The day after JTA reported that the weak dollar is forcing the Joint to cut 60 jobs and other programing to deal with a $60 million shortfall, the JPost reports that the Jewish Agency is asking the government of Israel to become a more involved partner. Why? The falling dollar.
The chairman of the Jewish Agency, Ze’ev Bielski, reached out to the Knesset’s Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Committee on Monday. He asked the committee to partner more with the Jewish Agency, like it does on the MASA program. The government and JAFI are 50-50 partners in MASA, a program which gives sizable grants to Diaspora Jews to spend extended time at educational and social service programs in Israel.
In particular, the JPost reported, the agency would like the Israeli government to partner on programs in the former Soviet Union, as officials estimate the agency has lost 30 percent of its buying power because of the dollar.
