Active activism

Business know-how and social ethics underpin a new way to succeed in Israeli philanthropy.

By BATSHEVA POMERANTZ
Boys participate in Value Sports with JDC Board members on the Beitar field in Jerusalem. (photo credit: SASSON TIRAM)
Boys participate in Value Sports with JDC Board members on the Beitar field in Jerusalem.
(photo credit: SASSON TIRAM)
A group of 13-year-old boys partnered with the agile board members of the Malben/ JDC engage in warmup exercises on the field of the Beitar team training center near Jerusalem’s Bayit Vagan neighborhood.
The children are benefiting from the programs of Value Sports, a nonprofit that aims to strengthen the values of Israeli society by teaching children and youth sportsmanship, ethics and character- building through athletics.
Founded by hi-tech entrepreneur Dr. Larry Rubin and directed by educator Shachar Rubinstein, Value Sports, which empowers coaches as informal educators, has established 10 centers throughout Israel, augmenting about 100 sport teams and working with over 10,000 children. This is the unique approach of the Synergy program, which combines innovative leaders with management training used by top businesses.
“Synergy helped push us forward,” says Rubinstein, an IDF officer. “We learned from Microsoft and Intel staff how to manage a budget, and other management tools.”
Synergy is a flagship program of the Center for Lay Leadership and Civil Society of the JDC Institute for Leadership and Governance, in which senior business managers were matched with the board of Value Sports.
“Our programs try to close gaps in Israel society,” says Rani Dudai, director of the Center for Lay Leadership and Civil Society. “This can be done either from the top to the bottom, or from the bottom-up. There’s a complex relationship between the NGOs and the government, hence the importance of developing lay leadership.”
To mark the organization’s centennial, 150 Malben/JDC board members came to Israel in May. Its goals of relief, rescue and rehabilitation are as relevant today as in 1914, when the Joint Distribution Committee was founded in response to the onset of World War I, and the devastation it wreaked on thousands of Jewish communities across Europe.
Over the past century, Malben/JDC has served as the overseas arm of the American Jewish philanthropic community.
In 1949, the JDC together with the Jewish Agency and the Israeli government created Malben, for institutions and social services for immigrants.
To continue its work of addressing social needs in partnership with the government, the Israel branch was founded in 1976 at the initiative of Ralph Goldman, the agency’s honorary executive vice president.
Goldman, a leader in public service for the Jewish people worldwide, has been active from the 1940s until today, inspiring still more people at Malben/ JDC headquarters in “Givat Joint.” His 100th birthday was marked during the centennial visit of the board, with the participation of President Shimon Peres – who has known Goldman since the 1950s, when both served in prime minister David Ben-Gurion’s office.
ISRAEL HAS 50,000 NGO/nonprofits (including thousands of synagogues registered as NGOs), with some 10,000 active in social activism and volunteerism – meaning there are about 50,000 employees of the NGOs. “Malben/JDC matches NGOs and lay leadership as part of its governance training,” notes Dudai.
“Israeli philanthropy and volunteerism go together,” says Ron Grossman, a board member from New York. “Social business and investments are a newer concept in philanthropy. Businesses have been motivated by the nonprofits, and nonprofits have been motivated by the business side.”
“The goals of social business are dual: Financial profit for the business and social activism, enabling people to integrate in the community,” says Eli Bentata, acting director of the Division of Young Adults and Immigrants of Malben/ JDC. As an example, Bentata discusses a program in which female ex-convicts work in key chain production, or a program that has at-risk youth produce solar panels. “They are employed as regular workers, contributing to the business’s success.”
In one meeting between Malben/JDC and the Jerusalem Center for Young Adults (CYA), sessions were offered that discussed challenges faced by young adults interested in social activism. There are 43 CYAs in Israel, located mainly in the periphery – both geographical and social.
“The CYAs focus on the central intersections of a young adult [ages 18–35], whether this is post-army, academic or studies counseling, career counseling, advice to young families, or initiating their involvement in the community,” according to Bentata. “Malben/JDC identifies, in the various CYAs, the need for interventions and the potential for upgrading them.”
The first CYA was founded in Beersheba by Mayor Ruvik Danilovitch, in his previous position as head of the municipality’s Young Adults Division.
The CYAs are primarily funded by the municipalities, as well as the Defense Ministry; the Immigrant and Absorption Ministry; the Negev and Galilee Development Ministry; and the Prime Minister’s Office. Malben/JDC, with its professional experience in developing social services, has been involved over the past 10 years.
The activities of CYAs differ in different towns. Some have specific focuses, like the HUB for developing young leadership, dealing with local issues such as employment, environment, academics and transportation.
“The young adults set the tone for the CYA,” explains Bentata. “They define what it means for them. They may have a certain problem, and together with a facilitator, form a support group or a forum for engagement to create a proactive environment responsible for the results.
“For example, in Arad, students had no direct public transportation to Beersheba, traveling on three buses to get to the university there. The CYA in Arad finally succeeded, after a lot of work, in creating a direct bus to Beersheba.”
CYAs assist young adults with disabilities, immigrant populations, the Arab sector and the ultra-Orthodox. Hanoch Rogozinski leads a group of haredim at Jerusalem’s CYA, and is the director of Mafteach (a Hebrew acronym for Development Center for Employment of Haredim) in Ashdod. Founded by the Tevet employment initiative of Malben/ JDC, in partnership with the Israeli government, Mafteach has been so successful in integrating haredim in the workplace – through academic education and training and placement programs – that it is now part of the Economics Ministry.
Rogozinski, who has a hassidic background and studied law at the haredi campus of Ono College in Kiryat Ono, is now studying for a LL.M (Master of Law) at Bar-Ilan University. “The program at the Jerusalem CYA is a pilot one, for young haredim, including those after army service and students. We help them with employment workshops, writing and sending out resumes; some of the meetings include cultural activities.”
Over lunch at Mahaneh Yehuda, Malben/ JDC board members met participants in the Teach First Israel – Hotam program, in which highly motivated college graduates commit to teach in schools, usually in the periphery, for at least two years. The program, inspired by Teach for All and funded by Malben/ JDC, the Education Ministry, Hakol Hinuch movement and the Naomi Foundation, is in demand – with 2,700 applications for 120 positions.
ELI BENTATA is acting director of the Division of Young Adults and Immigrants of JDC-Israel, at the Jerusalem Center for Young Adults. (Batsheva Pomerantz)