Community Views
Opinion
Communal Service
In The New Era
Looking For A Deeper
Purim Meaning
DR. MARK SMILEY SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
ALAN D. GOODMAN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
As I reflect on my nity needs both kinds of commit-
working career, I ment in order to be strong, vibrant,
realize that the di- successful. We need the volunteers
rection that my pro- to validate, support and monitor
fessional life has our organizations to make sure
taken is one that I that the organizations fulfil their
would never have mission and that the mission re-
_mains relevant. We need the pro-
predicted.
Both my parents fessionals to manage the
wanted their chil- complexities of organizational
dren, at least the male offspring structure required to enable the
(this was not an enlightened soci- mission to be fulfilled in an effec-
ety), to follow in my father's foot- tive way.
Last month, I had the opportu-
steps and continue the family
business. Consequently, and with- nity to spend some time with a
out too much discussion, I enrolled number of my colleagues who
in a business-oriented
program at the universi-
ty with a major in com-
merce and accounting
and a minor in psycholo-
gY.
With a developing in-
terest in human services,
I turned my graduate
work to social-welfare ad-
ministration and com-
munity organization,
allowing for the perfect
blend between my hu-
man-service orientation
and my affinity (in the
genes) for business. The
rest, as they say, is com-
mentary.
Why, I am asked,
would anyone want to
work for the Jewish community? serve as executives in Jewish
People generally have no trouble Family Service agencies through-
understanding why volunteering out the country. I was one of four
is personally gratifying, uplifting panel members to address the is-
and important. They tend to think sue of advice on how to be suc-
in terms of Jewish communal pro- cessful to new executives just
fessionaLs as being "sort of like paid entering the field.
What struck me was how dif-
volunteers" — right?
At times, people have tried to ferent each of our remarks were,
engage me in the "who is more yet there were similar underlying
committed" debate. Do we honor concerns for all of us. The major
more the volunteer who gives of themes were: a recognition that
his or her time and energy freely the not-for-profit social-service are-
to the community or the profes- na is changing rapidly; a concern
sional who, while serving the com- that in order for our agencies to
munity well, accepts payment for survive, we as executives need to
provide the kind of leadership that
the work which he or she does?
The reality is that the commu- will enable the agency to thrive;
work-related emotional stress is
Alan Goodman is director of
an occupational hazard that must
Jewish Family Service.
be dealt with.
A central issue for every pro-
fessional in Jewish communal ser-
vice is the relationship with
volunteers. One can expect a lot
from them in terms of energy and
expertise. On the other hand, it
takes a lot of effort on the part of
the professionals to make sure
that challenging volunteer oppor-
tunities are available. Executives
have to develop a style of man-
agement that can be inclusive and
open, at the same time preserving
the boundaries between opera-
tional management and policy
oversight.
Recent scandals on a
national level with the
United Way — and closer
to home involving a num-
ber of Jewish executives
in sister communities —
have greatly increased the
perceived need for ac-
countability. There must
be checks and balances on
agency operations and ex-
ecutives that are built into
the normal functions of
the organization. It is the
board's role to hold the ex-
ecutive and itself ac-
countable for the way in
which the organization
conducts itself.
Creating an environ-
ment of suspicion and
distrust between professionals and
lay leadership serves neither the
best interest of the agency nor of
the community. Alternately, pro-
moting accountability and ensur-
ing that executive-level staff are
evaluated annually against spe-
cific goals mutually agreed upon
are essential ingredients for a
healthy relationship.
In conclusion, despite the
stresses, the unusual challenges
and risks associated with a career
in Jewish communal service,
most of the time I feel extremely
positive about my career choice.
Certainly, this is not a choice for
the fainthearted; but I can't think
of any other field that would pro-
vide me with more challenge and
gratification.
❑
Who Deserves To Die?
RABBI DAVID E. POWERS SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
urim is an impolite holi-
day. Not only do we blot
out the name of our ene-
my, but we even celebrate
the impalement of his family and
friends.
"The Jews have slain and de-
stroyed in Shushan the capital
500 men and the 10 sons of
Haman" (Esther 9:12). The guilt
of the father, it seems, gets visit-
p
Rabbi David E. Powers writes
from University Heights, Ohio.
ed mightily and nastily on the
children. We might explain the
death of Haman's sons as a con-
sequence of an evil father. How-
ever, there's really nothing
explicit in the text to warrant the
explanation.
