Eastern Michigan University
Jewish Studies

Presents

geSCkle"le6 An Evening With

Jonathan Tropper

New York Times
Best Selling Author of:
This is Where I Leave You (2009)
Everything Changes (2006)
How to Talk to a Widower (2008)
The Book of Joe (2005)

Wednesday, April 6, 2011, 7:30 p•m.

Room 310 B, Student Center, Eastern Michigan University
FREE

Lecture Sponsors
• Division of Academic Affairs
• College of Arts and Sciences
• Hillel at EMU

This lecture is part of an ongoing Jewish lecture series along with a new
Jewish Education First History Gallery in the EMU Student Center.

Visit emich.edu for updates on future lectures.

For more information, please contact:
martin.shichtmangemich.edu

A book signing will follow the presentation.

.00-77

,G eneral,

ducatioh

-LBO

26

March 24 2011

EASTERN

MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY
Education First

Imported Expertise from page 24

of nongovernmental organizations
in Israel has multiplied as Israel's
traditionally socialist-leaning welfare
system has significantly downsized.
Some 12,000 non-government orga-
nizations (NGO) are now active in
Israel. English-speaking immigrants
have found their niche not only in
reaching out to the socio-economi-
cally disadvantaged, but also in civil
society areas like the environment,
human rights, religious pluralism and
Israeli-Palestinian dialogue.
"It's likely because Anglos come
with a much more developed idea
of civic society than other ethnic
groups in the country, and so they
get involved;' said Sydney Engelberg,
a faculty member at Hebrew
University's program in nonprofit
management.
"Part of my Zionist feeling was that
if I can help anyone, I want to help
children in Israel:' Portowicz said. "I
think I made a bigger difference here
than I thought I would make."
When Alon Tal came to Israel in
1990 at the age of 29, he vacillated
between joining the just-established
Environmental Ministry or establish-
ing an environmental advocacy orga-
nization. He went with the latter.
"A large percentage of many Israeli
nonprofits come from international
Jewish philanthropy, so there is a
home-court advantage for American
immigrants in terms of English skills
and cultural affiliation," Tal told JTA.
Miriam Garmaise, an immigrant
to Israel from Canada, also became
a prominent environmentalist. She
is the executive director of Shomer
for a Better Environment, a nonprofit
established in 1998 by Tamar Gindis,
a fellow Canadian immigrant, that
focuses on national cross-sector proj-
ects. Their current flagship project
is promoting a gray-water recycling
initiative intended to jump-start
the practice of recycling shower and
laundry water as a way to save up to
tens of millions of cubic meters of
water a year.
Garmaise traces her interest in
activism to growing up in Canada,
where her parents were active in the
Jewish community and projects to
help Israel.
"The fact that people like me
moved to Israel is because we con-
sider Israel a very important place to
be and to contribute to once we are
here," she said.

As for the bureaucratic and other
stumbling blocks they face, Garmaise
is upbeat. "I have come to respect the
need for time and patience to make
things happen:' she said.
Portowicz adds, "You persist. You
don't take no for an answer."
Seth Farber, a Modern Orthodox
rabbi who immigrated from the
United States and founded ITIM,
the Jewish Life Information Center,
knows all about persistence. He
battles what he says often seems like
an interminably uphill fight to help
Israeli and diaspora Jews navigate the
Israeli Chief Rabbinate, which holds
a monopoly on issues of religion, like
conversion and marriage.
Farber believes his American
background has been helpful in his
work, specifically his knowledge of
how other Jewish religious leadership
models work.
"In Israel, people don't feel as
responsible for their Jewish life, so it
can sometimes have less meaning:'
Farber said. "What I can bring to the
table is a middle ground, an opportu-
nity for people to have their say.
"Americans put a lot of belief into
the third sector to have power and
make a difference he adds. "Because
I'm a Zionist and this is the center of
the Jewish people now, this is where I
want to make my impact."
Another American-run Israeli NGO
involved in efforts to reduce tensions
between religion and state is Tzohar,
founded by a group of Modern
Orthodox rabbis in 1996, soon after
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was
assassinated by a Jewish extremist.
The organization's current
executive vice president is Nahum
Rosenberg, an American immigrant.
"It's important to be not only bilin-
gual but bicultural and live in both
worlds," Rosenberg said.
He says Americans bring advan-
tages when it comes to fundraising
and the culture of management.
"We may be nonprofits, but that
does not mean we are not perfor-
mance organizations. So you need to
have that side he said, referring to
professional Western standards for
NGOs. "And you need to have that
Israeli flair for ingenuity and per-
severance with the ability to stretch
every shekel as far as it can go.
"If you can seize on both traits, you
can use them to your advantage?'