"It's not our job -- it's their job -- to support their country. For the Jewish Agency to stay mired in what it was, and not move with the times, is really making us a dinosaur."I guess this leader was attempting to be supportive of the Agency's reorientation "...to address growing alienation between Diaspora Jews and those in Israel..." Fair enough. I have yet to see:
- An actual plan which would inject the Agency into the Israel-Diaspora quagmire -- one that would set forth programs, projected outcomes and a timeline; and
- A budget that would evidence to the Diaspora funders the cost. (As an aside, I can predict with some confidence that, if this is now JAFI's highest priority, community/country allocations to meet this specific need will be de minimus.)
But we have neither.
As I have read the JAFI reports on the newest iteration of primary purpose (JAFI will continue important programs such as MASA, Partnership 2Gether, some Aliyah, Amigour Housing and others), all of which would, it appears, fall within that American leader's description as JAFI "mired in what it was" and "..it's their job -- to support their country," not ours.
WOW. With friends like these...
Yes, count me among the confused...as usual.
Rwexler
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Call me a Dinosaur or maybe even just a Zionist but I firmly think JAFI funds appropriately should be directed to Israeli based programs for The benefit of its citizens. The original mission of the state's founders is a long way from completion.
https://ejewishphilanthropy.com/the-once-and-future-greatness-of-the-jewish-agency-for-israel/
The leader that you refer to and quote is indeed speaking for the Agency's Israel-Diaspora role. Those that know her know that she is certainly not speaking against JAFI or funding it.
We can also be sure that she means well.
The problem is that she, like many others, have been wrongly convinced by the JAFI leadership that the answer to dwindling funds is for JAFI to reinvent itself and become something else. They are leading the Agency to become totally donor-driven rather than the mission-driven organization that it always was.
While fighting Antisemitism and strengthening communal security are important, they are not the role of the Jewish Agency.
JAFI has a very strong partnerships program for strengthening Israel-Diaspora relations, a platform which could easily grow and expand to rise to today's needs without throwing out the rest.
The problem with the Jewish Agency is not what it does but that what it does is evidently not appealing enough anymore to the federations, that we have stopped meeting our commitments to Israel and through Israel to ourselves and the Jewish People.
The solution is that WE need to understand what is really important and that the Jewish Agency must now unfortunately invest heavily in marketing its true mission and fundraising for it.
Shame on us for allowing this to happen on our watch!
Ricahard, Is the interview you reference on-line?
Dear Mr. Wexler,
It’s your blog and you can say whatever you want.
But, your last blog post was wrong on both points regarding the Jewish Agency.
1) The Jewish Agency has absolutely no role in fighting anti-semitism. None. Nada. zilch. Unless it’s emptying out the Diaspora by some miracle. This is a cynical direction at best. As a result of insufficient budgets, one can maintain existing staff and send out occasional “angry faxes”. That’s all you can get when “fighting anti-semitism” from Jerusalem. No one has any interest in their involvement in the US in this endeavor.
Talk about shooting yourself in the FRD foot. This is not what the Federations want, this is not what the Jewish people around the world want, the Jewish Agency to be doing. Maybe, there are some individual large donors who want this. But let’s call a felafel a felafel, this allows the chairman to send out his audacious faxes or emails and likely they will be published, improving his personal public relations.
The Agency has had politicians cum chairmen, trying to use the Agency as a springboard for their future political aspirations. But, every single one of them, without fail, attempted to do it by becoming famous by improving the Jewish Agency. This is the first chairman who has shown no interest whatsoever in the historic work of the Agency and is only interested in getting his picture in the press. Anti Semitic acts available for public condemnation are certainly more prolific than the annual press release of how many Jews made Aliyah.
The ingredients of insufficient budget to carry out its assigned activities, being shunned by a dysfunctional government, seeking to redefine a replacement mission given the hardships in carrying out its current mission and press hungry chairman with his eyes on the Presidents Residence is not a recipe for success.
2) Security. JAFI is not needed in raising funds for hardening facilities in the American Jewish Community. It has raised funds and allocated for security in other places around the world. JAFI actually has a potential unique role in this area worldwide. The security procedures and systems in place at almost every airport in the world were designed by Israel. The universal questions we all answer when boarding a plane were developed and tested by the Mossad. No shaliach has ever lived in a home or apartment that was not vetted and approved by Israeli security. The security in every major National Jewish organization in New York was either designed or staffed by Israelis. In Israel from malls to schools to hospitals to office buildings, Israel (most unfortunately) has real life experience that the American Jewish community desperately needs. With all due respect to SCN, coordination with Homeland security and pithy, thoughtful pamphlets/monographs is only slightly additive to our security.
The Jewish Agency has the ability to be the corridor to connect the diaspora to Israeli in this crucial area of need.
...and I was wrong, how exactly?
You weren’t tough enough lambasting them about their supposed work in combatting anti-semitism. You treated it as if the Jewish Agency was serious, They aren’t. If they were, you would start by knowing who is in charge of this noble effort. No one. Nothing, Zilch. Bupkis. Nada. It is a cruel joke. All smoke and mirrors. Empty rhetoric for the press to consume.
And, you were wrong not recognizing that there really is POTENTIAL value in expanding security programs through the Agency.
You are almost never wrong. This barely qualifies as wrong, exactly.
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