In "Zikhron Beslon" next year - we will also hear the stories of the immigrants from the Commonwealth of Nations

Tatiana Levy takes care of everyone

Tatiana Levy, 67, coordinator of immigrants and culture at the Bat Galim community center in Haifa. She immigrated to Eretz Israel from Ukraine 27 years ago. Her daughter broke the ground when she immigrated through the Na'ala organization: youth immigrating before their parents at the age of 16.

Tatiana is the daughter of Holocaust survivors. Immigrated to Israel as a single parent of two daughters aged 16 and 7. Already in Ukraine she was a Zionist: she worked at the Jewish Agency in Izmail on the banks of the Danube.
In Ukraine she worked as an economist and accountant, but as most immigrants from the Commonwealth of Nations did not pursue their profession, she also made her way in Israeli working life. While working at the community center, she was accepted as a secretary, but recognized the need to organize activities for immigrants.

From Odessa to Haifa

As the coordinator of immigrants and culture, she organizes dance and culture evenings for immigrants from the Commonwealth of Nations and senior citizens, even non-immigrants. These events bring the local population and the immigrants closer together. She has been working at the Bat Galim Community Center for about twenty years. She is a familiar figure in the neighborhood, in Bat Galim, Kiryat Eliezer and all of Haifa. Especially thanks to her trademark: her reddish hair, and thanks to the many hours she diligently spends in the bustling community center.

A welcome activity

Tatiana is expected to retire at the end of May, but she feels young and still has chores to do. Tatiana would be happy to continue her activities as long as possible. It would be a shame if the activity that Tatiana does for the immigrants is stopped.

Interpretation:

It can be said that the immigrants who arrived twenty years ago were more or less well received in Israel. There are big differences between the immigrants: those who speak fluent Hebrew and those who still speak Russian. In the vicinity of Bat Galim and Kiryat Eliezer I know of at least three hostels, a kind of sheltered and subsidized housing where the immigrants live. This is a disappearing generation. As long as they live, Tatiana and her ilk should be allowed to conduct social activities for them.

It's a shame that we didn't get to hear their stories during the last Holocaust memorial days. Tatiana organizes meetings over a cup of coffee for those Holocaust survivors. We talked about the possibility that in the next "Memory in the Living Room" we will also hear their story, with a translation.