Because of a suggestion from James Wolfensohn while he was in Israel, I was part of an exciting workshop in Neve Ilan at the end of last month. In a nutshell, the meeting was presented as the second designed to reflect on and to revitalize both Jewish and Israeli development work, and to draw together both religious and secular experience and approaches.
It worked very well. The meeting elicited far more interest than the organizers had anticipated - I think there were 130 people who stuck it out throughout. We were a very diverse group - both Israeli and international (especially US but also UK and South Africa), secular and religious - Rabbi Melchior and David Rosen were active participants. Three Christian NGOs gave presentations - Christian Aid, World Vision, and Catholic Relief Services. Both the Pears Foundation and Bronfman Foundations were highly supportive and Ruth Messinger gave an inspiring speech. I was asked to provide context on our faith development adventures in an opening keynote address; Ad Melkert spoke later highlighting the Millennium Development Goals.. And several senior Israeli officials (head of Mashav notably) participated.
Parna Taylor was an active participant also; she is much involved in Tony Blair's new Interfaith Foundation. We had a long conversation earlier this year about the World Faith Development Dialogue (WFDD) experience which echoes much of the path they are traveling.
I was much impressed by the care that went into planning and running the workshop. This was no haphazard venture. The Hartog School of Government and Public Policy at Tel Aviv University organized it, and had done work both to "map" Jewish organization work and to assess Israeli public opinion on development assistance. I was fascinated by a "study session" based on Jewish texts which produced a thought-provoking exploration of the boundaries between charity and development.. There were also fascinating presentations of ongoing work including on human rights issues, the Jerusalem AIDS project with its current focus on adult male circumcision, and work with young people in Nepal and a school project in Rwanda. An emerging idea is for a israeli/Jewish world Service Corps.
The low public knowledge of and esteem for Israeli development work, and limited Knesset support were recurring themes (77% of the Israeli population have never heard of Mashav). But the overall tenor was positive and rather expansive in its vision for the future. I am hopeful that we will all be able to follow up as thinking unfolds.
As an aside, I was able to visit Hebron before the conference, guided by B'tsellem. Now that's a sobering experience: seemingly frozen in time, with active hostility from the two warring sides, the rusted barbed wire, graffiti, and rotting garbage all sad symbols of the festering conflict.
