May 10, 2006

Dear Friends,

I write this letter to you as I am flying back to Israel – a little cramped in my seat but still feeling the rush of satisfaction from our first Partnership 2000 conference. If there was one thing plain as day at our 2-day gathering, it was that we were all thirsty to meet with one another – to share our experience in partnership – our success as well as challenges. Clearly different partnerships and different types of federations deal with different issues or face different obstacles, but this first gathering demonstrated that there are many commonalities among us, and that if we keep our lines of communication open, our shared experience can help all of us – individually and collectively – go from strength-to-strength.

I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you who joined us in Newark.  We had some 90 registered participants which together with our shlichim and staff brought us close to 130 participants. As I said at the conference, this considerable turnout is a reflection of the belief in and success of the partnerships that we have forged together over past decade.  Please see attached the list of participants to help facilitate widespread communication. I also urge all of you to take a look at our website, which has a wealth of information about the programs and activities of our individual partnerships, and which includes a catalogue of programs: http://www.jewishagency.org/JewishAgency/English/Israel/Partnerships

As promised, please find attached my presentation from the opening session.  The first part of the presentation includes interim findings of a national survey that we are conducting in Israel, the objective of which is to assess the Israeli public's awareness of Partnership 2000 and their level of involvement (the final results will be distributed upon completion). The second part of the presentation is a snapshot of Partnership 2000 in the year 2005, showing how many people in Israel and abroad participated in P2K missions and programming. The high rate of participation clearly demonstrates that P2K is making a nation-wide impact on Israel, and is building bonds between Israel and Jewish communities like no other program. Over the next week or so, we will be sending you other materials that were presented at the conference.

It was wonderful to see many of you again, and to meet many of you for the first time, and I am looking forward to working together through Partnership to help strengthen our Jewish people as one for the next generation.

Sincerely,
 
Andrea Arbel
Director
Division of Partnerships