His name is Sylvester, he’s 12, lives in Netanya with his sister Lightening and their three humans. His favorite nap corner during the winter months is this Toshiba Laptop, which, if you check it online, has serious issues with dumping its accumulating heat during normal operation. But what’s a problem for most users is a blessing for Sylvester.

Not these days, of course. As temperatures here regularly hover between 90 and 90+, Sylvester can be found in the air conditioned parts of the apartment where he keeps his humans.

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Yishai and Malkah kick off this segment by discussing Yishai’s recent solar birthday and a trip to the coast in Netanya. They move on to talk about a new prize that was recently announced, presented to those that are influential to Jewish history. The segment continues with a discussion about a recent trip to Israel by Russian President Vladimir Putin and its affect on Israeli/Russian cooperation and wraps up talking about a missing Jewish millionaire.

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The transfer of one of Jerusalem’s most prime pieces of real estate to Russia will be finalized when the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) vacates its offices, following the completion of talks between Israel and Russia on Sunday.

In 2008, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert presented the Sergei building and its 9-acre courtyard with gardens and fishponds in the Russian Compound as a gift to the Russian government.  He made the gesture during a visit to Moscow to persuade President Dimitry Medvedev not to sell arms to Syria and to back sanctions against Iran.  The decision to transfer the property was made by the prime minister, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Finance Minister Roni Bar-On and Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann.

Last year, the Agriculture Ministry and the Society for Preservation of Israel Heritage Sites evacuated their offices in the compound.  SPNI issued a request to continue working in the offices, but was denied by the Russian government.

Israel gained control of approximately 90 percent of the Russian compound in 1964, paying the Russian government $3.5 million in citrus fruits for the property due to lack of hard currency – hence the dubbing of the agreement the “Orange Deal”.

The Sergei building, not included in the sale, was completed in 1890, and served as a hotel for Russian aristocrats, royalty, and dignitaries on pilgrimage to Jerusalem. It was named for brother of Tzar Alexander III, Grand Duke Sergei, then President of the Imperial Russian Orthodox Palestine Society.   The property had been purchased by Tzar Alexander II in 1860 from the Ottoman Empire.

When the plan to give possession of the property to Russia was announced in 2008, opponents protested the giving over of Jerusalem heritage sites to foreign entities, and warned that Russia was not a strong enough ally to trust with the property.  Then-candidate for Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat also disapproved of the plan, calling it a “dangerous precedent, giving property in the heart of Jerusalem to foreign interests.”

Russia has vowed to keep the area open to the public, and says it will restore the yard and buildings for use by Russian pilgrims visiting Jerusalem today.

The SPNI announcement comes just a day before Russian Premier Vladimir Putin’s Monday arrivalin Israel on an official state visit.  The leader is expected to meet with top Israeli officials to discuss Iran’s nuclear progress.  He will also dedicate a monument in Netanya to the valor of the Red Army in World War II.  The large stone monument consisting of a pair of white wings, an unprecedented joint-state venturebetween Israel and Russia, will also honor the more than half a million Jewish Red Army soldiers who fought in the war.

President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, Israeli President Shimon Peres and Jewish leaders from around the world will unveil the brand-new ‘Victory Monument’ in Netanya, Israel this Monday, June 25.

The Monument design was the first-ever joint initiative between Israel and Russia to commemorate the Red Army. The newly elected President Putin will be visiting Israel specifically for the inauguration ceremony.

The Monument was funded by major Jewish philanthropists, led by Keren Hayesod – UIA, and the World Forum of Russian Jewry.

A world-class design commemorating the Red Army’s victory over Nazi Germany in WWII, the Monument honors the millions of Red Army soldiers who perished in the war, among them 120,000 Jews.

Alexander Levin, President of the World Forum of Russian Jewry and an American citizen, will be representing Russian-speaking Jews from North America.

“This incredible monument symbolizes the historical and ever-important role the Red Army played during WWII and its part in defeating the Nazis and their horrors. Millions of Russian Jews around the world are united at this moment in solidarity for the brave Red Army soldiers,” said Levin.

More than half a million Jewish soldiers fought with the Red Army in WWII against the Nazis – 120,000 were killed.

About two years ago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proposed the idea of the monument to President Putin on his visit to Moscow. Putin promised to come to Israel for the inauguration ceremony.

