One Day Sunday School
Revisit the meaning of Judaism.
Did you miss out on a complete Jewish education because
Museum officials say they have
already identified many of the prob-
lems described in the report and taken
steps to address them.
Miles Lerman, chairman of the
U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council
and a driving force behind the cre-
ation of the museum, said he appoint-
ed a commission earlier this year to
prepare its own recommendations for
changes in management and gover-
nance. Its report is due later this year
or early next year, and Lerman said
the museum will combine the two
reports to develop a course of action.
Sara Bloomfield, a 13-year veteran
of the institution who took over as the
museum': director in March, said most
of the findings in the report "are just
typical growing pains of a very young,
dynamic place."
The report acknowledges as much,
but it criticized the institution for fail-
ing to shift from the improvisational
style of leadership and management
that got it off the ground in favor of a
more systematic, forward-looking
approach.
Most of the problems stem from
council members encroaching on the
roles of the museum director and
senior management in areas such as
hiring and firing of staff and the
museum's organizational structure,
according to the report.
"They're overwhelming their
administrative side," said Sheldon
Cohen, a Washington attorney and
former Internal Revenue Service com-
missioner who chaired the panel that
studied the museum. "They're running
the place like a Jewish organization."
He said. that while the style of gov-
ernance exercised by Lerman and
other council members may have
worked in the past, "You're running a
big institution and you're going to
make mistakes if you do things quick
and dirty."
Complicating the decision-making
process, Cohen added, are "a lot of
headstrong, rich people who want
things done their way."
The report specifically criticized
Lerman's tendency to "act unilaterally"
and suggested that he and others let
go of the reins and allow the director
to assume greater responsibilities.
Museum officials and council mem-
bers said a small, dedicated group that
comprises the executive council has
worked hard over the years to carry
out their vision and emphasize that
they have only done what they
thought was right for the institution.
"At the time when we were build-
ing the museum, if we were to have
you were shooting spit balls, Get all the basics in one after-
applied the formula we're talking
about, the museum never would have
been built," Lerman said. "It was a
period when there was a need for deci-
siveness, short cuts and making deci-
sions on the spot."
But he acknowledged a need to
adapt to the changing needs of the
institution, saying, "It is time that we
take a deep breath, look back, evaluate
the situation and begin implementing
a modus of operation that will bring
this institution in a healthy stage into
the 21st century."
Hyman Bookbinder, a longtime
Jewish activist in Washington and a
founding member of the museum's
council, said it should be recognized
that Lerman has made a "colossal con-
tribution" to the institution, "and if he
got over-involved as this report indi-
cates, it's because the staff wasn't there
and there was not the capability for
totally efficient management."
noon and leave Sunday School nightmares in the dust, as
Rabb Tzvi Hochstadt, a former Hebrew School drop out, as
he guides you through, the five books, the holidays and the
famous Crash Course in Jewish History
Editor of the
Detroit Jewish News,
'so much information,
so we t
unavailable
anywhere e
The report
paints a picture
of a struggling
institution.
The report does not draw a distinc-
tion between problems that existed
during the tenure of Reich, which
ended in March 1998, and those that
have persisted or emerged since
Bloomfield succeeded him.
Lerman and Reich were known to
have had a difficult working relation-
ship, but Lerman has expressed full
confidence in Bloomfield.
Council members agreed with many
of the recommendations in the report,
but most took issue with its suggestion
of greater minority representation on
the council, shorter council terms and
broadening the institution's focus
beyond Holocaust memory.
Indeed, some Jewish leaders were
highly critical of the overall report.
"I think it's skewed," said Abraham
Foxman, the national director of the
Anti-Defamation League and a mem-
ber of the museum's council.
"This museum is unique as a feder-
al agency, and what they did is apply
the standard procedures and practices
of other federal agencies."
He added, "Every institution needs
fixing. But I see this as coming down
with a heavy load of criticism, as if this
institution was really suffering." L. I
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