The Jewish Agency, in violation of their own governance policies, is funding anti-Zionist and anti-government MASA programs.
Sitting at the top of The Jewish Agency’s governance structure, even above the Board of Governors, is the Assembly. Comprised of up to 518 members apportioned similarly to the Board, the Assembly (though meeting only annually) is the prime decider of overarching policy matters. Historically, their debates involved serious ideological and political issues relating to the nature of Zionism, the structure of the Jewish Agency, internal Israeli politics, the understanding of the Israel Diaspora relationship and more.
Back in the mid-80’s, the US Federation world (UIA, UJA, CJF) and Keren Hayesod leadership, charged with doing due diligence of the charitable funds they were providing to and allocating through the Jewish Agency budget, became incensed to learn some of their monies were being allocated to institutions that would not accept Ethiopian students. Further investigation indicated that monies were also going to institutions that refused to recognize the State of Israel. So at the 1986 Assembly, a binding resolution was passed stating the Jewish Agency from now on will only transfer funds to Jewish schools, Yeshivot and other institutions, “which recognize the State of Israel, support its existence as the national homeland of the Jewish people,” and integrate Zionist values in their study programs. At the 1987 Assembly, the 1986 resolution was reiterated forbidding agency funding for non-Zionist (i.e. ultra-Orthodox) religious schools, and the cutting off of allocations to any Israeli body that refuses to accept Ethiopian immigrants as Jews.
Those resolutions stand to this day.
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Fast forward to the present and to MASA Israel, a joint initiative of the Government of Israel and The Jewish Agency, formalized and expanded – with guaranteed government investment – by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon z”l and the Jewish Agency’s Chair, Sallai Meridor. At launch, MASA brought together a number of initiatives – some established in the early days of the State; supported many new programs geared to young adults – especially those from the FSU countries – and most controversial, provided an umbrella for the growing number of Orthodox gap year programs. And herein lies problem #1.
Among the many MASA programs in this latter group are Ner Yosef and Yeshivat Lomdei Torah. The latter is connected to the Machnovka Chassidut and lists Rabbi A.L. Shteinman as one of the Rabanim. This is the same Rabbi Shteinman who calls on bnei Torah to stand firm in their opposition to join the IDF (An Open Letter from R’ Shteinman Shlita).
And, this is the same Rabbi Shteinman who called upon thousands of students to protest Women of the Wall two years ago.
So, why is MASA funding programs such as these? This brings us to problem #2.
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MASA Israel has had mixed success, and today is in decline. In fact, without the highly successful programs bringing participants from the FSU countries, and the Orthodox gap year students (including the Haredi seminary students), MASA would be in serious trouble. Two important notes: almost all of the Orthodox gap year programs are affiliated with institutions that fully support the State of Israel. It is the handful of Haredi institutions, who have no place in the “system” that constitute the problem. Second, MASA has taken a serious hit from Western countries as the global economy has improved. Where just a few years ago many programs had waiting lists due to the lack of open positions for recent college graduates, the “marketplace” has somewhat stabilized over the last year or so. And despite the improving economy MASA has been challenged to raise new money from the Diaspora.
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If you listen to the elaborate power-point presentations provided by the Agency you would think all is well in MASA land (and the Agency overall). But with MASA, the Agency is in the driver’s seat and MASA is running amok with no governance oversight from the Agency’s Board. At the Agency’s request, the Board eliminated its own MASA program committee (a sub-committee in the Education silo), which historically provided a level of oversight despite MASA being an “independent company.” What was most puzzling in this elimination was the acquiescence of UIA (the Federations’ overseas funding arm) in the decision. As a note, and all who were around will recall, it was this Board committee back in 2009 that acted as the only “responsible adult” when MASA, with the approval of JAFI’s senior professionals, launched the ill-conceived “Lost” television campaign. Today, with the committee’s elimination we have: a general lack of oversight, the funding of Haredi yeshivot, and who knows what else.
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In June 2012, I wrote, “Out in the field, the Jewish Agency employs hundreds of dedicated professionals, all striving to deliver the best possible programs for the betterment of the Jewish people. Joining with them are hundreds more, (mostly) young Israelis on shlichut (emissaries), working far away from their homes….
[But] The organization suffers from management dysfunction.”
Today, unfortunately this dysfunction continues to exist. The dedicated Agency staff are now frustrated and disillusioned with their management. The Agency is shrinking. Their Chair is a visionary, but a poor manager. The Agency is rife with bureaucrats who will twist the facts only to insure their own legacies. In recent years, the Agency has postponed several Assembly meetings and overall so downplayed the Assembly’s program and role, that the actual physical attendance has shrunk considerably. Is it any wonder their fundraising professionals are challenged? Is it any wonder most do not understand what the organization is accomplishing? A serious house-cleaning is needed at the professional level. And at the Board level, a need for the members to “own” their governance responsibilities, or resign.
The author is a former Member of the Assembly of The Jewish Agency.
anyonymous says
February 17, 2015 at 5:15 pmOutrageous. Rabbi Shteinman has made inflammatory remarks against Zionism, non-Orthodox Jews, gentiles, etc., as well as against federation-backed initiatives such as egalitarian prayer at the Western Wall, conversion programming, etc. He has gone so far as to declare non-Orthodox Jews as the “erev rav” and IDF conversions as fraudulent and their converts as not Jewish. Shameful.
Reader says
February 17, 2015 at 9:33 pmThe writer has made a great error here by focusing on Rabbi Steinman.
