The Jewish Agency for Israel (Hebrew: הסוכנות היהודית לארץ ישראל, romanized: HaSochnut HaYehudit L'Eretz Yisra'el), formerly known as the Jewish Agency for Palestine, is the largest Jewish non-profit organization in the world. It was established in 1929 as the operative branch of the World Zionist Organization (WZO).
As an organization, it encourages immigration of Jews in diaspora to the Land of Israel, and oversees their integration with the State of Israel. Since 1948, the Jewish Agency claims to have brought 3 million immigrants to Israel, where it offers them transitional housing in "absorption centers" throughout the country. David Ben-Gurion served as the chairman of its executive committee from 1935, and in this capacity on 14 May 1948, he proclaimed Israel's independence, following which he served as the first Israeli prime minister. In the years preceding the founding of Israel, the Jewish Agency oversaw the establishment of about 1,000 towns and villages in the British Mandate of Palestine. The organization serves as the main link between Israel and Jewish communities around the world.
By law, the Jewish Agency is a parastatal organization, but does not receive core funding from the Israeli government. The Jewish Agency is funded by the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), Keren Hayesod, major Jewish communities and federations, and foundations and donors from Israel and around the world. In 2008, the Jewish Agency won the Israel Prize for its historical contribution to Israel and to the Jewish community worldwide.
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History
Name
Established as the Land of Israel Office (Hebrew: המשרד הארץ-ישראלי) of the Zionist Organization in 1908, the organization became the Zionist Commission, then later the Palestine Zionist Executive. The body was designated as the "Jewish agency" responsible for coordinating the establishment of the Jewish National Home provided for in the League of Nations' Mandate for Palestine, and was thus again renamed as The Jewish Agency for Palestine in 1929. After the establishment of the State of Israel, it received its current name: The Jewish Agency for Israel.
1908–1928: Beginnings as an arm of the World Zionist Organization
The Jewish Agency began in Jaffa in 1908 as the Palestine Office (Hebrew: המשרד הארץ-ישראלי, HaMisrad HaEretz Yisraeli; lit. 'Office for the Land of Israel'), of the Zionist Organization (ZO) in Ottoman-controlled Palestine. It was headed by Arthur Ruppin and was founded as the operational branch of the ZO, with its main tasks being to represent the Jews of Ottoman Palestine in dealings with the Sultan and other foreign dignitaries, to aid Jewish immigration, and to buy land for Jewish communities to settle in.
The Palestine Office was established under the inspiration of Theodor Herzl's vision for a solution to "the Jewish question": the issue of anti-Semitism and the place of Jews in the world. In his pamphlet "The Jewish State," Herzl envisioned the Jewish people settled as an independent nation on its own land, taking its place among the other nation-states of the world. The Palestine Office, which eventually became the Jewish Agency, was based upon Herzl's organizational ideas for how to bring a Jewish state into being.
The influx of Jews during the Second Aliyah (1904–1914) made the purchase of land particularly urgent. With the aid of the Jewish National Fund (JNF) (Hebrew: קֶרֶן קַיֶּימֶת לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, Keren Kayemet L'Yisrael), the Palestine Office bought land for newcomers in two locations: Chavat Kinneret (near the Sea of Galilee), and Kibbutz Ruhama (near Sderot of today). Kibbutz Ruhama was specifically designated for Russian Jews from the Second Aliyah. Over the following decades, the Palestine Office established hundreds more moshavim and kibbutzim and continued to purchase land together with the JNF.
With the outbreak of World War I, the anticipated disintegration of the Ottoman Empire raised hopes among Zionists for increased Jewish immigration and eventual sovereignty in Palestine. In 1917 the United Kingdom captured Jerusalem from the Ottomans, and in 1918 pushed the Ottomans out of the Levant entirely, and the region fell under British military rule. After World War I, the Ottoman Empire is dissolved and the League of Nations create plans for the administration of former Ottoman territory.
Following the promulgation of the Balfour Declaration, in which the British government promised to facilitate the establishment of a Jewish National Home in the region, Dr. Chaim Weizmann, president of the British Zionist Federation, formed the Zionist Commission in March 1918 to go to Palestine and make recommendations to the British government. The Commission reached Palestine on 14 April 1918 and proceeded to study conditions and to report to the British government. Weizmann was instrumental in restructuring the ZO's Palestine office into departments for agriculture, settlement, education, land, finance, immigration, and statistics. The Zionist Organization's Palestine Office was merged into the Zionist Commission, headed by Chaim Weizmann.
