December 13, 2006 / 22 Kislev 5767

55% of All Israelis Are Prepared to Invest Time in Activities Designed to Strengthen Ties with World Jewry

The results of the survey will be presented at a national convention of the Jewish Agency as part of the 'Partnership 2000' program which works to create partnerships between Jewish communities worldwide and communities in Israel

About 55% of Israel's residents are willing to take an active part and invest their time to strengthen ties with world Jewry. This emerges from a survey conducted by the Jewish Agency as part of the Partnership 2000 program that bonds between Jewish communities worldwide and communities in Israel. The survey was conducted by the 'Elixir' Research Institute among a random national sample of 1,830 homes.

The Partnership 2000 program of the Jewish Agency creates partnerships between Jewish communities worldwide and communities in Israel. Today there are 45 partnerships which take place between 550 Jewish communities worldwide and dozens of regional councils and communities in Israel. The program serves as a 'living bridge' between tens of thousands of Jews worldwide and the residents of Israel and aids in promoting social and educational projects. The Orlando Jewish Community has recently joined the Partnership 2000 program, and will be the partner community of Kiryat Motzkin.

The survey reveals that 39% of those interviewed are willing to take an active part in strengthening ties with world Jewry and are willing to invest 7 hours a month on average for this purpose. An additional 16% were willing to invest even more time on the issue. Furthermore, 74% of those questioned noted that they view reinforced ties with world Jewry as significant to very significant. Almost half of those questioned were aware of the Partnership 2000 program that works to strengthen the ties between Israel and world Jewry.

The results of the survey will be presented at a national convention of the Partnership 2000 program that will take place this week in Israel, in the presence of chairmen of partnerships and subcommittees, volunteers and activists from partnerships all over Israel.

During the convention, four partnerships will be presented with awards for excellence on behalf of the Jewish Agency: The Great Britian and Confrontation Line partnership for the 'Study the Galilee' program; The Afula-Gilboa and the UJC Southern New England Consortium (SNEC)for their Young Emissaries program – 'Shinshinim'; The Tel-Aviv and Los Angeles partnership for the Twin Schools program; and the Western Galilee and UJC Central Region Consortium partnership for a program training US medical squads to handle emergency situations.

The convention will be held on Thursday, December 14th between 10:00-17:00 at Kfar Maccabiah, Ramat Gan in the presence of the Chairman of the Jewish Agency, Zeev Bielski and the Treasurer of the Jewish Agency, Hagai Meirom.