In a front page article in today's Jerusalem Post, it seems there is a possible deal in the works to settle the very public, and not so nice, feud between the Jewish Agency and Nefesh B'Nefesh. It's all about ego, influence, posturing and money. Yup; basically cold hard cash, prestige and bragging rights. JAFI, the quasi-government body responsible for Aliyah, plays a part in facilitating the process for all potential Olim world-over. NBN, working solely with those from Canada, the U.S. and the U.K., is a nimble, entrepreneurial organization who helps selected Olim integrate into Israeli life. They both do good. Some services certainly overlap and could possible be eliminated by one or the other. But the prize, being ...

The American based Jewish Funders Network came to town this past week, but you'd never know it. You see, the community of Israeli philanthropists participating in the Conference put a noose around the JFN's neck and held them hostage. They told the JNF they "suffer at the hands of Israeli gossip columnists" and pushed the JNF team against the wall. The sessions were closed to the media; a 180 degree turn from the JFN's normal practice. The official program stated the sessions were closed not to “undermine the participants’ feelings of privacy and security”. I was told by more than one participant of the JNF's need to have this, their first ever Conference in Israel, succeed; pretty much regardless ...

The City is particularly quiet this morning; especially for a Friday. Despite the glorious early summer weather, the normal hustle and bustle of pre-Shabbat is missing. Almost like Jerusalem woke-up today wrapped in a cocoon. Police and the IDF are visibly in abundance; the City is devoid of horn-honking drivers. Actually, it is somewhat devoid of cars in general. Kikar Zion, the regular Friday gathering place for the thousands of 'gap year' students, is pretty empty. Cafe Neeman, at the site of the old Sabarro's, has a half-dozen fully armed soldiers watching the entrance way. Machane Yehuda resembles Sunday afternoon, not Friday noon. My florist (located deep inside the shuk) told me business was off 50% this morning. With their usual efficiency, I watched ...

The phrase made famous during the 1992 Presidential campaign; perhaps it will take center stage again this Fall. In the meantime, the American economic climate appears cloudy. As those involved in the world of philanthropy, we know this could have a significant downward effect on both donations and investment income for our organizations. In an Op-Ed in last week's Forward, Jeffrey Solomon, the creative and insightful President of the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Phlanthropies, wrote 'Agencies Must Gird themselves For A Recession' reflecting on the potential impacts of a "full-blown recession...on Jewish organizational life." "As Americans increasingly wonder whether the nation will fall into a full-blown recession, many of us are considering the deleterious effect such a development would have ...

We feel very strongly about the New Generation of social entrepreneurs, their cutting edge projects, and the renaissance they are creating in our Jewish world. I guess we are not alone in our view of this generation. In Sunday's New York Times, Nicholas D. Kristof wrote from the World Economic Forum in Davos: "But growing numbers of young people are leaping into the fray and doing the job themselves. These are the social entrepreneurs, the 21st-century answer to the student protesters of the 1960s, and they are some of the most interesting people here at the World Economic Forum (not only because they’re half the age of everyone else). Today the most remarkable young people are the social entrepreneurs, those who ...

It's sleeting (here) in Jerusalem; the Winograd Committee is set to deliver their final report later this afternoon and I would like to share some thoughts on a session I attended last week at the Herzliya Conference. The session was billed as, 'Rethinking Jewish Philanthropy – Interrelations between Israel and the Diaspora'. A more apt title would have been, 'An Infomercial from JAFI and the N.Y. Federation'. I really should not complain. For the first time ever the subject of Jewish Philanthropy has reached the table at the Herzliya Conference. And however brief (only 45 minutes) and the only session I attended that did not allow follow-up questions, or comments, at least there was a presence. For ...