BUDAPEST — With NATO air strikes pounding away at their homeland, about 40 Yugoslav Jews flew out of Hungary last week for a 12-day visit to Israel.
It is the first stage of what the Jewish Agency for Israel hopes will become a large-scale aliyah. The visitors, ages 18 to 35, are expected to be followed by another group of 90 — mostly families.
The immediate priority is for Yugoslav Jews to be out of harm’s way. But if they like Israel, they could choose to stay.
“I’m not a prophet,” Aca Singer, president of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Yugoslavia, said from Budapest last week. “But if we continue like this, the Yugoslav Jewish community may not exist much longer.”
Singer, 76, knows the pains of rebuilding. Among the 67,000 Yugoslav Jews killed during the Holocaust were 65 of his relatives. Most of the 15,000 Jews who survived either emigrated or assimilated.
Today — after a decade that has seen the dissolution of the old Yugoslavia, four wars, international sanctions and political repression — the Yugoslav Jewish community claims only 3,000 members.
Singer’s own daughter and two grandchildren made aliyah six years ago.
With the NATO assault that began March 24, Yugoslav Jewry once again faces an existential threat.
About 250 mostly young Jews have so far fled north for refuge in Budapest, the Hungarian capital. Of those who remain, many are torn over whether to pack it in. The 1,000 or so elderly will likely stay. And all men aged 18 to 60 must now stay, in case the army needs them.
While many Jews feel solidarity with their fellow Yugoslavians, many more will surely rush for the border if NATO sends in ground troops.
Still, many in the Israel-bound group said they would rather return home eventually than make a permanent life in Israel.
Few are gung-ho about aliyah; if they do it, they say, it may be more out of necessity than desire.
One 19-year-old said he’d likely stay for six months of intensive Hebrew studies, then reassess the situation. His parents remain in Belgrade.
“I wouldn’t want to make aliyah without my parents. You need support when you go to a new country.”
Others have real concerns about life in Israel.
One Budapest woman with her 13-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter plans to visit Israel later this month with the other families. Although the woman is not Jewish, the children’s father is.
Settling in the Jewish state does not have overriding appeal, she said. More relevant is the fear of Israel becoming entangled in another Middle East war and the lingering image of Russian academics unable to find work other than sweeping streets.
“Every country has its disadvantages, and I’m not expecting to be treated like a princess,” said the 37-year-old. “But all I want is to find my place under the sun, where I can work and feel safe and for my children to have opportunities in life.”