ABSTRACT

American Jewish organizations responsible for formulating Jewish public policy are the agencies described alternatively as defense agencies, community relations agencies, or human relations agencies. The primary purpose of these organizations classically has been to protect the status and rights of the American Jewish community. American Jewry's aid and support, protection, and intervention for their co-religionists in Europe became matters of self-interest and mutual responsibility. The destruction of European Jewry demonstrated the interdependence of Jewish destiny and imposed a sense of responsibility and obligation. The Israeli/American Jewish combined and complimentary efforts on behalf of European Jewish communities produced extraordinary results reaching historical proportions in the latter-day exodus from the former Soviet Union. American Jewry and Israel provide both personnel and programming to assist and enhance the regeneration of Jewish communal life throughout Europe, in the west and the east. The religious, cultural, and educational activities for European Jewish communities are enhanced by the political influence of both American Jewry and Israel.