IN Thoughts

A MONTHLY MIX OF IDEAS

George Cantor's Reality Check column will return next week

Striving To Serve JARC

F

or nearly 30 years,
my guiding principle
has been "Is it good
for JARC?" Like my peers who
dedicated their lives to serv-
ing our Jewish community or
my colleagues who devoted
themselves to caring for people
with disabilities, most of my
days (and large parts of my
nights) have been spent worry-
ing, planning, strategizing and
praying — trying to answer the question
Is it good for JARC?"
At this point in my life, however, I decid-
ed to ask a different question: "Is it good
for Joyce Keller and my loving husband,
Michael Watch?"
After almost 30 years as JARC's execu-
tive director, I announced at a recent JARC
board meeting that I will step down as
executive director in 2008. My mother
died at a relatively young age while wait-
ing to retire, and I knew I wanted to slow
down while I am still healthy enough
(thank God) to enjoy my semi-retirement.
I have no specific timeline and will assist
throughout the transition. I also look for-
ward to a role at JARC that will be valuable
to the new director and to JARC.
But the question "Is it good for JARC?"
still lingers in my conscience.
There are those who say that losing 30
years of institutional memory is bad for
JARC. Others might claim — indeed,
some have — that the "J" in JARC stands
for Joyce (it doesn't). Some have inti-
mated that the walls of our Katzman
Administrative Building and our 20 group
homes might fall like the walls of Jericho
upon my departure.
So how do I answer the question "Is
Joyce's impending semi-retirement good
for JARC?" I say that it is good for JARC. It
must be good for JARC.

Musical Interlude
For the last many years, my job
has been that of a conductor. I
don't play the music — I simply
try to keep everyone playing the
same tune. Over the years, I have
led the orchestra of JARC to play
many different melodies — vari-
ations on a theme, really — as
times change, JARC grows and
the needs of the people we serve
and their families develop.
When a conductor leaves, the symphony
does not stop playing. Rather, a new con-
ductor arrives with new talents and new
strengths. He or she builds on the ability
of the musicians and, through his or her
leadership, brings them to new heights.
This is where JARC finds itself today.
And JARC is not alone. Some of my peers
have left their organizations recently while
others are planning for their eventual
departures.
So how is this change good for our Jewish
community? How is this good for JARC?
The answer consists of two simple
words: L'dor va'dor. From generation to
generation, our Jewish community and
our vital institutions thrive and grow. Just

as I learned from my mentors (especially
Norman Wachter, of blessed memory),
others will learn from the experiences of
my peers and me.
JARC is far bigger than Joyce Keller. Our
community is far bigger than those we
identified as leaders yesterday. It must be.
Let us consider Moses, perhaps the
archetypal Jewish leader. After 40 years of
leadership, his tenure as the leader of the
Jewish people came to a close.
But the Jewish people did not come to a
close, merely that chapter in our people-
hood.
For Moses begat Joshua, who begat
David, who begat Theodore Herzl (or
something like that).
L'dor va'dor, our Jewish community sur-
vives and thrives because we continually
find talented, driven, intelligent people to
lead us.

Changing Times
I have had the honor of leading JARC
for 30 years. It has been a time of great
growth and change, from one home on
Evergreen in Detroit to 20 homes through-
out Oakland County and hundreds served
by JARC in other settings. From raising

$80,000 at our first fundraiser to $1.6 mil-
lion this year (with your help — please
give today!). From three employees to 230.
It would be disingenuous for me to pre-
tend that I had nothing to do with JARC's
growth. I could not be more proud of my
life's work. I know that I did not and could
not have accomplished this without a
wonderful team of staff, lay leaders, volun-
teers, donors and our embracing commu-
nity. But I also know that I have personally
made a difference at JARC and in the lives
of those we serve.
And JARC's next executive director will
have that same opportunity. He or she will
do things that I could never dream of. The
JARC of today will be surpassed by the
JARC of tomorrow. The new conductor will
lead JARC through many new songs.
As for me? I will sit in the audience. I
will enjoy the success of the new conductor
and his or her team of talented musicians.
I will sit in the audience and applaud.
And it will be good for JARC.

Joyce Keller of Waterford is executive direc-

tor of Farmington Hills-based JARC, serving

people with developmental disabilities.

Forever Cheim by Michael Gilbert

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End Officials' Sponsored Trips

0

ne of the traditional political tactics
used by Jewish community organiza-
tions throughout the country to garner
support for Israel is to sponsor trips to Israel for
federal, state and local officials.
Now, the Montgomery County, Md., Ethics
Commission has ruled that its local officials can
no longer accept these Jewish-funded trips.
The commission, in an e-mail note to county
legislators as reported by the Forward ("Ban On
Political Junkets to Israel Deals Blow to Lobbying
Efforts:' Sept. 5, page 1), stated: "The routing of
monies through a lobbyist organization to provide

30

September 27 y 2007

AN

travel services makes the gift unacceptable."
The commission is absolutely correct, and it has
done the sponsoring organizations a favor. Let's
hope they follow up by canceling these projects
because they were always ill advised — and a
waste of precious local financial resources.
First, the trips were always tinged with ethical
problems because officials obviously knew why
they were being invited to visit Israel. It is no dif-
ferent that a lobbyist inviting legislators to fancy
resorts in seeking their support of legislation
although in this case the objective was "educating"
lawmakers on Israeli issues.

Indeed, it might even be counterproductive
because officials might be offended — if not
offended, at least cynical — by the overture in
trying to influence them with this special favor.
What public official would not accept a free trip
to Israel? As one former Detroit congressman told
me when I asked him about the practice, "I always
wanted an invitation but never got one' Then,
he admitted, a public official should not accept
these kinds of offers whether they involve a trip
to Israel, a health spa or anywhere "because it just

Sponsored Trips on page 31

