By Donald H. Harrison

Alan Hoffmann, director general of the education department of the Jewish Agency for Israel, today called upon the University of California and the California State College System  to restore junior year abroad programs in Israel, saying that other states already have done so.

His comments came during a question and answer session during which Rabbi Lisa Goldstein, Hillel's executive director in San Diego,  pointed out that ever since the U.S. State Department had issued an advisory cautioning against travel in Israel in response to escalating violence there, University of California students are prohibited from doing their junior year abroad studies there.

Hoffmann suggested that members of the community in attendance at his keynote lecture to the Limmud (Day of Education) sponsored by San Diego's Agency for Jewish Education contact members of the UC Board of Regents and the State College Board of Trustees in order to get the program reinstated.  

More than 800 people reportedly attended one or more sessions of the Day of Study, with perhaps half present for Hoffmann's speech in the auditorium of the Lawrence Family JCC.

The thrust of Hoffmann's lecture was that during the formative years of every Diaspora Jew's life—particularly at the time of high school or university—arrangements should be made for spending a substantial amount of time in Israel.

He said programs need to be developed not just for two weeks, such as those developed for  youth who visit Israel on the Operation Birthright program,, but for a full semester or academic year.

Hoffmann replaced Israel's Education Minister Livnor Liat as the main Limmud speaker after she canceled her appearance in the wake of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke and in anticipation of Israel's upcoming elections.  

The head of the education department for the Jewish Agency told community members that Sharon recently had given his blessing to using Israeli matching funds to underwrite a "study in Israel" program.  He said he and a group of students spoke about it with Sharon as recently as  the last night of Chanukah.

The director general said Sharon's support for this program will be part of his lasting legacy, adding that the prime minister understood how important it is for Jews to feel as if they are one people, with a common destiny, regardless of whether they live in Israel or the Diaspora.

Furthermore, said Hoffmann, studies of Americans who have spent time in Israel indicate that they are more likely than their peers to feel a strong connection not only to Israel but also to Jewish life.

Hoffmann said declining affiliation rates and soaring intermarriage rates in North America have become a cause of concern to the government in Israel.  If indeed spending time in Israel—and feeling that Jews have a common home and a common history—is critical to a sense of Jewish identity, then "engagement with Israel has to be ratcheted up," Hoffmann said.