History

The History and Origins of OTZMA In 1983, a group of young-to-middle-aged Israelis involved in all facets of Israeli society -- private industry, communications, business, education, the military -- gathered at the Moriah Hotel on the shores of the Dead Sea.

Their guests were a similar number of concerned North American Jews from the Young Leadership Cabinet of the United Jewish Appeal who were anxious to find a true Israeli partner with whom to conduct a meaningful dialogue on the issue of Israel-Diaspora relations. Their common denominator was a deep concern about the growing gap between Diaspora Jewry and Israel.

What took place was based on the reality that while the participants' parents and grandparents might have lived thousands of miles apart, the common experiences of the Holocaust, the establishment of the State of Israel and their shared history as Jews served as a bond that kept most of them emotionally connected. This group realized, however, that the younger generations of today have become well-integrated parts of their different worlds and are continuing to grow further apart, despite the existence of a Jewish state. The participants of this conference expressed their determination to bridge this gap.

This, they concluded, would be done in two ways:

• To continue to engage in this dialogue and to develop it to allow further understanding between Israel and the Diaspora

• To initiate hands-on projects. The goal of these programs would be to bridge the gap between Diaspora Jews and Israelis by initiating meaningful and personal contacts.

By the second "Moriah Conference" in January 1985, the Israeli Forum, a volunteer organization with its members dedicated to reaching out to the Diaspora, was a reality. Its sister organization, the North American Jewish Forum, was created as the counterpart for the dialogue. Once the Forum became an organized body with lay and professional leadership, the idea of OTZMA moved from theory to implementation.

The federations would recruit and select young Jewish adults with motivation, commitment and initiative for a service-oriented year in Israel. The program would expose its participants to the diverse facets of Israel, challenging them and allowing them to grow and to develop skills and knowledge applicable to the Jewish communities in North America upon their return.

The project is coordinated in North America by the The Jewish Federations of North America, the umbrella organization of all federations in the United States and Canada (www.jewishfederations.org). In Israel, the program is implemented within the framework of the Education Department of the Jewish Agency for Israel (www.jafi.org.il).