In 1939, nine years before the State of Israel was established, the first NFTY leaders met to address why young people needed Israel to have independence. During historic milestones in Israel's existence, in 1967, 1973 and 1982, NFTYites around North America rallied in support of our homeland, creating programs, sending care packages and making donations. In the early 1990’s when NFTY established itself as the youth branch of ARZA: The Association of Reform Zionists of America, NFTY reconfirmed its commitment to Israel and its people. In 2005, NFTY accepted the invitation to join Netzer Olami, the worldwide Progressive Jewish youth movement, based in Jerusalem. NFTY’s Travel programs to Israel as well as Israel programming has grown leaps and bounds and today is one of the greatest aspects of NFTY, recently celebrating 50 summers of NFTY in Israel. In February 2008 and June 2008, NFTY reconfirmed our commitment and our passion for Israel by identifying three of our top four Thirteen Principles as reflective of our connection to Israel - Am Yisrael, Medinat Yisrael and Hebrew (http://www.nfty.org/about/goals/thirteenprinciples/).
The Diaspora Action Kit is the culmination of many years of Israel programming and education. The main goal of the Diaspora Action Kit is not just to educate on the specifics of Israel, but is also meant to help develop the skills of NFTYites so that you too can become strong Zionist advocates. We are constantly challenged by those who don’t know, those who know but don’t agree and those who assume. The Diaspora Action Kit is a way for you, as a NFTYite, as a Reform Jew, to learn for yourself and from others, to ensure that every NFTYite will be able to advocate with relevance and knowledge on behalf of Israel.
The Diaspora Action Kit could not have been completed with out help from the dedicated staff of The Union For Reform Judaism and ARZA. This project is the result of two years of hard work and dedication of more than fifty individuals all who have invested an incredible amount of time and energy into making this a project a tangible reality. Credit must also be given to the original architects of this project who worked on variations of the project from 2001-2004 - Jesse Paikin, Matt Rogers and Laura Herman, all NFTY-NEL Alumni - for without whom this project would have never come to life. We would especially like to thank the NFTY leadership and the NFTY North American Staff for helping to guide this entire process and support this amazing resource for all of NFTY. Last but not least we would like to thank the 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 NFTY North American Boards for their continuous support along every step of this project.
We would like to challenge all readers of this Diaspora Action Kit to take it and use its information. Use it as a guide for creating a newly developed sense of your own Zionist identity. More importantly though, we ask for you to take The Diaspora Action Kit’s message and educate others, become Zionist Advocates and ensure a next generation of Reform Zionist Thinkers. As you move along this journey of becoming a Zionist educator and advocate, as you find or create additional resources you think would be helpful to others, please send them to nfty@urj.org so we can continue to build this out into the most comprehensive youth advocacy resource about Israel that exists.
Aleh V'hagshem,
Ben Levine NFTY Programming Vice President 2006-2007
Ivy Cohen NFTY Religious and Cultural Vice President 2007-2008
