MUIPINTS NIWA NANT

THE ISRAEL DEMOCRACY INSTITUTE
An Israel-Diaspora Enterprise

November 26, 1995

Prof. Yehoshua Lederberg
Rockefeller University
1230 York Ave.

New York 10021-6399
USA

Dear Prof. Lederberg,

As we approach the centennial of the founding of the Zionist movement and the jubilee of
the establishment of the State of Israel, we consider it essential that those who think and care
about the integrity and solidarity of the Jewish people recognize the changes that have
transformed our State and our people in recent years, and that we ready ourselves for the new
challenges that we can anticipate in the years and decades ahead. To that end, we have decided
to form a commission on the future of the relationship between Jews in Israel and the Diaspora,
and we are pleased to extend to you our cordial invitation to serve as a member of that
commission.

We extend this invitation to ten Israeli Jews and ten Diaspora Jews who have
distinguished themselves in the intellectual, professional, communal and economic life of their
respective countries. We ask you and your colleagues to bring the creative ingenuity and the
profound commitments that have animated your own work to this project of cultural planning for
the Jewish people.

It is our hope that the commission will focus its attention on the cultural, spiritual and
social trends that now characterize the Jewish people in its Land and in its Diasporas, and that it
will produce an action plan, to be put before existing institutions or to be made the task of
institutions that would have to be created for the purpose. We ask you and your colleagues to
produce an action plan that would strengthen the common culture and the shared experience of
Jews wherever they live, that would join the limitless resources of our tradition with the untapped
potential of the newest technologies for learning and communication, and that would bridge the
many different languages and frames of reference that increasingly divide us.

CVRD Tener eee oe ibe a Sy

91040 DVWIY 4702 7.n
P.0.B. 1702 feresalem 91410 Lspact
Tel: 82-6102 He Fan: 02-6353 19
2'd 6TESES 2 226 WayeSI I dat 9G:4T S6. 33d S2
We hope that the commission will begin its work shortly, that all its members will be able
to attend a meeting of an evening and the following day during the second balf of December to set
a clear agenda for its work, that it will conduct much of its deliberations in work groups defined
and composed as the members choose, that it will maintain frequent contact among their
participants, using electronic media, and that the commission will meet again as a whole to
determine its conclusions by next summer. The commission will have st its disposal the research
and writing assistance of a small but able staff beaded by Mr. Samuel Norich in the United States
and Mr. Haim Weizman in Issael.

Dr. Carmon will phone you by the end of next week to discuss the tasks of this
commission and, we hope, your participation in its work. Should you wish to contact him sooner,
you may reach him at: The Israel Democracy Institute, P. O, Box 4702, Jerusalem, 91040 Israel;
telephone 972 2 618244; fax 972 2 635319.

We look forward to working with you on these urgent issues concerning our People's
future.

. Yossi Beilin Dr. Arye Carmon

Minister President
Prime Minister's Office Israel Democracy Institute