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As rescue efforts wane,
Jewish Agency struggles
to revitalize itself.
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Detroit Jewish News
The mission and vision statement,
adopted Monday after three days of
extensive debate, was crafted to
respond not only to changing needs in
Israel but to the changing priorities of
the federation system and its donors
in North America.
MARK J. JOFFE
Special to The Jewish News
Jerusalem
The statement identifies five major
areas of activity for the agency:
• aliyah and rescue, which it defines
acing a future when its his-
toric mission of rescue and
resettlement may one day be
completed, the Jewish
Agency for Israel is struggling to repo-
sition itself and reorder its priorities.
And the agency is doing so at a
time when the landscape of American
Jewish philanthropy is rapidly chang-
ing around it.
as its "primary priority at this time";
• strengthening the relationship
between Israel and the rest of world
Jewry;
• enhancing Jewish unity;
• enhancing Jewish identity; and
• strengthening the State of Israel as
a state for all Jews.
Delegates from around the world
grappled with that reality earlier this
month as they convened here for the
Jewish Agency's annual assembly. After
hours of debate that included a fair
amount of vociferous criticism, they
adopted a "Shared Vision and Mission
Statement" that redefines both the
agency's work and the way it is sup-
posed to accomplish it.
All but the "aliyah and rescue"
functions are essentially new.
While the agency has always under-
written Jewish and Zionist education
in the Diaspora, never before has it
assumed responsibility for such things
as "cultivating Jewish identity," pro-
moting the "enrichment of Jewish life"
in Israel and striving to "create an
appetite and an environment for
developing Jewish values and Jewish
cultural creativity."
The adoption of the statement is
the first major milestone in a strategic
planning process that may determine
whether the agency continues to enjoy
the support of most Jewish communi-
ty federations in the United States
beyond Dec. 31, 1999, when its con-
tract for funding by the United Jewish
Appeal expires.
Many federations have been openly
critical of the agency and have reduced
their annual allocations to it over the
years, in some cases funding their own
programs in Israel separately.
If this trend leads to the abrogation
of a binding arrangement between the
federations and the Jewish Agency, it
will change the way American Jews
have been contributing money to
Israel for the last half-century.
by Madame Alexander
much more control" over the money
its donors send ro Israel and how that
money is being spent.
But, in fact, that process is already
changing, as the three central institu-
tions of American Jewish philanthropy
— the United Jewish Appeal, the
Council of Jewish Federations and the
United Israel Appeal — put the finish-
ing touches on a merger into a single,
streamlined entity.
While many of the specifics of the
merger are still being ironed out, one
thing is clear, said Bennett Aaron,
chairman of UIA. "The federation sys-
tem in North America wants to have
Mark J. Joffe
is a writer for the Jewish.
Telegraphic Agency
While the Jewish Agency has always
billed itself as the principal link
between Israel and the Diaspora, never
before has it assigned itself the task of
securing the "future of the Jewish peo-
ple" or creating a "global Jewish corn-
.
The move to broaden the agency's
mandate is "an attempt to grapple
with a post-aliyah period," said
Shoshana Cardin, immediate past
chairman of UIA, which distributes
and monitors the use of funds raised
by Jewish federations in the United
States for the Jewish Agency
With just 50,000 Jews from the
former Soviet Union now coming to
Israel each year and with all but a few
thousand Jews rescued from Ethiopia,
"we had to have a vision of what the
agency would do in the 21st century,"
Cardin said.
Beyond the expanded mandate, the
mission statement calls for a new
mode of operating, using many of the
buzzwords of American corporate cul-
ture in an era of "downsizing" and "re-
engineering
aineerina
" '
b.
The agency plans to continue to
act collectively while also facilitating
and coordinating individual commu-
nity action and interaction," according
to the statement. It will strive to be a
.
"