Editorials

Editorials and Letters to the Editor are posted and archived on JN Online:

www.detroitjewishnews.com

Time To Take Chances

I

ntriging similarities are emerging
between the American nation, as reflect-
ed in its governmental, economic and
social structures, and the organized Jew-
ish community, as reflected in its umbrella
organization, the United Jewish Communities.
To begin with, both seem to have tri-
umphed. The U.S. is the greatest economic,
military and cultural power that the globe has
ever known. An entire generation has grown
up free from the threat of a major war, while
our nation's businesses have grown globally
dominant. American culture is the model to
which much of the rest of the world aspires
(albeit, sometimes grudgingly). Our constitu-
tional government in which personal freedom
is assured by a system of checks and balances is

Never have Jews in
this country been so
securely established as
a respected minority
that provides vital
national leadership.

widely envied and emulated.
The organized Jewish world of North Ameri-
ca is equally blessed. Never have Jews in this
country been so securely established as a
respected minority that provides vital national
leadership. Sen. Joseph Lieberman's vice-presi-
dential candidacy is only the most prominent
example of our social acceptance. Never have
American Jews been better able to support Israel
and assure the care of Jews in other parts of the
diaspora. The $2 billion that will be raised by
all federations and agencies this year — includ-
ing $1.2 billion in permanent endowments —
is an astonishing milestone. The annual General
Assembly of the umbrella United Jewish Com-
munities this week in Chicago drew more than
4,500 delegates, so many that the hotels ran out
of
for them.
Yet for all the success, challenges and uncer-
tainties remain for both.
The closeness of the national election
demonstrates that neither presidential candi-
date nor party was able to enunciate a vision
for the country that could rally a clear majori-
ty. The resulting impasse foreshadows at least
two, and possibly four, years without a nation-
al policy on some of our major domestic
issues, including medical care, environmental

Related story: page 22

Dry Bones

protection and income redistribution through
taxation, just to name a few. Externally, we do
not know whether to lead or to partner,
whether to share our riches or spend them
internally, whether to assist the building of
other nations or simply to keep them from
practicing genocide.

Irriocrs Nar - QS

WHAT 14APFt ►
1-b boS1 ► QG
CAKA>IDArt-Es
I ► v

Shaping A Vision

UJC also seems unable to formulate a com-
pelling national vision — despite having
attracted a deeply talented and effective team
of lay and professional leaders.
Its priorities for institutional building seem
well founded. UJC understands the need to train
agency professionals in business management as
well as social work, for example, and it knows it
should partner with strong national agencies
rather than duplicate or replace them. It knows it
needs to learn how to build alliances with non-
Jewish agencies and to compete better for the
pool of Jewish philanthropic dollars that are no
longer assuredly flowing to Jewish programs.
But UJC isn't clear yet on its mission, and
thus its strategy, to achieve that mission.
Should it play the leading role in inspiring
rank-and-file with the sheer joy of being Jewish
or must it simply provide service and support
to more local institutions that will be the
bedrock for identity and continuity? How
much can UJC help smaller communities and
federations by redistributing resources from
larger, more self-sufficient ones? Can it main-
tain funding for overseas operations and
address its domestic needs vigorously enough?

r HERE, uu€

Ern4m cHARG6

MN

WITH
CR1146.

LETTERS

Building A Base

In public statements at the GA and in private
conversations, leaders of UJC seem acutely aware
that they must build broad agreement on these
seminal issues. They point out, correctly, that it
has only been two years since UJC emerged as
the successor to the Council of Jewish Federa-
tions, the United Jewish Appeal and the United
Israel Appeal. The leaders said they need to be
sure the core institution is functioning smoothly
before they can be effective in dealing with the
broader issue of UJC's mission.
But having watched the national political
process play out to such a frustratingly indeter-
minate end, having seen how the candidates
shied away from enunciating a clear-cut vision
lest they offend any major bloc of voters or
contributors, we think UJC needs to under-
stand the need for greater boldness.
Without giving up one scintilla of the mar-
velous effort UJC makes to prove its solidarity
with Israel and with Jews all over the world,
the top national leadership must formulate and
share its real vision for the excitingly renewed
American Jewish community. It's doing great
in terms of service. Now it needs to speak out
in the marketplace of ideas.

❑

Rabin Picture
Lacks Details

Regarding your editorial on
the late Israeli Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin ("A Legacy of
Honor," Nov. 3, page 37), we
would like to raise a few
points that in light of recent
events scream out to be
heard.
Since 1993, when the late
prime minister made the
impassioned declaration,
"Enough of blood and tears,
enough!", almost 300 Israelis
have lost their lives and
countless more have been
wounded through acts of
Arab terror (a complete list is
posted at
WWW. S raelwire.com).
It is dubious whether the
families of those who were
killed or maimed since the

Oslo Agreement would agree
with your assertion that
Yitzhak Rabin was as "smart a
leader as Israel has ever had."
Looking at what has tran-
spired since the implementa-
tion of Oslo, how can you
make the incredulous and
mind-boggling statement that
the late prime minister
"proved his smarts" in making
a deal with the PLO [Pales-
tine Liberation Organiza-
tion]?
The daily news reports
that we American Jews await
with trepidation are chilling.
They sober us to the day-to-
day reality of our Israeli
brethren: Fear is rampant
among the population and, in
many parts of the country,
citizens are living under a vir-
tual state of siege, unable to
leave their homes and travel
about freely. Palestinian men,

11/ .
200

31

