After arriving from Colombia, family’s integration eased by local Jewish community
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After arriving from Colombia, family’s integration eased by local Jewish community

Immigration process brought Aponte Ortizes to Pittsburgh. Together with community, they're creating a home

Members of the Aponte Ortiz family gather after arriving in Pittsburgh. (Photo courtesy of JFCS)
Members of the Aponte Ortiz family gather after arriving in Pittsburgh. (Photo courtesy of JFCS)

Moving can be a nightmare. Pittsburgh’s Jewish community lessened the fear.

Months ago, Yehoshua Aponte Ortiz, 43, and his family received a call.

“It was a Friday, I remember, and they told us they sent some information through the mail,” he said.

Aponte Ortiz and his Colombia-based family were in the process of immigrating. The caller instructed the family to travel from Medellin to Bogota. On Monday, they made the 285-mile trip. On Wednesday, they headed to the U.S.

“We had no idea that we’d be coming here,” Aponte Ortiz said.

Originally from Venezuela, the family was assisted by HIAS. Established nearly 150 years ago to aid U.S.-bound Russian Jewish immigrants fleeing persecution and violence, HIAS has helped resettle more than 4.5 million people regardless of nationality, religion or ethnic origin.

Uncertain where HIAS would ultimately place them, the Aponte Ortizes packed lightly.

“We just arrived here with some books, coats and a lot of memories,” the father said.

The Aponte Ortizes have three daughters: one is in seventh grade, one is in first grade, the youngest died three years ago.

Most of the books belonged to the girls. A few works contained liturgy.

“I brought my tefillin and my tallit,” Aponte Ortiz said, while sitting in an office at JFCS.

The Squirrel Hill-based organization is one of nearly 30 U.S.-based Jewish or secular service resettlement agencies that partner with HIAS.

Allie Amoyoae, a communications specialist with JFCS, said the local organization is committed to helping foreign-born individuals and families, coming through the federal government’s resettlement program, find housing and support after arriving in Pittsburgh.

Employment guidance and other services are provided, but the first step involves meeting an individual or family at the airport, providing transportation and ensuring newcomers have a home-cooked meal matching their dietary needs — in the case of the Aponte Ortizes, that meant kosher.

Inside Pittsburgh International Airport. (Photo by hhm8, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

After landing in Pittsburgh, the family was taken to a hotel and began a monthslong integration process.

Erin Barr, director of youth services at JFCS, explained that when a family arrives in Pittsburgh she and her team ease the enrollment process by helping complete paperwork, including vaccination records, and other requirements.

“If necessary, we would help kids walk to their bus stop for the first time and practice knowing where to go, or walk to school and make sure they know how to get there,” Barr said.

Arriving at school is one task. Maximizing learning is another. Through Bridge Builders, an afterschool learning program, JFCS staffers and volunteers help young learners develop English language skills.

While Barr and her team are focused on youth, other JFCS employees work with adults.

Throughout the Squirrel Hill building, members of JFCS’ refugee and immigrant services and career services, as well as housing specialists and medical caseworkers, strive to meet clients’ basic needs.

“We sort of try to wrap ourselves around the family as a staff,” Barr said. “It’s a holistic approach to support the entire family and help them transition to life here in Pittsburgh.”

Jeff Herzog, a volunteer employment specialist, said he and his career services colleagues “shepherd” individuals through the employment process: “We help them find a job that matches their skill level.” The objective is securing a job that not only meets a client’s needs but yields self-sufficiency “within three months.”

Back in Venezuela, Aponte Ortiz was an accountant. After moving to Colombia he operated Ki Tov, a kosher bakery and restaurant specializing in cakes, pizzas and fish dishes.

It was a successful venture, he said: “Thank God, we were always good. God was taking care of us.”

Before leaving Colombia, Aponte Ortiz sold the business. After arriving in Pittsburgh, JFCS volunteers reached out to Judah Cowen, president of Elegant Edge, a kosher catering company with dine-in options at Carnegie Mellon University, on Aponte Ortiz’s behalf.

“I work with JFCS quite often on employment matters for people who are relocating,” Cowen said. “When I met Yehoshua and saw that he’s in the community and that he’s eligible to be a mashgiach, and had this experience from Colombia, I realized he’d be a good fit.”

As the mashgiach at Tahini, a CMU-based eatery owned by Elegant Edge, Aponte Ortiz ensures the establishment meets kosher standards by checking ingredients, overseeing staff practices and upholding relevant Jewish laws.

Aponte Ortiz dreams of owning his own restaurant again.

“There’s nothing compared to being self-employed, but thank God we are doing good,” he said.

Aponte Ortiz and his family moved here in search of a better future, he said, and that process has begun. Each day, he attends morning minyan at Congregation Shaare Torah before riding the bus to Oakland for work. Aponte Ortiz’s daughters walk to school at Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh.

The seventh grader is often met by volunteer Eddie Shaw, a Squirrel Hill resident who taught Spanish at Community Day School, Hillel Academy and West Liberty Classical Academy for 20 years.

Retired Spanish teacher and volunteer Eddie Shaw sits in on class. (Photo courtesy of Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh)

An array of apps and translation services help the Aponte Ortizes communicate with non-Spanish speakers. Shaw fills in the gaps.

“I’m an observant Jew and they are observant Jews,” he said. “They call me ‘Don Eduardo,’ but I’m not their savior.”

“Don” is a Spanish honorific roughly translating to “Lord.”

Shaw said he’s just one of several people in a “great community” aiding the family’s integration.

“I’d be a fool not to help them,” he said. “How are they going to create a community if they are not part of one?”

Aponte Ortiz said he and his family are “grateful for everything.”

“We feel welcome,” he said. “The attention that’s been paid to my wife and my daughters is unique, and it’s really good. We’ve been invited places even though people don’t know us. It’s amazing.”

Before exiting the JFCS building and heading to work, the yarmulke-clad Aponte Ortiz flashed a smile. He spoke again of his family’s future and said his wife is due to deliver their first son at the end of the month.

“I have a lot of things to be grateful about,” he said. “We as Jewish people, the first thing is that we need to grateful with God, but also with all the people around us. I consider that we are one same community. We are part of one same thing. I think we need to be grateful. And I know that I say that a lot because I really am. I am really grateful.” PJC

Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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