Jewish Agency for Palestine 1929–1948
In 1929, the 16th Zionist Congress decided to restructure and the rename the Palestine Zionist Executive as The Jewish Agency for Palestine, in reference to its role as the "Jewish agency" required by Article 4 of the League of Nations Mandate. The new Jewish Agency was larger to accommodate the growing logistical task of managing the Yishuv, and also included mandatory representation from non-Zionist Jewish organizations. The change was Chaim Weizmann's initiative, and was established on the principle of parity between Zionist and non-Zionist Jews working together in the building of a Jewish national home.
The 16th Zionist Congress determined that in the event of the future dissolution of the agency, the World Zionist Organization would replace it as representative of the Jews for the purpose of the Mandate.
Weizmann was criticized for being too pro-British. When the 1930 White Paper was published recommending restricting Jewish immigration, his position became untenable and he resigned from the ZO and the Jewish Agency. He protested that the British had betrayed their commitment expressed in the Balfour Declaration and that he could no longer work with them. Nahum Sokolow, who had been elected to succeed Weizmann, remained in his position. Arthur Ruppin succeeded Sokolow as chairman of the Jewish Agency in 1933 and David Ben-Gurion and Moshe Shertok joined the executive. In 1935, Ben-Gurion was elected chairman of the agency to succeed Ruppin.
In 1937 The Peel Commission published its report into the disturbances of the year before. For the first time, partition was recommended. The 20th Zionist Congress, meeting in 1937, hotly debates the Peel Commission and the topic of partition. In a compromise, the Congress rejected the commission's conclusions, demanding a full realization of the requirements of the Mandate; namely, the establishment of a Jewish National Home throughout Mandatory Palestine. However, in a sign of reluctant openness to partition, the Congress also voted to authorize the executive "to enter into
negotiations with a view to ascertaining the precise terms of His Majesty‘s government for the proposed establishment of a Jewish state." This decision revealed differences within the Jewish Agency, with some of the non-Zionist faction disagreeing with the decision and some calling for a conference of Jews and Arabs.
The Jewish Agency for Israel
Following the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, the Jewish Agency for Israel shifted its focus to facilitating economic development and absorbing immigrants. Organizationally, it changed its structure: The Aliyah Department remained, as well as the Education Department (which promoted Jewish and Zionist education in the diaspora), but the Security and Government Departments were replaced by the Department of Agriculture and Settlement, and by the Israel Department (supporting activities that help vulnerable populations within Israel).
The agency's budget in 1948 was IL 32 million; its funding came from Keren Hayesod, the JNF, fund-raising drives, and loans.
In 1949, the Jewish Agency brought 239,000 Holocaust survivors, from DP camps in Europe and detention camps in Cyprus, to Israel. In the years following Israel's founding, Jews in many Arab countries suffered from violence and persecution, and fled or were driven from their homes. The agency helped to airlift 49,000 Yemenite Jews to Israel on Operation Magic Carpet, and over the next few years brought hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees to Israel from Northern Africa, Turkey, Iraq, and Iran.
Between 1948 and 1952, about 700,000 immigrants arrived in the new state. The Jewish Agency helped these immigrants acclimate to Israel and begin to build new lives. It established schools to teach them Hebrew, beginning with Ulpan Etzion in 1949. (The first student to register for Ulpan Etzion was Ephraim Kishon.) It also provided them with food, housing, and vocational training. For a time the construction of new housing could not keep up with demand, and many of the new immigrants were placed in temporary ma'abarot, or transit camps.
In 1952, the "Zionist Organization-Jewish Agency for Israel Status Law" was passed by the Knesset formalizing the roles of each group. It was agreed that the WZO and the Jewish Agency would continue to supervise Aliyah, absorption, and settlement, while the state would handle all other matters previously dealt with by The agency including security, education, and employment. Article 4 of the Status Law stipulated that the World Zionist Organization (clarified in Article 3 as "also the Jewish Agency") is an "authorized agency" of the State, establishing its ongoing parastatal rather than purely nongovernmental status.
Governance
The Jewish Agency Executive is charged with administering the operations of the Jewish Agency, subject to the control of the board of governors. It has 26 members, of which 24 are chosen by the board of governors. The executive is composed in the following manner: 12 members designated by WZO and 12 members designated jointly by JFNA/UIA and Keren Hayesod. In addition, the World chairperson of Keren Hayesod and the chairperson of the JFNA Executive are ex-officio members in the executive. Doron Almog is the current chair. Yaakov Hagoel was serving as acting chairman since Isaac Herzog vacated the position upon becoming Israel's 11th president.
