This probably will be the last printed edition of Giving Wisely that I will have the pleasure to edit. Looking back after 40 years in Israel, the optimist in me has been well rewarded. Coming to Israel in 1960 as the first Israeli doctorate in social work, there were a handful of academic social workers in the field. Today there are over 10,000 university social work graduates and five university schools of social work. The social work profession and the study of self-help and nonprofit organizations is well recognized, and students from my courses in child welfare policy, nonprofit management and fundraising hold major leadership responsibilities. A Master's degree program in Management of Community and Nonprofit Organizations and Public Policy has been set up, a Chair has been dedicated for the Study of Nonprofit Organizations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the nonprofit sector has become a major partner with the government and the business sector. My own volunteer activity with self-help organizations, especially at the Israel Free Loan Association, has brought tremendous personal satisfaction and aid to many thousands of disadvantaged people.

My greatest debt is to my wife and children who allowed me the time and provided the encouragement to undertake all this work and understood its importance in my life. After them, I recall with deep affection and admiration many individual donors who became genuine and close friends, and who constantly supported my ideas and work. I came to understand the personal lives and needs of these remarkable philanthropists, and tried to be their shaliach in Israel. In fact, Giving Wisely is my way of honoring them and thanking them for their friendship and trust. I hope that my friends and colleagues in Israeli nonprofit organizations will also succeed in building such partnerships, because they hold an important key to unlocking the human wealth of this country and to miracles that are just waiting to happen.

Prof. Eliezer David Jaffe

Preface to The Israel Foundation Directory

Eliezer Jaffe has been a perceptive guide for the American Jewish community in its changing philanthropic relationship with Israel for over thirty years, but he has also been much more. Eliezer Jaffe is critic and commentator, advocate for change, rebel and prophet for all of us who understand the importance of change and the need for a more intimate and personal relationship with Israel and her citizens. He has always seen through the conventional wisdom of the time and the tired cliches of philanthropy to the deeper meaning of tzedakah, tzedek - justice, and the potential for real community, volunteerism and engagement to change the world and transform our identity as Jews.

Eliezer Jaffe was one of the key thinkers in the creation of Project Renewal and may therefore be viewed as the grandfather of Partnership 2000. He understands more about philanthropy in Israel than any man alive, and he is well known by the intellectual leadership of social work and community building in Israel. And he is also well known by his enemies, those who can't quite escape from the old "sacred survival" paradigm and move into the more dynamic world of community change, philanthropic leverage, and personal engagement that will bring a renaissance of Jewish community life in Israel and in America. This new world is the creation of a small group of courageous dreamers, among whom Eliezer Jaffe is an acknowledged leader.

Eliezer Jaffe has done more to influence my own thinking on Israel-Diaspora relations than anyone in Jewish life and his new book is an important addition to our collective communal library.

©
2009
Copyright
Eliezer D. Jaffe