The Yeshiva he is complaining about is a Chasidic Yeshiva. Rabbi Steinman is from the Lithuanian, non-Hasidic segment of Orthodox Jewry. He does not head the Chasidic Yeshiva Mr. Brown writes about. If you examine the website of the institution carefully, you will see that no such claim appears there. All it shows are photos of some Rabbis who visited the school and spoke there, among whom is Rabbi Steinman. That is it. If Rabbi Steinman visited there a few years ago, on their invitation. Maybe once, maybe twice, who knows. That does not make him the head of it. He has his own institutions run according to his Lithuanian tradition. He definitely does not run a Hasidic institution. Please correct this serious error.
P.S. You are also mistaken by painting Rabbi Steinman as an extremist, when he is actually a moderate in his world. He is under attack by others who consider him too moderate, for years.
Dan Brown says
February 17, 2015 at 9:39 pmYeshivat Lomdei Torah’s English website lists him as one of the rabanim of the institution. Btw, nowhere do I claim he heads it.
Reader says
February 17, 2015 at 10:15 pm“Yeshivat Lomdei Torah’s English website lists him as one of the rabanim of the institution.”
Dan, with all due respect, you are misinterpreting the website (which I checked before I wrote the initial comment, and just checked again). It does not say that he is one of the rabanim of the institution. What that page shows, rather, is prominent outside rabanim who visited the institution. You can check it out. I realize that you are not part of that world, but anyone who knows that world well, can confirm it.
Rabbi Steinman is not part of the Chasidic world.
Also, you have to realize that the website was probably made by someone overseas, who is not a native English speaker perhaps, hence the confusion (not writing visiting rabanim on the tab, instead of just rabanim, which would have averted such a misunderstanding).
Mr. Cohen says
February 18, 2015 at 3:20 amSome Orthodox Yeshivot will honor senior Rabbis by listing them
as leaders of the yeshivah, even if those prominent Rabbis never
led the yeshivah, and even if they never came near the yeshivah.
This is similar to a college that grants an honorary degree
to a person who never attended that college.
Last but not least (responding to the first comment):
The American army does not perform religious conversions,
and the French army does not perform religious conversions,
and the Italian army does not perform religious conversions,
so why should the Israeli army perform religious conversions?
Why should Israel be the only country in the world
whose army performs religious conversions?
PS: I am an Orthodox Jew in New York City, and I pray for
the success and safety of the Israeli Army seven days every week,
usually 14 times each week.
Rabbi Avigdor Miller (a popular Chareidi Rabbi and author, born 1908 CE,
died 2001 CE) delivered a free public lecture in the last year of his life, in which he
taught that Jews should pray for the Israeli Army. I personally witnessed this.
Sara Eisen says
February 19, 2015 at 2:06 amYesterday’s piece contained several serious inaccuracies. We are pleased to have the opportunity to set the record straight.
Masa Israel Journey, The Jewish Agency’s flagship Israel experience program (now in its 11th year) has some 12,000 participants in 2014-15. This represents 10% growth this year, owing not only to the Former Soviet Union as noted, but also to French participation, and to the steady, significant growth of the academic, career, and internship tracks pioneered by Masa. We are proud to be developing the leadership of the Jewish future.
As to the central, fear-mongering claim of the article: It is false. Far from being the growth engine of Masa Israel, our Yeshiva track has held steady over the years at ~3,000 men and women annually, while other sectors (as noted above) continue to grow. The yeshivot in Masa’s system – and indeed many of our programs on the left of the spectrum as well – may not all subscribe to a monolithic ideology, but neither does the Jewish world.
One thing they all do have in common is a commitment to a basic “Masa DNA,” an educational platform that includes getting acquainted with Israel, Jewish history, Hebrew, and social responsibility. Programs (including yeshivot) which fail to comply are either never accepted or are not part of our system for long.
One yeshiva mentioned in the EJP article is a new institution for French immigrants which does indeed support draft to the IDF and complies with our “DNA”. The other, more established, yeshiva mentioned in the article – illustrative photo aside – also complied with our DNA, including visits to national institutions such as Yad Vashem and Har Herzl, for its fewer than 10 Masa students both this year and last.
Who is the rabbi and why should donors be concerned? It appears that they probably should not, at least not owing to Masa or The Jewish Agency.
As to some of the other points in the piece: Masa Israel has matured a great deal since some of the incidents mentioned, which harken back to 2009 and have nothing at all to do with our current realities.
Sara K. Eisen
Global Chief Communications Officer
Masa Israel Journey
Jacob Levy says
February 19, 2015 at 5:31 pmDear Sara,
Welcome to your new job at MASA. You must be careful as a spokesperson to who you are listening to and check your facts. How could you write this?
The Rosh Yeshiva of Or HaHaim is Rabbi Reuben Elbaz. Rabbi Elbaz is a member of Shas and led the demonstration of 500,000 Charedim last year, closing Jerusalem, protesting against drafting Yeshiva students into the Israel Defense Forces.
Rabbi Elbaz is now free from his sentence of 8 months probation for corruption and arranging bribes of public officials.
http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/headlines-breaking-stories/281476/rav-reuven-elbaz-added-to-shas-torah-council.html
http://www.jewishpress.com/news/israel/idf/hundreds-of-thousands-demonstrate-in-jerusalem-against-haredi-draft-bill/2014/03/05/0/?print .
I sure hope this is not MASA DNA.
Dan Brown says
February 22, 2015 at 2:10 amCorrections to the numbers above:
Orthodox participants are at 3950, not 3000 (significantly more than 3000)
Over 11,500 are participating during 2014-2015 (not a big difference to 12,000, I agree; just quoting from official MASA publication)
source: MASA Strategic Planning report, 2014-2017