Values and Action: Remarks by Steven Schwarz

Chair, Jewish Council for Public Affairs

By this point of the Plenum, you may well have had your fill of millennial references, hypothesizing about the future, and that proverbial "bridge to the 21st century." Tonight, together, let us take this unique opportunity to reflect on where the American Jewish community has been; examine what strengths and fault lines have emerged; consider what issues may warrant our attention and involvement in the future; and examine what our role and responsibility must be in shaping if.

We are living in times of change. Many of this century's changes were driven by accelerating technology. The vacuum tube was invented in the 20's; the cathode ray tube in the 30's; the transistor in the 50's; and the integrated circuit in the 80's. These enormous technological leaps have had globalizing effects in three areas in particular: the world economy, communications, and world politics. When a shoe drops in Brazil or Malaysia, the thud reverberates throughout the canyons of Wall Street. When cruise missiles are fired at Iraq, the world oil market quivers. When there is unrest in Kosovo, it is not just a Balkan problem, it is a global problem. And all of this is communicated globally in real time through satellite links, to a community where color tv is now as common as radio; cellular telephones are no longer rare icons of high technology; and global communications through the internet make transfers of data, knowledge and opinion available instantly to one and all.

Our worlds - Jewish and otherwise - are markedly different places because of the interaction between internal changes within the Jewish community, and the impact of external forces that shape our worldview and affect our functioning as an agency of that communities

Changing attitudes and changing issues must become a major focus for the Jewish community relations field. At the end of the day, our response to these changes and challenges will determine the success of the JCPA, the success of our field, and indeed, in no small measure could help to contribute to the overall continuation of a dynamic creative Jewish presence in America.

Taking a cue from the rest of post-war America, American Jews raised their children with the expectation that they would be more economically secure than any previous generation had ever been, better educated and more completely "at home" in America than any previous generation had been in a Diaspora community To a great extent, we and our children live this dream. Optimism has entered our lives, indeed a rare condition in the Jewish experience. But the ability to marry this optimism to new economic and social realities sometimes proves unsettling.

The American dream that children should be better off than their parents now requires two wage earners in the family to help support an enabling college and graduate education. Young JUMPIES (Jewish Upwardly Mobile Professionals) are replacing the merchants, real estate and entrepreneurial members in the Jewish line of succession.

Full acceptance into American society has come with a price tag that is marked in terms of identity. The first seven decades of this century, where we truly fought for entry can be characterized as the years of when we began to more and more look and sound like our neighbors. The last three decades have seen a shift toward the years of assimilation, where we began to internalize the notion that we are the same as our neighbors. There has been a blurring of our Jewish identity and a suppression of its priority, accompanied by rising levels of intermarriage. Politically, the overall Jewish community has become solidly centrist rather than liberal, and its leadership continues to lean to the right rather than to the left.

There have been dramatic changes in funding priorities. The primacy of local community needs has been established over the needs overseas, and some dollars formerly directed to national agencies in support of their work have been channeled home. A marked turning inward characterizes our communal agenda, and concerns of continuity, renaissance and identity survival have taken precedence over issues of outreach to the broader community.

All of this goes on at a time when American government continues to reinvent itself, reassigning funding and policy direction to state and local authorities. In the early 1980's, it was possible to characterize these as "radical" ideas, attributable to one political party or another. But today's blurring of party lines and ideological boundaries means we must deal with these notions as espoused by both sides of the aisle. And deal with them we must. Devolution has had a profound impact on our community relations field, with so many of our lay leaders and professionals called upon to use their networking experience and policy know-how to secure funding for essential social services delivered by the Jewish community. A consequence of devolution and the turning of attention to meet local needs is that the JCPA will play an even more important role as a convenor of communal activists and as a clearinghouse of issues and ideas to be filtered down to the local level.

And as if this were not enough ...dayenu… the ebb and flow of the Middle East peace process; a changing Israeli political landscape; our relationship to the state of Israel, to our own government and its role in peacemaking ... all demand our thoughtful consideration; but I fear that communal attention has waned.

There are sea changes occurring in the Jewish communal climate. Our community is in the throes of a serious "heshbon hanefesh," an accounting of our soul. It is a necessary examination of our communal values, strengths, weaknesses and direction.

There are no sacred cows that will be exempted from examination. The Jewish community will become more centralized, more organized, more efficient. Federations will be at the forefront of this entity; they will guide and lead it. The full power of the financial resources of the Jewish community both in federation fundraising and in individual philanthropic giving will be fully focused on the identified problems. Central control is a "consummation, devoutly to be wished," but can it be achieved without a loss of diversity of opinion and without stifling the consensus building process that has marked Jewish life since the beginning of the federation movement over a hundred years ago? These are the important questions that should be pondered by all of us as we move into the next millenium.

What are the issues that have occupied us as a community relations field in the last half century? Some were universal issues of fairness. The end of exclusions and quotas in college admissions and hospital staffing. Laying the groundwork to end discrimination in housing and employment through creative use of litigation and legislation. Marching for civil rights; marching against the war in Vietnam.

Other issues were of particular interest to the Jewish community. Interpreting an embattled Israel to the American people and government. Demanding freedom of emigration for the Jews of the former Soviet Union so that they might live freely as Jews. Advocating for the mass emigration of the Ethiopian Jewish community and then speaking out for their fair and total integration into Israeli society. Communicating the legacy of the Holocaust and joining with an increasingly vocal survivor community in advocacy.

