Prior to this mega-event, the Jerusalem People Policy Planning Institute (JPPPI) is organizing a one-day conference, which opened with a dinner last evening at the residence of President Peres. JPPPI was established as an independent think tank “to promote the thriving of the Jewish people vial professional strategic thinking and planning on issues of primary concern to world Jewry.” Former Middle East envoy Dennis Ross serves as the chair of the think tank, which is incorporated in Israel and whose work is based “on a deep commitment to the future of the Jewish people with Israel as its core state.”

Together, these two programs reflect a healthy trend to not only celebrate 60 years of Israeli achievements, but to ask challenging questions about the future of Israel, world Jewry, and the Israel-world Jewry relationship. For many, the focus remains on issues of survival, with both an Iranian nuclear capability and the demographic realities of a shrinking, and potentially less influential, Jewish people, viewed as existential threats. Others, including myself, prefer to direct our attention to the substantive content of Jewish thought and tradition, while acknowledging the internal contradictions and troubling anachronisms.

In this context, the concept of Tikkun Olam (repairing the world) represents an important example of what Judaism can offer 21st Century humankind. As Yehudah Mirsky argues in an excellent paper prepared for the JPPPI conference, “the impulse to think in terms of Tikkun Olam does have the potential to bring great benefit to Jews and to the world, But we would do well to try and formulate distinctively Jewish forms of this work, not as a substitute for universalist moral concern but rather as the best way to bring Judaism’s own resources to bear on that concern, and in so doing offer on way of invigorating Jewish identity in a global age.” [All papers prepared for the JPPPI conference can be accessed here. For those interested, I will contribute my impressions of the conference and the themes emanating from the various panels at (link to NIF blog).

My final remark is not about the conference, but my Havurah’s rededication of a Torah this past Sunday. Together with the rest of our community, my family contributed to the process not only with a monetary gift, but by writing a letter into the parchment. The fact that this particular Torah was found in the basement of a church in Slobodka, Lithuania and had not been used since World War II added to the poignancy of the celebration. And yet without denigrating the importance of symbolism, whether in dedicating a Torah or in celebrating Israel at 60, the values derived from, and the actions that follow, the interpretation of this ancient text are what is critical.

In this week’s NIF News, we report on an important breakthrough for religious pluralism in Israel. Last week, the Reform Jewish community of Modi'in inaugurated the country’s first-ever non-Orthodox synagogue building provided with government funding. The victory, won after a protracted legal battle by a veteran NIF grantee, opens the way for more State recognition of Israel’s Conservative and Reform Movements, and represents another crack in the Orthodox monopoly. We also feature a unique soccer match between Arab and Jewish fans initiated by NIF to promote coexistence and equality. SHATIL features its Back from the Edge program for immigrant youth-at-risk.

Yet, despite the best efforts of the government to generate enthusiasm, a profound malaise exists within Israeli society today. Secretary Rice’s most welcome efforts notwithstanding, a peace agreement between Israel and Palestine, not to speak of Syria, seems a distant dream. The presentation of a written constitution as part of the 60th anniversary celebrations has not materialized. Israel’s Jewish and Arab citizens appear further apart than ever in forging a common vision for the state of Israel. The income and education gaps between rich and poor continue to grow at an embarrassing rate. And, the stench of official corruption continues to rear its ugly head, as exemplified by reports of another police investigation into the dealings of Prime Minister Olmert.

These circumstances require a willingness to reflect both on the significant achievements of Israel since independence was declared in 1948 and the challenges confronting Israel as it charts a path for the next 60 years. Bernard Avishai’s recently published book, The Hebrew Republic, provides an insightful analysis of the challenges, and a surprisingly optimistic presentation of Israel’s future. Avishai’s thesis is summarized in the book’s sub-title: How Secular Democracy and Global Enterprise Will Bring Israel Peace At Last. He argues:

The challenge of the new economy is integration into global markets, corporations and universities, which today’s Israelis are really good at. Israel’s technology entrepreneurs, scientists, designers and artists provide their country with a staying power more impressive than anything the Israeli armed forces could ever achieve for it. The cosmopolitan economic and intellectual power reduces to insignificance any fight over tracts of land. It should also reduce anxieties about Jewish cultural survival in Israel’s immediate vicinity.

Avishai is not blind to the many obstacles facing Israel today. For example, he forthrightly acknowledges and addresses the place of Israel’s Arab: “The danger of alienating a million and a quarter Arab citizens is imminent and very serious.” Countervailing pressures notwithstanding, he suggests that the “pressure exerted by the force and grandeur of secular Hebrew culture” is contributing to their integration into Israeli civil society.

Avishai’s vision for the future is one endorsed by many New Israel Fund supporters, even as they may debate some of the specifics and become nervous regarding the terminology. The important point, however, is the need to engage in a serious discussion regarding the challenges facing Israel, and for Diaspora Jews to include themselves among the participants in the discussion, even as their ultimate role in the actual decision-making process is appropriately limited by their choice of residence.

