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Subscribe to Print Edition | Fri., June 20, 2008 Sivan 17, 5768 | | Israel Time: 02:43 (EST+7) web haaretz.com   Back to Homepage Rosner's Domain Diplomacy Defense Jewish World Opinion National Print Edition Car Rental Books Peres Conference Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File

Last update - 02:41 20/06/2008 Jerusalem & Babylon / A blessing in disguise By Anshel Pfeffer "What can we do? Every time the dollar goes down another ten agorot, that's another $3 million of our budget." That was the neat equation Jewish Agency Chairman Zeev Bielski offered members of the Knesset Immigration Committee this week to explain his organization's financial woes. How simple - it's not us, it's the weak dollar. And Bielski, of course, is not making it up. Across the Jewish spectrum, organizations are griping about the greenback's descent. If you raise funds in America in dollars, and spend shekels in Israel or rubles in Russia, your spending power has just gone down by almost a quarter. Advertisement It is not only the Jewish Agency that is hurting; the Joint Distribution Committee just announced a series of cutbacks, including firing 60 of its staff. The Jewish Agency will announce similar measures next week at its Board of Governors meeting in Jerusalem, and Bielski will certainly try to use his currency tactic there as well. However, it will not cut as much ice as it did with the Knesset members. The governors know the truth - that even if the dollar was to make a miraculous recovery tomorrow, the agency would still not be out of the woods. "The dollar is not the agency's biggest problem; American Jewry still has enough money to save it," said one of the organization's more experienced hands. "The problem is that fewer wealthy Jews of the younger generation in the U.S. are prepared to give money to Jewish causes. And if they are, they prefer to give it to local organizations. And if they want to give the money to something in Israel, they don't want to do it any more through their local federation's general fund; instead, they set up their own family foundation. And more often than not, these foundations are going to fund projects run by small, independent organizations. The agency just isn't sexy enough." However hard it tries, this sexiness will continue to elude the agency as long as it remains an unwieldy behemoth, tied by obligations to thousands of workers and pensioners who are represented by an aggressive union, weighed down by a huge real-estate portfolio, most of which it does not need, but which it cannot get rid of anyway, and worst of all, hidebound to an ethos that is 60 years out of date. No makeover or plastic surgery could make it sexy. So what is Bielski's solution? He wants the government to enter into a "partnership" with the agency - namely, to foot a much larger portion of its bill - in order to "ensure the future of the Jewish people." He is hanging high hopes on the speech Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is scheduled to give at the opening of the Board of Governors meeting. Well, Olmert might indeed say there that after 60 years of independence, he believes Israel should stop relying on handouts from the rich uncles overseas. He might even pledge to spend a lot more on Jewish education in the Diaspora. And he might even mean it. But no one with a basic understanding of how the system works can imagine for one moment that Olmert has the political power right now to force the "treasury boys" to come up with a couple of hundred million dollars and give it to the agency, which they despise. Especially not when the Finance Ministry has just been hit by the Israel Defense Forces with a demand for an extra NIS 2 billion, since the military has its own money problems. Moreover, Olmert will most likely not last until the next budget is passed, and giving more money to the agency is not going to be very high on the next prime minister's agenda. But even if Olmert does stay in power long enough to implement the much vaunted new Diaspora policy, it will not save the Jewish Agency. Olmert's team is talking about setting up a whole new Diaspora Ministry, which would only leave the agency competing on a more crowded playing field, and with a reduced mandate. Even if the government does not go ahead with the plan, the agency is already having to contend with young, ambitious organizations yapping at its heels. The immigration movements Nefesh B'Nefesh and AMI and mega-travel agent Birthright-Taglit are carrying out tasks that should have been the agency's preserve. But their small size and flexibility, and their inherent sexiness, make them much more attractive to the big donors. It is no coincidence that the richest Jew in the world, Sheldon Adelson - who has resolutely refused to give a cent to any agency-connected project - has pumped $60 million into Birthright. The agency cannot become a ministry; its ability to operate and raise money in various places around the world would be severely limited if it were a government department. But neither is there room any more for a mega-organization of this kind, with its multilayered structure of governance, so resistant to change and adaptation. If there is any future for the Jewish Agency, it is as a coordinating body - meaning it would subcontract some of the activities it used to carry out in-house and close down most of the rest. To transform itself into such an agency, however, the Jewish Agency's leadership must first realize that the currency crunch is actually a blessing in disguise. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Fragile cease-fire Olmert: Gaza cease-fire is fragile, may be short lived. Unbalanced stance Italy FM: EU stance on Israel in past swayed by intolerance.

Read & React Olmert: Gaza truce is Hamas' last chance to avoid major IDF op Responses: 240 ANALYSIS / For Gaza truce architect, Israel chose lesser of 2 evils Responses: 110 Editorial: A lengthy cease-fire is an achievement for Israel Responses: 49 Jerusalem denies services to Palestinian residents over the fence Responses: 100 Rosner's Domain / The Joe Lieberman dilemma Responses: 74 More Headlines 23:13 Report: U.S., Canada warn Hezbollah set to strike Jewish targets 00:00 Military sources: IDF to pull troops if Gaza truce holds 02:13 Gazans get much-needed calm, as Hamas works to preserve cease-fire 23:18 Barak: Only U.S. can advance Israel-Syria talks 01:14 Visitors can't get enough of Hitler tours in Munich 22:01 Head of Lebanese terrorist's village: We're preparing for Kuntar's homecoming Sunday 15:48 The Joe Lieberman dilemma 02:31 To buy or not to buy, that is the ethical dilemma 01:37 Likud warns Shas not to back alternative Kadima-led gov't 12:24 Environmentalists win decade-long war against Eilat fish farms 17:20 Taxi and truck drivers protest fuel prices, clog main T.A. artery 17:56 Land mine explosion kills two Bedouin children in Sinai 19:06 Report: Human rights activists in Arab world face countless threats 16:11 Social workers to shut down welfare offices over labor dispute Previous Editions Select Day 19 jun 18 jun 17 jun 16 jun 15 jun 13 jun 12 jun 11 jun 10 jun 09 jun 08 jun 06 jun

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