Jewish Agency Puts Israeli Twist on Efforts to Meet Refugee Costs

The Jewish Agency for Israel announced Thursday its plans to deal with the costs of a huge increase in the number of Jews being allowed out of the Soviet Union.

The program, outlined in a document unanimously adopted after a two-day meeting of its Executive here, calls for improvements in housing and services for new immigrants to Israel.

The document also suggested that the improvements, to cost an estimated $100 million, would be funded in part through a special campaign undertaken by the United Jewish Appeal and its international counterpart, the Keren Hayesod.

The program does not, however, tackle what is to American Jewish communities the more dire issue: how to pay for the resettlement of the 90 percent of Soviet emigres who choose to live in the United States rather than Israel.

Instead, the Executive announced that it has been requested to take part in a working team to “establish a mechanism” for meeting the increasing costs of Soviet resettlement in the United States.

Agencies that deal with the resettlement of Soviet Jews estimate that if 30,000 Soviet Jews arrive in the United States during 1989, as projected, the cost to American Jewish communities could be as high as $140 million.

Simcha Dinitz, chairman of the Jewish Agency Executive, made it clear at a news conference announcing the program Thursday that “the Jewish Agency was not established in order to assist the absorption of Jews in Milwaukee, Chicago or Detroit.”

He also acknowledged that it is up to the individual Jewish federations across North America to determine how much of locally raised money will be allocated to Israeli needs and how much will go to local resettlement efforts.

ANXIETY OVER FEDERATION CUTBACKS

In days prior to the meeting, Jewish Agency officials expressed anxiety that the federations would begin cutting back their allocations to the United Jewish Appeal, in favor of local Soviet Jewry resettlement.

Money funneled from the UJA to the Jewish Agency accounts for two-thirds of the agency’s $400 million budget.

Even without further cutbacks, the Jewish Agency could face a budgetary shortfall this year of over $40 million, Dinitz explained at the news conference.

He said the shortfall is partly the result of reductions in federation allocations over the past several years and an increase in the proportion of UJA money being allocated for international resettlement purposes.

The major recipients of those allocations are the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the New York Association for New Americans.

Also taking part in the news conference was Mendel Kaplan, chairman of the Jewish Agency Board of Governors. He stressed that the Jewish Agency does not want to see the needs of those resettling in the Diaspora “to be met by resources that were to come to Israel.”

Instead, he said the team being formed to address the problem would explore other ways to meet those needs. The Executive’s suggestions include finding ways to reduce the federations’ costs of resettlement, that federations dip into endowment funds or other capital funds, and that help to arriving Soviet Jews be offered in the form of loans, and not grants.

Jerry Levinrad, director of refugee resettlement programs at the Council of Jewish Federations, said that federations across North America are already looking into all of those possibilities.

Levinrad said they are also exploring a “separate-line campaign” to run in addition to the annual UJA-federation campaign.

Dinitz said that improving immigrant absorption facilities in Israel and eliminating grant programs for American immigrants could provide the impetus needed for Soviet Jews to choose Israel.

Dinitz also announced plans for consultations with the Joint Distribution Committee to discuss the processing of Soviet Jews at transfer points in Vienna and Rome. Dinitz has made it no secret that he and leaders of the Israeli government would like to see an increased Israeli presence in these refugee centers.