When I saw an article in the May WJN titled “A short history of Jewish communal fundraising in Ann Arbor,” I was intrigued. I was not familiar with the author and was curious to see what he had to say.
I appreciate Mr. Ben-Baruch’s analysis, as it highlights some important early history of our organized Jewish community, which is – in comparison to most other communities our size – quite young.
I reached out to a couple of community leaders who were instrumental during the period described and who still live in Ann Arbor. They found his descriptions of the discussions around funding Israel and the local community, and around the formation of the Jewish Federation, to be quite accurate. One leader, who was a proponent of more local funding, said that it was a “battle to have 10% of the donations stay local.”
Nancy Margolis, Executive Director of the JCC and Jewish Federation for eleven years said that rather than an effort to “challenge the monopoly on fundraising,” the aim of those who sought to shift funds locally was to “build a strong local community.” These volunteers and donors raised money for a JCC, thereby increasing overall fundraising in the community, and that trend has continued.
While much of the early history provided was instructive, some contentions made by Mr. Ben-Baruch did not ring true. While 1967 was a turning point, American Jewry was not as indifferent to Israel as he suggests. American Jews were donating money, buying Israel bonds, and were generally very supportive of the Jewish State. And Jewish Federations across North America were actively fundraising for both local needs and in support of Israel. In fact, rather than allocating “small amounts to UJA,” a significant proportion of communal funds raised were directed toward projects in Israel through this collective process.
Today, Jewish Federations across North America make varied decisions regarding how to divide their funds between Israel and local needs. There are some communities who give as high as over half their campaign to overseas projects, and others who give as little as 1-3%. The Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor has allocated about 20% of its campaign funds to Israel/Overseas initiatives for many years, which is roughly the national average.
I believe Mr. Ben-Baruch misrepresents ways in which Federations in general, and our Federation in particular, support Israel through communal donations. I will not address specific allegations made regarding funding in the 1980s except to say that it is simply not true that “most of the funds” raised through the Jewish Federation and allocated to Israeli projects through UJA supported the occupation and expansion of Jewish settlements.
What I can speak to is the way in which our Jewish Federation stewards the funds entrusted to us by our generous donors who hold a range of views on Israel and its government.
In the early 2000s, an Israel-Overseas Allocations Committee of volunteers established and identified clear priorities for direct funding of projects in Israel and around the world. They were and remain: 1) Promoting pluralism and tolerance among Jewish groups in Israel, 2) Fostering Arab/Jewish understanding and cooperation, 3) Aiding Jews in need in Israel and throughout the world, 4) Assisting minority and disadvantaged populations in Israel, and 5) Supporting environmental efforts in Israel. Following the establishment of Moshav Nahalal as our partnership community, we added a priority of strengthening our relationship there and in the Central Galilee region where it sits.
Examples of projects funded by our Annual Community Campaign over the years include:
- Job training and development for women in Druze villages
- Hand in Hand Schools, in which Arab and Jewish citizens of Israel learn together
- Many other projects which foster cooperation and understanding among Jews and Arabs through education, mediation and community building
- Youth Futures, a project of the Jewish Agency, which supports at-risk youth and their families. The specific project we fund is based in Nazareth and serves Jews from all religious backgrounds, including Christians and Muslims.
- Krembo Wings, a youth movement for children of all abilities (and backgrounds) that serves the communities of Nazareth and Nof HaGalil.
- Welfare relief in Argentina during their economic crisis in the 2000s and currently in the former Soviet Union, where it is still greatly needed.
In 2023, we were proud to make the decision to support an organization called Road to Recovery (R2R) for the first time. R2R is an Israeli association of volunteers who drive Palestinian patients, primarily children, from checkpoints in the West Bank and Gaza for life-saving treatments in Israeli hospitals. On October 7, R2R leaders and volunteers living in the Gaza envelope were murdered and/or kidnapped by Hamas terrorists, and the program was severely crippled. Hopefully, in the future, the community will be able to, once again, support this important endeavor.
Some of our allocations funds are sent via our parent organization – Jewish Federations of North America – to the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) which helps Jews in need around the world and in Israel, and to the Jewish Agency, the largest single funder of non-Haredi streams of Judaism in Israel. Among many other projects, the Jewish Agency manages the Fund for Victims of Terror, which provides terror victims from all segments of Israeli society with short and long-term support, as well as a myriad of programs aimed at “building bonds of peoplehood” with Jewish communities around the world, something Mr. Ben-Baruch suggests is vital.
The Allocations Committee and the Board of Directors of our local Jewish Federation constantly re-evaluate processes for funding both local and overseas projects, and we continue to be proud of our efforts to support those in Israel working to build a stronger shared civil society for all.
Since the establishment of the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor in the mid-1980s, our community has seen tremendous growth. Our mission is to provide and inspire philanthropic leadership and community-building to nurture a strong, engaged, connected, caring, vibrant and enduring Jewish community in greater Ann Arbor, in Israel and around the world. An essential component of this mission is to support strong, flourishing local Jewish organizations, programs and initiatives. The Federation will continue to do so, even as we continue to provide strong support for Israel and for Jews around the world.