Participants from a Jewish Agency Mechinah (Pre-Army Leadership Academy) on a field trip
Photo: Nir Kafri for The Jewish Agency for Israel
Strengthening Israeli
Society
Though our range of programs operates globally, Israel is at the center of all we do. Throughout 2023, The Jewish Agency helped support the many members of Israeli society, from citizens impacted by terror to vulnerable seniors, and from small business owners to at-risk youth.
After celebrating the Passover holiday and Israel’s 75th, in early May, Israel faced an attack by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad when the terrorist group fired more than 100 rockets at the Jewish State, prompting the IDF to launch Operation Shield and Arrow. Jewish Agency Chairman of the Executive Doron Almog visited Israeli towns and absorption centers in the South to express support and deliver immediate assistance from the organization's Fund for Victims of Terror (FVOT) to those wounded or whose homes were damaged by rockets.
“This is an expression of the unconditional love that the global Jewish community has for the State of Israel and its citizens both in times of normalcy and emergency,” said Chairman Almog as he delivered FVOT aid on behalf of the organization and world Jewry.
Another way we continued to show our values and compassion is through the care we provided to seniors at our Amigour subsidized housing complexes across Israel. For over 50 years, The Jewish Agency has given thousands of elderly Israelis the ability to live out their golden years in dignity at Amigour apartments, offering them an affordable place to live, a network of support and a sense of community.
“Once I retired, I no longer had an income or real security. Fortunately, I met the criteria to get an apartment at Amigour,” explained Miriam, 76, who immigrated to Israel in 1993 from Russia. “Today, life here is comfortable and enjoyable, as Amigour offers many wonderful activities and classes. Since I have a music background, Amigour arranged for me to teach piano and I am also a choir member. Now I feel even my soul sings.”
Throughout 2023, over 6,500 seniors and Holocaust survivors were housed and cared for in 42 Amigour complexes.
Amigour residents enjoy a fitness activity at their complex
Photo: David Salem for The Jewish Agency for Israel
Additionally, we supported small business owners in Israel through our Loan Funds and peer-to-peer lending platform SparkIL. Established in partnership with The Ogen Group, SparkIL enables users around the world to participate in crowdfunding interest-free loans to the small businesses of their choice in Israel.
“SparkIL is simultaneously a lifeline for Israel’s small and micro business owners, and a new, personal, technology-driven way for world Jewry to be directly engaged with Israel and its people, as well as with Jewish values,” explained Amira Ahronoviz, CEO and Director General of The Jewish Agency.
In 2023, SparkIL celebrated its one-year anniversary; the initiative has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs so far, like Gilat, a practicing Haredi Jew with a background and passion for dance and sports. She runs Gilat’s Studio Ayalot in Givat Ze’ev, offering activities including gymnastics, classic ballet, ninja warrior-type obstacle courses and more, empowering Haredi youth physically and emotionally.
“My goal was to make these kids happier people and help them develop, boost their self-esteem, increase their body-soul connection and promote movement. With the loan from SparkIL, and their overall support and belief in the Studio, I could buy the equipment we needed,” shared Gilat. “I always tell the kids ‘There are no limits to what you can do’ and I feel that way too, thanks to SparkIL.”
In 2023, SparkIL helped facilitate 179 loans totaling nearly $4.5 million.
Students at one of The Jewish Agency’s Youth Villages in Israel
Photo: Nir Kafri for The Jewish Agency for Israel
The Jewish Agency also empowers and supports hundreds of Israeli kids and teens directly through our youth-geared programs, including Youth Futures, Youth Villages and Mechinot (Pre-Army Leadership Academies), all of which continued to play a vital role in Israel in 2023.
“If I hadn’t come to the Youth Village four years ago, I would have wound up in jail. The staff helped me with problems of violence, nerves, drugs; they really helped me a lot,” shared Neurai, 17, a student at The Jewish Agency’s Kiryat Ye’arim Youth Village. Our Youth Villages utilize a holistic, multidisciplinary approach to provide normative, safe, rehabilitative, boarding school settings for hundreds of youth, especially those with emotional, behavioral, familial or learning problems.
Across Israel in 2023, five Jewish Agency Youth Villages offered 980 at-risk kids, ages 12–18, a place where they could thrive.
Participants at a Jewish Agency Mechinah
Photo: Noam Moskovitz for The Jewish Agency for Israel
Further, we help Israeli high school graduates develop their leadership skills at our Mechinot across Israel before they begin serving in the IDF. Hundreds of young Israelis, like Zohar, benefit from engaging in the many activities offered at these academies, from Jewish studies to trips around Israel, and from volunteering to physical fitness training and more, to better prepare for their time in the military.
“Attending Mechinah means learning good values, getting to know Israel and ourselves, and preparing for the army and for real life by becoming adults. We’ll be bringing so much more to the table when we start serving in the IDF and doing our part for our country. I’m discovering myself in the best possible kind of way, and my time here is just an experience I’ll never forget,” said Zohar, a participant at our Yerucham Mechinah (Pre-Army Leadership Academy).
All of Israel’s citizens, as well as the Jewish people worldwide, commemorated 50 years since the Yom Kippur War in the fall as we moved into the High Holidays. Chairman Almog shared his personal account as someone who fought on the Southern Front and whose brother was killed in battle in the Golan Heights. Little did we know then what awaited Israel on October 7, but The Jewish Agency’s already existing programs serving different Israeli populations poised us to be able to respond quickly.