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The Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay has launched an Israel Crisis Fund aimed at providing aid to Israelis affected by ongoing violence.

The fund, which raised more than $10,000 in the few days since it was started last week, was triggered by "people's desire to do something tangible to support Jews in Israel and to also help build a dialogue between Jews and Arabs there," said Ami Nahshon, the federation's executive director.

Funds will be distributed in two ways, he said, with half going toward social services impacted by the violence, and half toward grassroots groups that promote Jewish and Arab cooperation.

The East Bay effort is far from alone. Numerous American Jewish federations, as they launch their annual campaigns, have found the crisis is fueling increased giving.

Leaders of the United Jewish Communities, the umbrella organization for North American federations, say they are modifying fund-raising letters and brochures to "concentrate heavily" on Israel and the need for solidarity.

The two other Bay Area federations have not yet decided whether to put an increased focus on Israel in their fund-raising efforts, but that may change in the near future.

The Jewish Federation of Greater San Jose, for instance, has no current plans for creating "a second-line campaign," but it may allocate more funds than it has in the past "to help the number of Israeli communities dramatically impacted," according to Jon Friedenberg, executive director. Last year approximately 40 percent of the annual campaign funds were directed to countries overseas, including Israel.

"Clearly there are increased needs in Israel as a result of violence, and people in the community who want to respond to it. But exactly how we will handle it is still being worked out," he said.

Friedenberg, as well as Sam Salkin, the executive director of the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation, say they probably won't reach a definitive decision on changing their fund-raising focus for a couple of months.

Salkin said the JCF wants to survey the situation for itself before making a decision based on "Israel's particular need."

"Our Israel and overseas committee is going to Israel in March," he said. The trip should help to further identify "how the current crisis in Israel pertains to their need for additional funds."

A renewed focus on Israel would be a departure from recent years.

A growing number of federations — confident that peace was on Israel's horizon, and overwhelmed by Jewish continuity and social service needs at home — had been keeping more of their campaign revenues at home and sending less overseas. In 1999, federations allocated $237.7 million for overseas needs, approximately 75 percent of which went to the Jewish Agency for Israel, one of the federation system's two overseas partners.

The Jewish Agency's primary work is to bring new immigrants to Israel and to help absorb them into Israeli society.

But if Israel's woes are now spawning more contributions, it is not yet clear where the additional dollars will go.

Even less clear is whether the current concern about Israel will translate into a long-term shift in American Jews' relationship to Israel.

For now, various crisis-related projects are in the talking stages, but federations have not been told of specific new needs that North American Jews should be funding.

"We have suggested to our donors that they symbolically think about increasing their annual campaign gift as a measure of solidarity with Israel. But because neither the UJC nor the Jewish Agency has articulated specific human service needs associated with this crisis, it's difficult to draw a direct line between the crisis and the campaign," said Lee Wunsch, executive vice president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston.

However, many federation officials are reasoning that as military needs demand more attention from the Israeli government and economy, the American Jewish community will need to pitch in with increased resources for social needs that risk being neglected.

"We already have the expectation that more and more money will go to the army, eventually at the expense of social services and the vulnerable populations," according to Sallai Meridor of the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem.

"This is definitely a time for world Jewry to share with Israelis," he added. There are "very clear and identified needs that have to be addressed," such as absorbing new immigrants, particularly Ethiopians and orphans.

In addition to helping with ongoing social needs, new projects related to the crisis are under discussion, said Meridor and Robert Schrayer, the national chair of the UJC's campaign and financial resource development.

That includes potential projects to strengthen the Jewish infrastructure in Jerusalem neighborhoods, like Gilo, that have been hit by Palestinian gunfire, as well as the Jewish community in the Galilee.

Security infrastructure, such as protecting ambulances and school buses from terrorist attacks, may also be funding possibilities, said Meridor.

Also under consideration are coexistence projects for Jewish and Arab Israelis.

Regardless of how the funds are spent, federation leaders say they will not rely on the problems in Israel to subsidize domestic needs such as Jewish day schools and nursing homes.