JERUSALEM (Press Release)– Providing teens and young adults from abroad with a continuum of experiences in Israel and creating social action opportunities in Israel for young Israelis and Jews from abroad will serve as the focus of the work of the Jewish Agency for Israel, its Board of Governors decided Monday, Oct. 25.
These areas of focus add important detail to the Jewish Agency’s strategic plan adopted in June, which cites strengthening Jewish identity, especially among young adults in Israel and abroad, as the foremost challenge facing the Jewish people today. Significantly, the Jewish Agency seeks to increase aliyah and strengthen affiliation of Jews abroad through focusing on Israel experience and social activism.
The shift is based on the rationale that in today’s world — where almost all Jews live in freedom and relative tolerance, and where decisions on issues ranging from identity to aliyah are of choice — personally experiencing Israel as a young adult and connecting with Jews there is the single greatest factor in creating or reinforcing a commitment to Jewish life, connectedness to the Jewish people and attachment to Israel.
The plan is an effort to fulfill the redefined mission the Jewish Agency adopted in June: to inspire Jews around the world to connect with their people, heritage and Land, and empower them to build a thriving Jewish future and a strong Israel. This new mission remains faithful to the decades-old vision of the Agency — ensuring the future of a connected, committed global Jewish People with a strong Israel at its center.
The first area of activity cited by the new plan is a continuum of programs in Israel for teens and young adults from abroad. The goal of these Israel experiences is to both enrich Jewish life in communities abroad and to create a stronger impetus for aliyah of choice among Jews from the West. The plan calls for expanding existing programs, from 10-day Birthright Israel trips to semester and year-long Masa programs; developing a group of intermediate-length programs, such as summer internships and study opportunities; and creating “follow-up” for engaging participants between programs.
This activity will also include expanding and diversifying aliyah tracks for young adults alongside other Israel engagement opportunities.
The second area of work centers on identity-building social activism to help vulnerable populations and improve Israeli society. The plan calls for encouraging social activism in Israel among young adults on Masa programs and sending Masa participants and young Israelis back to communities abroad as role models and emissaries of Israeli society in Jewish communities. For Israeli young adults, the plan calls for incubating new young communities of idealistic Israelis who choose to live as social activists in Israel’s peripheral areas. It also calls for working with the government to expand the numbers of Israeli teens allowed to volunteer for a year of service before they are conscripted into the army, with an eye to increasing the numbers spending that year of service in Jewish communities abroad.
While these two areas will become the mainstay of the programmatic work of the Jewish Agency, unique regional circumstances require two additional thrusts: a comprehensive approach to sustaining former Soviet Union Jewry and bringing them on aliyah; and a comprehensive solution for the aliyah and integration into Israeli society of olim from countries of distress, which today requires a particular focus on helping Ethiopian olim.
The plan also states that Jewish Agency is committed to continuing its role in encouraging and facilitating the move to Israel of all Jews who wish to do so, and will continue to play a leading role, including remaining responsible for aliyah eligibility. An increased level of aliyah and a stronger Jewish identity among olim is defined a measurable of success within the area of Israel experiences for young adults.
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Preceding provided by the Jewish Agency for Israel