At the opening plenary of the Jewish Agency’s board meeting, Natan Sharansky – the organization’s chairman – presented similar thoughts to those he enumerated last week at a session of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations.
In addition, Sharansky spoke highly of the initiatives of Birthright Israel, MASA and the Lapid programs and laid out an ambitious plan to train new Jewish leaders. Working in conjunction with Israel’s government, he proposed that the Jewish Agency train 1000 participants each year for five years in order to strengthen Jewish identity in the Diaspora.
Sharansky also announced that in the spirit of Tikkun Olam, the Jewish Agency will send an exploratory team to Haiti to examine possibilities where JAFI can be helpful.
Training new leaders is all well and good. However, are they going to receive the same low level of support as those who have already put in years of work? What good is training if the people then are left on their own without any financial backing?