Friends, let us all be Jacob Levy.
Since I began sending my few e-mail blasts, people have sent me dozens of e-mails asking "who is Jacob Levy?"Well it is time for the truth.I am Jacob Levy. You may or may not have met me.But I am only the sender and scribe of these emails.These emails and these efforts have been organized by a group of mostly past and some currents employees of the Sochnut. Some people have sent emails accuses Misha Galperin of being part of the group because of the timing of his leaving - he isn't part of the group who sends these mails. We wish he was. Or even more truth, we wish there was no group and no emails or blogs articles.Many of us are unhappy of Misha leaving but only because we think it shows that things are not good in the Sochnut. and none of us are from New York. We think if Misha leaves we will have to cut more programs. We would ask him to stay.There is no "Whistle Blower Law" in Israel that would protect us. We would lose our jobs if our names were public. Those of us who already left would be destroyed by the political system and we have families to support.We are not angry people.and this is not "sour grapes". These efforts have been in our pains. Our problems is we love Sochnut and we are in pains over what happening. We know telling people bad things about the Sochnut can also hurt the Sochnut. We did not take this step without a great amount of thought. We decided that only by telling the truth could we have any hope of helping the Sochnut. There is so much dirty laundry that no one just hide it anymore. Everyone sees it everyday.There are more good things going on everyday then bad things in the Sochnut. There are many many programs worthy of donors money.But we can and must go go back to who we are and stop lying about who we are going to be or who we pretend to be. We must stand up for the Sochnut proudly and without apology and also fix our problems with fast surgery where it is required. We have said where we think the surgery is required. We can only hope that the leadership has the courage to make hard decisions. They should know that they will have everyone's support when they do the right thing.If you are going to Board Governors or received a letter form the Chairman you are going to hear that all we did is lie. You are going to hear that under fire the Sochnut saved lives and could not do everything it said it was going to do because of the work in Ukraine or because of the war in Gaza. It is very painful to hear because this pattern of propaganda and good PowerPoint prevails. The leadership that we attacked was not under fire. You will hear that every good thing that was done - was done because of the new strategic plan - even if they are the same things we have done for over 50 years. The fact is that you are going to hear even more lies as leadership tries to cover up what we laid bare.You will hear that of the 12,000 MASA participants only 3,000 are Yeshiva students. You will hear that one of the Yeshivot that Dan Brown pointed out is actually very Zionist, despite the fact that its Shas member Rosh Yeshiva led the demonstration of 500,000 last year, closing Jerusalem, protesting against drafting Yeshiva students into the Israel Defense Forces. This Rabbi is now free from his sentence of 8 months probation for corruption and arranging bribes of public officials.You will hear that everything is good... It is not.Someone wrote on Mr. Wexler Blog:We are all Jacob Levy."
Rwexler
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6 comments:
Jacob writes "surgery" - he means Alan Hoffmann.
He writes "leadership" - he means Natan Sharansky and Charles Ratner.
I hope they have the courage for all of our sake.
Just who is it with enough influence on the Jewish Agency Board who will speak truth to power? There used to be many, many, many, but today? There are far more in the KH delegation than among the JFNA/UIA group but at the end of the day, who is there? It's pathetic; a lot of smiley faces, well-meaning people; incapable of demanding the changes that are needed.
I remember being on a solidarity mission bus during the last intifada. While discussing the issue of changes in leadership, both Israeli and Palestinian, a top leader of British Jewry pointed out the adage, "never pray for a new king". A total shake up at the Agency can lead to many things and a lot might depend on the results of the March 17th Israeli elections. A shakeup under a narrow right wing Bibi government (the still most likely scenario) can have some undesirable results - think Bayit Yehudi in the driver seat. Time now to proceed carefully if not take a deep breath.
sounds like "sour grapes"to me - in any event, this is not the way to create constructive change and will only damage what at the end of the day is one of the most valuable institutions, along with JDC, that he Jewish People have...
Richard - You have always spoken out in defense of the "system" and the UJA culture which we have destroyed over the years, always defending the need for the overseas collective and what they now call "our historical partners."
Now, instead of remaining focused on that existential issue, I see that you are turning on the Jewish Agency and along with "Jacob Levy" doing nothing but damage to us all.
How is this stuff going to further the cause? Will JDC be next? Is there nothing positive and are there no good people anywhere?
It is too bad that you have begun firing in all directions and cannot keep your eye on the ball.
I agree with most of the policy/practice critiques presented by you Richard and others and believe a new path at the agency and certainly JFNA is essential for our people and our system. However we go from personality to personality, attacking Jerry (get that one) bemoaning Siegel, demonizing Hoffmann, defending Galperin (after three visible tries to secure top jobs elsewhere), questioning Ratner, and of course the LCE conspiracy at every turn. (yes, paranoids do have enemies) But you don't replace something with nothing and I as a consistent objector need to hear about the "new" something.
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