More than 1,000 English-speaking olim (immigrants to Israel) are to attend a Tuesday evening Orthodox Union (OU) job fair in Jerusalem, where more than 70 firms are offering more than 600 places of employment.
The fair will remain open from 5-9 p.m. (11 a.m.-2 p.m. EST) on Tuesday at the Ramada Hotel, formerly the Renaissance Hotel. Among the employers offering jobs are the giant Teva Pharmaceuticals, based in Israel, the Berlitz language school and Kodak.
The OU has been active in promoting Aliyah - immigration to Israel - for the past several years through its Israel Center near downtown Jerusalem and a job board that helped 11,000 people find work in the past year, according to officials of the organization.
A community fair on Monday featured a dozen communities and several real estate agents trying to attract new, old and prospective English speakers in the Jewish State.
A Community Expo, with the support of Israel’s Absorption Ministry, attracted more than 15 communities from Haifa to Judea and Samaria that are trying to increase their local populations. Real estate developers were on hand to guide olim in helping them identify communities where they can purchase or rent a home for life in Israel.
In addition to the Job Fair and Community Expo, the OU is promoting a "Jerusalem: Keep it One, Keep it Ours" campaign on Thursday at the site of the proposed United States embassy in Jerusalem. United States President George W. Bush, like his predecessors, campaigned with a promise to move the embassy to the capital.
A Congressional law also required the move, but President Bush, like former President Bill Clinton, exercised the Congressional waiver that allows him to postpone the move for reasons of "national security."
President-elect Barack Obama was forced to retreat during his presidential campaign from a statement that Jerusalem should remain Israel's undivided capital. Following protests from the Palestinian Authority and Arab countries, he explained he meant that barbed wire fences should not divide the city as they did from 1949-1967 during the Jordanian occupation.