Report from TELFED:
Where we love is home, home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts -Oliver Wendell Holmes
2000 years ago Jews were forced to march from their homeland. On 14 Iyar, one month after Pesach, 42 South African Jews felt their feet march on the same cobble stones that their ancestors trod, as they walked through the Kotel tunnels towards the nearby archeological park, where they received their Israeli ID books. This marked the culmination of months of planning, together with the Israel Centre, Jewish Agency and Telfed.
Some to Kibbutz, some to the city, Ulpan, university, army, Merkaz Klita, north, south, east, west - 42 hearts pulled to Israel, finally walking at one with their heart and feet.
3.30am - an ungodly hour, but the airport is a hive of activity. Telfed chairman, Maish Isaacson and Vice Chairman, Dave Bloom accompany Yehudah Katz from the Jewish Agency Aliyah Department to the sleeve that meets the door of the plane. Black Jews came to Israel in their thousands from Addis Ababa, now White Jews join them on the same route - a true ingathering of the exiles.
The Ramada Renaissance is a 5 star hotel in Jerusalem. A mattress on the floor would have been fine too, "Please let me sleep!" a young child uncharacteristically whines. His mother smiles, this morning he sleeps in Israel, as an Israeli - hard to fathom that such a change has just taken place in a few short hours.
The Klita Fair starts immediately after lunch. National health care for everyone - rich and poor alike, cell phones abound - buy one get two free, open your bank account and receive a lollipop, sign up for a free month subscription of the Jerusalem Post and Ha'aretz so that you can compare the news, meet Susan Sharon the Telfed Klita counselor and Telfed volunteers, who smile at you even though you look and feel like you haven't slept in days...
The Kotel beckons, the tears well up in 42 eyes, the Jewish Agency and Telfed welcome speeches sound like sweet music in the crisp Jerusalem air, the blue ID book looks and feels like an Israeli flag, waving its welcome to its sons and daughters who followed their heart home after 2000 years.
Telfed welcomes you home!
