She was an astrophysicist in the Soviet Union, but couldn't find scientific work in Israel and offered to take a job cleaning Professor Herman Branover's lab. Branover, a Soviet-born physicist who immigrated in 1972, told the story to illustrate what he sees as a major problem in settling the thousands of Soviet Jews arriving in Israel: the lack of jobs, especially for the well-educated. He said the woman was desperate for work and, when told there was no scientific job, offered to clean the lab because she would feel at home there and might be able to do some reasearch on her own. He turned her down. The Science Ministry estimates 60,000 scientists, engineers and physicianss will arrive in the next two or three years because of Moscow's more liberal emigration policies. ``We are going to have to make jobs for these people if we are going to keep them,'' Branover said, and that has given him a cause. He owns a factory that employs Soviet immigrants and has become a champion of developing new private industries for the ``army of scientists'' arriving in Israel. ``The government is still talking about how to build housing for the immigrants,'' he said. ``I've never heard of anyone who didn't come to Israel or who left because of bad housing, but there are thousands who left because they couldn't find jobs.'' Officials estimate the government will need $3 billion in the next three years to help resettle the Soviet immigrants, most of it for housing, education and Hebrew instruction. Only $400 million is earmarked for job placement and retraining. Government resettlement plans are built largely on the theory that a growing economy will produce jobs, but the economy is stagnant and two years of recession have pushed unemployment to nearly 9 percent. Universities and research institutions have few openings, and some new arrivals find the work available is neither in their field nor to their liking. In a Tel Aviv suburb, two physicians were among several dozen Soviet immigrants packing matzo bread for shipping. Dr. Anatoly Roeburg, a cardiologist from Moldavia, told reporters: ``Israel is a great place, except we can't find proper work. If this goes on, I am not going to stay here.'' In the 1970s and early 1980s, Israel could cope with immigration easily because few Jews were permitted to leave the Soviet Union. Only 202 Soviet Jews arrived in all of 1986, but now 1,200 land in Israel every week. Israeli towns, especially those in rural areas whose populations have drained away to the cities, are eager to take the immigrants but unable to offer them work. Safad, in northern Israel, has 400 government-owned apartments standing empty, but few jobs. ``What we need now is investment in industries and other work-producing enterprises,'' the town's mayor, Zeev Perel, told The Jerusalem Post. Branover, a physicist at Beersheva University, agrees with Perel. He lobbies the government and business groups to create high-tech industries for the newcomers, and practices what he preaches. Two years ago, with a $2.5 million investment from Australian industrialist Joseph Gutnick, Branover started a high-tech company in Jerusalem called SATEC. It employs 35 immigrant Soviet scientists in electronics, hydrometallurgy and heating. Sales were $1.5 million last year and are expected to double in 1990. Branover is seeking new capital to expand into medical engineering and start another company for 30 Soviet scientists at Beersheva, in southern Israel. Even if th new ventures pan out, Branover noted that the total number of jobs involved in his operations would be fewer than 80 and many more were needed. ``We want other investors, other industries to try,'' he said. ``We must not miss this opportunity.'' His experience with SATEC indicates it takes ``$60,000 per scientist and two years' time'' to get a profitable business going, Branover said, then declared: ``If you go this route, you can not only satisfy those people who come, but it is also a vital thing for Israel. We can make out of Israel a Japan.''
