EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK

...a loving
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Wanted: Communal Pros

T

he internal forces of apathy, inertia and ignorance
have converged into a perfect storm for a genera-
tion that American Jewry is counting on to pro-
.. vide future Jewish leaders. Unless we see the
urgency and do something now about inspiring 20-some-
things to follow a professional career path within the Jewish
world, our schools, synagogues, federations and agencies will
be at risk from a dearth of dynamic young leadership.
If too few of our best and brightest don't choose communal
work, American Jewry's infrastructure will be threatened; jobs
will stay open or go to second-tier applicants. What's clear is
that opportunities for competitive pay, career
and personal growth, community influence,
mentoring and respect from older colleagues
typically lag.
A budding alliance of Jewish philanthro-
pists and professionals, most with Detroit
ties, is determined to give meaning to the
Jewish world as a career path.
"We want to upgrade the Jewish commu-
ROBERT A. nal services so that they attract more highly
S KLAR
qualified people to lead them," said Michael
Editor
Steinhardt, one of Jewish America's top givers
and sharpest thinkers. His New York City-
based Jewish Life Network serves as a crucible for
attracting uninvolved and under-involved young Jews.
Enter the 20-Something Summit, running Aug.
22-24 in Los Angeles. It will be an interactive think
tank for research and leadership for up to 150 young
adults who are entrepreneurial and who have a zest
for Judaism. The hope is to pinpoint how to market
communal work so that it appeals to rising stars com-
pleting degree work, pursuing postgraduate studies or
looking for a job.
CareerBreak will follow Aug. 24-27. This adjunct
program will offer a snapshot of Jewish professional
life by pairing up to 20 summit-goers with profes-
sional mentors and with alumni of the Wexner
Heritage Foundation for aspiring Jewish volunteer
leaders.
"We've attracted a variety of first-rate people from
the best schools," said Steinhardt, chairman of Jewish
Renaissance Media, which owns the Detroit Jewish
News. "I'm not sure we will be able to persuade them
that being a professional leader is a meaningful and
satisfying career, but we're going to try."
Other summit funders are Detroit superstars
William Davidson and Eugene and Marcia
Applebaum and the Tulsa-based Charles and Lynn
Schusterman Family Foundation.
Host of this national initiative is the Professional Leaders
Project, created in March. It sprang from Robert Arons- on's
futile search for enough Jewish communal talent. He's CEO
of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, a PLP part-
ner. Aronson looked not only to the hinders, but also
Detroiters Stanley Frankel and Bill Berman for help in shap-
ing the PLR
Is there a strong enough counter to the perfect storm inex-
orably pushing young Jews closer to full assimilation than
communal involvement?
Steinhardt points to Birthright Israel, a 5-year-old initiative
he helps fund. And numbers don't lie. Birthright has given

To apply to take part in the heavily subsidized summit,
go to www.jevvishleaders.net

49,000 Jews ageS 18-26 a free first Israel experience with
peers. Follow-up studies of alumni show deeper feelings about
being Jewish.
"Instead of tapping people's souls through guilt and fear,"
Steinhardt said in keynoting the United Jewish Communities
of North America General Assembly in Jerusalem last fall,
"Birthright Israel creates a bond with Israel and captures our
young people through the beauty and glory of their heritage."
When we spoke on June 16, Steinhardt elaborated. "The
only twinkling that I do see in the Jewish world," he said, "is
the twinkling that comes from Birthright. In all sorts of areas
that reflect Jewish interests, its Birthright alumni who are
coming to the fore."
He expects at least half of the summit-goers to be Birthright
alumni. "I am seeing from that particular program an enor-
mous awakening," he said. "That's the first sign that some of
the things that the Jewish Life Network is involved in ire
starting to have an effect."
Summit-goers will rub shoulders with the funders as well as
leading professionals like Aronson. They'll meet peers who
have made it in Jewish communal work as well as young
Jewish artists in various disciplines. They'll also receive career
coaching. Most importantly, they'll be a sounding board for
their generation.
Rhoda Weisman, a Southfield High graduate
and past Camp Tamarack counselor, became the
L.A.-based executive director of the PLP in
November. She previously worked under Richard
Joel for Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Life.
Her Hillel legacy is the Steinhardt Jewish
Campus Services Corps, which brings collegiate
services and programs to students in North
America, Israel and Latin America.
'After 13 years with Hillel," Weisman told me
last week, "I was convinced there were thousands
of 20-somethings with a strong Jewish identity
and who may be interested in a career path in the
Jewish sector — under the right set of circum-
stances."
Indeed, the organized Jewish community is not
reaping all that it can from young Jews who have
taken part in identity-building programs like
youth group, summer camp or Birthright Israel, or
who have been campus leaders, Jewish studies
majors or Sunday school teachers.
Professional Leaders Project findings will com-
bine with those from two studies on finding and
keeping Jewish professionals. The PLP commis-
sioned the studies from Jewish demographer Dr.
Gary Tobin of San Francisco and from Brandeis
University in Waltham, Mass. The result is sure to yield a
demographic database on 20-somethings, plus breakthrough
insight on what engages them.
I appreciate Weisman's candor and resolve. She knows the
waywardness of many Jewish organizations has turned off the
best and brightest who get to their door. She knows the PLP
must test the theory that 20-somethings can be wooed to a
Jewish communal career path, not just entry-level jobs in the
field that serve as springboards to other lines of work.
Imagine the insight to be gained from a time-tested list of
recruitment and retention steps for such a career path.
Still, Weisman is right: For that list to thrive, the recruiting
organizations must be willing to adapt, change and even rein- .
vent themselves if that's what it takes to engage our best and
brightest as professional leaders. ❑

...a
meaningful
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help
people
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az

Here's how...

• Use JARC Place Cards
• Present each guest with a
JARC Tribute expressing your
unique message
• Create centerpieces to donate
for use in JARC homes
•Ask guests to mark your
simcha with a contribution to
JARC
• Recognize your honoree with
a special gift to a JARC home

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