At the first session of the KKL-JNF European Leadership Conference, which took place on January 27, participants discussed a variety of subjects related to KKL-JNF’s vision, its activities in the face of a changing reality, and new trends in project marketing. At the end of the session, participants from different countries formed work groups to promote the subjects that were on their daily agenda.
Moshe Perl, Acting Executive Director of Resources, Development and Public Relations, opened the session and noted that he has been working at KKL-JNF quite a few years, and he feels that there is an absolute correlation between the declaration of KKL-JNF’s goals and values and KKL-JNF’s new focus: “This is a mission that we all share – this vision is the basis of all our work,” he said.
KKL-JNF World Chairman Danny Atar presented KKL-JNF’s vision and goal to position KKL-JNF as a leading Zionist organization and to help achieve Israel’s national and international aspirations by means of KKL-JNF’s activities.
At the beginning of his remarks, the KKL-JNF chairman invited participants to discuss with him any part of what he said in order to create a fruitful and accurate vision. “I come from the field of supervision and management. The only way to try and manage an organization like this is to define a clear vision that everyone knows and understands. Every system that identifies its vision is capable of determining its greater purpose, which enables it to create a work plan and goals that can be measured.”
Atar added that he believes that in another half year, KKL-JNF will have successfully made the change that he is talking about, and thanks to the work of the various offices, the entire Jewish people will become partners to appropriating the vision. “KKL-JNF’s vision was defined 115 years ago. We don’t have the moral authority to change it, but rather to apply it to the reality that we are living in today,” he said. "The world has become an open place that proceeds at a rapid pace and KKL-JNF has to suit itself to this reality. Today, KKL-JNF is committed to innovativeness in a very minimalistic fashion. I would like to see the factor of innovation become dominant and prominent at KKL-JNF."
Until the sharing process begins to move, KKL-JNF continues to be active in its core fields, “but we want to concentrate on our being one of the largest green organizations in the world,” Atar said.
As part of this process, the aspiration is to expand KKL-JNF’s field of activities, which until now focused on “Jewish space”, to “global space”– “and this is the first part of our vision for the future,” Atar added and explained what he meant. “For many years, we have accumulated knowledge that helped the state of Israel. Now, we want to also share this knowledge with other countries.”
The KKL-JNF chairman cited a few examples relevant to international cooperation, noting collaborations that have already been discussed at various meetings, including during the visit of the president of Guatemala to Israel, the visit of the KKL-JNF chairman to Argentina, a meeting with the French Minister of Agriculture in France, and also a meeting with representatives of the German government that took place a few months ago.
The second part of KKL-JNF’s vision, as presented by Atar, is strengthening the Negev and the Galilee. “Our very special country has soft shoulders. If these soft shoulders are not bolstered, it will unravel everything Israel has successfully accomplished until now. KKL-JNF must stand at the side of the state of Israel. We have defined a goal for ourselves: half a million new residents in the Galilee, and a million new residents in the Negev.”
In order to emphasize the need to develop peripheral regions, Atar brought Beit Shean, which is located north of the Jordan Valley, as an example.
“In 1951, there were more people living in Beit Shean than there are in 2017. When this is the case, there is no chance that the city will be successful. Young people run away from peripheral regions like Beit Shean to Israel’s central region. We made a decision, and we are doing everything we can to change this reality, including: improving transportation infrastructure; helping people who live in peripheral regions; and developing tourism."
Atar also spoke about another important component of the new agenda, which is informal education. “The state of Israel already deals with formal education. KKL-JNF wants to take responsibility for informal education – youth movements, youth organizations, pre-military preparatory institutions, and more. We will open our sites and facilities to them all.”
Another important part of the KKL-JNF vision is strengthening the connection with Diaspora Jewry. “We have a commitment to Jews who live in the Diaspora. We will work in each and every country on strengthening Jewish identity and strengthening the bond with the land of Israel.”
The session concluded with a question and answer session with the conference participants. Sarah Singer, President of JNF-KKL Germany, spoke about the need to increase awareness of KKL-JNF activities in Israeli governmental agencies active in Germany. Shaul Horev, the KKL-JNF emissary to Germany, related to the fact that on the one hand, borders are opening, but on the other hand, they are being closed again. He also responded to what Atar had said about the global space and mentioned strengthening ties with non-Jewish communities, with JNF-KKL Germany focusing on ecology and sustainability. “As for strengthening the Galilee and the Negev – as a resident of the Western Galilee, I would be very happy if that were to happen and am proud to be part of the only organization that is really doing a lot in the Galilee and the Negev. There are a lot of pressing problems in the Western Galilee.”
Fino Edery, KKL-JNF emissary to France, related to the topic of education in the context of the shrinking of the Jewish communities in the United States and the need to strengthen Jewish identity.
Jacky Benzennou, who is from Belgium, mentioned that the Belgium donors he works with want their contributions to go for the needs of the state of Israel, not for global needs. Moshe Pearl added that “the wishes of our donors are most important, and we will make certain that their requests are met. As has always been the case, people who contribute to KKL-JNF know what their money is going for. We have a sacred obligation to be trustworthy and reliable, and donors receive detailed reports.”
The first session of the conference took place on January 27, which is also International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Zoša Vyoralová from the Czech Republic commented on the significance of this date for her: “My grandfather died in Auschwitz. Both my daughter and granddaughter were born on January 27!”