Toward the end of 2006, many Jews around the world received an e-mail from Edgar Bronfman, the president of the World Jewish Congress (WJC). "Dear Friend," wrote Bronfman in the letter, "I am writing you from Paris, where I have just completed a 13-day, three nation tour during which I met with the Prime Minister of the People's Republic of China, the President of Germany, the President and Prime Minister of France, and dozens of other government, military and intelligence officials to discuss the safety and security of Jewish communities around the world and the State of Israel."

After detailed descriptions of his numerous meetings and efforts on behalf of the Jewish people, Bronfman reverted to a personal tone at the end of the letter. Bronfman, 77, whose personal wealth is estimated at over $2 billion, asked for a "special urgent contribution," of $35 or more, "to the World Jewish Congress Foundation to help the WJC in all its efforts on behalf of the Jewish people."

After almost 30 years on the job, Bronfman is expected to retire soon from the post of president of the WJC. Yet at the WJC, it is said that for many years Bronfman has been announcing that he is about to leave, but in the end something always happens to make him decide to stay a little longer.

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It is possible to understand Bronfman. Being president of the WJC is still the most desirable and prestigious position in the world of Jewish organizations. There is hardly a politician, religious leader or influential figure who is not willing to open his door to the person considered the most senior leader of the Jewish people.

The World Jewish Congress, which was founded in 1936 in Switzerland, is perhaps the only organization that presumes to represent all Jews around the world: The organization's general assembly consists of representatives from communities in 80 countries.

The relationship between Bronfman and the WJC served both partners: the Congress provided Bronfman with prestige and in return it received strong financial backing and generous funding from him. Nevertheless, documents that have reached Haaretz indicate that in practice, for the great honor that came his way, Bronfman paid far smaller sums than what many had thought until now. The main people behind the WJC's funding are the tens of thousands of Jews around the world who donated small sums to the organization over the years.

The documents reveal new details about the financial management of the WJC, and about the way in which it uses the money, which for the most part comes from anonymous donors.

Hint of irregularities
In recent years, something has changed at the WJC. The organization that instilled fear in Kurt Waldheim in the 1980s, in Swiss banks in the 1990s and among many governments around the world that were perceived as hostile to the Jewish interest, has had a hard time finding a worthy cause for which to fight.

At the same time, its name was associated with financial irregularities, corruption and endless power struggles. In early 2006, then New York State attorney general Eliot Spitzer (he is now governor) published the findings of a comprehensive audit he conducted of the WJC over a two-year period. The review followed a series of mysterious transfers of $1.2 million from a confidential Swiss bank account of the WJC.

The Spitzer report presented the organization as one in which corruption had spread in recent years. Millions of dollars in donations collected by the WJC were spent in questionable ways or were used to cover huge salaries for senior officials. However, the report did not find any suspicion of criminal activity and noted that since 2004, the WJC has taken numerous steps to ensure proper financial management. The Spitzer report determined that until August 2004 the WJC was run without any oversight whatsoever of its financial affairs. A year after the report's release, it turns out that Spitzer chose not to detail some of the most serious findings about irregularities that reached him. For example, the media recently published the findings of a comprehensive audit of the WJC's accounts in Switzerland from 1995-2004, which was included in the material presented to Spitzer.

The audit, which was conducted by the international accounting firm of PriceWaterhouseCoopers, found that over the years $3.8 million "disappeared" from the bank accounts. The Spitzer report noted that large sums of cash were withdrawn without proper documentation being obtained, as required, without specifying the sums. As a result of the latest revelations, the head of the Jewish community in Switzerland, Alfred Donath, approached Bronfman and requested explanations from him.

Where was Bronfman all those years? Bronfman was first elected president of the WJC in 1980. He left the day-to-day running of the organization in the hands of his trusted ally, Rabbi Israel Singer, who joined the WJC in 1972. His status in the organization helped Singer gain positions in other Jewish organizations, such as president of the Claims Conference, the umbrella organization representing the Jewish people in negotiations with Germany and Austria; and chairman of the board of the World Jewish Restitution Organization, in which the State of Israel is also a member.

Creating an impression
As far as the budget goes, the WJC is a small organization, relative to large Jewish organizations in the U.S. The Anti-Defamation League, for example, has a budget of around $60 million a year, six times greater than the WJC budget. The American Jewish Committee's budget is four times bigger.

Bronfman's contribution to the WJC's income was until now a very confidential secret, one that even Spitzer refrained from disclosing.

Bronfman's associates over the years nurtured the impression that the organization's budget comes almost entirely from his own pocket. The mistaken impression that was created helped Bronfman in many ways: It enhanced his name in the world of Jewish philanthropy. It also deterred quite a few Jewish benefactors from competing for the post for fear that they would not be able to bear the heavy financial burden. And when the suspicions grew of severe financial irregularities, many in the Jewish world refused to be stirred, because they mistakenly thought, "it's basically Bronfman's money."

But, in effect, only a relatively small share of the budget came from Bronfman's pocket. Haaretz was informed that in 2004, for example, he donated $1.5 million. In other years, his contribution reached $2 million. In 2006, only $1.3 million of the projected WJC budget came from "major individual contributions," including from Bronfman, and another $1.5 million came from "foundations and grants," some of which are foundations affiliated with the Bronfman family. This is not "petty cash," but it is certainly not an exceptionally large donation for a billionaire like Bronfman.

The primary source of the WJC's income in recent years has been the thousands of Jews who mailed in donations in small amounts. In good years, the number of donors exceeded 200,000. In 2006, for example, direct mail fund-raising yielded a projected $8.15 million. The sums were raised with the help of a professional fund-raising company, which charges the WJC an annual fee of $3.5 million. The WJC's total projected budget that year was $9.15 million.

