Project Renewal
It can be said that there are
two Israels. There is an Israel
of great achievement — of
pride, of participation in a
society which, despite war and
terror, record taxes and severe
economic difficulties, has
created a vibrant living space
out of the desert, has been in
novative and productive in its
agriculture and industry, and
has created great universities
and research centers for the
benefit of all mankind. This
Israel cares deeply for the
welfare of all its people, longs
for and works toward peace
and is, day by day, struggling
to find the ways and means of
realizing the age-old dream of
a Jewish homeland which will
be “a light unto the nations.”
Ninety percent of Israel’s
Jewish population lives and
learns, works and raises
feunilies in this Israel.
There is smother Israel — an
Israel where 300,000 Jews live
in social and economic isola
tion, where helplessness and
uncertainty are part of every
day life and the promise of an
equitable Jewish nation has
not yet been kept.
In 1948, the State of Israel
was born, and during the next
five years more than 700,000
immigrants flooded into the
tiny Jewish nation, doubling
the population. World Jewry
pledged to help in the resettle
ment of new immigrants. The
Jewish Agency, the Israeli
governmental entity chsirged
with refugee resettlement, and
the people of Israel made
heroic efforts to absorb them
all into the rapidly expanding
society.
For the most part, this ab
sorption was successful. But
some people were bypassed.
War and a volatile economy
disrupted the absorption.
Those bypassed remained in
pockets of poverty —
“distressed” neighborhoods —
in urban communities and in
the countryside throughout
the Jewish homelemd.
Children grew, married, had
children of their own, continu
ing the circle of poverty. In
ferior and overcrowded hous
ing deteriorated. Community
facilities were too few and
social services were inade
quate. Education levels re
mained low; family incomes
fell below the national
average. School dropouts in
creased. Residents became
alienated, frustrated and
angry. The “other Israel” was
created.
These residents of distress
ed neighborhoods felt they
were not included in the part
nership pledge by world Jewry
with the people of Israel. In
1978, a new approach to speed
the elimination of the “other
Israel” and to strengthen the
fabric of Jewish society was
bom. Project Renewal was
proposed by then Prime
Minister Menachem Begin as
a cooperative venture — part
nership of resources and
talent, linking a Diaspcx'a com
munity (or group of com
munities), the Jewish Agency
and the Israeli government,
with the residents of each
distressed neighborhood in a
joint rehabilitation process.
FEDERATION/UJA
Jewish Facts of Life
When you read that the Federation supports the JCC,
Hillel or the Blumenthal Home, the names and faces of
your fcunily and friends who use these services will,
hopefully, come to your mind.
But, when you read about the needs of “Jews in Israel
and around the world,” there are no faces attached to the
statistics. But the faces are there. You can’t see them but
they are looking to you with hope born of need and belief
in Kal Yisrael - the PEOPLEHOOD OF JUDAISM -
Frankly — they have no where else to look.
IN ISRAEL
The 1984-85 Jewish Agency budget of $360 million for
human-support programs directly and indirectly touches
the lives of 600,000 people. Budget lines show little change
from last year. With the 400% inflation rate virtually un
checked, the buying power of the Agency’s shekels has
declined, severely straining its ability to maintain services
at last year’s level. In all program areas, tough priority
decisions have had to be made, protecting and expanding
some services at the expense of others.
Immigration/Absorption: $52,000,000 — There is total
commitment to maintaining all absorption services for
more than 6,000 Ethiopism Jews who have reached Israel,
and to providing them in full to additional families ex
pected this year. The comprehensive absorption process
is several times lengthier and many times costlier than the
absorption of any previous group.
Rural Settlement: $70,000,000 — Three years ago, 122 of
some 500 kibbutizim and moshavim established by the
Jewish Agency through the years with funds from free
world Jewry remained short of economic independence.
Plans for their “consolidation” were dropped each year
since. This year, funds have finally been budgeted for the
first 27 of them. Those funds, however, were diverted from
the already overdue construction of eight new settlements
in the underpopulated stretches of the Galilee, Negev and
Arava, with the result that only three will be built this
ye£U“. There will be some “thickening” of Geililee mitzpin
(pre-settlements), adding a few families to these isolated
hilltop outposts. And a special program will provide the
younger children of original moshav settlers — unable to
acquire, land on their home grounds — with living and
farming space for their families on moshavim elsewhere.
Youth Aliy ah: $52,000,000 — Of nearly 18,000 students
enrolled by Youth Aliyah for education and training in its
boarding schools, villages and day centers, some 16,000
are disadvantaged youngsters from distressed neighbor
hood and family situations. Many of the youngest — ages
12-13 — are nearly totally illiterate and must receive
special personal and programmatic attention. The others
are boys and girls coming to Israel without parents, some
whom Youth Aliyah carries on its historic role of caring
for the orphaned and the isolated. In recent years, 1,500
Jewish children from Iran, mostly parentless, have been
successfully passing through the Youth Aliyah system.
Today, there are 700 Ethiopian Jewish children, arriving
without parents, for whom Youth Aliyah has developed
brilliantly successful mini-absorption centers equipped
with special teaching aids for small groups receiving in
tensive personal attention. But budget limitations are
again preventing Youth Aliyah from taking in an addi
tional 2,500 teenagers it has the space, staff and resources
to serve, turning dropout street lives into useful futures
in the mainstream of Israeli society.
THROUGHOUT THE WORLD
This year’s worldwide JDC budget of $46.5 million will
help an estimated 5(X),000 people in more than 30 coun
tries around the world. Celebrating its 70th anniversary,
JDC maintains a life line of health, education, welfare,
geriatric and child-care smdces to remnant and distress
ed Jewish communities in Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa
this year, including a new presence among the tiny Jewish
community of Alexandria, Egypt, and in continuing to
make a substantial difference in the lives of the young,
the elderly and the handicapped in Israel.
Focus on
For You and
The Charlotte Je^i
’U J A At A
60% of the 1985 Campi
United Jewi
Receives its fu
200
Community Federations
and Welfare Funds
Suppc
X
United Israel AppeaMUIA)
Tlw Unii»d lw«ct ii rtw wmot
•( i«M> tmt4 b, Mw Veiled
M r»il««H> peeieth and
c«rric4 mi by lb« |«witk
Aa**ctr, in in httti, tmt
■MMWt Aw M* a4 WA lMt4i
Mw MipfWl • Ml* nm nr’» mA anlfc
iwwmmu, IlMif iwlt|iili— hfatff
Mt. Mmr h*jMi, bawiiig, m4
i«b la hm4» «•«
»'»» m4 tiigliw
Ameritai
Distiibi
Commilti
in J® •••
liw werli.
Reprinted from The
Southern Israelite.