Over the years the executive board has included many prominent members of Israeli society. Some of the famous Israelis who have served on the board include: M. D. Eder – 1922; Frederick Kisch – 1922–31; Haim Arlosoroff – 1931–33; Moshe Shertok – 1933–48; Arthur Ruppin – 1933–35; David Ben-Gurion (Chairman of the Executive) – 1935–48.
Past Chairmen of the Executive
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The board of governors, which meets not less than three times a year, is the central policy-making body of the Jewish Agency. The 120 governors play a crucial role in the governance of the agency in overseeing budgets and operations and in recommending policy to the agency. Members of the board are elected to serve for a two-year term in the following manner: 60 of the members (50 percent) are designated by WZO; 36 of the members (30 percent) are designated by JFNA/UIA; 24 members (20 percent) are designated by Keren Hayesod. The board of governors determines policy of the Jewish Agency for Israel and manages, supervises, controls, and directs its operations and activities. The current chairperson of the board of governors, as of July 2014, is Mr. Charles (Chuck) Horowitz Ratner.
The Assembly, which meets at least once every two years, is the supreme governing body of the Jewish Agency. It has 518 delegates who are elected in the following manner: 259 of the members (50 percent) are designated by the WZO; 155 of the members (30 percent) are designated by the Jewish Federations of North America/United Israel Appeal (JFNA/UIA); and 104 of the members (20 percent) are designated by Keren Hayesod. The Assembly is responsible for determining basic policies and goals of the Jewish Agency; receiving and reviewing reports from the board of governors; making recommendations on major issues; and adopting resolutions on the above.
Funding and budget
The Jewish Agency is funded by the Jewish Federations of North America, Keren Hayesod, major Jewish communities and federations, and foundations and donors from Israel and around the world.
Due to the volatile U.S. dollar, the global economic crisis and the Madoff scandal, the Jewish Agency for Israel was forced to make significant cuts to its budget. The board of governors voted to cut $45 million in November 2008 and an additional $26 million at the February 2009 meeting.
The organization's total operating budget in 2013 was US$355,833,000, and its projected operating budget for 2014 was US$369,206,000. Its operating budget for 2019 is US$379,807,000.
Jewish Agency International Development, the organization's main fundraising arm in North America, is a registered 501(c)(3) organization.
Youth connections
The Israel Experience programs bring young Jews from around the globe to Israel to get to know the country and deepen their Jewish identities.
Taglit-Birthright Israel provides ten-day educational trips to Israel, Jerusalem and the Golan Heights for Jews ages 18 to 26 from around the world, completely free of charge. The Jewish Agency is the largest organizational partner in the initiative and is directly involved in bringing thousands of participants on Taglit-Birthright each year, with a special focus on facilitating Taglit-Birthright experiences for participants from the United States and from the former Soviet Union (FSU).
Masa Israel Journey is a public-service organization founded in 2004 by the Government of Israel's Office of the Prime Minister, together with the Jewish Agency. It includes programs in Israel for Jews aged 18–30, including study programs, service programs, and career development. Programs last from 2–12 months. In 2018 it provided scholarships to nearly 9,800 participants. Masa also performs outreach and operates alumni activities.
Israel Tech Challenge is a partnership of the Jewish Agency with the National Cyber Bureau and other partners and donors. It offers trips to Israel of varying lengths for students and young professionals (aged 18–30) with knowledge in the field of computer science and programming. The programs offer visits with Israeli hi-tech professionals and academics, along with experience or training in coding, cyber security and/or data science.
Machon Le Madrichim trains Jewish counselors from Zionist youth movements around the world in Israel, to give them tools for running educational Zionist programs in their home communities when they return. It was founded in 1946 by the World Zionist Organization. As of 2018, it had 17,000 alumni from around the world. Today the Machon trains several hundred young leaders each year.
Na'ale allows Jewish teenagers from the diaspora to study in Israel and earn a high school diploma. Students start the program in ninth or tenth grade and graduate after the twelfth grade with a full Israeli matriculation certificate (bagrut). During the first year, students follow an intensive Hebrew-language program so that they become able to speak, read and write in Hebrew. The program is fully subsidized by the Israeli government. The Na'ale scholarship includes: fully subsidized tuition, free ticket to Israel, room and board, health insurance, trips, and extra curricular activities. Na'ale offers a variety of schools all over Israel from which candidates may choose, including secular, national religious, ultra-orthodox, kibbutz, and urban boarding schools. The Jewish Agency is involved in recruitment in the former Soviet Union.
