Livni. Promoting Aliya
צילום: אלכס קולומויסקי
Report: Sharp rise in conversion rate
A five-year record in conversion rate reached in 2005, Absorption Ministry data reveals. Ministry also reports success in treatment of immigrant youth at risk
The conversion rate in Israel in 2005 was five times higher than in 2002, an Absorption Ministry report revealed Thursday. According to statistics presented by Absorption Minister Tzipi Livni to the Knesset's Absorption Committee, while in the year 2002, 852 people converted to Judaism in Israel, 4,242 converted in 2005.
Livni stated that the Absorption Ministry has put extensive efforts into treating the problems of immigrant youth at risk.
"In the last year the ministry invested NIS 30 million in the treatment of teens at risk, and these efforts bore fruits: According to the police youth department's statistics, this year, for the first time in a decade, there was no increase in crime rates among youth from the former soviet republics," Livni said.
According to the ministry's data, many of the long-time immigrants to Israel still encounter problems with the Hebrew language. Livni also reviewed before the committee the major programs the ministry operated during 2005, including an intervention program to prevent Alcohol abuse among immigrant teens.
The target: Belgian Jews
The ministry takes great pride in its conversion activities, Livni stated. About 2,200 students attended the Institute of Jewish Studies in 2005, of which 72 percent were women, and 69 percent under the age of 40.
In the IDF, approximately 2,500 soldiers went through conversion. Another 1,270 people studied for their conversion in education ministry courses, in university campuses, and in schools.
One of the ministry's objectives for the coming year, according to Livni, is to promote the Aliya of Belgian Jews to Israel. The Jewish community in Belgium has apparently been showing increasing interest in Israel, and the ministry therefore plans to focus its efforts there.
Ministry officials, together with representatives of the immigrants from Belgium in Israel, have drafted a plan that will include promotional activities to inform Belgian Jews of absorption opportunities in Israel.
