What We Learned During Our Time in Israel

Editor’s Note: As we shared previously, the Jim Joseph Foundation Board and professional team traveled to Israel earlier this summer for a week of special immersion activities and our regular quarterly board meeting. Conducting a Board meeting in Israel was part of the Foundation’s ten-year anniversary and an important opportunity for the Foundation to pay respect to Jim Joseph, z”l.

Upon returning, each member of the professional team was asked to share reflections on their time in Israel and visits with grantees. Sharing excerpts with you, we believe, offers insights to the field about the place of Israel in the Foundation’s grantmaking strategy; the knowledge gained from site visits; and the benefits of Board and staff engaging in an immersive experience together. Below is part one of a two-part blog series of reflections from the professional team:

Narrowing down a week full of highlights is a difficult task but a few stick out as examples of how this experience put me in a better position to thrive in my role at the foundation. First, our time in Israel provided an opportunity to better familiarize myself with the history of the foundation, notably its founder, Jim Joseph. Visiting his gravesite was by far the most moving experience of the trip. It was accompanied by a group lunch with members of his family who shared stories about who he was as a person and what motivated his philanthropy. Never having the chance to meet him, my relationship is through these stories and upon hearing so many touching reflections, I immediately felt a deeper connection to Jim and the mission of the foundation that he so generously funded.

The trip also provided the unique opportunity to see in operation many programs that offer Israel experiences for youth and young adults. These visits not only demonstrated the growing number of immersive Israel programs that exist but brought them to life more than any story, website, or picture could. We spoke directly with the participants and providers. We heard their stories and motivations. We felt their passion. An evening with participants from Birthright Israel Excel and TAMID, programs that feature high-level summer internship opportunities in Israel, was particularly inspirational. To a person, the participants exuded nothing but positivity, to both the programs and their time in Israel. They gained a new appreciation for the country, its culture, people, and innovation, while receiving invaluable experience working for some of Israel’s most reputable businesses. To me, speaking with these participants during their experiences in Israel demonstrated how important it is to provide opportunities like these to as many people as possible.

We met with the leadership and participants at Birthright Israel, the iCenter, Moishe House, the Israel Museum, Bar Ilan University, and more. Each meeting provided greater insight into the important work of these grantees and offered firsthand insight into the outcomes each are achieving. For me, spending a morning at Pardes, a grantee in my portfolio, was particularly beneficial. In my first few months I have been on calls with Pardes, read their reports, and familiarized myself with their work, but seeing it in person provided an understanding that is difficult to gain from afar. We met with a variety key stakeholders including the CEO, program staff, teachers, and participants. These face to face meetings will only help future discussions and collaboration. Pardes is known for its open beit midrash, something I’ve heard and read about but never fully understood. Upon seeing it in action I was left thinking to myself, “yes, I get it now.”

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The central theme of my experience, both in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, was one of exploration and meaning-making. Tal Becker helped frame our time in country by speaking to the complexity that is Israel in 2015. He spoke with humor and wisdom. His quip, that Judaism is not a twitterable religion, speaks to how we make the old new and use the new to facilitate the old. It’s clear to me that young adults are searching for meaning in their lives. Beyond Judaism. They are searching for successful models in which to live their lives. Models laden with value and purpose. What they are finding is that their ancestors struggled with the same questions, the same eternal truths that they struggle with today. How to live a life of significance and meaning? How to live a life of lasting impact? How to live a life of value to others? How to remain steadfast and true to oneself? Judaism has something to say about these questions. It has text and discussion which to offer. And teens, I believe, understand this more than we know and are willing to drink from the fountain so long as they are allowed an unadulterated drink.

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This whole experience made me recognize the productive intersection of the heart and the head.  As a grantmaker, I believe it is important to balance both the experience of seeing and “feeling” a program’s impact first hand with the intellectual pursuit of closely analyzing what the data indicate as impact and lessons learned.

It is important as a grantmaker to really struggle with understanding an issue or problem in order to develop effective strategies.  Recognize the time and effort required to logically develop an intervention and an appropriate funding model.  Despite the excitement at being immersed in the setting, use that experience to inform, but not to solely drive, your grantmaking strategy.

Finally, I was reminded to constantly gauge the willingness of grantees and potential grantees to collect and analyze data, to use evaluation data to improve their programs and attain desired outcomes.

Please check back soon for part 2 of this blog featuring more reflections from the professional team.