Aliyah
The Jewish Agency still brings thousands of Jews to move to Israel each year. In 2014, The agency helped a total of nearly 26,500 olim (immigrants) make Aliyah, the highest number in 13 years. They noted significant growth in immigration from Ukraine and France. The agency continues to support these olim as they integrate into Israeli society.
Aliyah of Rescue is the Jewish Agency's Aliyah infrastructure that brings Jews suffering persecution or economic distress to Israel. The services include covert operations to help Jews move out of Middle Eastern and North African countries with which Israel does not have diplomatic relations.
Pre-Aliyah Services are provided by the Jewish Agency to prospective immigrants around the world. Agency shlichim, or emissaries, give guidance on issues such as education, housing, health and employment opportunities in Israel. For those who do not have an emissary nearby, The agency provides assistance online and on the phone through its Global Service Center. Additionally, The agency is responsible for verifying that each potential immigrant is eligible for Aliyah under Israel's Law of Return and, once eligibility is proven, for facilitating the receipt of the Aliyah visa via the local Israeli embassy or consulate.
Absorption Centers around the country offer temporary housing for new immigrants and provide space for Hebrew instruction, preparation for life and employment in Israel, events, activities and cultural presentations. 17 of The agency's 22 Absorption Centers cater specifically to Ethiopian olim and provide services tailored to the needs of the Ethiopian community. The other five house immigrants from around the world, primarily the FSU, South America, and the Middle East.
Ulpan: Intensive Hebrew language programs for new immigrants include five hours of immersive language instruction, five days a week, for five months. The programs are offered free of charge to all new immigrants. Ulpan instructors are certified by the Ministry of Education.
Centers for Young Adults provide ulpan classes, accommodations and a range of services to ease absorption for olim ages 18–35. These centers include the Ulpan Etzion network for college graduates and young professionals; Beit Brodetzky in Tel Aviv and Ulpan Kinneret in Tiberias, for high school graduates looking for job or army preparation; and Kibbutz Ulpan, combining Hebrew instruction with volunteer work on ten different kibbutzim. It also includes Selah, a program for high school graduates from the Former Soviet Union, and TAKA, which combines ulpan studies with pre-academic preparatory courses for immigrants headed to Israeli colleges who wish to polish their skills.
Supporting vulnerable populations in Israel
The Jewish Agency also helps vulnerable populations in Israel and around the world.
Youth Futures is a community-based initiative for mentoring at-risk pre-teens and adolescents. Each Youth Futures "mentor" works with 16 at-risk children over the course of three years, teaching skills for academic improvement and social integration. In 2014–15, approximately 350 trained Youth Futures staff members worked with 5,000 children and teens, plus 7,000 of their family members, in 200 schools in 35 communities in Israel. In addition to secular and traditional Jews, Youth Futures serves Arab, Bedouin, Druze, and Ultra-Orthodox communities.
Youth Villages provide safe, cost-effective boarding school settings for 850 young people ages 12 to 18 who have severe emotional, behavioral and family problems. The four Jewish Agency youth villages provide intensive, holistic services and help the youths succeed in and complete high school, and enter the Israeli army with their peers.
Project TEN brings together young Israelis and their Jewish peers from across the globe to work on sustainable projects in developing regions. Participants spend three months working in onsite service projects in vulnerable communities. Project TEN is a service-learning program designed to build participants' Jewish identities while they serve others. In 2022, Project TEN runs volunteer centers in Winneba, Ghana; Oaxaca, Mexico; Gondar, Ethiopia; Kibbutz Harduf, Israel; and Mitzpe Ramon. In 2015 the program involved 200 volunteers around the world.
Young Activism includes programs that train and support young-adult Israeli volunteers, who go on to create their own social entrepreneurship projects, thus widening the circles of influence. The Young Activism programs include (a) support for Young Communities, groups of idealistic young Israelis who commit to settling long-term in Israel's high-need areas and creating programs that increase local quality of life. (b) Choosing Tomorrow, which encourages university students in Israel's outlying areas to create young communities and settle long-term in the region (c) Ketzev, which provides extra training and mentoring to some of the young communities to help them build self-sustaining "social entrepreneurship" businesses, that provide cultural or educational benefits to customers. (d) Click, which provides microgrants to individual volunteers or very small groups, to help them launch small-scale local projects. (e) The Young Adults' Hub in Arad, where dozens of Israelis and Diaspora Jews receive subsidized housing in exchange for their volunteer activities for the city.
