OTHER VIEWS

A New Breed Of Leaders

C

New York

all them mega-leaders.
They are the new breed of
men (so far) taking Over the
helm of the American Jewish
establishment as Mort Zuckerman, the
real estate and publishing mogul, pre-
pares to succeed Ronald Lauder, the cos-
metics heir, as chairman of the Confer-
ence of Presidents of Major American
Jewish Organizations, and James Tisch,
head of the Loews Corporation and out-
going president of UJA-Federation of
New York, is the choice to succeed
Charles Bronfman, of Seagrams wealth,
as president of the United Jewish Com-
munities.
These mega-leaders are enormously
wealthy, have high name recognition
and superb access to American and
world leaders of government and busi-
ness. But these are people who tend to
come in at the top of the organizations
they head rather than work their way up
the ladder of Jewish communal involve-
ment. They have limited connection to
amcha, or grassroots Jews, and marrow
access to rank-and-file Jewish lay leaders,
professionals and press.
There is concern that in their rela-
tive isolation, these new leaders will be
buffered from the associations and

Gary Rosenblatt is editor and pub-
lisher of the New York Jewish Week. His
e-mail address is
Gary@jewishweek.org.

exchange of ideas
with Jewish orga-
nizational volun-
teers and profes-
sionals that were
an integral part of
the job descrip-
tion in the past.
Some intangible
GARY
sense of commu-
ROSENBLATT nal spirit may be
lost to them, as
Special
much of the
Commentary
mood of Ameri-
can Jewry will be
filtered through a handful of key offi-
cials and associates.
Veteran Jewish leaders are skeptical
about this emerging trend and, not
surprisingly, reluctant to discuss the
implications on the record. But pri-
vately, they worry that in attracting
powerful men to these top positions,
the community loses an authentic
relationship with those who ostensibly
speak for them — and the leaders
themselves lose a reality-check in
assessing the feelings and needs of the
people in whose name they speak.
Shoshana Cardin of Baltimore, a
past president of just about every
major communal organization one can
think of, plus a few more, epitomizes
the model of the Jewish leader who
rose through the ranks. She notes the
financial obligations required of a lay
leader and says, "If this trend becomes

more widespread, it could dissuade
competent men and women from
seeking" key positions. "If my turn
were to come up now," says Cardin,
75, "I probably wouldn't have made
it," given the level of wealth and pre-
sumed donations of the mega-leaders.

Ties To Money

Certainly wealth has always been a ,
factor in choosing American Jewish
lay leaders. But this new level among
the top leadership can be traced, in
part, to a conscious effort by organiza-
tional professionals to respond to the
proliferation of major family founda-
tions threatening to overshadow the
federation system.
Just as the United Jewish Appeal
and Council of Jewish Federations were
struggling on the road to merger a few
years ago, individual philanthropists
like Les Wexner, Michael Steinhardt
and Charles Bronfman were setting
aside increasingly significant dollars for
their own funds, and setting the agenda
for the rest of the community. In an
effort to keep such key figures in the
system, and give enhanced clout and
prestige to the fledgling United Jewish
Communities (the result of the UJA
and CJF merger), Bronfman was
tapped to be its president and Joel
Tauber, a Detroit-based mega-donor, to
serve as chairman.
Each leader, of course, has his or
her own strengths and weaknesses, but

the new breed is made up of high-
powered businessmen used to making
his own decisions and getting his way.
"There's a longer learning curve for
those coming from different fields,"
says Cardin diplomatically, noting the
Jewish communal system of consensus
requires a good deal of process and
patience until decisions are reached,
accepted and implemented.
"I don't know if it's helpful to have
a head of the UJC who doesn't know
the leaders, lay and professional, in
the system, and the needs of the aver-
age federation. We need someone will-
ing to participate in regional confer-
ences and to go to the various com-
munities whose constituents want
some hand-holding from their lay
leaders," she adds. "Being visible and
accessible adds a great deal to the
sense of togetherness we still need."

How Involved?

Will the mega-leaders have the time or
inclination to travel to Cleveland or
Kalamazoo for such meetings? And do
they have the deep-seated Jewish sen-
sibilities of past leaders?
"Let's face it," says one Jewish lay _
leader, "there are no giants out there
in the volunteer community. Gone are
the days of Stephen Wise and Abba
Hillel Silver," charismatic rabbis who
led the community in the first half of

NEW BREED on page 39

•

Create A Special 'Dream Cruise'

s a Jewish chaplain serving
older adults in the Detroit
metropolitan community, I
sometimes feel stereotyped
as one who is concerned with only
"spiritual" matters ("Building Corn-
passion," May 11, page 14). However,
I also think about daily "secular" expe-
riences and appreciate many aspects of
our culture.
As I enter the summer season, I
fondly look forward to the Dream
Cruise along Woodward Avenue
through Detroit and several suburban
communities to the north, and I
reflect on its value as a metaphor for
the stages of our lives.

A

IN

6/1
2001

38

Rabbi Dovid S. Polter is a communi-
ty chaplain for the Jewish Home and
Aging Services in West Bloomfield.

RABBI DOVID
S. POLTER
Community
Views

Automobiles of
all makes and
models that are
characterized as
antique or classic
are viewed by so
many with great
pride and rever-
ence like a cele-
bration and ven-
eration of past
glory days. These
treasures have not
diminished, but
increased with the

years.
This great honor, respect and glory
has not been given to the newest,
slickest or fastest cars, but rather to
those so-called "old-fashioned" models
of the '30s and '40s.

I would like to think that the plea-
sure and edification we derive from
exposure to these classic vintages —
the styles, the times, the lifestyles, the
artistry, the memories of past genera-
tions — can, and should be, sought
and experienced by connecting with
our own personal links to the past.

Cruising With Seniors

Although the Dream Cruise will come
and go, an incredible opportunity to
'cruise" with our elders is easily avail-
able every day of the year.
We can continue the excitement of
dream cruising with our parents,
grandparents, relatives, friends and
neighbors who actually lived their
youthful years in the '30s and '40s
and, thereby, get to know much more
about them, their times and maybe

ourselves. We can reminisce, reflect
and share the memories of our older
adults' past.
I work each day with Jewish older
adults. I experience the wealth of their
knowledge and traditions. Their life
experiences touch my heart and each
story needs to be told and retold. The
Jewish Chaplaincy Program of the
Jewish Home and Aging Services,
which is a Jewish Federation of Metro-
politan Detroit agency, can help you
strengthen your connection to the past
and enrich your present.
Volunteer to visit a Jewish older
adult — living in a nursing home or
assisted living facility — who may not
have anyone left with whom to share a
dream cruise of simple friendship and
camaraderie. ❑

