Deborah Fishman sits with Smadar Bar-Akiva. This interview is part of the Network-Weaver Series. [Smadar Bar-Akiva is the Executive Director of the World Confederation of Jewish Community Centers (WCJCC) and an occasional contributor to eJewish Philanthropy.] Tell me about your network. I direct an umbrella organization that represents more than 1,100 Jewish Community Centers around the world - we’re a network of networks. We have a 70-member board with representation from all the JCC networks and sponsor organizations. The purpose of our organization is to enrich Jewish lives and strengthen Jewish communities by connecting JCCs as institutions that open their doors to large number of Jews on a regular basis. What role does network-weaving play in your work? Though I sit in … Continue Reading
Blending Philanthropy, Culture and Art
Fundraising art auctions are a long-time staple for U.S. nonprofit organizations. Here's a new twist: Art Palm Beach, one of the most prestigious contemporary art fairs in the U.S., opens today and with it Global Art Group, the philanthropic initiative behind Global Advertising Strategies, will unveil David Datuna’s latest installment in the Viewpoint of Millions art project, titled 'Viewpoint of Millions: Israel Beyond a Dream'. The artwork, consisting of an Israeli flag triptych assembled in Datuna’s distinctive fashion of cascading optical lenses, represents the past, present and future of Israel. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the artwork will benefit the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County. Prior to the opening, Datuna described his … Continue Reading
Human Resources: An Answer to Jewish Peoplehood Education
by Sarah Mali ‘Jewish Peoplehood’ - the notion of collective Jewish belonging - has been criticized as an abstract term with little practical grounding. In order to overcome this challenge, various resources including curricula and seminars, have been developed to teach students what Jewish Peoplehood means. The problem with this approach lies in the assumption that students will simply get it if educators teach them the value of and the textual basis for the ties that bind the Jewish people. However, engendering an organic ‘group connection’ is not a didactic exercise but rather a highly internalized understanding built out of layered relationships and experiences. As biblical commentator Aviva Zornberg puts it,"our sense of person is registered in wordless and diffuse ways, in body … Continue Reading
State of Her Own
by Erin Kopelow and Ariel Beery for Tablet Magazine If all goes according to plan, this March we’re going to bring a daughter into the world. Specifically, we’re going to bring her home to our apartment on Chen Boulevard, in the center of Tel Aviv, the city we’ve made our home, though we were born in the United States and Canada. Had you asked us six years ago where we dreamed of raising a family, we’d have answered “Israel” without hesitation. But recently we’ve begun to doubt whether we should raise her in the Jewish state. It’s not the escalating situation with Iran that gives us pause, or the fact that our daughter will one day serve in the army: We decided to live in Israel with full knowledge of the security threats it faces. The reason we are concerned about raising … Continue Reading
Jewish Agency Set to Send Out Top Cadre of Young Israeli Emissaries
by Abigail Pickus The Israeli Government has tapped the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) to expand the number of young shlichim (emissaries) it sends abroad as a way to strengthen Diaspora Jewry’s connection to Israel and to counteract rising anti-Israel sentiment. “People make the difference. When a young Israeli becomes the face of Israel for those who don’t come to Israel on a regular basis then Israel is real,” said Alon Futterman, the Jewish Agency’s shlichut development director. With that in mind, 150 young emissaries - up from the usual 75 - will be sent around the world to live and work within Jewish communities and on university campuses as the most effective “hasbara” for Israel. It’s all part of the Jewish Agency’s new strategic direction. “The idea is … Continue Reading
Jewish Agency Program Promotes Dialogue with Beit Shemesh Hareidi Community
In recent days, the Greater Washington, D.C. and South Africa Beit Shemesh partnership has published announcements in the local press calling on the general public to submit proposals for dialogue and cooperation programs that support the vision of Beit Shemesh as a city belonging to all its resident communities. The goal is to offer financial support to “ideas of lasting influence on the city, which will encourage moderates in the various communities to raise their voices, and which will lead to measurable results.” The two communities are sister communities with Beit Shemesh through the Jewish Agency's Partnership2Gether program. Jewish Agency Chairman of the Executive Natan Sharansky said, “There is only one long-term solution - dialogue. We are one people and cannot keep ignoring one … Continue Reading
Jewish Agency Launches International Network to Twin Schools
The Jewish Agency is establishing a new international twinning network connecting hundreds of Diaspora schools with schools in Israel. Formally launched during a Chanukah candle-lighting ceremony yesterday, the goal is to create real ties between students and teachers on both sides, strengthen the image of Israel among students abroad and allow them to experience Israel in a very real way - not as depicted in the media. At the same time, the program will allow Israeli students to become more familiar with the Diaspora. The program will contain both virtual and in-person components. The first phase will include 200 schools from Israel and 200 schools from around the world, including schools from the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia, South Africa, Switzerland, Mexico, England, Russia, Hungary, … Continue Reading
From Gondar to Jerusalem: A Photographic Retrospective
Ethiopia’s Jews have been a priority for the Jewish Agency since the first major wave of Ethiopian immigration began in 1984 with Operation Moses and continued in 1991 with Operation Solomon. Today, Israel’s Ethiopian immigrant population is estimated at 120,000 - 15,000 of them children born in Israel. In December 2010, the the State of Israel appointed the Jewish Agency to complete - over the course of three years - the immigration of Ethiopia’s approximately 8,000 remaining Jews (the Falash Mura) from the poverty, anti-Semitism, disease and instability characterizing life in Africa to a better life among their people, in Israel. To meet this undertaking, the Agency assumed the operation of the Gondar facility, where they provide basic care and Aliyah preparation. Their next … Continue Reading
A Different Slant on the Global Planning Table
by Carl Sheingold, Ph.D The decision of the JFNA to create a Global Planning Table (GPT) has been greeted with a good deal of skepticism in the press, including several pieces in eJP. Many observers have asserted that it will be a bureaucratic anachronism, out of step with the culture of a new era in which decentralized philanthropy and innovative start ups are replacing a system of large institutions seeking to set or reflect communal priorities. Some within the system have expressed the opposite concern built on the assumption that the GPT will lead, as a likely if not intended outcome, to a withering if not destruction of the long standing relationship of the federation system with JAFI and JDC. The values of Jewish peoplehood, collectivity, and mutual responsibility are indeed … Continue Reading
The Many Faces of BAMA
Today, one of the most important Jewish community institutions in Argentina is BAMA - an institution providing educational training, consultation and support services to all Jewish schools, youth movements and informal education sites throughout the country. Founded in May 2001 with generous support from UJA Federation NY and the Jewish Agency, BAMA served as the central address in rehabilitating the educational system following the financial shock-waves cascading through the country. From the onset, BAMA has been the core organization that prepares and applies programs focused on the sustainability of Jewish identity and connection to the State of Israel. Today, BAMA receives support from other organizations including the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims … Continue Reading
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