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PAGE 22 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE September 12, 1986
Gesher Tzion-Atlanta Chapter
AMIT WOMEN
First Meeting - Mon., Sept. 22
7:00 p.m.
Dairy Covered Dish Dinner
(free of charge)
Guest speaker: Mrs. Fran Lashinsky
National Vice President of Amit Women
Life Members to be honored
Home of Ronni Rosengarten
1462 Biltmore Drive, Atlanta, GA 30329
R.S.V.P. by Sept. 17; Marilyn: 633-1099
Congregation Beth Shalom
A Conservative Synagogue Serving North Atlanta
Leonard H. Li/shen, Spiritual Leader
is pleased to announce
|3Sigh JHoly ^9
ays
'ervices
to be held at the
Atlanta Jewish Community Center
1745 Peachtree Rd., N.E.
Rabbi: Leonard H. Lifshen
Cantor: Ephraim Speilman Choir: Ms. Becky Ziskind
Children’s Services: over 3 years of age
Junior Congregation: ages 6-12
baby sitting services provided
Open to the community
Tickets available at synagogue office, 3147 Chamblee Tucker & Alton Roads, 458-0489
Hours 9 a m. 5 p.m. weekdays and 10 a m. 12 noon Sundays.
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COMPANY
Snovwoom in Phan Plaza 375 Pnan Ryad Suite 110 By Appointment Only
Israel is where the heart is
for former Atlanta families
by Jan Jaben
They may not feel like Pied Pip
ers, but David and Frieda Macarov
and Jerry and Bea Renov were the
first Atlantans to make aliyah to
Israel, back in the 1940s. Now
there are some 75 Atlanta families
who have chosen the Jewish state
over the capital of a Southern U.S.
state. Most have emigrated during
the last 10 years, prompting the
establishment some two years ago
of an organization of Israelis who
are former Atlantans. And, on
Sept. 14, the group—part of the
Association of Americans and Ca
nadians in Israel—will hold their
annual picnic in Jerusalem.
For three hours, the former
Atlantans will reminisce about
Atlanta and discuss life in Israel.
As is the Israeli way, they will also
sing.
Both the Marcarovs and the
Renovs plan to attend the picnic.
Since 1961, the Macarovs have
lived in a housing development in
Nayot which was sponsored by the
AACI to help Americans who had
made aliyah. “They found over the
years that it was healthy for Amer
icans to stay with other Americans
at first,” explains David Macarov.
Of the residents of the 62 apart
ments, he said, only one couple
returned to America.
Macarov says there’s a good rea
son for preferring life in Israel to
that in Atlanta. “We are much
more involved in life and death
decisions for ourselves, our coun
try and other people. That’s not
true in America, in the United
States. There they are excited about
ballgames.”
For example, he notes the cur
rent controversy in Israel about
whether reserve duty should be
longer or shorter. With a son on
reserve duty, David Macarov says
the question becomes an impor
tant issue. So he tries to impact
government policy, partly by writ
ing letters to the editor. “A letter to
the newspaper in Israel can change
policy; in America, it’s pleasant
reading,” he says.
Even before the Macarovs moved
to Israel in 1947, they were activ
ists. They grew up in Young Judaea
in Atlanta and, after Macarov
served in the U.S. Army in Burma,
India and China, he worked in
New York to buy ships for the ille
gal immigration of Jews to Israel.
After moving to Israel, he served as
a squadron leader in the Haganah.
In more peaceful times, he taught
social work at Hebrew University
and he and his wife had four child
ren, three of whom remain in Israel.
Young Judaea was also the
breeding ground for future Israe
lis, the Renovs. Jerry Renov, from
Shreveport, La., learned that under
the GI Bill after World War II, he
could study in Israel. In fact, that
was about the only way the British,
under the Mandate, would allow
Jews in to Israel. So, with his At
lanta-born wife, the former Bea
Sirota, they emigrated to Israel in
November 1946.
The couple lived in Jerusalem
during the spring 1948 siege and
Renov, who was a pilot in World
War II, flew mail, ammunition and
supplies into the beleaguered city.
And, he took some people out.
Yet, when the American Red Cross
said they would help get Ameri
cans out, the Renovs refused. “We
were young and imbued with the
idea we were not going to leave,”
recalls Mrs. Renov.
But it wasn’t easy. Their first
child was born in February 1948
on Mount Scopus, overlooking
Jerusalem. Mrs. Renov arrived at
the hospital via armored ambu
lance and for awhile the Arabs
wouldn’t allow her to return home
with her newborn child. “It was
like a survival test,” he says.
When asked to compare the
more recent wars to the War of
Independence, Mrs. Renov says
there’s no comparison. Her sons
fought in both the 1973 Yom Kippur
War and in the war in Lebanon.
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“It’s different when it’s your chil
dren,” she says. Unlike in America
when children go off to war, how
ever, Mrs. Renov notes that the
soldiers are still close, “when they
go off to war, we send cakes and do
the laundry. We hear from them
every day.”
When the Renovs and Macarovs
attend the upcoming picnic, how
ever, they will not be discussing
past wars. Rather, they, along with
the other former Atlantans, expect
they will probably just focus on
having a good time, as Israelis tend
to do.
Of course, there also will be
some business to attend to. Ac
cording to Lila Perry, who with
Nancy Sigal and Betsy Sugarman,
is a co-chairwoman for the Atlanta
group, a directory of former Amer
icans living in Israel is planned.
“We are just beginning. We just
sent out the questionnaire,” she
says.
The group also hopes to prompt
the Atlanta Jewish community to
establish a loan fund for Atlantans
who have made aliyah. A number
of hometown groups in Israel al
ready have set up these emergency
loan funds to assist people living in
Israel, explains Rabbi David Geffen,
a former Atlantan who has been
working for the Association of
Americans and Canadians in Israel.
As Mrs. Perry explains, of all
the reasons why Americans move
to Israel, “no one comes for eco
nomic reasons. Some come for
religious reasons and some come
to live among Jews in a Jewish
environment.
Mrs. Perry, who with her hus
band Jack moved to Israel five
years ago this December, says they
made aliyah for the more spiritual
life in Israel. According to Mrs.
Perry, when they used to walk to
services at Beth Jacob, passers-by
would occasionally call them “dirty
Jews.” Yet, she credits Beth Jacob
and Rabbi Emanuel Feldman with
changing their lives. “Now I live in
the Holy City,” she says.
According to Rabbi Geffen, the
Perrys are part of the norm. “Of
the Americans who come here, the
highest percentage stay in Jerusa
lem. They make aliyah to Jerusa
lem, not to Israel. The motivator is
the spiritual element and the em
bodiment of spiritual life in Israel
is in Jerusalem.”
Rabbi Geffen says the number
of Americans who moved to Israel
from the 1940s to the 1960s were
relatively insignificant. “Most of
those who are here now came within
the last 10 years,” as he did.
Periodically, these former Atlan
tans return to America to visit fam
ilies and friends. After a few weeks
away from Israel, however, they
say they’re ready to go home. “If I
had to go back to America, 1 would
want to go back to Atlanta," says
Mrs. Perry. "But the saying, ‘you
can’t go home again,’ is true."
But you can reunite annually to
swap stories and memories.
Jan Jahen is a journalist who
just returned from her first trip to
Israel.
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