Services for Israeli Arabs and minorities
As part of its efforts to strengthen Israeli society and to support vulnerable populations in Israel, the Jewish Agency has, for many years, supported or operated programs that encourage co-existence between Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs, and programs designed specifically to serve Israel's non-Jewish citizens, and they continue to create new ones. Some of the programs:
Youth Futures, the mentorship program for middle-school students, is active in 36 locations around Israel. Some localities served by Youth Futures are Jewish, while others are mixed and, in recent years, the Jewish Agency has begun to serve children and families living in completely non-Jewish locales: East Jerusalem (100% Arab participants), Tel Aviv-Yafo (32% of participants are Arab), Acco and Matte Asher (34%), Lod (57% Arab/Bedouin), Horfeish (100% Druze), and El Kassum (100% Bedouin).
Choosing Tomorrow, one of The agency's "Young Activism" social entrepreneurship training programs, includes three groups of Arab university and college students (total 40 students) who are being trained to create their own social-welfare programs that will specifically benefit their local (Arab) communities. These groups are in Be'er Sheva, the Jezre'el Valley, and a group at the Alkassemy Arab College. Additionally, Choosing Tomorrow groups in the Negev work to improve medical services to the Bedouin population, by teaching Arabic to local doctors and helping them understand and connect with Bedouin culture.
Neve Midbar is a boarding school that develops leadership among teenage Bedouin boys.
Net@ is a program supported by the Jewish Agency. In its chapters in Ramle, Nazareth, Acre, Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv-Yafo, Jewish and Arab teenagers study computers together, volunteer in community computer labs together, and serve as mentors together to junior-high school participants. In addition, Net@ has all-Arab chapters in Umm Al Fahm, Yirka, and Tira. 25% of all counselors in Net@ are Israeli Arab.
Acharai Pre-Army Academy (Mechinah) includes a mixed Jewish-Druze group and a mixed Jewish-Christian group in which soon-to-be-enlisted young Israelis of both religions work together to volunteer, promote co-existence, and prepare for their IDF service.
Strategic plans
At the February 2010 board of governors meeting, Natan Sharansky announced a shift in the priorities of the Jewish Agency from Aliyah to strengthening Jewish identity for young adults around the world.
From 1948 until 2009, the Jewish Agency was organized into departments: the Aliyah and Absorption department, which was responsible for the immigration and integration of Jews coming to Israel; the Education department, which worked to deepen the connection of Jews worldwide to Israel; and the Israel department, which focused on improving the lives of socio-economically vulnerable Israelis. (A fourth department, for Agriculture and Settlement, had been in operation starting in 1948, but had closed long before 2009.)
In order to increase efficiency, the Jewish Agency, under the leadership of its new chairman of the executive, Natan Sharansky, decided to restructure the organization. Along with the organizational restructuring came a new focus. As the first decade of the 21st century came to a close, The agency noted that most of global Jewry was now located in democratic, stable societies that were relatively friendly to Jewish residents. As "Aliyah of Rescue" became urgent for decreasing numbers of Jews, new challenges were arising for world Jewry, most notably, Agency leaders remarked, the need to engage young Jews in Jewish culture and to help Israeli Jews and those who live outside Israel to understand each other and feel connected to what they call the "global Jewish family." While continuing "Aliyah of Rescue" operations, The agency decided to focus its primary energies on fostering a strong relationship between world Jewry and Israel, and on encouraging Aliyah based on a love for the country, what it calls "Aliyah of Choice." Its main vehicle for doing so would be to bring Jews from around the world to Israel on short- and long-term tourist programs to allow them to get to know the country and to give Israelis the opportunity to get to know them and vice versa. Parallel to these efforts, The agency decided to increase its investment in strengthening Jewish communities around the globe. Its goals would be to grow local Jewish leadership, to strengthen Jewish identity, and to deepen the connection of communities worldwide to Israel and to the Jewish people as a whole.
Awards and recognition
On May 8, 2008, at the Israeli government's 60th Independence Day celebration, the Jewish Agency for Israel was awarded the Israel Prize for lifetime achievement & special contribution to society and the State of Israel.