When Shirli Kopelman first left Israel to attend Kellogg School of Management, she was struck by the absence of an Israeli community in the Chicago area.

“It wasn’t just lacking — it didn’t exist,” said Kopelman, a doctoral candidate. “I had no way of meeting anyone.”

Searching for a way to get to know fellow Israelis, Kopelman sent out an e-mail invite in 1997 to about five Kellogg students. To her surprise more than 40 people showed up.

The group began communicating regularly through a listserv. This small impromptu organization eventually blossomed into a larger one called Chicago Yisraelim — now boasting more than 1,000 members.

“One of the first decisions I made was to extend (the group) to everyone,” Kopelman, said, “because people were turning to us (who) were not exclusively students.”

The nonprofit organization was inaugurated in January 2002. The group aims to foster a sense of Israeli community through holiday celebrations, lectures, roundtables and a political discussion forum. Other services include a play group for parents with children, a book club and a business networking group. The formation of a women’s and singles’ forum is currently in the making, Kopelman said.

Israeli graduate students and young professionals can join the group through it’s Web site, www.chicagoyisraelim.com.

Many new activities are being planned for the future, according to Sharon Beth-Halachmy, executive director of the organization. Efforts are underway to organize Israel Solidarity Day on May 4.

The day will involve a rally and “a chance for the entire Jewish community to show their strength and commitment to Israel,” Beth-Halachmy said. A summer kickoff party in June and a monthly Israeli film screening is also being planned.

“Anything that involves dancing or eating is usually the big draw,” she said.

It was this need for social events and activities that Kopelman recognized when she arrived in Chicago.

“(Israelis) don’t usually fit in very well with the Jewish community,” she said. “They end up not having a community of their own.”

Kopelman also said since many Israelis are secular, there is a need to create an organization that goes beyond religious aspects.

“Just because (Israelis) have the same religion, doesn’t make them have the same character,” Kopelman said.

Roy Eitan, Kellogg ’02, found a home with Chicago Yisraelim during his one-year stint at NU.

“People have different backgrounds, and I always want to meet people from a similar culture and background,” he said. “Yisraelim gave me exactly the answer I needed.”

Eitan said New York, where he is from, has a much larger Israeli community than Chicago.

“I knew so many Israelis,” he said. “There were so many of them that there was no need for an organization.”

Now working for a consulting firm in Toronto, Eitan said he has considered creating an Israeli group there based on the one in Chicago.

“Yisraelim is very professional and is a great role model for building such an organization,” he said.

Kopelman said she has worked very closely with students at Kellogg and has received a lot of support both from them and the dean. Most of Yisraelim’s NU members tend to be graduate students, she said, because many Israelis go into the army after high school and later travel overseas to attend graduate school.

The group offers students and other members a political discussion forum and invites professors to talk about the Israeli conflict.

Despite this, Kopelman insists the group is apolitical by virtue of its nonprofit status.

“We have people who represent an entire gamut of opinions,” she said. “We all hope the conflict will come to an end soon, but different members have very different ideas about how to do it.”

And the group is looking for more people with diverse views.

The organization hopes to expand in the future while maintaining a close, community-oriented atmosphere, Kopelman said.

“We’re planning to grow a lot, and we believe we can extend our membership to about 10,000 people,” she said. “That’s a conservative estimate of how many Israelis currently exist in Chicago.”

Beth-Halachmy said the main way in which the group plans to accomplish this is by spreading the word.

“Israelis know how to use word of mouth very effectively,” she said. “We’re tapping into everyone we know to help them spread the word and to be a part of what we’re doing.”