regional president and national vice-
president of the Reform movement's
youth organization, NFTY (North
American Federation of Temple Youth)
and vice president of UAHC for 13
years under the legendary Rabbi
Alexander Schindler.
So when he's not meeting the presi-
dent of the United States or prime
minister of Israel, and when he's not
flying around the country to discuss
ways to reinvigorate prayer and spiritu-
ality with Reform congregation leaders
("the real heroes of the Jewish people"),
Rabbi Yoffie runs on the treadmill,
watches sports and goes out to dinner.
"I don't have an interesting life," he
says, straight-faced. "I'm committed to
my family, to Judaism and to my work.
I read and study a great deal."
Peter Knobel, rabbi of Beth Emet:
The Free Synagogue in Evanston, Ill.,
says, "If being a nice heimish guy who is
deeply committed to his family,
Judaism and work means 'not being
interesting,' well, then yes, Eric isn't
interesting. But I wish there were more
boring people in the world like him."
Rabbi Knobel, who came in second
to Rabbi Yoffie in the 1996 bid for the
movement presidency, will always
appreciate him for phoning him after
his heart bypass surgery, "when others
who were closer to me didn't."
So is there a warm, fuzzy side to
Rabbi Yoffie after all?
Amy Jacobson Yoffie, his wife of 31
years, swears her husband is loving and
hilarious, and was playful with his chil-
dren when they were young. But, she
admits, it's not a side many get to see.
"The truth is Eric is shy by nature,"
she says. "When he first started out at a
congregation, he had to force himself
to be outgoing and gregarious." •
"Eric is not easily given to schmooz-
ing — small talk," says former UAHC
board chair Somers. "He can do it, but
prefers to be involved in more substan-
tive conversations with people."
Somers adds that while Rabbi Yoffie
is certainly businesslike when it comes
to managing the organization, "He is
not out to make everyone comfortable
— that's not his job. But he also cares
about people on a personal level."
Back at UAHC headquarters, Rabbi
Yoffie is respected for being, as one of
his key managers describes, "brutally
frank." Though he still has to be
reminded to slow down in the halls
and say hello to people, his employees
seem to respect him for his thoughtful-
ness, honesty and candor.
Another key to his success is the
open way he consults his lay people,
according to Rabbi Kroloff, who
admires the way Rabbi Yoffie can push
the envelope without getting too far
ahead of his leadership. "I've never seen
Eric use -a sledgehammer intellectually
or emotionally," Rabbi Kroloff says. "If
he doesn't have the backing of his staff
and leadership, then he'll back off."
Rabbi Yoffie agrees. He's careful to
assert that his organization is a "congre-
gational movement" whose central
components are rabbis, cantors and
educators. He seeks their input and
says that, ultimately, the major leaders
are the lay people.
"I have a lot of
influence, but I'm not
anybody's rebbe,"
Rabbi Yoffie says. "It's
my ability to educate
and persuade that
ultimately determines
how much impact I'm
going to have."
Rabbi Klein
Temple Beth El's
Frank says, "Rabbi
Yoffie has been an excellent leader of
the Reform movement. He not only is
a spokesperson for the movement, but
he has initiated many ideas such as 'Go
and Study' for congre-
gations, boards and
committees and has
encouraged the read-
ing of significant
Jewish books."
Rabbi Klein sees
him as "quiet,
thoughtful, direct,
Dennis Frank
energetic and fully
devoted to the
authenticity of our Reform move-
ment." He is pleased that Rabbi Yoffie
will address his Oak Park congregation
next February.
Rabbi Schindler was the visionary
human heart driving the Reform move-
ment; Rabbi Yoffie is much more the
CEO. Rabbis Kroloff and Somers cred-
it him with assembling an able staff
and having the ability to inspire them.
He gives people room to grow and
doesn't feel threatened by their success,
they say.
Rabbi Yoffie is not without ego; he
calls himself a "great" spokesman and
movement representative. And, on the
issues, he is consistently passionate
about inadequacies and injustices,
pounding the bully bimah to demand
tikkun, repair. Earlier this month, for
example, in asking Reform adherents to
donate as much as they could of their
$300 to $600 federal tax rebates to
congregational tzedakah, he said the
Bush tax reform failed to reflect "the
prophetic mandate to create a society
of justice and equity."
"He's somewhat prophetic in the
tradition of the biblical Jewish
prophets," offers Rabbi Kroloff.
