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mum
community in this country
and the ever-changing flux of
American politics.
How Reich deals with these
changes will go a long way
toward determining the
future of Jewish communal
life in this country.
Rising to the top
There is no simple way of
cutting to the heart of the
Seymour Reich story. The
man is a model of lawyerly
circumspection; like any pro-
fessional diplomat, he
smoothly turns aside probing
questions about what makes
him tick, about the emotional
forces that have driven him to
the pinnacle of the Jewish
world.
Any analysis of Reich is also
complicated by the peculiar
character of his job as chair-
man of the Presidents Con-
ference. Like his predecessors,
Reich serves as a kind of
lightening rod for dissatisfac-
tions running deep in the
Jewish community. Some of
the whispered criticism of
Reich is based on envy and
spite. Just how much of it is
based on fact is difficult to
determine because of the
emotional charge attached to
his position.
In an interview, Reich
chooses his words with care;
a lawyer who has been inter-
viewed hundreds of times, he
is a diplomat who recognizes
that even his casual com-
ments are widely interpreted
as representative of the
American Jewish community.
His rise to power has the
flavor of the traditional
American success story.
"I come out of a typical
Jewish background," he said.
"We kept a kosher home, and
observant home, in Borough
Park, in Brooklyn. I went to
a yeshiva for my first eight
years, then to a public school."
Reich worked his way
through college at the
University of Pennsylvania,
and then through Harvard
Law School. But it wasn't un-
til his return to New York,
that his involvement in
Jewish affairs began.
"I joined the B'nai B'rith,"
he said. "It was the most
logical activity for me; it was
an organization I had heard
about without knowing
about. At the same time, I
also became involved with the
ADL. We joined B'nai B'rith
in Jackson Heights, in
Queens. I remember going
out with B'nai B'rith to
veterans hospitals, visiting
veterans who were shell
shocked, sharing an evening
with them."
But Reich's involvement
soon took on a more political
cast. In the '60s, Queens was
suffering more than its share
of racial upheavals, centering
on community control of the
schools and various schemes
to offer racial balance.
Reich became involved in
ADL efforts to mediate
disputes involving Jewish
teachers and principals in
largely black schools, an ef-
fort that helped shape his
views on the need for dialogue
between Jews and other
groups.
"I know in my own com-
munity there was great
strife," he said. "We tried to
bring a degree of calm and
reason to the community, and
we were successful, to a
degree."
Meanwhile, Reich, whose
successful New York law prac-
tice seems almost a sidebar to
his biography, began the long,
steady ascent through the
ranks of his chosen Jewish
organizations.
"I was still involved in the
veterans work and in helping
the needy at Passover time,"
he said, "but I began to rise
up the ADL ladder, heading
up all kinds of committees,
"He's a perfect
example of the
anti-intellectual,
conservative
voices in the
Jewish world who
are out of touch
with the majority."
whether it was the European
affairs committee, the law
committee or ultimately, the
civil rights committee, the ac-
tion arm of the ADL.
"At the same time, I was go-
ing up the B'nai B'rith ladder,
from district president, which
encompassed all of New York
and New England, to an in-
ternational vice-president, to
one of three senior vice
presidents."
Finally, Reich was elected
president of B'nai B'rith at
the group's 1986 convention
in Las Vegas.
According to some of his col-
leagues in the Jewish world,
Reich won because he waged
the most active campaign.
Reich himself does not
dispute that notion. "In, ad-
vance of the convention, you
travel to district conventions,"
he said. "You engage in a
dialogue with whoever else is
running, you debate the
issues and share your vision
about Jewish concerns. It
boils down to a final ballot
which takes place at the con-
vention — and I won."
In response to a question
about when he first began to
believe he was cut out for a
leadership role, his answer
was immediate and emphatic:
"In high school."
He agrees that com-
petitiveness is part of his in-
ternal guidance system. "I
think there is some com-
petitiveness," he say. "If you
have ideas, and you want to
see them fulfilled, you can't
be a wallflower, you can't sit
in a corner. You have to be
assertive, and do it in a way
that is meaningful and well
received by the people. You
need the respect of the people
you work with; otherwise you
can't lead. It's gratifying to
know that there are people
following."
In a sense, Reich is an
American classic: a politician
who relishes the process of
campaigning, whose success
is ultimately measured as
much by stamina as by vision.
He clearly takes pride in his
ascent through the ranks, in
his rapport with his consti-
tuency. Some of his harshest
critics concede that Reich en-
joys an unusually good rela-
tionship with rank-and-file
B'nai B'rith members.
Reich's tenure at B'nai
B'rith has been marked by
some sharp changes of direc-
tion for the group.
For the last decade, B'nai
B'rith has been losing
members. The group, with its
fraternal emphasis and struc-
ture, has been ineffective in
recruiting younger Jews.
Reich began with personnel
changes, including the ap-
pointment of Thomas
Neumann as the group's ex-
ecutive vice president, the
day-to-day director of the
group, and Dan Mariaschin
as public affairs director.
Neumann, a flamboyant,
hard-driving personality, in-
jected a jolt of energy through
the group; Mariaschin, a bona
fide Washington insider who
was plucked from the unsuc-
cessful presidential campaign
of Alexander Haig, provided
the political savvy to help
nudge the group in the direc-
tion of More effective action in
the arena of national politics.
The team of Reich,
Neumann and Mariaschin
has given the group a high-
visibility style that has made
some B'nai B'rith employees
uncomfortable — and that has
provoked mixed reviews from
other Jewish activists.
With Reich leading the way,
B'nai B'rith has taken on a
more active role in the Soviet
Jewry movement. The group's
recent forays into Moscow,
where it opened the first
Soviet B'nai B'rith unit,
garnered considerable press
attention.
"I personally don't care for