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Younger Generation Looks To Take Over World (Jewish Congress)

With the future of the World Jewish Congress up for grabs in an election next month, a group of young leaders is making an unexpected bid for control by putting forward one of their own for president.

The fresh candidate for the post of WJC president is Einat Wilf, a 36-year-old Harvard University graduate who has served as a consultant for McKinsey and Co. and as an adviser to Shimon Peres. Wilf’s campaign is being promoted by members of KolDor, a network of Jews between the ages of 25 and 45 that was created in 2003 to bring together young professionals with an interest in Jewish affairs.

The election — which is scheduled to take place during the June 10 meeting of the WJC’s governing board — comes after years of turmoil at the organization that ended early last month with the resignation of its longtime president, Edgar Bronfman. KolDor leaders have said that they will be pushing Wilf’s candidacy in meetings with members of the WJC governing board before the June 10 vote.

“Looking at the recent problems, we said, ‘Maybe they need new blood,’� said Claude Kandiyoti, a 34-year-old commodities trader in Brussels. Kandiyoti is a member of the KolDor executive committee. Read more

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/865196.html

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3406771,00.html

In a great move that will help bring healing to the WJC after years of turmoil, Ronald Lauder will likely succeed in his long term quest to be President of the World Jewish Congress by offering a olive branch and the chairmanship of the Governing Board, to Edgar Bronfman’s son.
Besides ending the in-fighting, which would be welcome, they have yet to offer great ideas on the future of Jewish life and the role that a renewed WJC can play. Enter, Einat Wilf. Read the JTA Story below and stay tuned.

Longshot young reformer sets sights
on making WJC more inclusive

http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/news/article/20070529wilfwjc.html

Writer and activist Einat Wilf, 36, who is running for president of the World Jewish Congress.
By Jacob Berkman Published: 05/29/2007
NEW YORK (JTA) — As two elder statesmen prepare to go head to head for the presidency of the World Jewish Congress, a longshot young intellectual has entered the race with an eye toward reforming the embattled institution.

A little-known Israeli writer and activist, Einat Wilf, announced her candidacy Tuesday to replace Edgar Bronfman, who will step down June 10 after nearly 30 years as WJC president.

That same day in New York, the organization’s governing board is slated to elect an interim president to serve until the next WJC plenary meeting in 2009.

Wilf, 36, is a former foreign policy adviser to Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres. She has served as a consultant for the consulting firm McKinsey & Co. and is a managing partner with Koor Corporate Venture Capital.

She also has written two books about reforming Israel’s education system and is writing her dissertation for a doctorate in political science from Cambridge University about the workings of the WJC during the 1990s. Read more

Next-Generation Candidate for President of the
World Jewish Congress

 Einat Wilf, a 36 year old writer and activist, has announced her candidacy for President of the World Jewish Congress (WJC). She is backed by a group of next- generation leaders who are also part of Kol Dor (www.KolDor.org).  
 “My candidacy is motivated by a deep concern for the future of the World Jewish Congress and the widening gap between what it has been, what it could be and its present state,” wrote Wilf in her nomination letter to the WJC Secretariat.
 “Given this critical juncture in the WJC’s history, it is imperative that a new and committed generation of Jewish activists articulate a vision for the WJC and commit to realizing it,” says Wilf. “As a long-time advocate for Jewish causes, and especially as a member of KolDor, I have been privileged to spend years formulating a vision for a global Jewish community.  The World Jewish Congress should serve as an organizational cornerstone for a global Jewish community by becoming its legitimate representative body, animated by values of democracy and transparency.” Read more

http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/102074.html

Breaking News

Wilf to run for WJC president

E-mail News Brief Tell the Editors Writer and activist Einat Wilf has announced her candidacy for president of the World Jewish Congress. The 36-year-old former foreign policy adviser to Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres is being backed by “a group of members of ” KolDor, an international group of next-generation leaders. Wilf is writing her dissertation for a doctorate in political science from Cambridge University about the workings of the WJC during the 1990s, when the organization was at the center of the battle for Holocaust restitution money. She has written two books about public policy in Israel. Edgar Bronfman, who has been the WJC president since 1979, will step down June 10. The same day in New York, WJC’s governing board will elect an interim president to serve until the organization’s next plenary meeting in 2009. Ronald Lauder, the cosmetics mogul and Jewish National Fund president, is the only other official entrant. Mendel Kaplan, chair of the WJC executive committee and a South African steel manufacturer, is expected to enter the race. It is unclear if Bronfman’s son, Matthew, will run. Candidates must notify the office of the WJC Secretariat in writing by June 1. Wilf is running on a platform of reforming and revitalizing the WJC. “My candidacy is motivated by a deep concern for the future of the World Jewish Congress and the widening gap between what it has been, what it could be and its present state,” Wilf wrote in her nomination letter to the Secretariat. “Given this critical juncture in the WJC’s history, it is imperative that a new and committed generation of Jewish activists articulate a vision for the WJC and commit to realizing it.”