A series of reforms in the structure and functions of the Jewish Agency Board of Governors and the Jewish Agency Executive were proposed during the Board’s retreat in Caesaria last week. They included limiting Board members’ tenure to two terms and changes that would give diaspora members a greater voice in the Executive’s decision making process.
A summary of some of the items discussed at Caesaria was made public yesterday by Raymond Epstein of Chicago, a member of the Board of Governors and a former president of the Council of Jewish Federations (CJF). “Almost every discussion group recommended a limitation on the length of service” of Board members, he said. “In almost every case, the suggestion was two consecutive (four-year) terms… and this would apply to officers as well.”
Similarly, the discussion groups felt that the Jewish Agency Assembly, a much larger body that meets annually, should restrict its delegates to a “a formal term… of two or three years, not only to improve their status but perhaps to bring about a healthy turnover,” Epstein said.
AN ANOMALOUS SITUATION
He was critical of “the composition and functioning of the Jewish Agency Executive,” noting that the Israeli members attend meetings for more frequently than diaspora members and the latter therefore are not equally involved in decision-marking.
“Furthermore, there is, to many, an anomalous situation in having the operative heads of the (Jewish Agency) departments sit on the policy-making body. It was felt there should be a sharp separation of management from active operations,” Epstein said.
“To put it bluntly, there is a general feeling that the affairs of the Jewish Agency are being run by the Executive, and more often than not by half the Executive and not by the Board of Governors,” Epstein said. “Not only is the Board not making the important decisions, it is not even being kept fully aware of the decisions made by the Executive. This situation calls for a change and we should return to the original agreement which placed the real authority and responsibility upon the Board of Governors,” he said.
Epstein said the Board members believed the authority of the chairman of the Executive should be strengthened. They also called for “greater cooperation and coordination between the departments and elimination of duplication in their activities and to strengthen the chairman would be one step in bringing this about,” he said.
He said the Board of Governors felt that the compromise between purely professional qualifications and political affiliations in selecting department heads “could be lived with.” But below the rank of department head, “we made no compromise with our call for a civil service that would ensure the best man for the job in the offices of director general and all those who work under them. The functional management of the Agency must be of the highest calibre,” Epstein said.
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