Experts weigh in on Jewish ‘Aliyah from RI’

The Cranston Herald ·

For the month of November, the Cranston Public Library is hosting “Aliyah from Rhode Island: A Photo-Text Exhibit” by Shai Afsai.

The exhibit features the interviews and photographs of 14 Rhode Islanders who made “Aliyah,” which in its most basic definition is a migration to Israel.

The exhibit opened on Sunday, Nov. 5 with a panel discussion. Both the exhibit and the panel discussion were made possible through a grant to Providence’s Congregation Beth Sholom from the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities. It also served as the Rhode Island Jewish Historical Association’s 2017 meeting.

The two-hour event welcomed five local experts, scholars and researchers to speak on the subject of Aliyah.

The moderator was Providence College’s Dr. Adam Myers, a professor of American political science who was born in Israel and emigrated to the U.S. at age seven.

Members of the panel included Shai Afsai, a writer, researcher, photographer and teacher; Miriam Abrams-Stark, a Rhode Island Jewish education professional, and Mother of an “olah” from Rhode Island; Rabbi Barry Dolinger of Providence’s Congregation Beth Sholom; and Dr. George Goodwin, New England historian, Editor of the Rhode Island Jewish Historical Notes and the annual journal of the Rhode Island Jewish Historical Association.

Myers started the program by asking the rabbi, since a majority of the young people interviewed for the exhibit were from his congregation, why so many of his younger congregants are the ones making Aliyah?

“After services, we joke, ‘Don’t leave, but if you are going to leave, please go to Israel.’ We are unabashedly a pro-Zionist congregation for cultural, religious and historical reasons,” he said. “Israel provides untold protection for Jews; it ultimately has the backs of Jews worldwide. I am thrilled when people make Aliyah. I don’t view it as a loss at all. I dream of making Aliyah with my wife, and I say this with no disrespect to Providence to the State of Rhode Island or the United States. We love our life here, the quality of the people, our community.”

Myers went on to discuss the personal issue with Miriam Abrams-Stark when her daughter Tova, and her husband Evan made the decision to move to Israel. “What’s it like to have a daughter who lives so far away? How do you explain her decision to people around town?” he asked.

Stark went on to explain that when she was growing up, her parents were ahead of their time and believed that every Jewish teenager needed to go to Israel as part of their Jewish education and in formation of their Jewish identity.

“My husband and I sent our children to Israel when they were teenagers,” she said. “When Tova returned from her trip at age 17, she said to us ‘I am making Aliyah.’ Then she went again as a junior in college, and said ‘I am going to make Aliyah.’ Then she spent a year in Israel after college, and she met a great guy—Evan, who is from L.A., and we thought, great, L.A. is closer than Israel. But, they decided to move to Israel.”

Stark said she is very proud of her daughter, and acknowledged that it took a lot of ‘chutzpah’ or gumption to do this.

“In two weeks they are expecting their first baby, our first grandchild. It is so hard, but I am proud of them, and admire the strength and dedication and happiness,” she said.

The panel went on to discuss the issues of whether Rhode Island and other countries can and are providing enough “Jewishness” for people to stay and not move to Israel.

“Tova’s Aliyah is not a rejection of her Rhode Island Jewish community. She is moving towards something that enriches her life. Israel offered her something more—religiously, spiritually, something she connected with, it was the going towards something,” Stark said.