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C onn ect i ng C u ltu r es T hrough F am i ly and F ood

AfghanistanandSyriahave contrib- uted to what humanitarian groups called a massive shift of humani- ty unlike any ever seen before. (Of course, the flow is not just one way; therearemanywhohaveimmigrated to theMiddleEast. In 1948, when the Jewish nation of Israel was estab- lished, people came fromall over the world to live there. Many of these were Eastern European Jews who had survived theHolocaust and saw

a chance to rebuild their lives. Jews fromother countries still immigrate to Israel, in a process that is called making aliyah , which translates as “elevation” or “going up.”) Like all people from around the worldwho set out tofindnewhomes, for whatever reason, Middle East- erners bringwith them the families they loveandthe traditions thatbind them together. Many of those tradi- tions, as we will see, involve eating

Congregation Mickve Israel in Savannah, Georgia, was founded in 1733 by Jewish immigrants from Europe.