his style," said one leading
Soviet Jewry activist. "But
his interest in the Soviet
Jewry issue seems sincere,
and the fact that he has made
it such a high priority for
B'nai B'rith certainly helps
the cause. I think that's been
his biggest achievement."
The group's recent day-long
conference on chemical and
biological weapons impressed
activists concerned with the
issue and demonstrated
Reich's penchant for finding
new openings in the public af-
fairs realm.
Internally, there has been
grumbling over what some
staffers consider Reich's taste
for the spotlight and for what
a few consider an over-
emphasis on "sexy" issues —
at the expense of the service
issues that have traditional-
ly been the meat and potatoes
of B'nai B'rith.
And critics, including
several current and former
colleagues, suggest that
Reich has scant regard for the
organization's professional
staff. According to some,
Reich involves himself ex-
cessively in B'nai B'rith's day-
to-day operation, running
roughshod over the profes-
sional staff.
Reich does not deny that he
brings a hands-on manage-
ment style to B-'nai B'rith,
but insists that this style has
worked well to move the
"There is no
question that
there was some
concern, some
trepidation about
filling Morris'
shoes. I'm putting
those shoes on
one at a time, and
I'm comfortable."
organization
in
new
directions.
"I probably am concerned
more about details than I
should be," he said. "I hope I
don't miss the broad picture.
For me, If you want to create
something, you need a sharp
pencil. So before we begin to
draw, we make sure there is
a sharp pencil. That's my
style. But I never forget what
the ultimate goal is, and that
is to accomplish something.
You can't do it alone. We have
a lot of new players. And some
old players, with the opening
of these new doors for the
organization, now have an op-
portunity to express
themselves."
He staunchly defends the
high-visibility style he has
brought to the organization.
"B'nai B'rith had a
message for many years," he
said. "But in part, we were
not able to get that message
out as readily as we'd like to.
One of the first things we
wanted to accomplish was to
give B'nai B'rith a visibility,
a sense of identity and a sense
of mission. We've begun that
process; I'm not satisfied that
we've accomplished it all, but
hopefully we've taken the
right first steps?'
Hurdles at the top
Once Seymour Reich moved
into the drivers seat at B'nai
B'rith, there was almost a
kind of inevitability to the
next step in his ascent up the
ladder of Jewish leadership.
Reich himself insists that
his ascension to the top post
at the President's Conference
did not represent a repeat of
his vigorous campaign for the
top post at B'nai B'rith.
"The President's Con-
ference has its own pro-
cedures for determining who
among equals will be chair-
man," he said. "There is a
nominating committee; it's
not something that one cam-
paigns for."
But Reich admits that
when the decision came down
to a choice between him and
two other candidates, he did
take a more active role.
"Sure there was some striv-
ing in it, " he said. "When it
was coming down to the wire,
and I knew my name was one
of three being seriously con-
sidered, there certainly was
an interest and a willingness
to accept the office, if re-
quested to do so."
In fact, some forces opposed
to Reich's candidacy made an
unsuccessful bid to promote
former arms negotiator Max
Kampelman as an alter-
native. During this period,
Reich met with the leaders of
some constituent organiza-
tions in what these officials
describe as an attempt to line
up votes.
One of Reich's first hurdles
at the President's Conference
has been the stature of his
predecessor, Morris Abram.
Abram came to the Presi-
dent's Conference as a kind of
elder statesman, with strong
ties to both the Jewish and
the political world.
One Jewish activist, who
has observed Reich first-hand
during sensitive negotiations
with other religious groups,
suggests that Reich suffers
because of the natural com-
parison between the two men.
"What I saw was that he
wasn't as sophisticated with a
lot of issues as some people
wanted him to be," this source
said. "But the criticisms
came from people who had
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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
27