We learn more from the moral
position of the presumed author
of the megillah, who expressed
vindication and glee in the suf-
fering of so thoroughgoing an "en-
emy of all the Jews" (9:24). The
emotion is schadenfreude, that
almost malicious joy one feels in
the misery of foes.
Germans invented the word,
but others feel it. Even if schaden-
freude seems an inappropriate or
regrettable emotion, nevertheless
it is real emotion. We express it
freely and openly in the reading
of the megillah, although polite
people submerge schadenfreude
the rest of the year. Usually, no
one admits gloating in perverse
joy at an enemy's defeat.
DESERVES page 24
On Purim, the
Hillel Day
School secre-
taries will dress
up as usual. In
the past, they
have dressed up
as striped-shirt-
ed football refer-
ees, full-geared
baseball players and leather-
and-blue-jeaned motorcycle rid-
ers. In addition, thousands of
children, teachers and rabbis
will don costumes, drink, eat
and have a day of fun and mer-
rymaking. Why does this holi-
day, that we experienced as
children, continue to inspire the
minds and souls of our com-
mitted staff, teachers and com-
munity?
The Purim megillah and
mitzvot that surround Purim
decree the fun and food parcels.
Even when we go to shul for
Purim, (the services and
megillah reading are fun), the
mood changes and the atmos-
phere is one of celebration, lev-
ity and communal fun. While
Jewish communities are focused
on ensuring that children have
a good time, adults realize that
blue jeans are fine; they can
play with their children; there's
no sermon; and the rabbi may
be dressed like Batman, the
Pope, Roger Rabbit or his girl-
friend, Jessica.
Is this celebration an attempt
to make sure our American cal-
endar has a Jewish carnival-
Mardi Gras equivalent; or is
there a deeper, more profound
theme that motivates our need
to celebrate the holiday?
When I was a child, it was
not until I was 11 or 12 that I
realized that Purim was sup-
posed to be fun. While we went
to a traditional shul at night
and heard the megillah at my
day school in the morning, there
was very little joy and fun that
infused these environments. In
sixth grade, I remember a rab-
bi and the administrators dress-
ing up like football players and
playing rock and roll music in
the gym; they danced and sang
the songs we knew but rarely
sang with joy. A band played ho-
ras, and these teachers began a
tradition that I understand con-
tinues to this day.
You see, most of the teachers
and rabbis in my elementary
school and my parent's shul
were Holocaust survivors; and
it was not until younger teach-
ers, graduates of Yeshiva Uni-
versity, began to assume some
leadership of the schools that
the joy of Purim was shared
with the students.
Dr. Mark Smiley is headmaster
of Hillel Day School.
Purim, the ancient tale of Di-
aspora survival, was too real 30
years ago to allow letting go by
my parents' generation. Today,
we know that anti-Semitism is
an ongoing reality, a hatred that
is irrational and that remains
part of the world. Purim re-
minds us that we must re-
member these facts and that
our belief in God will allow us
to celebrate past threats and
provide us the courage and
strength to deal with the Far-
rakhans and Zhirinovskys of
the future.
Indeed, we have come to un-
derstand man as he really is. As
Victor Frankel concludes in his
search for meaning, "Man is
that being who invented the gas
chambers of Auschwitz; how-
ever, he is also that being who
entered those gas chambers
with Sh'ma Yisroel on his lips."
The Holocaust, unlike Purim,
did not end in the storybook
fashion of redemption. Even the
birth of the State of Israel did
not override for my parents the
sorrow of the Shoah.
A time
to rejoice
In 1996, we can again reflect
on Haman, our partly assimi-
lated heroes Mordecai and Es-
ther, and the themes of the Jew
being vulnerable in the Dias-
pora, overcoming persecution,
extermination and collective
punishments. The memory of
the Holocaust and its theolog-
ic implications are still too close
for the humor and fun of Purim
to enter the world of theologic
satire.
However, we as Jews have
time and again, with our faith
in HaShem, challenged the
world, and we take "that there
is no other God" seriously. We
know that this Jewish mission
of redeeming the world includes
the refusal to accept senseless
hatred.
Thus, Purim is a time to re-
joice. The world we live in is
complicated and at times dan-
gerous for our people. However,
we need a time to be glad that
we have learned the lessons of
our role in the world and to con-
tinue teaching our values to
mankind.
But let's not get too serious.
This year the staffwill be dress-
ing up as the crew of the star-
ship Enterprise. We will be
singing, dancing, eating (and
drinking, after hours). I will look
for the song "Don't Worry, Be
Happy" and know it's for Adar.
Chag Purim sameach.