ESRA 30th anniversary festival
Winter finally arrived a few days ago with a ground-shaking clap of thunder in the middle of the night, followed by a torrential downpour. Rain is so desperately needed in Israel that we have to welcome it gratefully, even if it means getting up at 2am to close all the windows and let the cat in.
The continuing inclement weather could have put a major dampener on the English Speaking Residents Association’s 30th anniversary festival, which took place in Kibbutz Shefayim on Tuesday 28 October. The plan had been to utilise the lovely outdoor grass areas as well as the indoor lecture rooms and auditorium. “Most people have been anxiously scrutinising the Dow Jones Index and TASE over the past few weeks; at ESRA we’ve been watching the long-range weather forecast with the same intensity,” quipped Jane Krivine, the British-born chair of the festival organising committee. With the rain still falling, a contingency plan came into effect and the entire festival programme took place indoors.
ESRA is a remarkable organisation that helps immigrants to integrate into Israeli society by encouraging them to volunteer in the community. ESRA has grown from a mailing list of 250 when it was established in 1979, to a membership that today exceeds 6,000. Over the past thirty years, ESRA has raised 45 million shekels for its community projects, which have helped more than 70,000 families.
About a year ago, there was a meeting to discuss how best to celebrate ESRA’s 30th anniversary. During the lively discussion that took place, Jane suggested that the best way to combine all the ideas that were being put forward would be a Limmud-style day-long gathering. In addition to lectures by distinguished guest speakers, the festival had live music, film screenings, arts-and-crafts stalls and a writers’ corner with published authors reading from their works. Added to this mix were activities and stalls which highlighted the many-faceted work of ESRA, such as its community projects with Ethiopian immigrants and its second-hand bookstores.
What I find remarkable about ESRA is that it never stands still: there are always new projects in the pipeline, and new ideas are welcomed. Existing projects that volunteers can become involved with are many and varied. Jane Krivine tutors Israeli pupils for their English oral bagrut, for example. I am a contributing editor to ESRA magazine, and part of a team of volunteers that produces short documentary-style films for Esravision, a 30-minute English language community TV programme, which airs weekly on cable community TV channels in Israel and on Middle East TV.
I couldn’t participate properly in the festival because I was filming it for Esravision. On the other hand, I had a good overview of whole event – and it certainly seemed to have a great vibe. Around 1,000 people were there throughout the day, and I became increasingly aware of the great number of people I have got to know through my involvement with ESRA. It was good to see so many old (in the sense of longstanding, of course!) friends.
It could be said that by joining ESRA, English-speaking immigrants are trying to cling on to their old countries, rather than doing everything possible to be absorbed into Israel. But many of us come from a background of volunteerism and community involvement, and rather than this being yet another thing that we have to let go of when we come on aliya, ESRA offers us a myriad of opportunities to continue this work in Israel. What is more, doing voluntary work in the community actually helps new immigrants to acclimatise. My work with ESRA has given me the opportunity to find out about different aspects of Israeli life and to meet many fascinating people – and yes, some of them are even native Israelis.
ESRA: www.esra.org.il ESRA magazine: www.esramag.com
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