Israel Bonds’ San Francisco office shut its doors for the final time last week — joining a growing list of national Jewish agencies to jettison their Bay Area operations.
The closure follows the departure of the Zionist Organization of America, the Jewish National Fund and the American Jewish Congress.
All four Bay Area operations were eliminated by their New York headquarters, which cited financial reasons.
The latest consolidation has upset local lay leaders of State of Israel Bonds/Development Corporation for Israel, who consider the move a short-term solution to budgetary woes. Calling the decision “disappointing,” several leaders said it will prove to be a mistake in the long run.
“It wasn’t our decision,” said Rabbi Jacob Traub, a local board member. “Had it been, we wouldn’t have closed. It doesn’t cost a lot of money to run the office here.”
San Francisco demographer Gary Tobin called the Feb. 28 closure of the Israel Bonds office part of a growing trend among Jewish agencies with West Coast branches.
“There’s a general misunderstanding by many of the Jewish organizations based in New York about the character and the importance of the Jewish community on the West Coast,” he said. He added that coast to coast management of Jewish agencies is “nearly impossible” since there is “very little connection between organizations in the West and the East.
In 1987, the San Francisco office of ZOA closed its doors, citing financial concerns and a diminishing fund-raising base. That office, which oversaw operations in Washington, Oregon, Utah, Colorado, Las Vegas and Northern California, was replaced by volunteer efforts.
In 1999, the Jewish National Fund closed its San Francisco office, which served Northern California, Alaska, Hawaii, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Oregon and Washington. The national office called it a cost-cutting measure, and in that same year reduced its branches from 33 to 21.
More recently, in 2001, the AJCongress’ San Francisco office was closed amid controversy between local and national leaders. Like Israel Bonds, ZOA and JNF, national AJCongress leaders cited financial reasons. Since then, the organizations have said contributions have not diminished as a result of closing the San Francisco offices; some continue to maintain local telephones and/or small-scale operations.
Tobin, however, said he is skeptical that financial problems alone led the agencies to pull the plugs. He primarily blames East Coast mentality for the closures of West Coast Jewish agency offices.
“This clearly indicates to me, and has for a long time, that the West needs to create its own infrastructures,” said Tobin, explaining that burgeoning Jewish communities exist in such Western cities as Las Vegas, Seattle and Phoenix. “My guess is that a different type of infrastructure will indeed develop as the strength and the character of the Jewish population in the West continues to grow.”
A number of national and international Jewish organizations continue to retain San Francisco offices, including AIPAC-American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the American Jewish Committee, the Anti-Defamation League and fund-raising offices for Israel’s hospitals and universities.
With the closure of the San Francisco Israel Bonds office, the Los Angeles office will assume responsibility for its operations, which also covered Oregon and Washington, as well as the operations of the Phoenix office, which also closed Feb. 28.
The national office cited a dramatic decrease in funding from the Israeli government, upward of $2 million, as the primary reason for the closings.
“We had to economize and find more effective and efficient ways to carry on,” explained Raphael Rothstein, national director of marketing and public relations. “It wasn’t easy; it was very painful…but we look forward to continued support.”
Israel Bonds also recently closed an office in Westchester, N.Y.
Local Israel Bonds’ staff and lay leaders were informed of the decision during a meeting in early February. “Everyone was terribly disappointed,” said Traub, noting that the sale of bonds in San Francisco had been down for the past few years.
“But there were those of us on the board who felt that this could have been rectified with the proper person in place [as executive director],” he added.
Israel Bonds’ local executive director, Ricki Nickel, resigned in December 2000 and her position had not been permanently filled. Harvey Stoller, acting executive director, oversaw the closing of the office.
Even had the job been permanently filled, however, lay leaders were told the office would still have closed, said Traub.
Board member William J. Lowenberg, who also would have liked the local office to remain open, said he respects the national agency’s decision. Still, he feels the timing is unfortunate because of the Middle East crisis.
Traub agrees. He said that investing in Israel now “is more important than ever before,” not only because of the continuing violence but in light of a possible peace deal.
“If a deal is struck, Israel is going to need a lot of money to rebuild, restructure and secure the lines, in terms of the Israeli-Palestinian positions,” he said.
For now, Israel Bonds lay leaders plan to keep the local community involved by organizing events and promoting the investment in bonds.
It won’t be exactly the same as it was before, said Lowenberg, but he believes the Bay Area Jewish community will retain the “emotional aspect of our feelings [toward] Israel.”
He is also hopeful that there won’t be a major impact on local investments since “the majority of the bonds are being sold to institutions rather than individuals,” making local representation less important.
“But we have to make sure the message of Israel Bonds stays out there,” said Traub. “The key thing is that people continue to invest in Israel. It happens to be a good investment…I wish all my investments were in Israel Bonds.
“I always felt that the bond means two things,” he added. “It’s a bond where you owe money, but it’s also a bond between the hearts of people who live in the diaspora and the hearts of people living in Israel.”
Bay Area residents and businesses with Israel Bonds in their portfolios will not be affected by the change. Investors will be notified about the closure and provided with a toll-free phone number in case they have any questions.
In the meantime, information on Israel Bonds is available at www.israelbonds.com — and the Los Angeles office can be reached at (800) 922-6637.