SOME DAY?

The following greeting arrived this past Monday from Natan Sharansky. I wanted to share with you what one of our historic partners has been doing for our People, on our behalf, while we have been cutting its funding drastically without any advocacy from our Continental organization.

Dear Friends,

As the eve of Rosh Hashanah is upon us, it is a good time to thank you for your partnership and your steadfast commitment to the remarkable work we do together.

The importance of our work is evident everywhere you look.

Last week, we completed our historic mission of bringing Ethiopian Jewry—for many years a lost tribe—home to Israel.  Upon shutting down our compound in Gondar, arguably the most ancient Jewish community in the world, we handed the school over to the local authorities as an expression of our gratitude.

During our Board of Governors meetings in Kiev, we saw in action how The Jewish Agency is bringing another lost tribe home – to their Jewishness and to the Jewish people.

In France, our intensive efforts to bring young people on Israel experience programs and to connect the community to our homeland are bearing fruit in ever-increasing Aliyah numbers.

In North America, the number of Israel Fellows placed on college campuses has reached a record of 69, bringing Israel to tens of thousands of Jewish students across the continent.

Project TEN, our new global Tikkun Olam program, is enabling young Jews from Israel and around the world to engage in meaningful service at four locations around the globe—in Kiryat Shemonah, Israel; Gondar, Ethiopia; Hyderabad, India; and Oaxaca, Mexico—soon to be joined by a fifth, at Kibbutz Harduf in Israel's North.

And our Fund for the Victims of Terror continues to provide vital, immediate assistance to those affected by rocket attacks and other violence, ready to come to Israeli families' aid when they need it most.

This crucial work has positioned us as the key partner of the Government of Israel and, as you know, we are now embarking on the formation of a groundbreaking new joint initiative that will enable us to dramatically expand our activities and touch more lives than ever before.  I look forward to sharing more information about this effort as it develops.

Again, thank you for your dedication to our joint work and permit me to express my hope and conviction that we will continue going from strength to strength over the coming year and well beyond.

Shana Tova,

Natan Sharansky

A similar message of achievement no doubt flowed from Alan Gill to the JDC constituency. 

May someday the then leaders of JFNA be able to send all of us a message of its achievements with our funds.

Shana tovah once again,

Rwexler