August 14, 2008
Moments of crisis often serve as reminders of how critical our worldwide connections are in helping Jews wherever they live. The conflict that has erupted between Georgia and Russia will have many ramifications for those countries and the world, but it is also having a very real impact on the Jewish community of Georgia, estimated at 10,000.
The evacuation of individuals is difficult and the general situation in the country insecure.
United Jewish Communities’ overseas partners — the Jewish Agency for Israel and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee — both work extensively in the countries of the former Soviet Union, and they both have staff and structures in place in Georgia that are responding to the emergency. They report to us that there is a small Jewish community in South Ossetia, the original flash point in the conflict. JDC serves 15 clients in Tskhinvali, the capital. The region is completely cut off at this point, and it is not known whether they have attempted entry into Russia, but the JDC has dispatched staff to the Russian town of Vladikavkaz, to which many South Ossetians are fleeing.
As the conflict expands, the Georgian city of Gori is at risk, and both the JDC and the Jewish Agency are helping to move Jews out of Gori to relative safety in the capital of Tbilisi. Of an estimated 200 to 300 Jews, 100 have already been moved to Tbilisi, where they are being hosted by the local Jewish community and assisted by the Jewish Agency and the JDC. The evacuation of individuals is difficult and the general situation in the country insecure, and leaders of the Gori Jewish community, the local Hesed Center, the JDC, and the Jewish Agency have worked with courage and dedication to assist those in need.
Georgian Jews immigrating to Israel arrive at Ben-Gurion Airport Sunday.
Photo by Abe Selig
The Jewish Agency reports that scores of Jews in Georgia have applied for aliya (immigration to Israel), and they have dispatched additional staff for the purpose of assisting in that process.
Zeev Bielski, chair of the executive of the Jewish Agency and the World Zionist Organization, described the mobilization under way among agency personnel:
On the eve of the Sabbath we opened two situation rooms — the first in Jerusalem and the second in Tbilisi. These rooms have been working nonstop 24 hours a day. In coordination with the Foreign Ministry and with the Liaison Office (“Nativ”) we began immediate operation in two spheres of activity. The first was to provide answers to Jews in Georgia who would require information, support, or assistance in evacuation and rescue. The second was to establish contact and transmit information between young people from Georgia, who are staying in Israel in the framework of Jewish Agency programs and particularly pupils of our Naaleh and Sela [aliya projects], and their families in Georgia as well as establishing links between family relatives in Israel who are apprehensive about the fate of their loved ones in Georgia.
With the conflict just days old, the active intervention of our network of services in the former Soviet Union demonstrates that the same infrastructure that provides food and medical assistance to elderly Jews in need and works to strengthen the bonds of Jewish community day in and day out becomes a true lifeline in a moment of crisis.
Thank you for the support you provide to the United Jewish Appeal, which is, once again, making a difference.
Max L. Kleinman is executive vice president of the United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ.
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