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WASHINGTON — Reeling under a mountain of debt, the Jewish Agency for Israel has turned to North American Jewry for emergency assistance.

At a closed-door meeting in Washington this week, Jewish Agency leaders implored top officials of about a dozen large federations to send an emergency advance of $60 million to the organization whose historical mission has been the rescue and resettlement of Jewish immigrants in Israel.

An immediate cash infusion would require a substantial outlay by local federations nationwide.

"It's not about do or die," but without the money "we will have to cut core services" for those in need, said Shoshana Cardin, who chairs the United Israel Appeal, which serves as the Jewish Agency's U.S. operating agent.

Jewish organizational officials say the agency has reached the end of its rope and cannot operate without the advance.

"We're at our borrowing limits from the banks and can only go to one place, and that's to the federations," Cardin said. "We haven't paid most suppliers for the first quarter of this year, and we're barely meeting payroll."

For decades, the Jewish Agency has been the principal recipient in Israel of funds raised by the annual campaigns of local federations in conjunction with the United Jewish Appeal. The UIA administers the transfer of those funds, which total about half of the agency's $400 million budget.

The plea comes as the agency is amidst a massive reorganization. Pressured by local federations, the agency launched a plan Jan. 1 to streamline and depoliticize the organization.

The agency is known for bringing to Israel hundreds of thousands of immigrants, but is struggling to shed its image as a bureaucratic behemoth.

JAFI, according to officials, has cut staff — from more than 1,600 in 1996 to fewer than 1,000 by the end of 1997 — and moved toward a balanced budget.

The World Zionist Organization has been brought under JAFI's roof as of January. The Joint Authority for Jewish and Zionist Education, which had operated outside the agency, has followed the same path. The agency also has eliminated politically appointed department heads, which diaspora leaders have long considered wasteful.

Federation officials, including those most vocal in pushing JAFI to restructure, seem to embrace the idea of helping bail out the agency, which is suffering from an accumulated $400 million debt, according to Yossi Shturm, a spokesman for JAFI in Jerusalem.

In fact, while prior to Monday's meeting some federation officials were discussing whether the Jewish Agency should be shut down altogether, by day's end most agreed they must find a way to support the agency.

"Nobody wants the Jewish Agency to go into default. We have to help," said Barry Shrage, president of the Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston.

The Jewish Agency's emergency plan, presented by Charles "Corky" Goodman of Chicago, chairman of the Jewish Agency Board of Governors, and Avraham Burg, chairman of the Jewish Agency Executive, is still subject to the approval of local federation boards.

Agency officials blame the debt on the cost of the mass exodus of Jews to Israel over the last 10 years from the former Soviet Union and Ethiopia. The agency has brought more than 700,000 immigrants to Israel.

A fund-raising campaign known as Operation Exodus was launched, but it did not match the cost of absorption, officials said.

The original Exodus campaign to raise $420 million estimated the need to absorb 250,000 people over five years, according to Rabbi Daniel Allen, UIA executive vice chairman. Instead, 320,000 immigrants arrived from the former Soviet Union in two years.

When asked how he would respond to critics of the plan, Burg said, "For 30 years, we held vigils and cried, `Let my people go.'"

Now, "you have aliyah fatigue?" he asked rhetorically. "Who do you punish? The olim from Azerbaijan."

While officials trace the overall problem to campaigns to bring Jews from the former Soviet Union and Ethiopia, the immediate problem, they say, stems from dramatically declining contributions from Keren Hayesod, which raises funds in 47 countries outside the United States.

But federations in the United States have also been decreasing their overseas allocations in recent years.

The assistance plan emerging in the aftermath of Monday's meeting includes these elements:

*Federations would send a combined total of $10 million a month for six months, beginning in July.

*Each federation, which already designates a portion of its annual campaign to overseas needs, would determine its fair share.

*This amount would be deducted from future allocations, but not for at least two years, with the option to extend it another two years.

Goodman was set to meet with federation leaders on the West Coast this week and host another large meeting in Chicago on Thursday.

Several federations said the agency must accelerate the liquidation of some of its assets. In response, Burg said he was "not ready to negotiate" about such particulars.