The Bachar Fellowship—The fellowship for facilitating national change
An innovative initiative by JDC, known in Israel as “The Joint” and the Bachar family, the Bachar Fellowship is designed to spearhead systemic change in Israeli public and social systems. The fellowship enables senior leaders from the public and social sectors to utilize their experience and knowledge to advance important national issues and create a practical foundation for continued progress
Not just theoretical research, but real change
The Bachar Fellowship’s unique components support an ambitious framework. The candidate selected must be a disciplined and innovative thinker who has accrued a wide range of proven experience leading change in areas presenting broad public systemic challenges. The fellowship is not designed to simply generate one-off, isolated results; rather, it aims to lay the foundation for change by leaving a legacy of public infrastructure for ongoing processes.
“Unlike fellowships granted for academic research” says Rani Dudai, chairman of the fellowship’s steering committee Director of JDC Tevet, “the fellowship strives for practical application based on a theoretical infrastructure, a detailed plan of action, and intensive implementation of activity.”
The Bachar Fellowship realizes these goals by participating in three different arenas: collaborating with decision makers in policy design; teaming up with entrepreneurs and other catalysts for change to facilitate appropriate discourse; and applying knowledge gained from research and development to form a sturdy foundation for advancement.
“At the end of the day, the issues the fellowship chooses to promote are not random, but rather are subjects relevant to the difficult, complex, and challenging times in which we live,” says Dudai. Crucially, he continues, the fellowship “focuses on areas that aim to strengthen social resilience in Israel.”
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First fellow, former Interior Ministry director-general Mordechay Cohen awarded for completing his fellowship year
(Ariel Zandberg)
Impact of the first fellow
Former Interior Ministry Director General Mordechay Cohen, who is currently finishing his fellowship tenure, championed a policy of governmental decentralization to strengthen local authorities’ powers, as an extension of his work serving as director general of the Interior Ministry. Cohen was chosen as a fellow due to his understanding of local authorities’ special status and the need to strengthen them to both reinforce the country’s democracy and reduce social inequality.
During his fellowship year, Cohen drafted detailed road maps and advised government ministries, including the Interior Ministry, the Prime Minister’s Office, and the Justice Ministry. He also advanced relevant research allowing for building strong infrastructure for implementing policy.
The work conducted under the fellowship’s auspices has demonstrated proven results in the current crisis following the horrific events of October 7. Since then, with the JDC team, Cohen has built collaborations with philanthropic organizations, formulated long-term relief programs for local authorities in the south of Israel, and helped other authorities across the country prepare to absorb evacuees. In response to the ongoing conflict in the north, they have also collaborated closely with local authority leaders along the confrontation line, and, with the assistance of large philanthropic organizations, Cohen and JDC have begun implementing and addressing a practical rehabilitation program for local residents and authorities.
The fellowship is facilitated by JDC’s ELKA Partnership
The JDC, or Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, is the oldest and largest Jewish humanitarian organization, working in the land of Israel since 1914. In Israel, JDC empowers the most vulnerable Israelis and achieves this by creating social services in strategic cooperation with the government, business, philanthropic and NGO sectors. The JDC-Elkas's partnership improves public and social systems for the benefit of all Israelis by making them more efficient and effective, removing barriers and advancing wide-ranging national initiatives in collaboration with various partners. Before Oct 7th, more than one million Israelis were impacted by social service programs created by JDC. Since October 7, JDC has aided more than 120,000 of the hardest hit-Israelis through emergency responses, have saved lives and helped the tens of thousands of Israelis, who never needed JDC’s help before, as they are forced to face a new and difficult reality
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The late Yossi Bacher served as Finance Ministry Director-General, Chairman of Israel Discount Bank and Chairman of the Joint-Elka's Advisory Committee
(Tommy Harpaz)
Yossi Bachar’s legacy—Generating change in the public and social sectors through inter-sectorial collaboration
The career of the late Yossi Bachar (1955–2020) was distinguished by top positions in varied industries, including chairman of Bank Discount, director general of the Ministry of Finance, and Chairman of the Executive Committee of Haifa University. The fellowship’s collaborative approach is a direct reflection of his legacy and spirit. In his every endeavor, Bachar aimed for excellence and achieving his goals with compassion, devotion, and caring for others. Bachar mentored individuals who later became key figures in their fields. Through his charismatic and inspiring nature, Bachar drew a large circle of friends and colleagues into socially aware action.
From 2014 to 2020, Bachar volunteered as co-chair of the JDC-Elka Advisory Committee. During this time, together with then-director Rani Dudai, he formulated an organizational strategy to advance public and social systems through cooperation between the business, social, and public sectors. Now, following his death, the fellowship bearing his name has started its own tradition, very much looking ahead to the future of Israeli society.
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“Yossi’s Bus” tour to the Negev with the challenges of integrating the Bedouin community into Israeli society
(Ariel Zandberg)
Yossi’s Bus
“Yossi’s Bus” ranks among Yossi’s most unique and creative initiatives. Bachar would invite leading businesspeople and top public officials to join him on a tour of towns in Israel’s geographic and social periphery. He would often say, “I understand how important it is to see reality up close, tour the country, get to know the residents, and contribute toward improving the reality in which we live—especially aiming to reduce social and economic gaps and bringing people together.” Yossi believed that experiencing reality from close quarters provided a better understanding of the challenges and the work necessary to narrow those gaps.
In honor of his memory, a cooperative initiative of JDC-Elka and the Bachar family was established to continue his activity and, through the fellowship, revive the special “Yossi’s Bus” meetings. “Through specially designed outings,” says JDC-Elka director general Ori Gil, “a broad spectrum of leaders participating in the trips can learn how they can play important roles in promoting the Bachar Fellows’ initiatives.”
Announcing the recipients of the new Bachar Fellowship
Two new fellows have been selected this year: Professor Nachman Ash, former Ministry of Health director-general and Coronavirus Commissioner, whose aim is to strengthen community health in the periphery; and Hilla Haddad Chmelnik, former Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology director-general, who plans to focus on preparing Israeli society using Israel’s education system for the effects of AI. These issues were chosen for their potential to ensure long-term growth by reducing social, educational, and health gaps, and in the wake of the current crisis, to support individuals and communities affected by the war. Gil feels certain that these new fellows “will use the JDC-Elka platform to advance solutions to national challenges and create broad and important change for the benefit of all Israelis.”
Fellowship funding partners include private Israeli and international donors, Israeli foundations, Bank Discount, and the Russell Berrie Foundation, who believe in implementing Bachar’s legacy of collaboration between various sectors for the benefit of Israeli society.
Steering Committee Honorary President Orit Bachar notes, “We are all grateful to our partners who enable the fellowship to promote projects of national importance and we are sure that, through the fellowship, Yossi’s legacy towards promoting a vision of a better and more equitable Israeli society will be achieved.”
