The Israeli public is not as familiar with the work of the World Zionist Organization, which is a shame. Its glorious past, dating back to its inception by Theodore Herzl at the First Zionist Congress in Basel in 1897, spans across entire chapters in history books, but WZO's present is no less fascinating: For decades, WZO existed in the shadow of the Jewish Agency, but nine years ago the two went their separate ways, meaning WZO had lost its main sponsor and was given a golden opportunity to redefine its mission statement.
World Zionist Organization Chairman Avraham Duvdevani was the one to lead the organization as it was course-correcting.
"We asked ourselves who we were," he told Israel Hayom. "This intellectual challenge led to us outlining specific and significant areas of activity while preventing overlaps with other organizations. Since then, the overall scope of the activity has grown a number of times, but the workforce has hardly changed. We just work harder and better than before. The mission of maintaining Jewish character is a constant struggle."
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The first undertaking by the newly invigorated WZO was to encourage immigration to Israel. This is a complicated task, especially in the United States, where Duvdevani says Jews see themselves as American first.
"We can't change that, so we try to convey the message that America is an address, but Israel is home, a home for American Jews. One of the tools we use to encourage aliyah is a Hebrew ulpan [seminar] where the language is taught and students also become familiar with other subjects about Israel, and the options they have if they move here."
"Over the past two years, we have opened 148 Hebrew ulpanim in France alone. When we announce the opening of a new ulpan, it's filled within a week. We have opened ulpanim in Argentina and England, as well," he said.
One mission that has not changed and that dates back to WZO's earliest days is its support of settlements and by government decree, the organization deals with everything pertaining to the settlement enterprise in and beyond the Green Line and in the Negev and the Galilee.
"On average, we help erect one or two communities a year in the Negev and the Galilee," Duvdevani noted with satisfaction. "There are quite a few difficulties on the way, like the lack of available land in the Galilee but still, we manage to ensure the Judaification of the Galilee."
The World Zionist Organization is trying to integrate its efforts to encourage immigration and its commitment to the settlement enterprise, and its latest initiative speaks of establishing a settlement comprising immigrants from North America, who will settle in a designated neighborhood in Migdal Haemek, southwest of Nazareth.
A third cause WZO champions is the education of Diaspora Jews. According to Duvdevani, "We have gone up from 50 emissary teachers to 220 teachers in schools in different countries – 130 of them in the United States –and we can't keep up with the demand. It is also impossible to separate this from another mission that's close to my heart – teaching Hebrew to Jews worldwide. We have undertaken a mission to save the Hebrew language, whose status in the Diaspora is fading."
"It used to be that you would visit any Jewish school in South America and you could converse with the students in Hebrew because they learned the language from as young as the kindergarten age. Today, unfortunately, I have to speak English with them. In the United States, you often find that you can't speak Hebrew with many rabbis."
'There is no Zionism without Judaism'
The World Zionist Organization looked for a creative solution and found it in the form of Jewish parents who could not afford to send their children to private Jewish schools.
"Parents who send their children to charter schools can choose a second language for their kids to learn, provided that a certain number of parents demand it," Duvdevani explains, "so various schools were founded where they teach Hebrew, and we assist with that instruction. The US government sponsors our emissaries – and they teach the Jewish people's language," he proclaimed.
"To raise awareness, we have initiated the establishment of a public council for the cultivation of Jewish language and culture in the United States. It comprises American Jews, each of whom must speak good Hebrew in order to be accepted as a member. There are about 8,000 Hebrew teachers in the US, but teaching isn't regulated – there are no uniform curricula, no diplomas for teachers, and no supervision."
The result, he said, is that the overall public perception of Hebrew teachers suffers.
"To rectify this situation, WZO has founded the Union of Hebrew Teachers in the United States. Within a week, 1,000 had joined it and we will oversee their training. The change we want to see hasn't happened yet, but our efforts have results," he said.
Q: If we look at Hebrew as a case study, what are your insights about the future of American Jewry and the future of Israel's relations with it?
"What we do is critical. A recent survey conducted among Jewish students in the United States asked them how they would feel if Israel were to cease to exist. Some 37% said it wouldn't matter to them, and it's only getting worse. Previous generations were reeling from the horrors of the Holocaust, but even then many American Jews didn't see eye to eye with Zionist Jews elsewhere."
"For the first Zionist Congress after Israel's inception – held in 1951 in Jerusalem – delegates came from all over the world, including a delegation from the US. They, if you can imagine, opposed the draft resolution that named the ingathering of the exiles in Israel as a top objective [for the Zionist Movement], claiming that they [American Jews] were not in exile."
Since then, Duvdevani continued, American Jewry's connection to Judaism and Zionism "has further diminished. In addition, unlike most other Jewish communities, American Jews don't really carry any 'Holocaust baggage.' They have Holocaust museums, but there is no experience that automatically communicates the importance of the Jewish state's existence as a guarantee that the Holocaust will never happen again."
"The nature of the United States as a country that praises the values of individualism is not without its impact. Judaism and Zionism in its wake, have a much more public and collective mindset – it's not that we don't see the individual as important in our culture, but the status of the collective is more significant than in the American ethos, and if public and private interests collide, public interest prevails."
"That is why Zionist youth movements have had very little success among American Jews. Herzl wouldn't have been able to establish the Zionist Movement in the United States. Our conclusion is that unless we do something to increase the activities we do today, things will go south."
Q: Do you agree that the tables have turned and while Israel may have needed American Jews' help in the past, now Israel must help American Jews to maintain their Jewish character?
"Absolutely. Recent Israeli governments have recognized that they have a responsibility for Diaspora Jews, and have backed that up with substantial investments. Programs like Birthright and Masa Israel Journey are costly endeavors, but the more we work to deepen our bond with American Jews, the more we help them – and ourselves."
"The absolute majority of American Jewish children do not come across Jewish or Zionist content – not in youth movements, not in school, and not in their community centers. At the First Zionist Congress, Herzl said that there is no Zionism without Judaism, and that is so true. I wish we had billions to invest so that every Jewish child in the world could go to a Jewish school and receive a Jewish education."
Burying our heads in the sand is dangerous
As if the cultural struggle was not hard enough, American Jews have come under actual threat in recent years.
"We are witnessing a troubling rise in anti-Semitic incidents in the United States," Duvdevani warned. "American Jewry is dealing with expressions of anti-Semitism left and right, ranging from classic to modern anti-Semitism."
The fight against anti-Semitism is another issue that the World Zionist Organization seeks to champion and its efforts in this arena are headed by WZO Vice Chairman Yaakov Hagoel.
WZO's struggle against anti-Semitism in the US takes into account the needs and sensitivities of the community and its leaders' wishes, he explained.
"There are a number of basic and important levels on which we operate, first and foremost is dealing with anti-Semitism on the internet. The internet is a prolific means of disseminating anti-Semitic messages, inciting hatred, distorting facts, and calling for the boycott of Israel."
Understanding the importance of raising public awareness of growing anti-Semitism, the World Zionist Organization established a media center dedicated to fighting anti-Semitism.
The center is staffed with young interns from around the world who participate in the Masa program, who help find and expose expressions of anti-Semitism online. Uncovering these expressions and incitement against Jews and alerting various authorities and webmasters of them helps raise awareness of the severity of the phenomenon.
"Many of these incidents are exposed and brought to the public's attention only because of WZO's project," Duvdevani said.
