Election of Burg Marks `visionary’ Shift, Say Leaders

Hailing the election of Avraham Burg as chairman of the Jewish Agency, American Jewish leaders predict the move will invigorate Israel-Diaspora relations.

This assessment comes despite the intense anti-American feeling generated in the Israeli media last week after Burg’s selection by Diaspora leaders of the Jewish Agency.

The “advise and consent” committee of the Jewish Agency’s Board of Governors endorsed Burg and rejected Yehiel Leket, the acting chairman of the Agency. That decision effectively killed Leket’s chances to be nominated for the post.

Burg’s supporters say the 40-year-old Labor member of Knesset has the vision and commitment necessary to connect a generation of native-born Israelis with their American peers, who were also born after the founding of the State of Israel.

The Jewish Agency is the primary recipient of funds raised for Israel by the United Jewish Appeal in the United States.

“There are certain decisions made in the Jewish world that have consequences beyond one’s lifetime, and this represents that kind of shift,” said Debra Pell, the co-chair of the UJA Young Leadership Cabinet who is a strong Burg supporter.

“It’s generational. It’s visionary. He understands that Israel needs to be a Jewish nation, and I think he can help the Jewish people define what that means,” Pell said.

“He is someone who absolutely understands that the Diaspora is a partner with a critical voice in the future of the Jewish nation and the Jewish people,” she said.

For Burg, the Jewish Agency post comes after making a mark in the field of Diaspora-Israel relations. More than a decade ago, he first toured the United States, speaking on behalf of the New Israel Fund, which raises funds for grass-roots projects in Israel.

He subsequently served as adviser on Diaspora Affairs to then Prime Minister Shimon Peres.

In his meetings with Diaspora leaders, Burg reportedly came across as far more charismatic than Leket, the longtime Jewish Agency administrator who assumed the acting chairmanship a year ago.

In his year at the helm, Leket drew high marks for his management abilities. He is said to have succeeded in boosting morale among Agency workers even while paring down staff.

Despite Leket’s accomplishments, “the Diaspora leaders decided they needed a charismatic figure at the head of the Agency if they were to change the image of the Agency in the eyes of Diaspora donors,” said Samuel Norich, author of “What Will Bind Us Now? A Report on the Institutional Ties between Israel and American Jewry.”

“It was a question rather of whether they [in the UJA] would be effective fund- raisers with Leket at the head of the Agency,” said Norich.

But while the question of fund-raising ability is said to have proved decisive in the deliberations of the “advise and consent” committee, Burg’s fans in the UJA-federation system say his appointment transcends bottom-line considerations.

“It’s not just raising money, it’s raising ideas,” said Barry Shrage, the chief executive officer of the Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston.

“It is essentially developing the ideas that will shape the Jewish future,’ said Shrage. “He understands that one of the most important issues facing us today is what does it mean to be a Jew in the modern world.”

At a time when federations and synagogues are joining together in the struggle for “Jewish continuity” in the face of assimilation and intermarriage, some see it as symbolic that Burg is the first chairman of the Agency who is religiously observant.

The son of the longtime Orthodox political leader and Cabinet minister, Yosef Burg, the new agency chairman has been a fervent supporter of religious pluralism in Israel.

His advocacy of American-style separation of “synagogue and state” catapulted him to the No. 3 spot on the Labor Party’s list for the 1992 elections.

“He offers a role model of a bright and enlightened man who still is searching for the luminous, and this is something powerful and transcendent,” said Jerry Benjamin, a past chairman of UJA Young Leadership.

“Every time I hear him speak he is very challenging to all of us about our own Jewish learning. He’s unique character,” Benjamin said.

Benjamin said Burg promises renewed “horsepower” for supporters of the Israel Diaspora relationship.

“Those of us who care took such a beating the way [Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister] Yossi Beilin raised the points he raised,” said Benjamin, referring to Beilin’s controversial call for Diaspora Jews to stop sending “charity” to Israel.

Beilin also called for the dismantling of the Jewish Agency and the establishment of an alternative structure.

Beilin has since toned down his criticisms. Observes predict that Beilin will be less confrontational about the Agency, now that Burg, his politically is at its helm.

At the same time, Burg does share many of Beilin’s views. He is said to have similar concerns about democratizing the Agency’s base. And he has said he rejects the idea of Israel as simply a recipient of charitable funds from the Diaspora.

The key difference is that Burg is now poised to change the system from within.

“He’s going to be positioning the people of Israel to be partners, rather than recipients of charity,” said Shrage.

“He understands the partnership concept better than anybody I’ve met over there,” Shrage said. “He is very committed to the expansion of the voluntary sector in Israel, and I believe that that’s where a lot of our future partnership will emerge.”