Moti Gaber, a resident of Kfar Yonah, a suburb of Netanya, Israel, was coming home with his son Wednesday night around 8:00 from the Lag Ba’Omer festivities, when he saw something quite literally out of this world.

“I saw something very strange,” he told the Jewish Press early Thursday morning. “I arrived at the parking bay in my housing complex, I look up and, alongside the top of the buildings, I see these orange balls. They were moving in formation, eight altogether.”

Gaber, who served in the IDF in a combat unit, said he can tell the difference between a fireworks pencil, or flares, and what he saw last night. “It looked nothing like any of those things,” he insisted. “If they were fireworks pencils they would have dropped and evaporated. And they just didn’t look like flares. As to balloons, what can I tell you, it makes no sense for a balloon to move horizontally like that.”

Gaber also didn’t think what he had seen were any kind of aircraft known to him, and he contends the objects were perfectly silent and flew too close together to be planes or drones.

“They disappeared from view, I looked for them behind the buildings and saw nothing,” he said.

The police center for special reports told the Jewish Press there were no unusual reports last night in the Netanya area.

We went out to watch the Purim Parade in our sweet town of Netanya, and for a few hours were transported to a care-free world, somewhere between Disneyland and New Orleans. Our daughter Yarden said, Purim is like Halloween but without dead people. Everyone was distinctly alive in Netanya this Purim. And everyone seemed to take very seriously the idea of the Purim happy noise. Even the babies.

   I have no doubt he’ll be back.

   Ben G. Frank is author of “A Travel Guide to Jewish Europe,” 3^rd edition; “A Travel Guide to Jewish Russia and Ukraine,” and “A Travel Guide to the Jewish Caribbean and South America,” Pelican Publishing Co., Gretna, LA.

This is the third part of a series on Aliyah and Klita (absorption) stories of American Jews who came to Israel for ideological and religious reasons in the past years.

It is hard for modern day visitors to Israel to imagine some of the situations that immigrants to Israel found 20 and 30 years ago. Information by phone, for example, was hard to receive because office clerks would often be unwilling to give out information via the telephone (even about which documents you needed to bring to the office). Service was usually not considered a function of businesses or government, and public transportation was often the only way to get around because cars were prohibitively expensive to buy, maintain and run.

Today, Israel is a technologically advanced state and workers have been taught the importance of giving reasonable service. Clerks are willing to use the phone, fax and even the Internet. Instead of taking a number and waiting on a long line, you can get the information you need by surfing on government or company Internet sites.

For many of us, there is no place else to live but in Israel. This past Chanukah, I drove into the city of Kiryat Sefer in the early evening and was surprised that it was so dark on the street. I asked my son Avi why, and he explained that the city does not turn on the streetlights during Chanukah until an hour after the time for lighting the Chanukah lights so that everyone can see the lights burning brightly in every window or doorway. Pirsuma D’Nisa!

* * *

Alan Aranoff grew up in LA and received a BA and Master of Architecture degree at UCLA (under the tutelage of some of the best known architects of the time). He worked for Kohn Pedersen Fox, a major architecture firm in NYC. Despite their offers to substantially increase his pay and their other arguments against leaving (mostly, they just couldn’t figure him out – they thought his notice to leave was a ploy for more money), he moved to Israel in 1987.

Alan became a senior designer at a well-known Israeli firm and went on to become an independent architect and has been privileged to work on notable projects in Israel. But in the world of architecture, his Israel practice cannot quite compare with the international level of work (and compensation) that he had in New York. He believes, however, that the spiritual content of his work in Israel far surpasses anything he could ever have done in America, and he doesn’t think it is possible to raise children the same way in America.

His wife, Devorah, left a good position in computer programming with a large corporation in Chicago and was able to do similar work in Israel, but not, of course, under the same terms. For both of them it was not a simple thing at all to leave their home, jobs, parents and family.

Alan believes that when American Jews make remarks disparaging those who came on Aliyah many years ago, it is mostly to assuage their own guilt for themselves not making Aliyah. If someone who stayed in America can convince himself that he didn’t make Aliyah when he was young because he was successful in the States, while those that did make Aliyah did so because they had nothing to lose, it makes the one who remained behind feel better. The reality, as we know, is much different.

