The Jewish Agency for Israel is the largest and most important Jewish partnership in the world and has been active for more than 60 years in Israel and the rest of the world. The Jewish Agency has taken upon itself three primary tasks: aliyah, rescue and absorption; Jewish/Zionist education; and partnership with and on behalf of Israel. The goal of the Jewish Agency's partnership with world Jewry, through the Partnership 2000 project, is to strengthen the State of Israel and Israeli society. Partnership 2000 links more than 550 Jewish communities in all parts of the Diaspora with 44 regions in Israel.
In the effort to achieve common goals, projects linking young leadership groups have proven themselves to be the most successful means of creating personal ties. The Young Leadership forums, which currently exist in 22 of the Partnership 2000 regions, have achieved exactly that goal. Young leaders from Israel, with widely differing backgrounds, take part in these forums which serve to link the participants with groups of young leaders in the partnership communities abroad.
Only now is the huge potential of this kind of cooperation being felt in the peripheral regions of the country. Young Leadership forums have made a significant contribution to social and regional development and to community building both in Israel and abroad.
This booklet describes the various Young Leadership forums of Partnership 2000 including their main areas of activity, additional partners in the implementation of projects and other relevant information. Each forum has contributed to the personal empowerment of its participants, to community building and to the strengthening of relations between the two partner communities.
We hope that this information booklet, which describes the activities of the various groups, will enable you to learn from our experience and will encourage public discourse.
Well done to you all!
Paula EdelsteinJane ShermanCo-Chairmen, the Israel CommitteeBoard of Governors of the Jewish Agency
