Israeli NGOs and American Jewish Donors: The Structures and Dynamics of Power Sharing in a New Philanthropic Era Volume I of II A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Brandeis University Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies S. Ilan Troen, Advisor In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy by Eric J. Fleisch May 2014 The signed version of this form is on file in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. This dissertation, directed and approved by Eric J. Fleisch’s Committee, has been accepted and approved by the Faculty of Brandeis University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of: DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Malcolm Watson, Dean Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertation Committee: S. Ilan Troen, Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies Jonathan D. Sarna, Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies Theodore Sasson, Department of International Studies, Middlebury College Copyright by Eric J. Fleisch 2014 Acknowledgements There are so many people I would like to thank for the valuable help and support they provided me during the process of writing my dissertation. I must first start with my incomparable wife, Rebecca, to whom I dedicate my dissertation. Rebecca, you have my deepest appreciation for your unending self-sacrifice and support at every turn in the process, your belief in me, your readiness to challenge me intellectually and otherwise, your flair for bringing unique perspectives to the table, and of course for your friendship and love. I would never have been able to do this without you. I do not think I could have been more fortunate with my dissertation committee. Professors S. Ilan Troen, Jonathan D. Sarna, and Theodore Sasson are all leaders in their fields. They are master scholars, gifted teachers, and beyond that wonderful human beings who treated me with the utmost respect and dignity throughout what is often maligned as thankless part of the dissertation process. Professor Troen first introduced me to the academic study of Israel when I was a Masters student in 2004. He not only turned me on to the rich complexity of contemporary Israel as a subject for academic inquiry, but he also clued me into the budding field of Israel Studies and the opportunity rising scholars would have in contributing to the field. Through exposing me to cutting edge scholarship on Israel, inviting me into the community at the new Schusterman Center for Israel Studies, with all of its visiting academics, talented grad students, and regular lectures, as well as through countless face-to-face meetings in his office, Professor Troen made sure that my education on Israel Studies was multi-disciplinary, deep, and represented a variety of perspectives. He shepherded my academic path through a great mix of overarching support iv and trust in my ability to carve my own niche in the field. I owe Professor Troen my eternal thanks for all of the opportunity and encouragement. When I began to understand that my interest lay as much with American Jewry as with Israel, I quickly discovered just how fortunate I was to be sitting in the same department with Jonathan Sarna, arguably the top scholar of American Jewry in the world. Professor Sarna proved immediately generous with his time and support. Through the processes of studying with him in class and having him oversee my comprehensive exam in American Jewish history, Professor Sarna helped me to develop my expertise in American Jewish history. I was repeatedly and impressed by how available Professor Sarna made himself to me—whether to meet, or to read draft forms of my work. His responses were dependably prompt and offered insightful critique, and all the while within a very encouraging context. I owe you my deepest thanks, Professor Sarna. In many ways, I have had the chance to work most closely with Professor Sasson. Professor Sasson’s interest in the field of diaspora studies, and my own in third sector studies, and philanthropy studies culminated in valuable collaborative conversations and work. I had the fortune of conducting a study and co-publishing a monograph with Professor Sasson in 2012 on changing patterns in American Jewish philanthropy to Israel. Throughout the process, Professor Sasson did not approach our work with any pretense, and clearly valued learning from me, just as I did from him. Professor Sasson has been a terrific mentor to me as a scholar, a researcher and more than that, as a professional and a mensch. Thank you for everything. Beyond my committee, there are countless others I want to acknowledge. v First, to my terrific mother and father, Phyllis Fleisch and Alan Fleisch, for supporting me at all times through all the twists and turns of my career and my life. I can’t thank you