Benjamin Kurtzer, the brother of former American ambassador
to Israel Daniel Kurtzer, made aliya on Thursday along with
his family.
Benjamin and his wife, Melissa, arrived from Dallas along
with four of their five children. They plan to rent a home in
Ma'aleh Adumim for a year and will "be taking it from there,"
Benjamin said.
The Kurtzer family arrived together with fellow immigrants
on a flight organized by Nefesh B'Nefesh. They chose Ma'aleh
Adumim because Melissa's sister and her family have lived
there for the last eight years and because "we thought the
people were nice, the community, great place to bring our
children," Benjamin said.
The fact that Ma'aleh Adumim is over the Green Line is not
a problem for Benjamin and his family. "For us, there are no
green lines or red lines, it's all part of Israel," he said.
The policies his brother represented as ambassador played
no role in their choice of where to live. "[Daniel] was coming
from the diplomatic viewpoint and we were coming from the
Zionist viewpoint," Benjamin said.
The family is among a small minority - about 2 percent - of
olim arriving on Nefesh B'Nefesh flights who choose to live
over the Green Line.
Nefesh B'Nefesh's policy is not to
tell "anyone where to live. We only help them fulfill their
wishes, and we do so within any community that the State of
Israel permits them to live in," said spokesman Charley
Levine.
He said the decision by the overwhelming majority of these
immigrants to live inside the Green Line was "not a question
of politics at all. Its a question of which communities have
'buzz' associated with them as warm, nurturing communities for
newcomers."
Two-thirds of Nefesh B'Nefesh olim move to the same five
cities: Modi'in, Netanya, Beit Shemesh, Jerusalem and
Ra'anana.
The 234 new olim who arrived Thursday morning on the first
of 10 aliya flights scheduled for this summer were greeted in
a ceremony at Ben-Gurion Airport. A group of future aliya
emissaries was present to greet them.
"It's part of the training. We hope to bring as many olim
as possible," said Zohar Ben Ari, who the Jewish Agency is
sending to work for Young Judea in Boston. "Our job is to do
this, eventually. We want to see the end of the process."
The emissaries were not the only ones attending the
welcoming ceremony. A woman named Christine, from Germany,
said she came to Ben-Gurion to watch the arrivals because of
their biblical significance. "A prophet once said that we
would watch the Jews come back to Israel, and this is a
fulfillment of that prophecy," she said.
Rabbi Joshua Fass, cofounder of Nefesh B'Nefesh, offered
words of encouragement to the new Israelis. "You new olim are
the ray of hope and optimism for this country during these
troubling times. You are sunlight and sunshine to this
country," he said.
Hagai Merom, treasurer of the Jewish Agency, expressed his
hopes for the future. "If 234 people did it today, we can do
it with millions a few years from now," he said.
President Moshe Katsav highlighted an important difference
between their old and new homes. "Are you tired?" he asked.
"It's midnight in the US. Good morning, Israel. We are so glad
to receive you among us this morning."
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