Yad L’Achim was established in 1950 to help new immigrants adjust to the newly born country and to help them find a suitable religious framework. Over the years, its attention has turned to more complex problems, including how to counter the missionary threat. Israel has attracted some 100 missionary congregations and cults because it offers a large concentration of Jews, many of whom are prime ta
rgets due to their economic distress and unawareness about Judaism. Fighting the missionaries, who have millions of dollars a year at their disposal, has long been one of Yad L’Achim’s top priorities. Another focus of attention is assimilation. Though it was once thought that this could not be a problem in a Jewish country, not even for the secular, the tragic facts show an increasing number of Jewish girls getting involved with foreign workers and, even more so, with Arab men. Indeed, Yad L’Achim gets some 1,000 calls a year reporting such cases. Our Anti-Assimilation department responds to all such calls. In some cases, this means launching military-like rescues from hostile Arab villages and setting the women up in “safe” houses around the country, where they can build new lives for themselves. Yad L’Achim has other departments as well, including one devoted to the spiritual absorption of immigrants from the CIS and one that helps register children in Torah schools.
