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Slowing Israel's Brain Drain

I

srael is the glue that holds together Jews as a people.
What makes us a people with historic and religious
roots is a collective embrace of our ancestral homeland.
The undaunted march of the Jewish people for 3,300 years
— despite slavery, exile, crusades, pogroms, the Holocaust
and other oppressive acts — has yielded a glorious Jewish
state within part of Eretz Yisrael, the biblical Land of Israel.
How inspiring!
So hearing about Israel's acute
brain drain is troubling. The state
can't afford to keep losing its best
and brightest to places offering more
career opportunities and a lower
likelihood of terror.
A Jan. 18 report by the New York-
based JTA wire service recounted
how Israel exports more Ph.Ds. than
any country — and how 25 percent
of Israeli academics work abroad.
The problem: the fact that Israelis
are short-changed in quality of life
given the constant security threat, prompting too much
local brainpower to move on.
It's good that Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu
declared at a conference in Jerusalem titled "Israel 2021"
that the Jewish state is finally going to act strategically to
become one of the top 15 socioeconomic nations in the
coming decade. I just pray it's not too late: The high-tier
brain drain is on.
"We cannot rest on our laurels," Bibi proclaimed to Israeli
government officials, business leaders, students and social
activists. "We are entering a more competitive era."
Hundreds of brainstorming roundtables shaped Israel
2021. Over the next 10 years, Israel seeks to evolve into a

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country with a high-ranking GDP (gross domestic product)
— what JTA described as "the type of domestic leapfrog
growth that would see incomes and other quality-of-life
metrics boosted across the socioeconomic divide."
Leapfrog nations, such as Germany, Ireland, China,
Singapore and South Korea, spur high and sustained
growth for eight years against the backdrop of improved
quality of life.
Israel 2021 addressed two lingering concerns: how well
Israel competes on the world stage and how successfully
it integrates Arab and haredi citizens into the workforce.
Studies show that higher salaries for workers across the
board, not elite-sectors growth, create a higher per-capita
GDF.
Gidi Grinstein, president of Israel's Reut Institute and
a noted "leapfrog" futurist, addressed the 3,000 confer-
ence goers two weeks ago. He contends countries leap not
because of a few decisions at the top, but because of a
transformative mobilizing of leaders in business, NGOs,
academics, labor unions and government.
"We know in countries that leapt there was an honest and
credible discourse about priorities between business leaders,
the nongovernment elite and the government:' Grinstein told
JTA. "We need to educate an empower that group."
We know the Israeli government historically is more
adept at responding to crises than at thinking strategically.
Military strength is the one area Israel is especially planful.
Let's hope Israel 2021 provided the energy and vision for
participants to reach confidently for the strategic stars as
part of a group now large, bold and influential enough to
change Israel for the better.
It won't be easy winning over ordinary Israelis to heady
debate about the distant future; their main worry is the
physical and economic wellbeing of their families now. 1 I

theJEWISHNE

Jan. 27-Feb. 2, 2011 I 22-28 Shevat 5771 I Vol. CXXXVIII No. 25

Cover Story on page 26

Ann Arbor
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Shabbat: Friday, Jan. 28, 5:23 p.m.
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