{"id":259721,"date":"2010-02-01T10:26:08","date_gmt":"2010-02-01T15:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"tag:blogs.rj.org,2010:\/rac\/\/2.2404"},"modified":"2010-02-01T11:07:58","modified_gmt":"2010-02-01T16:07:58","slug":"new-victories-for-new-olim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/259721","title":{"rendered":"New Victories for New Olim"},"content":{"rendered":"

When most people have their photo taken for a new driver’s license or passport, the government-issued photo I.D. is anything but becoming – think dour faces, terrible lighting, and a general look of total disgust.<\/p>\n

But last week, IRAC’s Legal Aid Center for Olim<\/i><\/a> (LACO) received faxed copies of some of the happiest-looking photo I.D.s ever issued. Four of our clients, from countries as far-flung as Japan, Russia, and Romania, had finally received their teudat zehut<\/em> – Israeli citizenship cards – and in their exuberance could not stop smiling for the camera.<\/p>\n

Our clients had been on the verge of giving up their quest for citizenship. One woman had already spent five years waiting for a final decision from the Ministry of the Interior, while IRAC was ready to petition the Supreme Court on behalf of another – only to receive a letter from the Ministry of the Interior on the same day the petition was to be filed, requesting even more documents from the client be sent. In a country where the Ministry of the Interior can only be described as Kafka-esque (letters mysteriously lost, never replied to or acknowledged), a smooth road to citizenship is no guarantee for any oleh<\/i>.<\/p>\n

So instead of the bad news I fling at you each week, I wanted to let
\nyou know about a few of the hundreds of similar cases IRAC wins every
\nyear on behalf of new immigrants. IRAC’s lawyers offer free legal
\nassistance to olim <\/i>and help them navigate the often insurmountable
\nIsraeli bureaucracy, win oleh benefits, be recognized as Jews, and
\nbuild new lives in Israel. The recognition of their Jewish status in
\nIsrael – since our clients have all undergone Reform or Conservative
\nconversions – is a triumph in the name of religious pluralism and
\nfreedom, and something to be celebrated.<\/p>\n

Learn more about our Legal Aid Center for Olim<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When most people have their photo taken for a new driver’s license or passport, the government-issued photo I.D. is anything but becoming – think dour faces, terrible lighting, and a general look of total disgust. But last week, IRAC’s Legal Aid Center for Olim (LACO) received faxed copies of some of the happiest-looking photo I.D.s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4316,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-259721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4316"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259721\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}