Troubled Prophet
The prophets of the Bible weren't the
most popular figures of their time, get-
ting under the skin of the reigning
Jewish leadership, exposing their inade-
quacies and calling them on the carpet
for their transgressions.
So Rabbi Kroloff's calling Eric Yoffie
"prophetic" may not be such a stretch.
Rabbi Yoffie has chastised his own
movement's members for their consider-
able lack of Jewish knowledge and unin-
spiring synagogue services, while launch-
ing corrective initiatives. And like the
prophets, he has certainly gotten under
the skin of the established Jewish leader-
ship.
In January, he chastised Ronald
Lauder, the then-chairman of the
Conference of Presidents of Major
American Jewish organizations; for a
speech he made at a Jerusalem rally. He
publicly upbraided the Anti-Defamation
League's Abraham Foxman and other
Jewish leaders, suggesting they had been
"bought" to write letters to President
Bill Clinton in support of a pardon for
fugitive financier Mark Rich.
He then led a campaign — unsuc-
cessfully — against the election of
Mortimer Zuckerman as chair of the
Presidents Conference, arguing that the
views expressed by Zuckerman in his
U.S. News and World Report column
could conflict with those of the
Conference. This brought the ire of
Malcolm Hoenlein, the outspoken
director of the Conference.
And in a June 1 speech in Cleveland,
while blaming Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat for sparking the recent round of
Mideast violence, he also called for a
freeze on Israeli settlement-building
activity in the West Bank. The latter was
carried prominently in the national
headlines and infuriated many main-
stream Jewish and Israeli leaders, who
saw it as an ill-timed slap at Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon, whose September
Temple Mount visit was roundly criti-
cized by Rabbi Yoffie.
Then, of course, came the canceling
of the teen trips to Israel.
What irked some leaders most,
according to Foxman, is that Rabbi
Yoffie sent out - press releases "hyping"
his criticisms of Jewish leaders. He also
found Rabbi Yoffie's claim, expressed in
his releases, to speak for 1.5 million Jews
— or a quarter of American Jewry —
"arrogant. "
"As a spiritual leader, Eric Yoffie has
done more to cause disunity than unity,"
says Foxman. "To hype his criticism of
Israel during a time of crisis when the
Jewish people have come together was
irresponsible and unprofessional."
Rabbi Yoffie dismisses those who crit-
icize his stances on Israel, saying, "There
has long been a double standard wherein
criticism from the left is seen as disunity,
while criticism from the right is always
overlooked. Ultimately, decisions are in
Israel's hands. But we have the right to
articulate our own views and values." •
Sustaining Strength
Rabbi Yoffie reclines in his chair. The
adrenaline rush from rebutting his critics
is wearing off Again he is asked, when
— how — do you find a little shelter
from the storm? This time he pauses
and reflects.
"This is the greatest job in the
world," he says. But in the same breath,
he admits that leadership is taking its
toll. "I travel a great deal and the
demands are overwhelming," he says. "I
worry about my ability to sustain what's
necessary physically to do this. How
long I'm going to be able to do this is
unclear."
Rabbi Yoffie still gets "great satisfac-
tion" from meeting "the 25,000 Jews
who run the Reform congregations." He
also finds solace in his relationship with
his wife ("my valued advisor"), from
reading Yeshayahu Leibowitz ("one of
my great heroes") and from studying
with his children on Shabbat.
He also says he learned early on how
to handle controversy from Rabbi
Schindler. Rabbi Yoffie recalls Rabbi
Schindler taking him aside after his June
1996 election as president of UAHC,
"when the Forward went after me in a
major way."
"Being the center of attention was
new to me," says Rabbi Yoffie. "So Alex
worked through with me the ability to
put things like this aside and go for-
ward."
Rabbi Yoffie says that Rabbi
Schindler's practice of inviting advice on
hard issues made a lasting impression
him. "Then, he would make a decision
and would never blink," Rabbi Yoffie
says. "Alex's example is always in front of
my eyes. ,,
But it's what is inside that will always
distinguish Rabbi Yoffie — and ulti-
mately sustain him, says his wife, Amy.
"Eric is completely comfortable with
himself. He has an inner compass and
an inner peace you just don't see in
other people. He seems to be able to
roll with the punches and not worry
like other public figures do about their
image."
❑
6/29
2001
55