Israelis Open Arms to Georgian Jews

JERUSALEM, Aug. 15, 2008 -- Tucked in the corner of her father's Georgian art booth at the Jerusalem Arts and Cultural festival, Eka Manasherova, 30, sits atop the lone suitcase her family brought along Friday when they left their hometown of Tiblisi, Georgia.

The weeks-long annual festival brings people from all over the world to show their artwork and share their culture. This year, for Manasherova and her family, it means more than just showcasing their crafts. The long-planned trip turned out to be a way to escape the Russian invasion.

"We were invited here to this festival because my father is an artist," Manasherova told ABC news. "I think that it was God's work that we're supposed to come to this festival when we did."

The Jewish family's single piece of luggage holds the only possessions Manasherova and her family may ever see again, as returning home to Georgia may be too dangerous, Manasherova fears.

"I cannot believe that I am here, and I check the Internet and see what is going on at home," said Manasherova. "My one friend from my childhood is already dead. We don't know where it happened exactly, but we know he went to go fight and now he's dead."

As festival-goers crowded into the small booth and offered their condolences to the artist family, Manasherova struggled with whether she should return to her broken home country.

Like many Georgian Jews, she was considering making "aliyah" to Israel.

The Hebrew word "aliyah" comes from the verb meaning "to ascent" and refers to the Jewish immigration to Israel since its founding in 1948. Preserved in the Zionist law of return, any Jew has the legal right to automatic Israeli citizenship, assisted immigration and settlement in Israel.

Since 1989, 23,287 people have immigrated to Israel from Georgia under the auspices of the Jewish Agency for Israel, according to the organization.

Thirty-four people were added to that number Tuesday when they made aliyah to flee the hostilities in Georgia.