also educates the next generation of English speaking Jews about the heroism of those who have fallen.
AACI offers kosher international trips throughout the year, ranging from African safaris, cruises to Italy, and tours through the Baltics. Local trips throughout Israel include study and seminar weekends to Israel's most interesting historical sites.
AACI's Rusty Mike Radio Internet radio station was established in 2009. Operating out of Jerusalem, this English-language, community-based radio educates, informs, entertains, and connects people to Israel through discussion about the realities and practicalities of day-to-day life. The station takes no political or religious position, but rather informs its audience on the range of views that make up debate in the Israeli media. People in Israel and around the world tune in to hear discussions about culture, sports, health care, legal rights, employment opportunities, women's issues, road safety, and music. Listeners are entertained and get to know the real Israel by hearing from the people of Israel.
In 1990, the AACI received the Knesset Award for Improving the Quality of Life in Israel. [7]
The Jewish Agency for Israel, formerly known as the Jewish Agency for Palestine, is the largest Jewish non-profit organization in the world. It was established in 1929 as the operative branch of the World Zionist Organization (WZO).
Gush Dan or Tel Aviv metropolitan area is a conurbation in Israel, located along the country's Mediterranean coastline. There is no single formal definition of Gush Dan, though the term is in frequent use by both governmental bodies and the general public. It ranges from combining Tel Aviv with cities that form an urban continuum with it, to the entire areas from both the Tel Aviv District and the Central District, or sometimes the whole Metropolitan Area of Tel Aviv, which includes a small part of the Southern District as well. Gush Dan is the largest conurbation and metropolitan area in Israel and the center of Israel's financial and High technology sector. The metropolitan area having an estimated population of 4,156,900 residents, 89% of whom are Israeli Jews.
Herzliya is an affluent city in the central coast of Israel, at the northern part of the Tel Aviv District, known for its robust start-up and entrepreneurial culture. In 2022 it had a population of 106,741. Named after Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism, Herzliya covers an area of 21.6 square kilometres (8.3 sq mi). Its western, beachfront area is called Herzliya Pituah and is one of Israel's most affluent neighborhoods and home to numerous embassies, ambassadors' residences, companies headquarters, and houses of prominent Israeli business people.
Aliyah is the immigration of Jews from the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel or the Palestine region, which is today chiefly represented by the State of Israel. Traditionally described as "the act of going up", moving to the Land of Israel or "making aliyah" is one of the most basic tenets of Zionism. The opposite action — emigration by Jews from the Land of Israel — is referred to in the Hebrew language as yerida. The Law of Return that was passed by the Israeli parliament in 1950 gives all diaspora Jews, as well as their children and grandchildren, the right to relocate to Israel and acquire Israeli citizenship on the basis of connecting to their Jewish identity.
Hadassah, The Women's Zionist Organization of America is an American Jewish volunteer women's organization. Founded in 1912 by Henrietta Szold, it is one of the largest international Jewish organizations, with nearly 300,000 members in the United States. Hadassah fundraises for community programs and health initiatives in Israel, including the Hadassah Medical Organization, two leading research hospitals in Jerusalem. In the US, the organization advocates on behalf of women's rights, religious autonomy and US–Israel diplomacy. In Israel, Hadassah supports health education and research, women's initiatives, schools and programs for underprivileged youth.
Neve Yaakov is an Israeli settlement in East Jerusalem, part of the Israeli-occupied territories, north of the settlement of Pisgat Ze'ev and south of the Palestinian locality of al-Ram. Established in 1924 during the period of the British Mandate, it was depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The area was captured by Israel in the Six-Day War and a new neighborhood was built nearby, at which time international opposition to its legitimacy began. The international community considers Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this, defining it as a neighborhood within the jurisdiction of the Jerusalem Municipality, which provides all services. The population of Neve Yaakov is 23,300. Neve Yaakov is one of the Ring Settlements of East Jerusalem. The settlement is also the location of the IDF's Central Command for the West Bank, Jerusalem, Sharon, Gush Dan and Shephelah.
Ma'abarot were immigrant and refugee absorption camps established in Israel in the 1950s, constituting one of the largest public projects planned by the state to implement its sociospatial and housing policies.
Mahal, more often spelled Machal, refers to the group of overseas volunteers who fought alongside Israeli forces during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Some 4,000 volunteers, mostly Jews but also non-Jews, arrived from all over the world. Mahal is an acronym of מתנדבי חוץ לארץ.
Nefesh B'Nefesh, or Jewish Souls United, is a nonprofit organization, promotes, encourages and facilitates aliyah from the United States and Canada.
Yishai Fleisher is an Israeli Orthodox Jewish rabbi, podcast host, international spokesperson for the Jewish Community of Hebron, and member of Efrat municipal council. Fleisher is an advocate of aliyah, the immigration of Jews to Israel.
Kfar Shmaryahu is a local council in Israel, within the Tel Aviv District.
Murray S. Greenfield is an American-born Israeli writer and publisher.
In the years leading up to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and for just over a decade thereafter, a particularly large number of Jews emigrated from the Soviet Union and the post-Soviet countries. The majority of these emigrants made aliyah, while a sizable amount immigrated to various Western countries. This wave of Jewish migration followed the 1970s Soviet aliyah, which began after the Soviet government lifted the ban on the country's refuseniks, most of whom were Jews who had been denied permission to leave the country.
Shlomo Hillel was an Iraqi-born Israeli diplomat and politician who served as Speaker of the Knesset, Minister of Police, Minister of Internal Affairs, and ambassador to several countries in Africa. As an agent of the Mossad LeAliyah Bet in the late 1940s and early 1950s, he arranged the mass airlift of Iraqi Jews to Israel known as Operation Ezra and Nehemiah.
Ethiopian Jews in Israel are immigrants and descendants of the immigrants from the Beta Israel communities in Ethiopia who now reside in Israel. To a lesser, but notable, extent, the Ethiopian Jewish community in Israel is also composed of Falash Mura, a community of Beta Israel which had converted to Christianity over the course of the past two centuries, but were permitted to immigrate to Israel upon returning to Israelite religion—this time largely to Rabbinic Judaism.
The Walworth Barbour American International School in Israel (WBAIS) is an independent, American-curriculum, English-language school. It is composed of a campus with a preschool, elementary, middle, and high school (PK3-12) in Even Yehuda; and the Jerusalem American International School.
The Immigrant camps in Israel were temporary refugee absorption camps, meant to provide accommodation for the large influx of Jewish refugees and new Olim arriving to Mandatory Palestine and later the independent State of Israel, since early 1947. The tent camps first accommodated Holocaust survivors from Europe, and later largely Jewish refugees from Middle East and North Africa. By early 1950, immigrant camps were converted into ma'abarot, where living conditions became better and tin dwellings replaced tents.
Georgian Jews in Israel, also known as Gruzinim, are immigrants and descendants of the immigrants of the Georgian Jewish communities, who now reside within the state of Israel. They number around 75,000 to 80,000. The Georgian community is considered to be aligned with the Mizrachi community in Israel.
French Jews in Israel are immigrants and descendants of the immigrants of the French Jewish communities, who now reside within the state of Israel. They numbered over 200,000 as of 2012.
Am Yisrael Foundation is a Tel Aviv and New York–based foundation and umbrella nonprofit organization for a variety of initiatives that promote Zionist engagement among Jewish young adults residing in Israel, including providing leadership platforms for young Jews who have made Aliyah, or are contemplating immigration to Israel.