SPECIAL COMMENTARY

The Meaning Of Jewish Renaissance

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Atlanta

exploration of how to bind Ameri-
here was a sort of informal
can Jewry and Israel together in the
years to come.
poll conducted among the
delegates who gathered in
The session on social services, the
Atlanta last week for the
worst attended, drew just over 300
annual assembly of America's Jewish
people, for a dispirited discussion of
welfare federations.
how to keep American Jewry from
The agency that convened them,
dropping out of social activism alto-
the newly christened United
gether. "People in the room
Jewish Communities, had
were generally pretty
scheduled a series of discus-
depressed from what I
sions for the assembly's sec-
could tell," said a New Jer-
ond day on the four "pillars"
sey delegate.
that sum up its mission: Jew-
The best-attended ses-
ish renaissance, social services,
sion was the one on Jew-
Israel and overseas needs, and
ish renaissance and identi-
fund-raising.
ty. It had over 800 dele-
Delegates were free to pick
gates spilling out of the
their "pillar."
chairs and lining the walls.
J.J. GOLDBERG
The results tell you every-
The mood in the room
Special to
thing you need to know
was one of eager expecta-
the
Jewish News
about where Jewish philan-
tion. But the reviews
thropy is headed in the next
afterward were generally
few years. The session on fund-rais-
downbeat. The consensus seemed to
ing drew between 400 and 500 peo-
be that delegates hadn't heard much
ple, mainly professionals engaged in
that they didn't know already. In
a businesslike discussion of new
part, that was because the answers
trends. The session on Israel and
are already familiar.
overseas needs drew about the same
"We already know exactly what we
number, including some of Ameri
have to do," Boston federation presi-
can Jewry's top activists, for an
dent Barry Shrage told the delegates.
earnest — and inconclusive —
All we have to do is do it." What's
needed, Shrage said, is more and bet-
ter teachers, more communication
J.J. Goldberg is a national columnist
among synagogues and more openness
and author on Jewish issues, who writes
among Jews.
a monthly column for the Jewish News.
"The bottom line is, you can't do
He can be reached via e-mail at
anything without money," said dele-
jjg@compuserve.com
gate Caryl Berzovsky of Fort Laud-

T

had actually occurred. Hence, UJC
President Stephen Solender's deter-
mination to hire a detective agency
and ferret out "where our system
broke down," exposing the event
prematurely to public scrutiny.
I certainly agree with the idea of
hiring a detective agency or perhaps,
more appropriately, an entire brigade
of detectives, educators, psychiatrists
and psychologists. Their task would be
to determine how the declared creme
de la creme of American Jewish society
came to consider Yasser Arafat, the
proud killer of thousands of Jews and
the declared proponent of a Palestin-
ian state from the Jordan River to the
Mediterranean Sea, a worthy recipient
of their award.
The next task of the brigade would
be to determine how to get these
mavens to open their eyes, discard

their illusions, learn what is really hap-
pening in the State of Israel and, final-
ly, realize how the Arab vision of peace
truly differs from that of many, if not
most, of them — a daunting task,
indeed.

Jerome S. Kaufman
Bloomfield Hills

New Mindset
Is Acceptance

We just finished a four-Sunday series
of discussions on the messiah at the
Church of Our Saviour in Livonia.
Rabbi Amy Bigman and David
Blewett, both of the Ecumenical Insti-
tute for Jewish-Christian Studies in
Southfield, presented the Jewish con-
cepts of the messiah, current and past
versions, and the growth and appro-

erdale, Fla., as she exited the session.
The delegates had come to
Atlanta with few expectations. They
knew the organization that convened
them had been reorganized and
renamed. Just what that would mean
for their local work, out in the
community, wasn't clear to
anyone. But they were about
to find out. After five years
of mind-numbing quibbling,
the fabled United Jewish
Appeal had been trans-
formed into the little-known
United Jewish Communities. This
assembly was the new agency's inau-
gural rollout.
The opening session had featured
Vice President Al Gore, in a 45-
minute speech that could only be
called astoundingly adequate. He was
smooth, sometimes funny, at times
almost uplifting. He talked about
things his listeners cared about. By
any standard, it was a credible perfor-
mance. For Gore, given his robot-like
reputation, it was a masterpiece. "I
was looking for a reason to like him,
and he gave one," said one satisfied
listener.
By the time delegates headed
home two days later, that was pretty
much the verdict on the operation as
a whole. For five years, the national
institutions of Jewish philanthropy
had been paralyzed, unable to dis-
cuss anything but their own struc-
ture. In Atlanta, finally, they got
back to the business of Jewish phil-

anthropy. "There's a sense of opti-
mism that some of the institutional
baggage has been cleared up," said
delegate Francine Immerman of
Cleveland.
•
The shift hadn't come a moment
too soon. Delegates spoke repeatedly,
many in urgent tones, of the
need to shake up the Jewish
community's institutions and
move them into a new era.
The existing institutions of
Jewish philanthropy had been
created a century ago to face emer-
gencies that have long since ended.
Local Jewish federations were set up to
provide social services for millions of
penniless Jewish refugees pouring into
America's urban ghettoes. The United
Jewish Appeal arose a half-century
later to rescue Jews from the devasta-
tion of Nazi Europe and build a new
state of Israel.
Today's emergency isn't in the
ghettoes or battlefields, but in the
hearts of young Jews. The issue is no
longer how Jews can survive in a
hostile world. The issue is why stay
Jewish in a world that's ever more
welcoming.
The question facing the Jewish fed-
erations is whether the awesome
resources they command — annual
donations of $1.5 billion, a vast net-
work of institutions from coast to
coast — can be harnessed to that new
mission.

priation and changes of the Christian
concepts of Jesus fulfilling (or not ful-
filling) the prophecies. The church
members were fascinated by all these
new and different versions; the atten-
dance increased each week.
I was amazed at the openness of the
questions and apparent acceptance of
the answers. The Presbyterians were
really interested. The material pre-
sented was well organized and thor-
ough. I expected there would be at
least some hostile questions, but there
were none. I know there is a lot of
anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism out
there; none was evidenced in the
slightest.
Everyone stayed to discuss what we
had covered. There was so much new
material that the attendees never heard
before.
After the series, we talked about

taping some of the wonderful exam-
ples of people coming together to
learn and their marvelous reactions.
The institute does an outstanding
job. I recommend that every church
and every synagogue arrange to have
this experience. This is the ultimate in
dialogue; there never was a sign of
argument or disagreement. The infor-
mation was presented in such a way
that it was never confrontational.
This really is an expression of the
institute's name — for Jewish and
Christian studies. There is no charge.
We need to know more about each
other and each other's religion; just
the facts.

RENAISSANCE ON PAGE 40

Arnold Michlin
Farmington Hills

LETTERS ON PAGE 42

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11/26
1999

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