September 2024
Wendy Schneider
Hamilton’s Jewish community has opened its doors and hearts to newcomer Israeli families who have laid down new roots in the city since the outbreak of war in Israel nearly a year ago. Many have come after hearing about Hamilton’s warm and welcoming Jewish community through informal Facebook or WhatsApp groups—an invaluable resource for Israelis taking advantage of Canada’s temporary measures that allow Israeli nationals and Palestinian passport holders to apply for three-year work visas. The three newcomer families profiled below share the circumstances that brought them here, how they’ve been helped since their arrival, and what support they’re still hoping to find.
Oli and Tal Moreno
Oli and Tal Moreno relocated from Israel’s busy central region to Kibbutz Yiftach on the Lebanese border eight years ago in search of a better quality of life for their growing family. But a day after the Oct. 7 attacks when the entire kibbutz was ordered to evacuate, Oli Moreno gathered up her two children and the family dog—her husband Tal was in the US on a business trip—and drove to her parents’ home for what she thought would be a three-day visit. The family has not been home since.
Until their arrival in Hamilton last June, the Morenos were among the tens of thousands of internally displaced Israelis who have spent the better part of last year living in hotels. “It was really hard,” Oli told the HJN, attempting to convey what it was like for a family of four (plus the dog) to live in a single hotel room for months. “It was really a shock and the kids really didn’t respond very well. Everyone was really depressed and worried. And everyone wanted to go home obviously, and couldn’t.”
Orit and Itamar Zapilyan
Early in the morning of October 7, 2023, Orit Zapilyan, like many Israelis living near the Gaza Strip, was awakened by the sound of sirens that sent her running for shelter with her two daughters. Her husband Itamar had left for Canada six months earlier to find work and a place to live while his wife and children stayed on his parents’ moshav in the Ashkelon area. Awaking to his wife’s frantic messages later that morning, Itamar sprang into action, not resting until he managed to bring his wife and children to safety. Two weeks later, the family was reunited in Hamilton.
Hamutal Niv and Nadav Greenhut
An extended family vacation in Switzerland provided a brief respite for Hamutal Niv and Nadav Greenhut and their two children after the war broke out, but the couple was looking for a long-term plan. “It started with COVID,” said Greenhut, a concert pianist and composer who saw his teaching income decline significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic. “The situation in Israel was hard ... and the world started to feel too small and too stressful, and we wanted to get away.”
Niv, a ceramic artist of dual Israeli and American citizenship who does contractual work as a project manager, said the couple chose Canada over the United States because this country’s new immigration measures made it a much more feasible option than waiting seven years for a green card. But it was their daughter’s telling people during that Switzerland vacation that in case of an attack, they “should go to the hallway and put your head between your legs” that had them decide to make the difficult decision to leave. Niv remembers thinking at the time, “Why does a four-year-old need to know that?”
Community Support
Moving to a new country, mastering a new language, and adapting to unfamiliar surroundings far from cherished family members can be an incredibly daunting experience, and all three families expressed profound gratitude for the overwhelming support they’ve received from Hamilton’s Jewish community.
Local real estate agents Baya Vertes and Augustina Gershkovitz have been extremely helpful in finding families a place to live, as have Federation’s JWelcome Home coordinator Maggie Norris and the Adas Israel’s Rabbi Daniel Green. When the Zapilyan children exhibited signs of PTSD during their first months in Canada, the Hamilton Hebrew Academy provided them with psychological counselling. With only one month remaining in the school year, Kehila Heschel opened its doors to the Niv/Greenhut children and Federation provided every newcomer child with a one-week scholarship to Camp Kadimah. Newcomer families from Israel also made up the majority of attendees at two Federation events this summer—a PJ Library event at Churchill Park and a welcome party for newcomers at Shalom Village.
Without a doubt, Hamilton’s local Israeli community and their network of WhatsApp groups have given newcomer families the closest feeling to finding a home away from home, offering dinner invitations, family picnics, and ongoing moral support.
Many Israeli families also connect to each other through a Federation WhatsApp group for newcomers administered by Maggie Norris. Norris told the HJN that while a small number of Israeli families are moving to Hamilton with pre-arranged job offers and living accommodation, she has the impression that many are “a little bit culture shocked ... coming from Israel with not very much in place and hoping to secure housing and work upon arrival.” While job placement is not a service that Federation can provide, whenever Norris hears of a job opportunity for newcomers, she makes sure to post it in the group.
Welcome Respite
The rental property where Oli and Tal Moreno spent their first month in Canada had a lovely, spacious kitchen, but Oli told the HJN it took her a while before it occurred to her to use the oven, “because in my head, I’m still in my hotel room.”
Her assessment on the war’s impact on her and other Israelis was that of a country where “everyone is in need of therapy, but those who were forced to leave their homes, even more so, because no one can imagine what it’s like to leave everything behind.” Nevertheless, starting life over in a new country has not been as difficult as Oli anticipated. “I thought I was going to feel like I don’t belong. But I don’t feel that way,” she said.
Tal Moreno is most grateful to have found some respite from what he described as “living in a pressure cooker.” “We have a lot more stuff to do as a family and things to take care of,” he said, “but the environment surrounding us is so quiet and peaceful, it really reflects on us, and it gives us peace of mind.”
Lead photo: Oli and Tal Moreno and family
