June 25, 2010 / 13 Tammuz 5770 

Dear Friends,

I want to share with you my excitement about our Board meetings and how gratified I am with all that transpired.

It feels good to have your backing and support for the strategic plan with which many of us in Jerusalem and many of you have been involved in for months.

But I am equally excited about the experience and process of approval. For it is clear that you care deeply about our mission. And it is also clear that the intellectual level of analysis and deliberation during our plenary was impressive. This is particularly important now because the new strategic initiative is very much a work in process and we will need your thoughts, ideas, analysis and experience as we move together into the next stage of implementation.

I was also impressed by the way the debate on the issues was conducted with a sense of respect for your interlocutors and how the comments and questions were so constructive both in style and substance. The underlying assumption was always that the other party was sincere and was motivated by the same good will and shared objectives. This may be a cultural given at the Jewish Agency but as a veteran of the Israeli Knesset, I found it encouraging and even inspiring.

As we move forward, we need to make sure that our purpose and objectives are broadly and accurately presented. JAFI's vision is not being changed: we are here to help ensure the future of a connected, committed global Jewish People with a strong Israel at its center. What we are doing is evolving a new strategy to achieve our enduring goal-- a strategy which accommodates the inevitable changes in the reality in which we work.

Any important change can be threatening and inevitably triggers rumors and misinformation. As part of the decision making process we need you to make sure that what we are doing is accurately communicated. You are the best ambassadors to convey the excitement of our new direction.

I look forward to working together as we go forward to the next step in this process and hope you will feel as free to communicate your insights and thoughts between our formal meetings as you did this week in Jerusalem.

Thank you to each one of you as we go about connecting, inspiring and empowering.

Shabbat shalom,

Natan Sharansky