Rebuilding Our Global Jewish Family

As 5771 approaches, some thoughts from Dan Brown, eJewish Philanthropy’s founder: The face of Jewish philanthropy is continually changing and only time will tell if we are in the midst of evolution or a revolution. Philanthropy, which has always been a powerful force in the Jewish community, is – once again – witnessing a significant shift in both perception and management. Today’s philanthropists are more proactive, draw on a wide range of resources and seek greater efficiency and effectiveness. They also appear to be taking a longer-range view of their individual, or institutional, giving. Our Jewish organizational world is changing. Storied organizations as diverse as the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI), the Jewish Theological Seminary and the World Jewish Congress are just three... Continue Reading

Revisiting (and Revising) a Zionist Pillar

The Law of Return at 60: Revisiting (and Revising) a Zionist Pillar by Yair Sheleg It is appropriate that Israel’s Law of Return was adopted on the 20th of Tammuz, the yahrzeit of Theodor Herzl, founder of the modern Zionist movement. After all, it is the most fundamental law defining Israel as the state of the Jewish people. It gives any Jew – and only Jews – the automatic right to enter and live in Israel. For Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, the Law of Return simply codified the impulse behind Israel’s founding. “It is not the state that gives the right to return to Diaspora Jews,” Ben-Gurion explained during the Knesset debate over the proposed law. “This right preceded the State of Israel, and built the country.” The Law of Return was adopted by a unanimous... Continue Reading

Jewish Legitimacy

an editorial from The Forward Given the hysteria and defiance that characterized much of the American Jewish response to the provocative “conversion bill” now stalled somewhere in the Knesset, what we’re about to say may sound counter-intuitive. But bear with us. For it is possible that the high-stakes drama caused by an Israeli lawmaker’s ham-handed attempt to liberalize the conversion process could bring about just the sort of powerful shock to the system that relations between Israel and Diaspora Jewry desperately need. Think of what’s been revealed: In the passionate outcry of Diaspora leaders, we’ve learned how deep is their fear that non-Orthodox Judaism lacks legitimacy in the eyes of the country they work hard to love and support. In the baffled response by many Israelis –... Continue Reading

Remembering What the AJCongress Was

What the Congress Gave American Jews Opinion by Jerome A. Chanes When the American Jewish Congress closes its doors – an outcome that increasingly appears imminent – there won’t be many mourners saying Kaddish. Instead, the prevailing communal sentiment will probably be: “We have too many agencies; one less will not matter!” The serious financial problems that had plagued the AJCongress over recent decades became a mortal threat in the past year and a half as a result of l’affaire Madoff, in which the storied agency lost the bulk of its endowment. While details have been scarce, the on-again, off-again – and now very much on-again – merger talks between the American Jewish Committee and the AJCongress appear certain in the event of an agreement to yield more of a takeover... Continue Reading

The World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency Struggle to Find Meaning

Nowhere are the fissures of the Jewish world more apparent than in early summer Jerusalem. For here, on the one-hand, we see the energy accompanying the first wave of Birthright Israel, teen youth program, and 20-something summer visitors – arriving by the tens of thousands – to experience all that Israel has to offer. And at the other end, the [mostly] greying and powerful professional and lay leaders of the world’s largest and most visible Jewish organizations on their annual summer pilgrimage. Unfortunately, rarely do the two meet, let alone sit and speak with each other. This is the beginning of a particularly busy two weeks with the opening this afternoon of the World Zionist Congress, followed next week by the Assembly, and the Board of Governors meetings of the Jewish Agency... Continue Reading

Michael Steinhardt on Birthright NEXT Partnership

by Michael Steinhardt As a longtime supporter of programming for Birthright Israel alumni and a current member of the Birthright Israel NEXT board of directors, I feel compelled, as I work with board chair Al Levitt and my friend Lynn Schusterman, to advance NEXT and its vision, to set the record straight about our largest and most long-running alumni program here in New York. Our New York alumni office has been growing substantially since we created it seven years ago. At the time, funding for this important element of the Birthright Israel experiment was scarce. I had few real partners in this work even as Birthright Israel was being criticized for its failure to conduct follow-up. It was businessman and philanthropist Aaron Wolfson who called my office and extended an offer to work with me and to... Continue Reading

Allocating Federation Money: The Continuing Saga

The global Jewish media, including eJewish Philanthropy, has recently been somewhat pre-occupied with both the new strategic direction of the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) and the very public discussion of how declining overseas dollars are allocated by the Jewish federation system, including the percentage split between JAFI and the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC). As to the latter, while on the one hand all three organizations bemoan the public nature of the debate, all three are playing the media the best they can. As crunch time appears to be coming on many funding fronts, one forgets that this debate over splitting allocations between JAFI and JDC is anything but new – in fact, it has been ranging on and off since before the establishment of the State of Israel. Today we are just witnessing... Continue Reading

Something Odd Happened on the Way to Reviving Jewish Identity

by Gary Aidekman Sometime after the publication of the National Jewish Population Survey of 1990, a sense of dread spread over many American Jews. The survey revealed a steep increase in intermarriage, and Jewish leadership grew fearful that Jewish identity would weaken and with each new generation American Jewish continuity would be at increasing risk. Perhaps without sufficient urgency or resources, the organized Jewish community, including Jewish federations, responded. Continuity, outreach, and in-reach became buzz words in communities across the country. Jewish day schools moved further up on the community agenda. Revitalizing Jewish camping became a greater focus. Several mega-donors joined together and created Birthright Israel. These and many other initiatives poured into our communities in... Continue Reading

A Game of Irrelevant Semantics

Innovation Is Not A Synonym For ‘New’ excerpts from an opinion piece by Aaron Bisman and Rochelle Shoretz In late 2002, when our Joshua Venture Group (JVG) cohort was announced, the term “Jewish social entrepreneur” did not yet roll easily off the tongue. There was no “innovation ecosystem” to speak of, few incubators interested in helping us grow our ventures, and little confidence that Jewish life could or should blossom outside of existing institutional frameworks. JVG was founded to help emerging leaders change the Jewish world with their ideas. This was true of its first two cohorts, supported between 2000-2005, and it is true now, as its newly named 2010 fellows prepare to begin their fellowship term. The headline of The Jewish Week article (“Joshua Venture Betting On Known Quantities”)... Continue Reading

What About Our Future?

by Lee Wunsch What is “community”? This is a difficult question to ask and, today, for many Jewish Federations, it is an existential one as well. Since the dawn of the Jewish Federation system we have led the Jewish people through their darkest hours and brightest moments. We helped build the State of Israel. We rescued Jews in peril around the world. We developed local infrastructures of social services and educational institutions second to none. We created a philanthropic enterprise that is the envy of many. And we have been the defining and collective voice of our respective communities. Of our history, we have much to be proud. But what about our future? In an era of increasing boutique philanthropy, escalating individualism, growing institutional and organizational silos, and the challenges... Continue Reading

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