“We once were a people without a home; will we become a home without a people?” This was the question I asked last week when addressing the Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency as part of the presentation of the Agency’s new strategic plan. A simple question, but one that embodies the countless fears we all share regarding the future of the global Jewish family. In the face of existential challenges on all fronts relating to the physical security of the State of Israel, we must nonetheless face a question that we can ask only to ourselves - will our failure to remain connected to one another in the pursuit of our common ideals be the ultimate risk to the survival of the Jewish people? In his recent book, The Great Reset, Richard Florida writes about the impact of highly stressed … Continue Reading
The Jewish Agency Speaks on Their New Vision
As our regular readers know, when JAFI's Board of Governors convenes next week a new strategic plan will be presented, discussed and [while there may be revisions] voted on. There has also been a great deal of discussion and speculation in the Jewish and Israeli media of what some of the changes are. Now, for the first time, the Jewish Agency has officially commented. This from Richie Pearlstone, JAFI's board chair: Jerusalem, June 17, 2010 Dear Members of the JAFINA Council, I am pleased to announce that one of the leading philanthropists and communal leaders in the Jewish world, Charles Goodman, has agreed to serve as chairman of the board of the Fund for the Jewish Agency, the new name for what was until recently called JAFINA. Jay Sarver will serve as treasurer, Jane Sherman, Natan … Continue Reading
IFCJ Passover Food Donations Assist Needy
The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ) is assisting tens of thousands of needy families in Israel and the former Soviet Union by distributing significant quantities of food for their Passover celebrations. In Moscow, 15,000 packages were distributed to needy families, with another 28,000 food boxes delivered to other families throughout the former Soviet Union in partnership with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. The boxes contain kosher products including an assortment of vegetables and canned fish, oil, milk and potato starch, as well as beef and turkey salami from Israel. "The reality for many of the elderly Jews in the former Soviet Union is having to make the horrible choice between buying food, medicine or heating oil for their homes," Rabbi Yechiel … Continue Reading
Model Seder for New Falashmura Olim
In preparation for their first Passover in Israel, two hundred new immigrants from Ethiopia attended a model Seder today at the Jewish Agency Absorption Center in Mevasseret Zion outside Jerusalem. The Seder was presided over by Jewish Agency chair, Natan Sharansky and President and Founder of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein. It was designed to provide an introductory look at a traditional celebration prior to the beginning of the holiday. On Monday night, 5,000 new immigrants from Ethiopia will attend Seder meals at 20 Jewish Agency absorption centers across Israel. image courtesy Avi Hayon/Jewish Agency for Israel … Continue Reading
Jerusalem and IFCJ Join Together to Fight Poverty
The City of Jerusalem and the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews have renewed cooperation with a large scale project to fight poverty in the city. The IFCJ has announced they will donate 13.5 million NIS to the initiative. The projects include: "From Dependence to Independence"- A 6 million NIS grant teaching hundreds of needy families in Jerusalem how to gain economic independence. Families that will participate in the project will receive a wide range support which includes: professional training for the unemployed, tutorial aid for children in school, information on how to exercise their rights, workshops on strengthening the family unit, and workshops on participating and contributing to society. 2 million NIS of this donation will be dedicated specifically for the Ethiopian … Continue Reading
First Teenage Girls’ Crisis Center Opens in Israel
The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ) has recently announced a contribution of $150,000 to the first Teenage Girls’ Crisis Center in Israel. It serves girls at risk from ages 13 to 18 nationwide, from all religious backgrounds, who have experienced childhood traumas stemming from various adverse social conditions, including poverty, family dysfunction, violence in the home, and parents who suffer from drug abuse and alcohol addiction. The Crisis Center is located at the Neve Michael Children’s Village in Pardes Hana, and operated under the auspices of Emunah, the National Religious Women’s Organization. The Village contains the only multidisciplinary children’s home in Israel, which provides refuge and a caring home for over 250 children and youth at risk. It has a … Continue Reading
Clawbacks, Day School Funding and More
from SunSentinel.com: Bankruptcy lawyers to Florida charities: Give Rothstein money back Charities across South Florida got a bitter piece of mail this holiday week: letters demanding the return of money Scott Rothstein gave them. About 30 charities that were recipients of the fallen lawyer's largesse received the letters early this week, warning them to return the money in the next 10 days or be sued. The list of charities wasn't released, but Rothstein has given to... the Jewish Federation of Broward... ... And at Rothstein's spiritual home, a new building off Broward Boulevard whose front proclaimed "The Rothstein Family Downtown Jewish Center Chabad,'' his name has been stripped away. from The Jewish Ledger: Crisis in Jewish Education There is no question that the … Continue Reading
Israel Providing Direct Support to JAFI: What Might It Mean?
by Jonathan Strausberg [Yesterday's] Jerusalem Post reported that a deal is in the works for the government of Israel to provide direct financial support to the Jewish Agency for Israel. This could be a game changer, because Israel previously only provided support to specific programs that JAFI operated, such as MASA. As Federation contributions to overseas causes, including JAFI and JDC, have declined over the past few years, JAFI has seen its budget cut by nearly 25%. The result has been a cut in staff and services, including camps in the FSU, aliyah support services, and helping youth at-risk in Israel. These are programmatic areas that are typically funded with core dollars, not designated giving. Obviously, the increase in funding will have a direct impact in reversing the contraction … Continue Reading
NewsBits: Haredi Rabbis At Odds With Christian Donors
from The Jerusalem Post: Christian donor to out haredi recipients Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, chairman of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, said Thursday that his organization was compiling a list for publication of haredi institutions that receive its donations. The move comes after Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, considered the most respected and influential halachic authority among Ashkenazi haredi Jews, signed a declaration saying that receiving money from Eckstein's organization was "close to idolatry." "We are not trying to push anyone into doing anything against their will," said Eckstein, who spoke with The Jerusalem Post from the US. "If they don't want funds, they don't have to accept them. But we are not going to go along with a situation in which haredi … Continue Reading
Passing The Buck; But Not The Bucks
from today's Jerusalem Post: 'Israel holding money that could save Jewish schools in FSU' A network of some 42 Jewish schools in the former Soviet Union are in danger of closing, because the Israeli government hasn't paid money it had pledged to keep them afloat, according to the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, which is trying to help save the schools. Some of the schools also serve as orphanages and if closed may leave thousands of Jewish children on the streets. … Continue Reading
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