Aliya representative to visit Twin Cities

Shirah Ozery, director of the Jewish Agency’s Israel Aliya Center in Chicago, will speak at Bet Shalom and host an open house for prospective olim

By ERIN ELLIOTT BRYAN / Community News Editor

When Shirah Ozery first visited Israel on a high school trip in 1969, she felt an immediate bond with the Jewish state. In 1971, Ozery spent her junior year in college abroad at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and she returned as a counselor for a summer program in 1973.

In October of that year, the Yom Kippur War broke out.

“At that moment, I called my parents telling them not to worry,” Ozery said. “My mother, like any other mother probably around the world, said, ‘Come home.’ At which point I very abruptly answered, ‘But I am home.’”

Today, Ozery is director of the Jewish Agency’s Israel Aliyah Center in Chicago, serving 17 states in the Midwest — including Minnesota. She will visit the Twin Cities Feb. 19-21, speaking at Bet Shalom Congregation on Friday and Saturday, and hosting a film screening and open house for prospective olim (Jewish emigrants to Israel) on Sunday.

All programs are sponsored by the Jewish Agency and the Israel Program Center of the Minneapolis Jewish Federation.

Ozery grew up in a “typical Conservative Jewish home” on Long Island and attended public school. Her grandparents lived in Israel and Ozery said she always had “some sort of special love” for the country.

After making aliya in 1973, Ozery earned her master’s degree in social work from Hebrew University, and worked in that field for 15 years.

Then she saw a newspaper ad for the Jewish Agency’s shlichot program in the United States.

“It was something that I had always wanted to do,” Ozery told the AJW. “I supposed I could be a role model, having done it myself, having felt that I did a successful aliya of my own, that I could speak from experience and speak from understanding of where the potential olim were coming from.”

Ozery was posted in Miami, where she served the southeast part of the United States. After three years, she returned to Israel and continued working with the Jewish Agency as director of the Mevasseret Zion Absorption Center, Israel’s largest at the time, which received immigrants from 24 different countries.

In 1994, Ozery played a critical role in receiving immigrants from the war in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. She is featured in the film The Woman from Sarajevo, which will be screened during a brunch event Feb. 21 at the Sabes JCC. Ozery will speak after the film.

“It was a very exciting moment and probably one of the most exciting things I ever did was taking charge of the in-gatherings — some coming in overnight as refugees with nothing but the shirts on their backs, and other people coming in planned aliya from the Western world — and all meeting together and having Hebrew as their common language,” Ozery said.

After leaving that position, Ozery directed the Jewish Agency’s Missions Unit for 10 years, hosting donors and federation officials in Israel and leading delegations to countries such as Argentina and Ethiopia.

In Israel, Ozery and her husband, Menachem, helped found Moshav Kfar Ruth, a small agricultural village in the middle of the country. They have three sons, Boaz, Ofer and Alon.

Ozery returned to the United States in 2007 to direct the Jewish Agency’s Aliyah Center in Chicago. Last year, she helped to facilitate aliya for 350 olim from the Midwest.

According to Ozery, the worldwide recession has not hit Israel and “everything’s bustling.” Israel boasts a lower unemployment rate than the United States, and both the Israeli government and Jewish Agency offer incentives for individuals and families to make aliya.

“We have an increase of nearly 20 percent aliya from North America in this last year,” Ozery said. “People are now saying maybe this is the time to try Israel.”

Ozery said 80 percent of the olim that were processed last year were young adults, many of whom chose Israel rather than looking for a job in the U.S. There is a decrease in the number of families making aliya — not being able to sell the home has been the main reason.

Other potential olim want to move closer to family who live in Israel or are looking to retire in a warmer climate.

“There is no one way to make aliya, it’s a very tailor-made operation,” Ozery said. “It’s a challenge, it’s not easy to make aliya. Everybody has their own motivations and their own private reasons that bring them to that decision… But I’ll never forget asking one young man in Chicago, ‘Why did you decide to make aliya?’ and he said, ‘Simply because I can.’”

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Ozery will speak during Kabbalat Shabbat services 6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 19 at Bet Shalom Congregation, 13613 Orchard Rd., Minnetonka. She will present “To Make Aliyah How Jewish Do You Need to Be?” or “Who is a Jew for the Purposes of Making Aliyah?” at a Lunch and Learn on Saturday at Bet Shalom (to make a reservation, contact Andrea Blumberg at 952-426-6644).

The Israel Program Center will sponsor a brunch and screening of The Woman from Sarajevo 10 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 21 at the Sabes JCC, 4330 Cedar Lake Rd., St. Louis Park. The event is co-sponsored by the Minneapolis Jewish Film Festival, the JCRC and the Sabes JCC. Ozery will speak after the film.

Ozery will host an open house for prospective olim 12 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 21 at the Sabes JCC.

For information, contact Minneapolis community shlicha Noga Shavit at 952-381-3551 or nshavit@mplsfed.org.