Embarrassing details
The WJC's total number of salaried employees does not exceed 30, and most of them earn modest salaries. WJC senior officials, on the other hand, have in recent years enjoyed almost unbelievable perks. Spitzer apparently used understated language when he determined that the senior officials' salaries and terms were "unreasonable." Regarding this matter, too, it turns out, the report did not release numerous embarrassing details that were included in the material submitted to Spitzer and his colleagues.

Apparently two senior WJC officials who left in 2003 and 2004 were promised generous retirement grants of $1 million each.

Senior WJC officials were not the only ones to receive large payments; associates who were not WJC employees also received them. One of them was Curtis Hoxter, the owner of a public relations firm that provided services to the WJC. Spitzer notes that in 2001, Hoxter and Singer considered going into business together, but Singer's WJC colleagues advised him to reject the offer as it would present him with a conflict of interests. Spitzer notes that Hoxter received a payment, but does not specify how much it was.

However, the documents that reached Haaretz indicate that only in 2001-2003 was Hoxter paid around $200,000 a year from the WJC for "consulting on the matter of restitution of property from Europe." Spitzer noted that the WJC did not report these payments to the U.S. tax authorities. Hoxter told Haaretz that he did no work for the Congress in those years, and claimed he did not receive any payment. The documents indicate otherwise.

Spitzer attributed most of the financial irregularities that were found to the activities of the previous executive director, Singer. In an agreement in the Spitzer report, the WJC stated that Singer agreed to return $132,000 he received for vacation and sick days that he was not entitled to and to use within five years 450,000 bonus points accumulated on his credit card, which was footed entirely by the WJC. In addition, the report notes that Singer returned to the Congress $186,163 in payment for loans he took improperly, life insurance for his wife and medical insurance for one of his children, and $28,330 for personal expenses charged to a credit card.

The documents that reached Haaretz add many details to what was published in the Spitzer report regarding the benefits and payments received by Singer. From 2002 to 2004, Singer was the chairman of the WJC's governing board. Even though this is a position without an official salary, Singer received annual ex gratia payments. Spitzer notes that Singer himself determined the amount of the payments, together with the organization?s chief financial officer.

However, Spitzer did not specify how large the sums were and did not require Singer to repay them. According to the report submitted by the WJC's lawyer to Spitzer, a copy of which reached Haaretz, Singer received $226,314 in ex gratia payments in 2004 and slightly less in 2003 and 2002. In contrast, the 2004 report submitted by the WJC to the Internal Revenue Service notes that $356,492 was paid to Singer as an external consultant to the organization. Congress officials explained that the sum reported to the IRS in 2004 was higher because it covers Singer's salary.

In addition to the payments mentioned in the Spitzer report, Singer received other perks such as life insurance, health insurance and reimbursement for securing his home. In 2004, for example, Singer was paid a total of $186,948 for these benefits, which were not mentioned at all in the Spitzer report.

Spitzer noted that Singer had a prestigious American Express Centurion credit card, and charges made on it were covered by the WJC. According to the credit card bills, which were not published in the report, Singer spent $261,294 in 2004 and $431,129 in 2003. Most of the charges were for Singer's travels as part of his job. In 2003, for example, Singer paid $34,088 for restaurants, shopping and assorted spending by his wife and $397,041 for expenses such as travel and lodging in luxury hotels. According to the WJC's records, Singer withdrew around $120,000 in cash that same year, which was categorized as "travel expenses." In total, the WJC spent in a single year over half a million dollars apparently on expenses related to Singer's travels around the world, in addition to his salary and additional payments amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars that he received.

In the section dealing with Singer in the Spitzer report, the WJC agreed that Singer would no longer be employed in any position related to financial affairs, financial management or oversight of fund-raising activities in the WJC, or any organization associated with it. To date, Singer continues to serve in all the public positions he held since the release of the report. Singer's position at the WJC since the publication of the report is chairman of the WJC's Policy Council. On the WJC's official Web site, Singer's name appears under that of Bronfman in the list of officeholders.

Surprisingly, the attorney general of New York refrained from mentioning Bronfman's name in the report, other than a laconic reference in the introduction noting that Bronfman was not involved in the day-to-day running of the World Jewish Congress.

But a year after the publication of the report, the questions remain unanswered. How is it possible that the president of the WJC, a respected international businessman, allowed the organization he heads to function this way? Why to this day has there not been any expression on his part of taking responsibility? Why did he not bother to express regret to the thousands of donors for the misuse of their donations?

The World Jewish Congress's response: The attorney general of New York conducted an exhaustive investigation of these matters and concluded over one year ago that WJC practices did not "compromise the core mission of the WJC," that there were no criminal activities at the WJC and that there were no "losses of charitable assets." These matters were closed; the necessary steps have been taken and we've moved forward.

The battle over succession
The next elections for president of the World Jewish Congress are scheduled to take place in 2009. However, there are reports that Bronfman, 77, is willing to move up his retirement, if his son, Matthew, 45, succeeds him in the post. American Jewish billionaire Ronald Lauder recently announced he was a contender for the post, competing against Bronfman junior. He first stated his aim in a Haaretz interview, saying he was "very interested" in the post.

Lauder, 62, said the younger Bronfman lacked experience and lacked familiarity with the Jewish world, and claimed that it is inconceivable that the presidency of the WJC be passed down from father to son as if it were some monarchy or private enterprise.

Two other possible contenders have recently been mentioned. The first is the president of the European Jewish Congress, Pierre Besnainou, a native of Tunisia, who has received considerable support in Jewish communities in Europe. The other name mentioned is Mendel Kaplan, a South African, who in the past served as chairman of the Jewish Agency's board of governors.