In her first interview on the subject, the executive director of the New Jersey-Israel Commission said she supported a recent decision that brought the commission under the purview of the New Jersey Department of State.

While some critics said the commission would be more effective in its prior home at the state's Commerce, Economic Growth, and Tourism Commission, Andrea Yonah said the move brings "balance" to the NJIC.

"We officially were here on July 1, and I think that overall, it actually creates more of a balanced approach to what we do," Yonah said as she sat in her office at the Department of State in Trenton.

"The commission has always had three objectives – economic development, education, and culture and tourism," she said, "and I think our move here offers us a greater balance and an ability to enhance all of our objectives.

"Specifically, I think here at State we have access to tremendous resources that will actually bolster our educational and cultural initiatives, and we still have access to all the economic development initiatives we worked on before. We are placed here at State with all three of our objectives in order."

At State, some of those resources are located just down the hall, according to Yonah. She said she is just beginning to explore the possibility of applying for funding from two agencies there, the New Jersey Cultural Trust and the New Jersey Arts Council, to underwrite cultural exchanges between New Jersey and Israel.

In addition, she is looking into the possibility of creating a collaborative partnership with the New York-based America-Israel Cultural Foundation to fund Israeli jazz festivals at venues around New Jersey. The initiative would also involve the participation of several Jewish federations. "That's an area we haven't explored before," she said.

At the same time, Yonah said, the commission will create an economic development subcommittee that will serve as a liaison with all areas of state government charged with economic development – in particular, the Office of Economic Growth, the Economic Development Authority, and the Commerce commission.

"We'll be working with them closely, coming up with proposals for new initiatives that the commission believes will promote enhanced economic development between New Jersey and Israel," she said. "We're here as a resource."

The Corzine administration decided earlier this year to shift the NJIC from the purview of the Commerce, Economic Growth, and Tourism Commission to the Department of State.

Some observers voiced concerns that the move would mean an end to the commission's ability to promote economic trade between New Jersey and Israel. But Yonah is looking at things more positively.

As the economic development subcommittee develops specific proposals for trade with Israel, those ideas will be presented to the appropriate department as identified by the Office of Economic Growth, according to Yonah.

"That is how the governor has restructured it. That is the lead department for economic development," she said. "They will decide how each of the proposals can best be incorporated, and we'll follow their lead."

Now in her sixth year as NJIC executive director, Yonah brings to her role a fluency in Hebrew and a deep attachment to the State of Israel, where she lived from 1985 to 1994. A graduate of Barnard College, she holds a master's degree in language acquisition from Tel Aviv University. She resides in West Windsor Township with her husband, Yigal, a manager in the field of finance, and their children, Etai, 12, and Yael, eight.

As she settles in at State, Yonah said, she is seeing her own mandate in a new way.

"I see my role in a broader sense – and I think that's a good thing," she said. "I think it's going to bring new energy and more innovative projects and programs in more varied areas."

In fact, Yonah said, the move to State creates a sense of challenge for the commission to create more robust programs and to branch out into new areas —specifically, university partnerships between New Jersey and Israel that may result in an exchange of visiting professors or of graduate and undergraduate students seeking to study abroad (see sidebar).

"This is a whole new area that hasn't been explored to the fullest," she said. "We're very excited about working with universities in New Jersey."

Yonah added that she plans to bring up her proposals for educational exchange programs when the commission meets in late October. Also on the agenda will be a welcoming address by Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells and the organizing of the commission's 79 members into subcommittees on economic development, education, and culture and tourism.

"I think the lay members' roles will be enhanced, in the sense that they're going to be much more involved in the planning of any proposals," she said. "Here at State, our role has in many ways been broadened, and each of our committees will have a more enhanced role."

The commission's move to State comes on the cusp of Israel's 60th anniversary, Yonah observed. "I think it will be a very important umbrella for projects this year, and one of those will be tourism," she said. "We'll definitely be looking at what special programming we can do in honor of Israel's 60th."