Diaspora affairs minister announces six operative steps
Diaspora Affairs Minister Omer Yankelevitch met with key Diaspora Jewish leaders on Zoom on Wednesday and revealed six operative steps in her ministry’s strategic plan, which passed in the cabinet on Sunday.
The steps focus on strengthening the connection between the Jewish state and the world’s Jewish communities, particularly through investing in both formal and informal education, and strengthening Jewish identity.
To that end, the ministry will try to make Jewish day school education more effective by working with the schools and being involved in the communities to deepen their connections to Israel and their Jewish identity. The ministry’s flagship Mosaic United program will focus on ages when Jewish identity is formed, alongside the Birthright and Masa programs.
In Israel, there will be efforts to educate Israelis about the vibrancy and challenges of Diaspora Jewish life and to inspire Israelis to become more involved in issues related to connections with the Diaspora.
“Many young Jews feel the need to help advance poor sectors in the world,” another step in the plan says. “Israel can be where they decide to focus those efforts, which should connect young Jews in the world to missions improving the lives of people around the world in Jewish frameworks using innovative technology.”
The fourth step calls for technology to be used to cooperate with groundbreaking projects that will enable a recognizable contribution to the cooperation between the government and the Diaspora.
The plan also calls for professional studies on demographic trends in the Jewish people and evaluating different programs on the matter using consistent methodology.
The final step is to draft a joint document for the Jewish people that will express a wide consensus on the importance of the existence of the Jewish people in this era, its future and its role in the world.
But the plan cannot start being implemented until a new state budget is passed with new allocations for the ministry.
The plan is based on the recommendations of a special committee appointed to examine the connection between Israel and Jewish communities around the world and to examine the way in which the State of Israel can help strengthen Jewish identity in the Diaspora. The committee was headed by former director of Intel Maxine Pressberg and Prof. Eugene Kandel, former director of the National Economic Council in the Prime Minister’s Office.
Dov Ben-Shimon, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest in New Jersey, one of the largest Jewish Federations in North America, said that “Minister Yankelevitch has made a real and meaningful effort in the past few weeks to reach out, listen, and engage in dialogue.”
Ben-Shimon said he has been impressed by her and grateful for her openness and her willingness to learn about our communities. He said he was pleased that the Pressberg-Kandel committee report apparently calls for any program to have “true and sincere partnership” between Israel and Diaspora Jewish communities to achieve its goals and that it talks about improving the emotional and fraternal attachment of Israelis to diaspora Jews.
“The real test of the committee’s recommendations and the report’s implementation will be when government ministers say different things about Diaspora Jewish life in Hebrew from their comments in English,” Ben-Shimon said. “When disparaging comments are made by cabinet ministers about Diaspora Jews – about our religious streams, the Kotel, conversion and more – we’ll expect those who say that they love us to articulate and demonstrate that love. Empathy and solidarity are the bases of unity. We’re looking forward to great collaboration with Minister Yankelevitch and to her – and our – success.”
Another Jewish leader called the plan “nice, but only declarative.”
Jeremy Sharon contributed to this report.