New Global Jewish Council aims to connect Diaspora and Israel

In an attempt to improve international co-operation between Jews in Israel and the Diaspora, Israel’s President Isaac Herzog is beginning a process to create a new 150-member Global Jewish Council.

The Council, which will officially launch on September 15, is an outcome of President Herzog’s Kol Ha’am - Voice of the People initiative, which launched in May 2023 as a response to the growing divide between Israel and the Diaspora.

CEO of Voice of the People Shirel Dagan-Levy said the Global Jewish Council was an opportunity for the current generation to “create a legacy that will guide and inspire future generations”.

“Imagine in 20 years looking back and seeing how each cohort of our council has shaped the Jewish people’s trajectory. Through their recommendations and our collective efforts, we will be able to trace the development of our communities and understand the impact we have made.”

The Council will comprise 150 individuals: 50 from Israel, 50 from the US and Canada, and 50 from other Diaspora communities, divided into working groups of about 15 people.

Members of the global Jewish community can have their say on what topics they want the Council to work on by participating in a global survey, which is now open. The survey asks participants to choose the most important topics for the Council from:

Applications for membership of the Global Jewish Council will open on September 15 and close a month later, with membership for the first quarter to be announced by the end of December. The first meeting of the Council will be held in March next year.

Voice of the People Chief Marketing Officer Neta Danciger told The Jewish Independent that the aim was to produce a Council that reflects the diversity of world Jewry. The three geographical chambers reflect the fact that 46% of the world’s Jews live in Israel and 40% in the US, and there are also criteria for diversity in gender, religious affiliation, ethnicity, community ties and age, with particular emphasis on including members under the age of 50.

“There's a whole process around getting the diverse cohort that we're looking for, finding the right people. We have a very interesting algorithm that is helping us build small microcosms of diversity in different kind of parameters,” she said.

Voice of the People was initially primarily motivated by Diaspora concern over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s attempted judicial coup. President Herzog launched it after widespread Diaspora criticism of the proposed changes culminated in fierce criticism at the Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly last April.

Herzog initiated the process as a “Jewish Davos”, which involved consultations in 14 international centres, including Melbourne. At the Australian consultation last June, delegates suggested a declaration of shared values, a research database, and a "diversity minyan" system for the new Council.

The Jewish Independent produced the Crossroads23 Survey in 2023 to enable wider community input into the process. It showed Australian Jews retain a strong baseline identification with Israel, but were losing faith in the country’s commitment to democracy.

But all that was before the crisis of October 7 and the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, which have pushed other agendas to the fore.

Danciger said the war had temporarily derailed the process but it is now back on track, albeit with a somewhat changed focus. She cited antisemitism as a growing issue since the start of the war.

Danciger said the Council would have the capacity to conduct research and work as an incubator for programs that support Jewish communal needs.

But she said that the Council could not be expected to directly affect policy within Israel. “That is not one of our aims. This is not an initiative that is about Israel. I mean, Israel is connected to everything, but this is an initiative aimed to cater and to think about the challenges of global Jewry.”