Alan can list a number of doctors (that’s one group that really sacrificed), writers, business people, etc. who made Aliyah not long after graduating Ivy League and other good schools many years ago. There were very few who left the States as failures, and those who did also tended to fail in their Aliyah and eventually moved back.

To this day, Israeli friends and colleagues often ask Alan how he could have possibly left his position in the States (when some of them dream of just being able to live there and speak English like an American…).

* * *

Sandy and Irv Portnoy arrived in Israel in 1976 from Chicago with four young children aged six to 13. Irv is a pediatrician and was in private practice in Chicago. In 1972, Irv was offered a position at Laniado Hospital in Netanya as soon as it opened its doors to the public. In 1976, the hospital opened and the Portnoys came on Aliyah. Irv became the chief of the newborn nursery during the first six years of Laniado Hospital and took care of many of the babies born in Netanya during those years. He later worked for almost 20 years at Kupat Cholim Leumit.

In America, the Portnoys had the opportunity to make lots of money, while in Israel, Irv was always a salaried worker. He consciously made the decision that he wanted to take care of Jewish babies in Israel. Irv also joined the Mishmar Ha’ezrachi, the volunteer home guard, within one week of his Aliyah, and guarded Netanya with a partner until he was drafted four years later.

In the army, Irv worked his way up to becoming a captain. When he reached the point where the army no longer needed his services, Irv went back to volunteering with the Mishmar Ha’ezrachi and worked his way into various special units. Eventually, the Air Force decided that they needed his services and he returned to active reserve duty.

Now that he has retired from Kupat Cholim, he has been volunteering three days a week with various units of the police – tourist police, regular patrols, and Border Patrol (some days working 10 or more hours). For 17 years he volunteered at Magen David Adom on the Intensive Care Ambulance one night a week (double shift).

Sandy worked at Laniado Hospital, and later at a high-tech electronics company as a Hebrew-English secretary. They have four children and 14 grandchildren to date (Kein Yirbu), all living in Israel. Sandy strongly feels that no American came here because (s)he was forced to. We all came voluntarily because of ideological reasons.

* * *

Abba and Ruthie Engelberg came in 1972 because they are Zionists. Ruthie was in Bnei Akiva for many years and Abba was teaching at Brooklyn Polytech and was a vice president of the Religious Zionists of America (RZA). Today, Abba heads Machon Tal (women’s division of Machon Lev).

* * *

Sandy Freundlich came on Aliyah in 1962 with her husband and an infant. Her husband had just finished his MA in Columbia in Physics. They went to live on kibbutz Tirat Tzvi for purely ideological reasons. In the United States, Sandy had been a Hebrew teacher. Sandy and her husband left kibbutz, raised a family, and she is still involved in education but on a supervisory level. She works for the Open University. Her children are all in Israel. They have degrees from MA to PhD and have served in the Army or Sherut Leumi. Like most American olim, she left behind her family, and it took a long time before you could afford to visit them in those days.

* * *

Tamar Ross was born and bred in Detroit. Her language at home was Hebrew, even though it was not her parent’s mother tongue, but rather because they were Zionists. In 1954, after finishing high school at age 16, Tamar decided to come to Israel for a year of limudei kodesh. At the time, there were no institutions in Israel for foreign students, and certainly not for women. She joined a program for Aliyat Hanoar leaders. Conditions at the course were primitive, with an outhouse for a toilet, cut up pieces of newspaper as toilet paper, and rations of half a hard-boiled egg as the protein for the day. Private cars, phones and electric refrigerators were rare luxuries that hardly anyone owned. This was in stark contrast to the middle-class suburban home and standard of living in which she grew up.

After that year, Tamar wrote to her parents and told them that she would like to stay in Israel. Her parents came to visit her in Israel and they too decided to make Aliyah. They arrived immediately prior to the Sinai campaign in 1956. Their Israeli friends suggested that they go back to America, and people were hoarding groceries in preparation for war. They refused to leave and stayed despite the war.

Tamar’s father became the secretary of the chief rabbinate and her mother became a supervisor of teachers of English as a foreign language in the Ministry of Education. Tamar raised children and went on to teach Jewish thought at Midreshet Lindenbaum and then became a professor of Jewish philosophy at Bar Ilan University. She is still employed by both institutions. This year, she is at Yale University serving as a visiting scholar.

(To Be Continued)

(Comments may be sent to dov@gilor.com)