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Clemens St. Clair Shores Port Huron 851-6633 463-5381 777-0357 982-3080 MICHIGAN'S LARGEST BICYCLE FITNESS EQUIPMENT New York (JTA) — After years of being told that the role of federations is philan- thropy, not finance, ad- vocates of greater American Jewish involvement in Israeli economic develop- ment are gaining the upper hand. In the past two years, a handful of communities have established offices, with federation funding, devoted to creating jobs in Israel by helping Israeli businesses. And in many more com- munities, economic devel- opment committees have been established to look into the role federations should play in that endeavor. "We've come a long way," Barry Schrage told a day- long seminar on economic development held here last month as part of the General Assembly of the Council of Jewish Federations. Mr. Shrage, president of Boston's Combined Jewish Philanthropies, has been a longtime advocate of the idea that some of the money raised by federations for Israel should be spent on de- veloping jobs in Israel. "History will show that this aliyah did get hung up on the economic develop- ment issue," said Mr. Shrage, referring to the slowdown in immigration of Jews from the former Soviet Union. He added: "It's not great to be right about something like that." But Mr. Shrage is getting some satisfaction in the way his federation's model of economic development is be- ing copied, most notably by Atlanta, Baltimore and Minneapolis. These and other local efforts are in addition to Operation Opportunity, an economic development pro- gram run by the Jewish Agency • for Israel, the prin- ciple recipient of money raised for. Israel by the United Jewish Appeal. The idea is simple: rather than have federations solicit donations that would help provide social services to unemployed Israelis, for in- stance, they would en- courage American Jews to do business with Israel, and thereby help create job op- portunities there. For nearly 20 years, ad- vocates of this approach have fought an uphill battle against the traditional belief that the Jewish philan- thropic system should stick to funding social services and immigration and leave business to the businessmen. But now the discussion is shifting to which types of programs produce results and which don't. "We've arrived at the age where the organized Jewish communities should go the extra mile, and look at Israel as an opportunity to do busi- ness, and create much more business," said Shlomo Harel, head of the Israel Economic Mission to the United States. Federations, he said, should "use their traditional philanthropy as a spr- ingboard toward economic development." Mr. Harel singled out the pioneering program in Boston, and newerprograms Federations should "use philanthropy as a springboard. in Baltimore and Atlanta, in which a professional, sup- ported by the federation, works to find opportunities in Israel for local business. "We believe these kinds of ambassadors for economic development should be there in all the major federations," he said. What makes these new efforts different, said Mr. Shrage and others involved, is that in the past, attempts to promote Israeli businesses have involved bringing together Israeli and Ameri- can businessmen, and hop- ing for the best. Other pro- grams would attempt to per- suade Jewish businessmen in America to buy Israeli products. Today's focus "is not about the Israeli chamber of com- merce going to a Jewish supermarket owner and say- ing, please sell our oranges in the U.S.," said Mr. Shrage. When the Boston federa- tion decided to get involved in economic development, "we asked, what is the value added of federation?" The answer was its con-