NEW YORK (AP) Little could darken David Berman's mood Tuesday as
he waited to fulfill a longtime dream by emigrating with his family
to Israel. Not even the news that the city they had chosen as a new
home had just been hit by a suicide bomber.
``I am aware of it, but I am not fearful,'' Berman said as he
waited with scores of other smiling, excited Jewish families at John
F. Kennedy International Airport. ``I think God looks out for you
when you're there in Israel.''
The plastic surgeon from Potomac, Md., was among 350 people from
around the United States who were to leave New York on Tuesday on
flights for Israel. Another 150 were scheduled to leave
simultaneously from Toronto, Canada, in what organizers were calling
the largest one-day migration of North Americans to Israel in the
country's history.
The families were seen off by Israel's Ambassador to the U.S.,
and were to be met upon their arrival Wednesday by Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon and Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres.
The flights were sponsored by in part by Nefesh B'Nefesh, an
organization that encourages Jews to move to Israel and expects to
see 3,200 North Americans do so in 2005.
Frequent violence hasn't stopped the flow, and Berman, 48, his
wife Temimah, 43, and their four young boys, ages 8, 10, 12 and 14,
were excited to be headed for their new apartment in Netanya, on the
shores of the Mediterranean.
The city's calm was shattered Tuesday when a suicide bomber
detonated an explosive near a shopping mall, killing himself and two
women and wounding about 30 people.
Max Berman, 14, had other things on his mind.
``I'm going to miss my friends, but I will be living on the
beach, and everyone is Jewish in Israel, and I think that will be
cool,'' he said.
Other families departing from New York for Israel on Tuesday said
the strife with the Palestinians is no reason to stay away from a
nation they have long considered home.
A number cited religious and cultural reasons for their move.
Several said the conflict only made their desire to emigrate
stronger.
``God gave us this land. We need to live there,'' said Michael
Aaron, 35, of Englewood, N.J., who was leaving with his wife
Michele, and four children.
Among the emigrants was one who has already escaped terror
once.
Henry Fuerte, 33, of Brooklyn, said he was in an elevator on the
78th floor of the World Trade Center's north tower when it was
struck by a jet on Sept. 11, 2001.
Fuerte said he was thrown in the air and suffered knee, back and
eye injuries in the explosion, and resolved afterward to make a home
in Israel.
He said he was leaving the United States mostly for religious
reasons, saying he didn't feel quite at home in New York.
``Life for a Jew in Israel is difficult, but pretty soon, life
for a Jew outside of Israel is going to be impossible,'' he said.
``America is a great country, as far as opportunity, but as for
religious life, such as keeping kosher, Israel is where a Jew
belongs.''
Nefesh B'Nefesh tries to make migration to Israel easier for
Jewish families, partly through grants and loans.
Many of the families leaving Tuesday were headed for immigration
centers that would help them find work and housing.
For decades, Israel has sought to solidify its future as a Jewish
state by encouraging immigration and settlement of contested
territories.
Israeli Arabs now make up about 19.3 percent of the country's
population, and are growing at about double the rate as the
country's Jewish population, according to Israel's Central Bureau of
Statistics.
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All
Rights Reserved.)
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