Jewish Federations of North America register major decline in Jewish interest in Israel

At the GA, fundraisers eye a Jewish earthquake Haaretz 9 Nov 2011
By Chemi Shalev

"In so many sessions, professionals and activists young and old expressed both weariness and wariness from an Israel-centered acrimony in their communities that has spun out of control......they are faced with the double challenge of younger donors who are increasingly hesitant to contribute to Jewish causes, in general, and to Israel, in particular..."

The traditional way for Israeli reporters to cover American Jewish events, such as this week’s General Assembly (GA) of the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), is to wax cynical about the legions of unproductive functionaries - “machers”, in our jargon - who make a good living out of selling a ridiculously idyllic version of Israel to gullible American Jews.

And while one can’t deny that there were intermittent flashes of this time-honored Israeli narrative at the GA held in Denver this week, the majority of the 3000 or so participants appeared to this observer to be intelligent, hard-working Jewish professionals and volunteers who are genuinely concerned about Israel and about their own Jewish communities and who are truly troubled by the tectonic shifts that are rocking the foundations of both.

...they are faced with the double challenge of younger donors who are increasingly hesitant to contribute to Jewish causes, in general, and to Israel, in particular...

On the community level, they are at a loss to cope with the divisive internal debate which has, in some cases, effectively shut down meaningful discussion of Israeli affairs altogether.

Perhaps the most poignant manifestation of this distress came ...when a young female student recounted in a quivering voice how she felt “betrayed” by the inexplicable discrepancy between the idealized vision of Israel that she had been raised on and the reality on the ground that she sees today.

In so many sessions, professionals and activists young and old expressed both weariness and wariness from an Israel-centered acrimony in their communities that has spun out of control...

...diminished appropriation of funds for Israel ...The glum faces of the officials of the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI), once the epitome and the exclusive beneficiary of Israel-focused fundraising, were a clear indication not only of their own organization’s potentially terminal condition but also of the dangers facing other time-honored institutions – including the centrality of Israel itself in American Jewish life - as the tremors build up and the earthquake approaches.

Full report in Haaretz 9 Nov 2011