Chairman's Letter

By Ambassador Dennis Ross, Chairman of the Board

[Before JPPPI was established], I was asked if I would take part in an effort to see if it made sense to do policy planning for the Jewish people in a more systematic fashion. I certainly saw the need to do so. After all, the essence of policy planning is anticipating events, and not just waiting to be shaped by them. Didn't the Jewish people worldwide need to anticipate potential problems and dangers, as well as potential opportunities? But how, I wondered, would one go about actually doing policy planning for the Jewish people as a whole. Wasn't it the height of arrogance to assume that one body could engage in policy planning that might be accepted on a very wide basis?

Following a retreat in Caesarea, I began to think differently about the effort. I began to believe that the necessity of doing policy planning for the Jewish people might, in fact, be feasible. I began to see, together with other collaborators in this effort, that we could identify priorities to be addressed. It became clear that among thinkers from Israel and around the world of international Jewry, there was a consensus about certain issues that required not just analysis, but also policy recommendations.

Demographics, both in Israel and the Diaspora, needed careful consideration, particularly if Israel was to remain at the center of Jewish life. The rise of a new kind of antisemitism, one less geared to discrimination against the individual and more toward attempts to criminalize Israeli behavior, required recognition and strategies for contending with a dangerous new phenomenon. Identifying areas around the world where Jewish populations might be at risk, and responding to these possible threats seemed to take on new urgency with new economic realities in places like Argentina. There was a recognition that different strains of Judaism need to develop a compact for civil discourse, especially if in an era of greater challenge some of the broader and more worrisome demographic trends are to be dealt with. (Indeed, many of us agreed that the principle of Tikkun Olam - mending the world - could be very important in providing a sense of purpose for international Jewry at a time of globalization with its largely amoral compass.)

Consensus on these ideas helped to forge possible priorities for the policy-planning endeavor. Creating a think tank that could address these priorities both analytically and practically also seemed to provide the right vehicle for policy planning. And within a year, what seemed very abstract and difficult to tackle began to take a form that seemed doable. Whether the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute will fulfill its promise will be demonstrated only in time.

It must provide new insights into the nature of the challenges, but also come up with prescriptions for responding to these challenges. Affecting governments that have the potential for dealing with possible threats, including the Israeli government, must obviously shape the work of the Institute. Assessing the state of the Jewish people on an annual basis can also be one of the means the Institute uses to paint a picture about trends - both problematic and promising. While the task ahead may be difficult, it would be irresponsible not to make the effort.

There is no shortage of Jewish organizations doing good and necessary work. But it is time to add real policy planning to the mix. It is time to have an organization whose mission is to think ahead, and to think about how responses to today's problems will affect the environment we will face in the future.

Dennis Ross