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IsraAID members to participate in conference on "Religion and International Aid"
Neve Ilan, Israel, March 30 - 31, 2008
Jewish values can fight world poverty
April 2, 2008 (By Anshel Pfeffer – Haaretz Reporter)
(Photo of IsraAID members with Minister Herzog taken by private photographer)
In a few years, Jews from Israel and all over the world - high-school graduates, students and professionals at the height of their career - may be able to take a year off and volunteer in a developing country.
They would volunteer under the auspices of an international Jewish organization running a series of projects all over the world, and they would undergo basic training in Israel with hundreds of other Jewish volunteers from all over the world. But until this dream is realized, dozens Jewish and Israeli aid organizations are trying to change the agenda of Jewish philanthropies and the priorities of Israel and the Diaspora establishment.
The leaders of the aid organizations gathered this week at a conference in Neveh Ilan on "Religion and International Aid," sponsored by Tel Aviv University's Hartog School of Government and Policy.
"They always said there were things that were more urgent for the Jewish people to do," says Charles Kayden, the director of the Pierce Foundation, a private British-Jewish philanthropic fund that runs projects to empower civilians in Africa, "and we want to redefine what a Jewish objective is. Fighting poverty and illness, helping the homeless, world social justice are part of Jewish values."
Kayden notes, "this topic has already gained greater awareness and cooperation, but the big donors are still missing. Pressure has to be exerted on the government of Israel and the [Diaspora] establishment so this issue becomes part of its priorities."
In effect, say the conference participants, they have not encountered resistance when talking with community members and Israelis about their objectives, but it still isn't being translated into a broader mobilization behind the cause.
"I hear reactions from people such as: The Jews have enough troubles of their own," says Ruth Messinger, the president of the American Jewish World Service, "but we must realize that the Jewish community in the U.S. has attained a level of wealth that our grandparents could never have imagined and that obligates us."
The organization, which was established 23 years ago, has already run projects in 36 countries and each year sends some 600 volunteers, students and professionals, for a month of volunteer work. Its annual budget is $35 million.
'Excited young people'
Ann Heiman, who heads an American family foundation that is building a youth village for orphans from the Rwanda genocide, says she has no trouble transmitting the message of Jewish humanitarian efforts to young people in America. "They are immediately excited by the idea of going to Africa in a Jewish framework. A week doesn't go by without me receiving e-mails from people who want to volunteer and we haven't even opened our youth village yet. In Israel, the response I hear from people is mainly surprise, they didn't even known it was possible to do something like this."
Neveh Ilan conference organizer Eli Fried, of Tel Aviv University, says, "the Jewish outlook, according to which your city's poor population takes precedence, is not a zero-sum game." According to studies conducted in the U.S., only 7 percent of Jewish philanthropic donations in America are allocated for Jewish and Israeli causes. Potential resources, possible plans and good intentions are not lacking. It's just there is some disagreement over the motives and objectives.
On the one hand, there are those who argue that the object itself, humanitarian aid, is a Jewish value and should be the focus others want to stress the benefit gained from it by the Jewish people and Israel: for example, establishing cooperation among Jewish youths from all over the world.
Kayden feels that the emphasis should be on the activity itself. "The activity should be for the sake of a goal and not to bring Jewish youths closer to their identity. People in developing countries can sense sincerity. At the most, these things can be a marginal benefit, but not the primary objective," he stressed.
On the other side, Stanley Bergman, who heads the advisory board of Tel Aviv University's School of Governance and Policy, argues that one of the most important contributions of humanitarian efforts is that they bring Diaspora youths closer to Israel: "Today they are losing their connection to Judaism and to Israel and this thing can help them connect to Jewish values."
Bergman says, "The Taglit program is managing to bring tens of thousands of Jewish youths to Israel for a short visit, but they have to be offered a joint agenda as well. It's not just the volunteers, it's also the generation of younger donors, for whom the Holocaust and the establishment of the state are part of the history books and who no longer donate to Jewish and Israeli causes." Bergman stresses: "There is a very large amount of money that at the moment is not budgeted and is not reaching Jewish causes, and this is a way of connecting the two."
Mooli Dor, the chairman of the Negev Institute, which launched projects to empower women and spur economic development in the Bedouin community, in the Palestinian Authority, Nigeria and Sri Lanka, stresses that humanitarian aid can have a great benefit for the country. "In Israel, we have some of the best implementors, who can function in developing countries and tragedy-stricken areas, and we have to tell the Jewish donors who are interested, do it through us in Israel, and serve the objective you are interested in, and Israel will also merit appreciation for it," he says. According to Dor, who is a member of Israid, an Israel coalition for international aid, "Israel has to invest in places such as Darfur, as part of its humanitarian commitment."
The "hot" idea mentioned at almost every session at the conference was establishing a world Jewish volunteer service that would function similarly to the American Peace Corps, and would send thousands of Jewish young people and professionals for a year of volunteer work all over the world.
"For the concept of a Jewish volunteer force to succeed," says Akiva Tor, who is the Foreign Ministry official responsible for ties with Diaspora communities, "a senior political figure has to enlist in the cause or one of the big Jewish donors has to fall in love with the idea. Just to reach the first group of 100 volunteers will require at least $10 million."
Dr. Reuven Gal, who heads the civilian service administration in the Prime Minister's Office, believes that serving in such a framework could be deemed an official form of civil service. In the past, Gal headed the Carmel Institute for Social Research and promoted a similar program. According to him, funds were raised, Jewish volunteers and places to volunteer in were found, but after the attack on the Twin Towers in New York and the flare-up of the intifada in Israel, parents of the volunteers objected to the idea of having a month of training in Israel the program was subsequently cancelled.
Most conference participants agreed that such a program should be open to any serious Jewish candidate who is willing to donate a year of work, and that the training should take place in Israel, which would then itself become a world center of international aid. Now the only thing needed is a mover and shaker who will accept the challenge
(Source: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/970804.html)
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