Ohio Jewish Chronicle, 1991-02-14

              THE
The Ohio Jewish Chronicle
Serving Columbus and Central Ohio
Jewish Community for Over 60 Years
VOLUME 69
NUMBER 7
FEBRUARY 14* 1991
30 SHEVAT 5751
DEVOTED   TO   AMERICAN   AND   JEWISfi   IDEALS
Federation takes urgent
action during crisis
page 2
Bond sales hit
$127 million
page 2
Linkage — bottom line
is security ,
. page 3
Soviet resettlement
feceives grant
page 4
Cash collections
effpri continues
page4
Glick receives award
V page 5
Concert to benefit
Russian Americans
'   "* page.7
'Torah Prep' emerges
on educational scene
.".■".   Page8
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AtThejcc ..........?..:....;;..:.,}... 15
Community .'.,-, 5-8
Federation   .,,.. r .;'..;...;.-,...,,'.... i 4
FrontPage   ,..,..,..,/..... i, 2
Lifecycle .. i.".....',..-.........'  10,U
Marketplace...... A,....... A.. A,........ 13
New Generation .......................... 9
Synagogues ,....-. ........."..'.....,.. 12
Viewpoint .'.'.;'. ,,. ^.. ,3
ISRAEL FEATURE
Soviet olim cope with missiles
By Daniella Ashkenazy
JAFI Communications
Division
(© 1991 WA Press Service)
This is not the first time
veteran Israelis have found
themselves in' a state of war.
Yet, each war is different.
Now, there are 200,000 new
immigrants from the Soviet
Union in Israel who also have
to cope with the threat of war,
among other, absorption problems.
. This time, Israel is facing a
far different threat to its population centers. In the past, air
raid sirens required the civilians to seek shelter underground, in a neighborhood
bomb shelter. But because
Iraqi Scud missiles may be
armed with gas — and gas is
heavier than air, people are no
longer instructed to enter underground shelters. Instead,
each family has made one
room in their homes air-tight
against the penetration of poisonous vapors, while everyone
has been equipped.with gas
masks and antidotes. The
newcomers from the Soviet
Union were assisted by programs operated through municipal authorities, with the involvement of the Jewish
Agency and its Project Klita
program. JAFI assists in
maintaining Absorption Coordinators and developing new
programs for the olim.
"We distributed a brochure
in Russian v/ith instructions,
how to prepare and what to do
if under attack," said Bat-
sheva Avi, of the Rishon Le-
Zion Municipal Absorption
Headquarters. "We also
posted instructions in Russian
on municipal billboards.
"We worked until almost
midnight distributing gas
masks to 400 olim who arrived
recently," said, the deputy
mayor of Kiryat Malachi, Eli
Ben-Menachem. "We gave explanations in Hebrew and
Russian, but mainly in Rus-.
sian, how to use them; how to
close off a room; what to buy
and where."
One the blackboard in one of
the classrooms at the Kiryat
Malachi ulpan were the words
"par" (bull) and "parpar"
(butterfly). But the teachers
had not necessarily been
sticking to the curriculum before the first volley of Scud
missiles fell on Israel. Tzvika
Rom, who speaks fluent Russian, was one of those who
showed the immigrants how
to seal off a room, and why it
is done in a particular way.
"We went over the Hebrew
terminology and the signals in
class — "miklat" (shelter),
"azaka" (warning siren),
"rigia" (all-clear signal) and
so forth."
Lina and Yigal, ulpan students in their late twenties, arrived from Leningrad with
their six-year-old daughter
Yana and Lina's 52-yearold
mother Tatiyana three
months ago. The family settled temporarily in a Jerusalem suburb and only arrived
in Kiryat Malachi two weeks'
ago after being allocated an
Amidar flat in the town. They
were among the recipients of
the gas masks Eli Ben-Menachem distributed the night
before the Iraqi attack came.
"I watched TV and saw.
what we were supposed to do,
although there was no translation into Russian," said Lina.
Lina had indeed chobsen the
middle bedroom, the most
protected room of their three-
room flat, closed the shutter,
crisscrossed the glass with
masking tape and sealed
cracks- between the window
and the window frame. She
had stretched plastic sheeting
on the inside of the window as
extra sealing, should the glass
break, just as she had seen on
TV. And, she had prepared
materials to seal the door once
theV were inside. "See, the TV
is in here and a radio and the
gas mask kits. I have six cans,
of tuna and sardines, six bottles of water, two packages of
crackers," she took stock.
"It's a problem," said
Yigal. "I am not yet working.
We are still in ulpan. There
isn't enough money for war.
Canned goods are expensive
in Israel"
While the uncertainty is
stressful for all, including sea
soned Israelis who are veterans of several wars, for the
olim, the problems are magnified. "There are some who
haven't succeeded in integrating any media messages and
remain in a confused state of
limbo, unsure what they are
supposed to do when the air
raid sirens have sounded,"
said the ulpan teacher. He believes that most elim are coping with the situation.
Lina emphasized that Israel
has a good army but that she
and her husband feel secure
knowing "Israel is together
with the United States." Their
only complaint is lack of infoiv
mation. "We want to know
more," said Una.
"The Soviet immigrants
translate all sorts of signs as
symbols in Israeli society according to cultural codes
learned in Russia," explains
Tzvika. "For instance they
don't understand why during
the present danger the authorities aren't arming people, or
why the authorities aren't mobilizing them into the army.
Their expectations are in accordance to the codes of a Soviet scenario, not an Israeli
one," said Tfevika.
Exactly what the Israeli
scenario will be, now that Iraq
has followed through with its
promise to send its missiles
toward Israel's civilian population, even seasoned Israelis
don't know.
-"4V~