two enough for everything. To my amazing three little sons, Oren, Eli, and Emmett, who have been more than tolerant in adjusting to whatever less-than-ideal logistics the dissertation process has thrown at them, handling mostly everything with patience and a lot of good humor. I also owe an enormous amount to my grandparents who helped me to develop the character and work ethic I’ve needed to survive this process, including my living grandmother Hanny Gellmann, and my late grandparents Grete and Hans Fleisch z”l and also especially to my late grandfather Joseph Gellmann, z”l who, through talking about the latest headlines about Israel at every Shabbat dinner from the time I was five, really gave me no choice but to care about Israeli society and politics. My deep thanks also to my other family members for their ongoing support, including my in-laws Ruth and Sam Hartman, who I gather had to refrain on more than a few occasions from asking when I was going to finish, as well as my wonderful brother David Fleisch, my great siblings by marriage, Gretchen Rupp, Laura Tempesta, and Eric Tempesta z”l, and my fantastic nieces and nephews, Avery Fleisch, Max Fleisch, Naomi Fleisch, Ava Tempesta, Juliana Tempesta, and Peter Tempesta. And to my other dear relatives, including Judi Fleisch, Doris Bertolet, and Lillian Epstein, and the many, many others I don’t list here, thanks to you all. Next to my wonderful network of friends, who’ve provided me immeasurable support in so many ways through this process. Your friendship has been crucial to my reaching this milestone. Thanks to: Matthew Bérubѐ, Suenita Lawrence Berube, John Fitzgerald, John Fu, Peggi Fu, Toral Gajarawala, Jason Harris, Emanuel Hemsi, Courtney Horwitz, Aliza Inbari, David Jaffe, Haidee Janak, Joayne Larson, Joel and Leah Orent, Jennifer Parks, Irusha David vi Peiris, Addie Rall, Molly Jane Rubinger, Robyn Siegel, Jennifer Swenson, Kerri Talbot, Lisa Ting, Grunie and Mendy Umnier, Gloria Valentin-Denson, Abra Verinder, Danielle Walters, and many others. A special thanks to Motti Inbari, who I consider both a close friend and a valued professional mentor. Motti has encouraged me and my work at every step, and I can’t thank him enough for everything. Next, I would like to express my enormous gratitude to the generosity of the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies under the leadership of Ilan Troen, the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE) under the direction of Mitchell Bard, and the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, under the professional leadership of Sandy Cardin and Lisa Eisen for all believing in the field of Israel Studies and my place in it—all generously providing me fellowships and stipends to help enable me to complete the program. Thanks to other supporters along the way as well, including the Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry, Combined Jewish Philanthropies, and the Dorot Foundation, who all provided some funding. Also, thanks to Guidetar.org for allowing me free access to the deluxe edition of its rich database of IRS 990 forms and to Michael Grill and Geek Offices for providing me a great opportunity to use affordable office space over the last two years of my work. I’m not quite sure how I would have finished everything up without it! Lastly, since spring 2013, my thanks to Leonard Saxe, Annette Koren, and the fabulous staff at the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies for the opportunity to work first as a part-time researcher, and ultimately to become a full-time member of the team. Next, I want to thank the wonderful faculty I’ve learned from in the NEJS department and Hornstein program at Brandeis. In addition to being top scholars, I was impressed by how approachable and supportive you have all been to me throughout the past several years. My deep vii thanks to all of you, including: Sylvia Barack-Fishman, Marc Brettler, Jonathan Decter, Avigdor Levy, Anthony Polonsky, Eugene Sheppard, and Ilana Szobel in NEJS and Sherry Israel, David Mersky, Marlene Schultz, Susan Shevitz, and Larry Sternberg in Hornstein. I want toalso express my gratitude to some senior scholars at other institutions who not only produced works that I drew on heavily, but also made themselves available along the way to provide guidance and suggestions, including Benny Gidron, Paula Kabalo, Mark Rosen, Gabi Sheffer, and Jack Wertheimer. In addition,there are a handful of scholars who I never met, but whose work I couldn’t have done without. My thanks to Ernest Stock, whose archival work paved the way for what I was able to do. Also, I want to give thanks posthumously to a few of the giants in my field who passed away in the years immediately prior to my starting this project, including Daniel Elazar z”l, Charles Hoffman z”l, and Charles Liebman z”l.