Now, into this mixed bag of issues, add the new ones that have been brought forward by our constituencies and stakeholders. Religious pluralism in Israel; Jewish continuity and renaissance; protecting and increasing funding for social programs that the Jewish community would otherwise have to fund for itself.

And remember that there are old community relations issues that have never fully resonated with the overall organized Jewish community: Reproductive choice; Gay and lesbian issues as they relate to nondiscrimination; Secondary church/state issues such as vouchers, charitable choice and charter schools; Support of public education, when viewed in juxtaposition to the growing pressure on federations to increase support to day schools.

We should also note that there are emerging issues such as the environment and the new demographic realignment of ethnic power in the United States that we have identified as community relations and public policy concerns that are not yet recognized or fully accepted by the organized Jewish community.

And win we find a way to engage the next generation of Jewish leaders? While so many of us have decried the absence of younger leaders at the communal leadership table, how many of us have taken the time to identify and mentor such individuals? There are many positive program initiatives already underway to provide hands-on social action experiences and in-depth Jewish learning; let us share what works and increase these initiatives so that we can be assured of another level of continuity. JCPA`s New Leaders Project provides a powerful model of bringing together the best in our community, strengthening their Jewish knowledge base while at the same time expanding their involvement in their home communities. Here at this plenum, Mark and Sharon Bloome scholarships for environmental leaders bring new faces and outlooks to our table. Out in the communities, Jewish literacy projects grow in our CRCs. We should nurture and nourish all of these efforts.

Of growing concern are issues of respect for religious diversity, both here and abroad. Can we find acceptable language which will unite, rather than divide us?

Issues of defining Jewish identity, and concerns about delimiting the influence of "outside" culture have ever been with us. As a community, our answer to the psalmist's question in exile of "how shall we sing a new song" has always been to look to tradition with an eye toward moving forward. That was our response in Babylon; and in Spain; so, too, these were the responses of Samson Raphael Hirsch; of Solomon Schechter; and of Isaac Mayer Wise. Why don't we take small positive steps? The intriguing concept, raised yesterday by Rabbi Schulweis, of youth groups from the different streams of Judaism meeting together, should be pursued. Why should the simple be so difficult?

It is now the challenge of the Jewish community relations field to interpret dispassionately the events and trends in Israel, and to use our well-honed consensusbuilding skills in our own home communities to keep all segments of the Jewish world on speaking terms. It is no longer enough to showcase our skills while working on difficult issues in inter-ethnic, or interreligious coalition; the time to use those skills to heal our own community is now.

The Jewish community relations field lives between two creative tensions in its work: the need to identify breaking issues of current or future importance to the community, and the necessity to remain a grassroots, responsive and responsible discipline. The former may require some risk-taking when appropriate; the latter requires that we frequently take the pulse of the community, to see whether where we are leading is a place to which they want us to go.

That is not to say that community relations work should be subject to popular referendum for each new issue we might want to add to our already crowded plate. We do not lack for ideas or courage; but just because we are captivated by an idea or issue, we should not assume that the troops are or will always be with us. Our task is to be ever mindful of the issues of primary importance to our community; having satisfied those arduous demands, we are free to move on to consider other avenues of involvement.

Our degree of comfort in America, and trust in its system of justice and ethic of fairness, has characterized and continues to frame our work on civil rights, civil liberties and equal justice. A basic tenet of the Jewish community relations field echoes through our work: an America which is more free, more just, more democratic is a better place for all its citizens, and is therefore a better place for the American Jewish community. We have walked the corridors of power in city halls, in state capitals and in this very city. The American dream that was a wistful glimmer in our grandparents' eyes is in full focus for us now.

But to pat ourselves on the back as if our job were done, and our continued commitment unnecessary, would be wrong. Even today, there are many left behind in the tattered tenements of America's inner cities as yet unable to benefit from America's promise. The pride we rightfully take in our 1960's activism does little today to comfort a crying hungry child, a promising high school student unable to break the cycle of poverty to attend college, or a mother unable to find affordable childcare. We dare not fail them, ourselves or our mission. We are derelict in our responsibilities if we neglect our historic alliances and fail to work proactively to craft new relationships as we continue to represent the vaned interests of the American Jewish community.

I maintain that as a partnership of committed lay leaders and professionals, the Jewish community relations field can lead the way to a reenergized communal emphasis on values and action. I maintain that we must reinvigorate community relations institutions which will, in a thoughtful, and planned, sensitive way devise new ways of working with traditional coalition partners, and provide avenues for indentifying and solidifying new relationships with emerging forces in American life, and within the changing landscape of our own American Jewish life.

That this challenge is exciting, difficult, perhaps unachievable can be argued. But the beauty of community relations work is its ever-evolving nature, its dynamism. If ever there were a time to call upon our best and brightest to help us refine our techniques and define an agenda for the 21st century, it is now.

With your help, with dedicated lay leaders and insightful and intuitive professionals in the field, I am confident that the Jewish Council for Public Affairs can play a strong role in helping to guide the passage from Dor I'Dor, generation to generation, into the next century, and with a new cadre of Jewish public affairs activists.

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