In this context, I am excited by our first international Town Hall webcast, which is scheduled for Sunday, May 18 at 1:00 PM EST, and which will address the question of “Religion and State: Fundamentalism or Freedom.” We have organized an excellent panel, including: former Knesset Deputy Speaker and NIF-President elect Naomi Chazan; author and journalist Gershom Gorenberg; the director of Mossawa, Jafar Farah; and Professor Frances Raday. The event will be moderated by Michael Greenspan, a former CNN journalist in the Middle East. Please visit our web site to register for the program and to participate in an interactive discussion regarding one of the issues most critical to Israel’s future.

In this week’s NIF News, we bring you a special edition to mark Israel’s 60th anniversary of independence. We take stock of the national situation by asking four members of the NIF family to look ahead to the coming years and speak about their fears and hopes and the challenges facing the country. SHATIL highlights its campaign to get social issues on candidates’ agendas in the upcoming election and a conference to raise awareness and advance solutions to the growing problem of domestic violence in the Ethiopian community in Israel.

Many Seder participants will revel in the art of developing a creative new approach to retelling the ancient story of liberation and freedom. Others, including many NIF supporters, will seek to apply the lessons of the Exodus to contemporary situations of physical and psychological bondage, political and economic enslavement, the horrors of war and the disgrace of allowing the genocide in Darfur to continue.

These ennobling thoughts were placed in perspective as I read today’s news from Israel. The Knesset was not called into emergency session to deal with growing poverty among Israel’s population or to encourage Israeli peace negotiators. Rather, the concerns were shall we say more prosaic.

The question concerned the sale of chametz (leavened products forbidden during Passover) in public stores during Passover. A Jerusalem court ruled that existing law did not prohibit such sales in groceries and restaurants, since such venues are not “public places” as defined in the laws. The ruling aroused the religious parties, which demanded the emergency Knesset session.

Once again, Israeli parliamentarians are debating what it means to live in a Jewish and democratic state. In the minds of some, the Jewishness of the state require that chametz be banned from public view and that Jews, regardless of their religious practices, be actively deterred from eating chametz. Of course, even if the court ruling is reversed, Jews and non-Jews who want to eat bread or other forms of chametz during Passover can visit, as they have always done, an Arab town or village, or even those sections of the city of Jerusalem where Arabs are a majority.

While seemingly frivolous, particularly in view of the many important challenges confronting Israeli society on the eve of this Passover, the current debate highlights the tension between accommodating religious sensitivities and dictating religious practices for a diverse population. In the US, freedom of religion is long-enshrined, although we forget that the battle to achieve government neutrality on religious matters has not always been uncontroversial; Sunday blue laws and prayers in the schoolhouse are just two examples from our own history. Israel, meanwhile, has constantly wrestled with the appropriate balance between what it means to be Jewish and democratic; while the strictures on the opening of restaurants and theaters on the Shabbat have now been eased, certain issues, like the sale of chametz on Pesach, provide the backdrop for a continuation of the battle between those who seek more public internalization of religious strictures and those who decry the impact on their personal freedom.

Rabbi David Hartman of the Shalom Hartman Institute addresses this issue in his Jerusalem Post blog. While recognizing the dilemma perhaps more sympathetically than do I, Hartman also is bewildered by the religious parties’ willingness “to create a coalition crisis in the middle of a political struggle with the Palestinians [that] seems out of place. The threat of breaking up the government is totally exaggerated. That one could express his opinions without necessarily threatening the political stability of society seems to be a self-evident principle.”

Amen! However, you celebrate Passover, chag sameach and enjoy the holiday. And keep an eye on NIF News to find out more about our first International Town Hall webcast, on Sunday May 18 at 1:00 PM EST, featuring some of Israel’s leading experts and involving you in a discussion of religious pluralism. Even the least techno-savvy among us – including the NIF executive director and much of the senior staff – will be able to join the discussion easily from our home computers.

Drawing from my experience as a former official with USAID, I spoke on a panel entitled “Revamping Israel’s development cooperation agenda.” In my remarks, I stressed that Israel’s international development effort must form part of a holistic consideration of the concept of “tikkun olam,” which takes into account the poor within Israel, among its immediate neighbors (and particularly the Palestinians) and also among the broader global community.

As part of an informative retreat focusing on the environment, I joined in site visits to several projects in the Jordan Valley implemented by Friends of the Earth Middle East (FOEME), which is based in Amman, Bethlehem and Tel Aviv. FOEME, whose driving force is Gidon Bromberg, a former NIF law fellow and leading environmental activist, demonstrated real ability to maintain high profile programs throughout the most difficult years of the intifada. Two of the projects visited were a high school that is harvesting rain water as part of a program that FOEME is implementing in Palestinian and Israeli schools, and a proposed expansion of a peace park along the Jordan River, which will provide for increased opportunities for interactions between Israelis and Jordanians .

I also was pleased to join briefly a study tour to Bethlehem organized by the organization Encounter and to attend a SHATIL-sponsored conference on the impact of organizations implementing cooperative Palestinian and Israeli projects. Clearly, the yearning for peace among many Palestinians and Israelis remains strong, despite the constant obstacles and the feelings of despair that are all too common today.

Even as Israel’s political and economic successes are justifiably celebrated, and even as Israel is welcomed into the OECD, we at NIF will continue to highlight the needs of those left behind by the economic boom, the consequences of uncontrolled growth on the environment, and the political, economic and psychological costs of not doing all that is possible to bring an end to the conflict between Israel and its neighbors.