THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY PLANNING INSTITUTE

The year 2030 is not exactly around the corner, but it is the time horizon we need
to look at when it comes to strategic thinking and policy planning for the Jewish
People and the thriving of the Jewish civilization. It is not accidental that this project
was one of the first to be initiated when JPPPI was founded in 2003. Together with
the Institute's Annual Assessments and other strategic papers, it may serve as a base
for future planning --for us, the State of Israel and Jewish organizations.

JPPPI in the media

Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat has been appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors and Professional Guiding Council of the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute (JPPPI). He replaces Ambassador Dennis Ross who resigned the position last January when he was appointed to a senior position in the Obama Administration.

Ambassador Eizenstat has played a very significant role in providing belated justice for victims of the Holocaust and other victims of Nazi tyranny during World War II. His leadership within the Clinton administration as Special Representative of the President and Secretary of State on Holocaust-Era Issues was central to major agreements negotiated with the Swiss, Germans, and Austrians covering restitution of property, payment of slave and forced laborers, recovery of looted art and bank accounts, and payment of insurance policies. His book on these events, Imperfect Justice: Looted Assets, Slave Labor, and the Unfinished Business of World War II, has been favorably received in publications such as the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Business Week, and Publisher's Weekly. It has been translated into Czech, French, German, and Hebrew.

This year's Annual Assessment Executive Summary proceeds from a perception that the notion of the Jewish people comprised of Jewish communities around the world with a core state in Israel is one which shows signs of weakening and, perhaps therefore, is increasingly expressed by the more deeply affiliated members of organized Jewish communities as well as by some Israeli leaders.  It begins a series of tentative suggestions, based on the information and analyses provided in the material that follows, for a strategic agenda and policy direction.  In order to see the suggestions in perspective, they are followed by an updated table indicating a number of major characteristics of the Jewish People. Some of the salient features indicated in the table are then discussed in some detail.

            Following an analysis of the impact of the Second Lebanon War on Israel and American Jewry, as well as a survey of the condition of Jews in central Europe from 2000 until the present, the assessment turns to some societal aspects of the Jewish People. It presents a series of essays which examine Jewish socio-economic patterns; migration patterns; family patterns; religious patterns; and one aspect of Jewish culture, namely, cinema.

The primary objective of the Crisis Management project at the JPPPI is to improve the capability of Jewish leadership in Israel and throughout the world to address crises that may emerge involving the Jewish people. The crisis management project was concluded in December 2007. Community leaders and CEO's have been briefed and provided with the JPPPI's recommendations

This project is designed to outline various possible scenarios for the future of the Jewish people in the coming decades, up to 2025. These scenarios will help articulate policy recommendations and practical measures that can be undertaken by the Jewish people today to avoid perilous situations and catalyze favorable future developments.

This paper by Dr. Shalom Wald is the first written product of the "Improving the Standing of the Jewish People in Emerging Superpowers without Biblical Tradition" Project.