Between You and Me
Page 13-THE NEWS-November. 1984
By Boris Smolar
THE FEDERATIONS AND
ISRAEL: Something new and
important in the relations bet
ween the American Jewish
community and the communi
ty in Israel was initiated
recently by the Council of
Jewish Federations CJF).
This central organ of the
Jewish Federations in the
United States and Canada -
serving about 800 organized
Jewish communities represen
ting 95 percent of all the Jews
in the two countries--has open
ed an office in Israel to
strengthen relations between
the Federations in North
America and Israel. The office
was opened on September Irin
Jerusalem.
It is no secret that there is
a growing gap between Israel
and the Federations in the
United States and Canada in
understanding each other. The
Federations prefer not to come
out into the open with their
grievances, but grumbling by
their leaders is heard at clos
ed local and regional meetings
and at their national board
meetings. The CJF has been
under growing pressure to in
dicate to Israeli leaders and in-
fluentials the necessity to
close--or at least narrow-the
gap which worries many
American Jews interested in
helping Israel.
The Federations eire the
financial backbone of Jewish
communal activities. They
raise in contributions about
$600 million a year to help
meet local, national and
overseas needs. Half of this
sum goes to Israel through the
United Jewish Appeal to meet
communal needs there. But
the Federation leadership has
come to realize that the people
in Israel -- even members of
the Knesset -- have no
understanding of the
pulsating Jewish conmiunity
life in the United States and
Canada.
The information given by
Israelis to people in Israel is
considered by Federation
leaders as often distorted.
American Jews are viewed in
Israel primarily as a fund
raising source and a factor ac
tive in Washington on pro
blems concerning relations
between the American and
Israeli governments. Israelis
know practically nothing of
how the Federations work,
their scope of activities, their
influence, their philosophy,
their services, community
organization and problem
solving approaches, as well as
their achievements in
stimulating Jewish life in the
conmiunity. This is true even
with regard to influential
government officials. They are
indifferent to what is going on
in American Jewish life, ex
cept to matters concerning
Israel, despite the fact that
the Jews in the United States
are the largest Jewish com
munity in the world. This, ac
cording to Martin Citrin, CJF
president, has impaired the ef
fectiveness of dialogue and
cooperation between the two
communities.
As an example of this indif
ference to understanding
Jewish life in America, the
leaders of the Federation cite
the fact that there is no cur
riculum provision in Israeli
elementary and secondary
school systems for the
teaching about the Jewish
communities in the U.S. and
Canada, while there is exten
sive curricula and materials
there related to Jewish life in
other countries of the
diaspora.
ISSUES AND PROBLEMS:
During the past years, the
issues and problems around
understanding between the
organized Jewish communities
in the U.S. and Canada and
the Jewish community in
Israel have become exacer
bated. These developments
have given a sense of urgency
to the need for the CJF to
build stronger relations with
Israel. As the growing list of
concerns of Federation leaders
£md members has increased, it
became essential for the CJF
to think of opening an office in
Israel to build bridges of
understanding.
The CJF leaders came to the
conclusion that only a CJF
presence representing the
organized Jewish conmiunities
in the U.S. and Canada-and
speaking when necessary on
their behalf - can aid in ac
complishing the distinctive
goals that Federations require
in their Israel relationships.
Presently, there are a number
of American Jewish organiza
tions which have offices in
Israel - the United Jewish Ap
peal, American Joint Distribu
tion Committee, American
Jewish Committee, and others
- but no one among them can
speak for the Federations.
Prior to deciding to establish
an office in Israel, the CJF
consulted these organizations.
They all agreed that represen
tation of the Federations is
needed in Israel; it will be
helpful to them in their own
work, they said.
Some Federation leaders
who strongly advocated the
opening of a CJF office in
Israel have advanced the argu
ment that the basic
trusteeship responsibility of
Federations for their aUocated
funds which is applied to
domestic uses should also be
applied in Israel - that the
contributed dollars be spent
for the most importemt needs,
be used most productively,
with the soundest policies and
programs. They pointed out
that the CJF has been
established and maintained by
the Federations to act as their
instrument to assure this by
making independent and ob
jective analyses.
CJF FUNCTIONS IN
ISRAEL: The functions of the
CJF office in Israel will be in
general to expand the agenda
of the relations between the
North Americem Jewish com
munities and Israel. This will
include extension significant
ly beyond the purely philan
thropic area.
The Federations place great
emphasis on the need to build
constructive relationships bet
ween the people of this coun
try and the people of Israel in
all their variety. The functions
will include:
1. Interpreting Federations
in an ongoing manner to in
fluential sectors of Israeli
leadership and society.
2. Monitoring, collecting
and providing on-site informa
tion, analyses and intelligence
to Federations in the U.S. emd
Canada regarding develop
ments in Israel that could im
pact directly and indirectly on
the Federation agenda.
3. Affirmation by the Jewish
Agency of non-discrimination
on a religious denominational
basis relating to services fund
ed by Federation campaigns.
4. Issues of religious
pluralism in Israel.
5. The issue of proposed
amendments to the Law of
Return.
6. Immigration and absorp
tion developments that impact
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JCFPREY S. LYONS CLU A ASSOC
STATE MUTUAL OF AiMKRICA
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on Federation policies.
7. Public information
relating to serving inmiigrants
from the Soviet Union,
Ethiopia and to Jews coming
from the United States and
Canada to settle in Israel.
8. Counseling with many en
tities in Israel that are
developing and publishing
Jewish educational material
for use by Jewish conmiunities
in the U.S. and Canada, and
advising on their distribution.
9. Helping to develop ap
propriate in-depth contacts
between Federation leaders
and leaders in Israel in areas
outside of fund-raising and
philanthropy -- commerce and
industry, arts and letters,
academia and leaders in
culture - and planing educa-
tion£j seminars for leaders of
Federations and Federation
agencies, lay and professional,
utilizing Israeli sources.
10. Helping those responsi
ble in Israel to select, provide
and train appropriate com
munity ShelicWm and to work
effectively with Federations
around their goals and pro
grams; also assist in the
education and orientation of
Shelichim in understanding
the Jewish communities in the
United States and Canada.
A pilot program will be con
ducted under the guidance of
a special CJF committee over
a three-year period to test out
the goals, functions and pro
grams of the Federations in
Israel. The committee will
launch an evaluation process
in time to emerge with recom
mendations by the termina
tion of the pilot. Martin Kraar,
executive vice president of the
Jewish Federation of St.
Louis, has been appointed
Director General of the CJF
office in Israel.
To meet the technological challenges of the 21st cen
tury^ ORT-operated schools in Israel, France, Latin
America and the U.S. have added a fourth “R*'-robotics.
Here, a student at the ORT SyngalowsJci Technical High
School in Tel Aviv works with Shlomit (at left) and Tzvilta,
two robots built by students in the school’s computer and
robotics program. ORT is a beneficiary^ through the
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, of funds
raised by UJA.
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