An Old/New Song For Federation System

GA explores ways to meld establishment philanthropy with different models a younger generation has for engaging their Jewish identities.

photograph by Robert A. Cumins

by Carolyn Slutsky
Staff Writer

Nashville, Tenn. — Here in the wholly un-Jewish Gaylord Opryland hotel, outfitted with cascading waterfalls, life-sized toy hot air balloons, a tourist boat cruising down a calm river and enough Christmas paraphernalia in early November to decorate seven floors of Macys in Manhattan, the United Jewish Communities held its annual General Assembly this week.

The GA brought together more than 3,400 Federation and other Jewish communal professionals from across North America for three days of intensive focus on the issues at stake throughout the Jewish community here and in Israel.

Nashville boasts a Jewish population of 7,800, a little more than 40 percent of Tennessee’s 19,000 Jews in communities in Memphis, Chattanooga and Knoxville, who together co-hosted the convention. A trip to

the Grand Ole Opry for an array of bluegrass, country and soul music cemented the Southern flavor of the conference, which next year will be held in Jerusalem in honor of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel.

The opening plenary session, held Sunday, had the feel of a minor concert at Madison Square Garden; delegates held up handmade and professional signs, “Delaware [Hearts] Israel” and cheered when their hometowns were mentioned; the stage, decorated with a giant “ONE” for the assembly’s theme, “One People, One Destiny,” was outfitted with teleprompters and a sign language interpreter; a booming voice announced speakers, three national anthems were sung from each of America, Canada and Israel, and camera flashes lit up the dark room like paparazzi.

Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee and erstwhile presidential candidate, spoke about how America cannot now bring together the Israelis and Palestinians because it has “squandered its moral authority.” Dean was joined by Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen, Isaac Herzog, Israeli minister of Welfare and Social Services, minister of the Diaspora, Society and Fight Against Anti-Semitism, Bruce Pearl, coach of the University of Tennessee’s men’s basketball team, and Rabbi Jacob J. Schachter from Yeshiva University, who served as the GA’s scholar-in-residence.

This year’s focus was equally on old motifs and new challenges in philanthropy, and the “next generation,” younger Jews who have different models and modes of engaging with their Jewish identities. Many of the breakout sessions throughout the convention combined both themes, exploring how and why young people give and how they can be both integrated into the existing communal structure and also allowed to create their own charitable projects and networks.

One session, “If They Build It They Will Come,” about the younger generation and philanthropy, explored the pull between the traditional federation system and new upstarts where donors give to targeted projects rather than allowing the system to allot funds at its discretion. Panelists also discussed creating Jewish meaning and context through philanthropy, and the idea that even with $100, young people can be philanthropists.

Also discussed was the fear some in the traditional federation system harbor of newer upstarts poaching donors for smaller, boutique projects, a fear some said was real and others did not worry about, feeling instead an oft-expressed sentiment that there is room under the tent for everyone.

“To associate ourselves [with federation] from a branding perspective isn’t going to impress teens — they buy North Face and iTunes, so we [need to] strategically reach them through that,” said Matthew Grossman, executive director of BBYO, Inc, who said that such partnerships had been effective in reaching unaffiliated Jewish teenagers and their families.

Jaime Walman, another panelist, worked at UJA-Federation of New York for two years before starting as vice president of organizational planning and development at JDub, a record and event production company in Los Angeles. She spoke to the benefits of respecting both the traditional funding structure and new ventures.

“If the system didn’t exist,” she said, “somebody would create it.”

She added that when she left her federation job, one colleague criticized her for “throwing her career away,” taking the training, grant writing and networking experience she had learned too far outside the system. Instead, thought Walman, she was applying what she had learned within older structures and helping to create newer ones.

“Don’t ask what’s next,” she said at the panel of the constant question of exactly how new Jewish ventures engage younger adults for the long run. “Trust our generation to figure it out.”

Also on that panel was Jessica Warren, a founder of the Slingshot Fund, which was started this year to link young donors involved in their family foundations to innovative, Jewish projects. The fund, comprised of 25 members, has so far allocated some $400,000 to various projects, according to Warren.

At Monday’s plenary session, which focused further on the projects and concerns of young people, Esther Kustanowitz reiterated the connection, or lack thereof, or the reconceived relationship between younger Jews and the federation system.

“Today’s Jews aren’t connecting to federation the way our parents did,” said Kustanowitz, who writes The Jewish Week’s “First Person Singular” column. “Our generation lives generously but gives differently.”

Another breakout session, titled “Venturesome Philanthropy,” introduced the Give a Mitzvah, Do a Mitzvah” program, a project of UJA-Federation of NY, where bar mitzvah age children donate some or all of their gifts to a particular cause. They are helped in identifying worthy charities or projects through a facilitator at UJA-Federation, who matches students with charities that address their specific interests in such areas as sports, drama, or technology. The program also hopes to groom future donors by teaching them at an early age about fundraising and charitable giving.

Susan Silverman, a parent from the New York area, spoke on that panel with her sons Adam and Sam about the boys’ bar mitzvah projects, donating more than $30,000 each to programs in Israel that allowed children there to play sports and use computers. The boys visited the programs they were funding, as many funders do, and said they felt a deep connection because of the ownership they felt in choosing them.

“Kids at bar mitzvah age gain independence by figuring out what and how they want to fund,” said Silverman to a room packed with people sitting around large, wooden tables.

Howard Rieger, president and CEO of UJC, spoke with The Jewish Week about the encroachment of boutique giving on some of federation’s mainstay issues like poverty, education, and Israel relief, but said he did not worry that the new would replace the old, just that the community would have to find ways to embrace more than in the past.

“At its core, federation is about community building,” said Rieger. “I don’t think it’s about meeting every possible whim. It has to have relevance to who we are, but we should be open to collaboration and partnership.”

“There is enough wealth in the Jewish world to…have a both/and orientation, not either/or,” Rieger continued. He said that it is a developmental phase for younger people not to affiliate too early but to fiercely want to do everything, including philanthropy, on their own terms. However, he said, despite some family foundations and others who try to strike out on their own, he believes many will ultimately return to the structure already in place.

“There’s a huge piece of Jewish history and values that says that’s what we’re enjoined to do. I don’t think we should give that up.”

Addressing whether there is even a continued need to gather annually, a criticism expressed by some attendees, when so much of the networking and information sharing that goes on at the GA could be accomplished by phone, email or video conference, Rieger recalled his days working at federations in Pittsburgh and Ohio and said nothing could replace seeing other professionals in person to energize Jewish professionals.

“There’s something about coming together and seeing the magnitude,” of the community, Rieger said. “We need to see each other, to draw strength from each other.”

After the closing plenary session Tuesday, conference-goers pondered Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s comments about Iran’s threat to Israel and the delicate Israeli-Palestinian relationship, as well as what they had absorbed about philanthropy, peoplehood and the next generation, and the relationships they had bolstered or started anew. They wound their ways back through the waterfalls, back toward their homes scattered across North America and Israel, and out into a bright, Tennessean afternoon.

Westchester Jewish Conference

Westchester’s Jewish Community Relations Organization