Tracking The Mideast
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Cash
UJC creates emergency fund to respond
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to crises, catastrophes.
JULIE WIENER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
purred by Israeli requests for
financial assistance, the
North American federation
system is creating a $10 mil-
lion emergency fund so that it can
promptly respond to crises and catas-
trophes around the Jewish world.
The proposal for an emergency fund
grew out of frustration that the United
Jewish Communities could not quick-
ly help Israel after its earlier-than-
anticipated withdrawal from Lebanon
in May, said Charles Bronfman, UJC's
chairman of the board.
At the time, Israeli officials asked
Jewish leaders, "Please send missions
over and please be prepared to send
money," said Bronfman.
The funds were requested to help pro-
vide humanitarian and social services for
Israel's northern border communities.
"It would've been wonderful to be
able to say, 'Here's $5 million to keep
you going,"' said Bronfman.
The creation of the emergency fund
— which will also be used for domes-
tic needs and will be collected from
individual federations — was one of
several decisions approved at the UJC's
board of trustees meeting at the
General Assembly in Chicago two
weeks ago.
Also decided at the G.A.:
• The UJC will launch weekly solidari-
ty missions to Israel, beginning after
Thanksgiving and lasting indefinitely.
The missions are intended to show sup-
port for Israel at a time of isolation and
major loss of tourism dollars.
• The UJC delegate assembly approved
nine resolutions on topics ranging from
the Middle East to support for Jews in
the former Soviet Union and a call for
Jewish organizations to offer more serv-
ices for the growing number of Jews
who adopt children.
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When Israel made its request to North
American Jewry around the world
after its withdrawal from Lebanon, the
UJC did send missions over, and is
raising $500,000 to provide programs
next summer for Israeli children living
near the border.
Had the planned fund existed in
May, it is unclear whether the border
needs would have qualified as an emer-
gency, but "we would like to be in
position to consider such a request,"
said Stephen Solender, the UJC's presi-
dent and chief executive officer.
The UJC is defining catastrophic
events as incidents impacting the securi-
ty of Israel, imminent danger for Jewish
populations around the world and natu-
ral or man-made emergencies that
adversely impact a Jewish community.
A special UJC committee will be
created to assess emergency situations
as they arise. UJC officials will meet
with local federation leaders in the
coming weeks to determine how much
Detroit initially
opposed the
new fund.
each federation will contribute.
Several large federations — includ-
ing Detroit, Baltimore and New York
— initially opposed the fund, com-
plaining that the proposal was too
vague, particularly in how the money
would be collected.
"If I went to my board at home and
said we have to set up a fund but we
don't know where the money is corn-
ing from, they would laugh me out of
the room," said Penny Blumenstein,
president of the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit.
The large federations are expected to
contribute the bulk of the money for
the fund.
In response to the large federations'
concerns, Bronfman said the resolution
will not be implemented until UJC
meets with individual federations and
gets financial commitments from them.
But he made clear his desire to make
it happen.
"When we announce to the world
that we have $7 billion in assets, and
we sit around and say in an emergency
we can't afford to give $3 million to
$4 million, I think we look pretty stu-
pid," he said. 0