THE CANADIAN JEWISH REVIEW
IANUARY 14, 1966
ASHDOD'S ENGLISH-SPEAKING
COMMUNITY: EVERYTHING IS
NEW IN ASHDOD
By Y. Ben Gedolia, of the Jewish Agency American Section,
in New York
The Ashdod I saw on a recent sunny afternoon made me blink and rub my eyes in disbelief. When I last travelled through this part of southern Israel, about seven years ago, I had been surrounded on every side by monotonous yellow sand dunes extending from the coastal road .to the unindcnted Mediterranean shore. Now, I was in the main square of a town, broad thoroughfares, modem apartments, shops, offices, factories. a deep seaport, and a population of 25,000. Everything looked spectacularly new, the buildings, the roads.
the trees, as if they had just been taken out'of a package. And many of the people, too, walked with the self-conscious stance of recent arrivals, checking street names and mcmori/ing directions.
Seeing Ashdod sprung so abruptly out of the sand dunes, I could believe the bold forecasts of its planners, that within a score or so of years this onetime hamlet would grow into a metropolis of some 350,-000 souls, and be Israel's second largest city. This vision is motivating some 10,000 people a year, new-
comers and old-timers alike, to establish their homes in Ashdod.
The Ashdod enterprise is moving forward with incredible, almost bewildering momentum. Situated almost exactly half-way between the northern and southern frontiers of Israel, it adjoins the rich citrus growing belt, is within easy reach of the phosphate, potash, and diversified mineral deposits of the Ncgcv, and the new oil fields of llcletz. This accounts for the location there of the deep seaport, a project of magnificent proportions designed to serve the fast developing hinterland to stimulate industrial and commercial growth. No wonder Ashdod has become an attractive proposition to so many people, among them some eighty families from English speaking countries.
They come from Britain, South Africa, the United States, Canada, and Australia, most of them newcomers to the country, but also veteran settleis who want to be in it from'
the start. I met some of them during my visit to Ashdod. While they expressed diverse views on many of the topics we discussed, all of them without exception were agreed that building a new town is an exciting experience. In the words of one informant; "It's like living in a colossal kaleidoscope, the patterns change all the time."
Shmuel Halcvi has been in Ashdod since 1959; he moved with his wife and two youngsters into one of the very first permanent apartments to go up then. In London, England, from where he emigrated 15 years ago, Halcvi (then Roberts) ran his own electrical retailing and contracting business. For the past 11 years, he has been working as an electrical technician at the power station near Ashdod which services the southern part of the country. He is also founder and chairman of Ashdod's English-speaking Settlers' Association, established in 1963.
Middle-aged, dark, speaking fluent Hebrew with an unmistakable English accent, Halcvi, who has a 21-year old son just out of the Army, and a 19-year old daughter in the air force, prefers to speak about his Association rather than of himself.
"We started with about 45 members," he explained, "and now we've grown to over a hundred, thanks mainly to the constantly expanding English-speaking community. And we're just at the beginning. The stronger we grow, the more we attract by our presence. I myself am conducting a considerable correspondence with prospective immigrants in English-speaking .countries, people who want advice and on thc-spot information."
The basic aim of the Association, as explained in its printed bulletin, is to encourage and help newcomers from English-speaking countries to Israel and to Ashdod. While the Jewish Agency is responsible for immigration
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and absorption, and shoulders major responsibility for the newcomer until he finds his feet in Israel, the E.S.S.A. does significant supplementary work on a voluntary basis, helping in his cultural and social integration. 'Hie Association is affiliated with the British Settlers' Association and cooperates with the South African Zionist Federation and the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel. It is a strictly non-political body.
Shaking of the attractions that Ashdod holds out for people from English speaking countries, Halevi explained that one obvious factor is the existence of industrial enterprises established in the town by western firms like Lcyland, Rogosin, Australian Wool, Rcvlon, Acrilan, and numerous smaller concerns.' Many of the senior, and not so senior, positions in these enterprises are filled by Anglo-Saxon settlers, some of them having been brought over to Israel by their employers.
"But not every English-speaking immigrant in Ashdod is in the managerial category," Haleri was quick to add. "Not a few of. the fairly recent arrivals have come to us without means and, what is worse, without a trade. Some people abroad seem to think that one can get along well in Israel without a skill, as though the very air of the land induces a miraculous transformation. In fact, a person without some kind of a trade can find it much harder to earn a living here than in his country of origin. To be gainfully employed, even in a new town, you need some sort of expertise, however minimal. Ashdod has many openings for tradesmen, technicians, engineers and so forth. It ean be tough, however, for the fellow with no productive skill."
I asked the obvious question: "Doesn't a separate organization for English-speaking residents tend to isolate its members from the remainder of the community?"
Halevi thought not. "We organize open social and cultural functions," he said, "and carry out many joint programs with other immigrant associations. These functions bring our people into contact with other immigrants whom they might not otherwise meet. Integration is a slow process and you cannot expect a person who has just arrived from England or America or South Africa to immediately throw himself into the life of the community and mix with all and sundry.
"In a sense, our Association serves as a bridge to the wider community and the proof is that many of _ our people have forged friendships with immigrants from non-English speaking countries, thanks largely to the joint functions we have organized. And something else," he added as an afterthought, "where the parents don't mix, the children do. Within a month of arrival, they're jabbering away in Hebrew and before you know it, you find they have brought Israel into your home. Ask the parents and they'll tell you it's the children who really lubricate the wheels of integration."
At that point Ilalevi excused himself. He had to icturn to work. I accompanied him part of the way, past new housing estates, new shops, new schools, new 'everything.. "Impressive, isn't it?" he remarked, with a touch of pride in his voice. "Ashdod is one of those places that command respect."
RABBI DEFENDS HUMANENESS OF RITUAL SLAUGHTER
(Continued from Page One)
of New York State than it is in-promoting and safeguarding animal welfare.
"I speak not only for 900 Orthodox rabbis in the Rabbinical Council, but for the entire organized Jewish community in expressing consternation with this intemperate advertisement and the legislation which it seeks to promote.
"For the Jew, the humane treatment of animals L> a basic principle commanded upon him by his religious commitment. The practice of 'schechita' is an expression of that commandment. It is most gratifying to us to note that the Congress of the United States, when it adopted legislation covering the humane slaughter of animals, specifically recognized 'shechita' as a humane method of slaughter."
Moses I. Feuerstein, president of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, had called the advertisement "intemperate, destructive and divisive,' reports the New York Times. "Its. major effect," he said, "was to promote disharmony and discrimination in an area of utmost delicacy affecting the religious practices of the Jewish community."