by Rabbi Uri Regev Recently, the top leadership of worldwide Jewish communities convened in Jerusalem for the Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency meeting. In a relatively rare programming initiative, five hours of the three-day gathering were dedicated to the topic of “Haredim and the Jewish Collective”. Makom, created by the Jewish Agency to enhance and nuance conversation about Israel, designed the day’s program. As we at Hiddush are deeply devoted to the vision of Israel as a thriving Jewish and democratic society, Makom’s aim of “careful honesty [rather] than breezy avoidance” speaks profoundly to us. But however well intentioned the Jewish Agency and Makom’s goals were in confronting these issues, I fear they did not provide the assembled Jewish leadership with the … Continue Reading
Missions to Israel: Old-School Strategy in a New Age World
by Jacob Solomon Today, Monday, April 23, a chartered El Al 747 from Miami will land at an Israel Air Force base in the Negev, marking the start of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation’s first Mega Mission to Israel since the mid ‘90’s and the largest community mission to Israel in over a decade. Altogether, including a group of 140 who traveled via Poland to participate in the International March of the Living, a total of more than 700 will travel the Land together for nine days, experiencing the shared collective grief of Yom Hazikaron and its transition to national euphoric celebration for Yom Ha’atzmaut. We will do site visits at the programs we fund; we will engage with Israelis; we will build community; and - yes - we will raise funds to advance Jewish life, meeting Jewish needs and … Continue Reading
Fisher FLIGHT Turns High-Net People into High Powered Givers
by Abigail Pickus Six years ago, the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) and the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation of Detroit put their heads together. What was the best way to reach young, high-net individuals who were not necessarily focused on Jewish philanthropic giving? The answer was Fisher FLIGHT, a nine-month initiative that brings together people between the ages of 40 to 55 with a net worth of over $10 million. Likened to a Jewish “YPO” (Young Presidents’ Organization), which connects young chief executives from across the globe, Fisher FLIGHT brings together young, successful couples from across North America for two domestic seminars and one overseas mission - Israel is always included in the equation - to really “hone in on their philanthropic message and who … Continue Reading
Israel Conference for Young Adults Brings 400 Emerging Leaders Together
This week, 400 Jewish young adults from countries throughout the world will participate in Building Future Leadership (BFL), Masa Israel’s annual leadership conference in Israel. Following an intensive application process in which they exhibited their passion for Israel and their Jewish communities, these individuals will gain the tools they need to become positive and inspiring change agents back home. Masa Israel has created BFL to motivate and prepare exceptional participants to become the leaders in their campus Hillels and in their local Masa alumni communities. JFNA's Mandel Center and Hillel are both playing central roles in the conference, focusing on training Masa Israel participants for involvement once they return to the USA and Canada. Over the course of the week, participants … Continue Reading
Jewish Federations – Jewish Peoplehood in Action
This essay is from The Peoplehood Papers, volume 7 – Reinvigorating Jewish Peoplehood: The Philanthropic Perspective; published by the Center for Jewish Peoplehood Education. by Rebecca Caspi and Lisa Friedman Throughout the generations, the great strength of the Jewish community has been its distinct ability to organize itself. In North America this found expression through securing the rights of minorities; gaining a significant political foothold; setting up a comprehensive system of Jewish charitable, defense and educational institutions; and, providing substantial support to the State of Israel and to Jews around the world. As we witness the current shifting social, demographic and economic trends that impact our long standing communal efforts, we note that the fundamentals of … Continue Reading
The Fictional Global Planning Table
As it stands now, the Jewish Federations of North America's Global Planning Table is a work of fiction. Maybe it's just that my relatively new Israeliness has made me more aware of the management guff that masquerades as real work in Jewish organized life, but it seems like the GPT so far, over half a year and hundreds of thousands of dollars after its long-heralded launch, hasn't done much beyond sending around paper after paper about the process of how Jewish leaders are all going to talk about the issues. Why not cut to the chase? For example, with a phone call led by someone who is respected, brave enough to dive into the questions of the day without a year-long discussion of the process, and influential enough not to be wasting everybody's time? This thought occurred to me this week as I … Continue Reading
JFNA Responds to Recent Criticism
by Joe Berkofsky We always welcome constructive dialogue about JFNA and promoting Jewish Federations and our values. But your commentary is nothing more than erroneous speculation based on supposition and a lack of facts. We hope you will agree that any strategy, PR or otherwise, must be measured by whether it delivers on its goals. So let’s discuss what JFNA’s PR efforts actually achieve. Benefitting from an actionable strategic communications plan, in the past year alone, JFNA has generated thousands of news stories on important Jewish Federation initiatives, from the annual GA to the newly created TribeFest for younger Jews to our Israel advocacy work to the life-saving projects we support in Israel and around the world. Throughout the year, JFNA appeared in The New York Times, … Continue Reading
MIA: Jewish Federation’s Media Strategy
Every organization - regardless of size, regardless of mission - needs a PR/media strategy. It is needed not only to convey the work of the organization to the broader audience, but, as last week's Komen/Planned Parenthood disaster showed, it is needed to effectively counter the unexpected crisis. And here, unfortunately, some of the most important brands in the Jewish world fail miserably. For example, one such organization is Jewish Federations of North America, (JFNA) - a point I have privately made more than once to their senior executives and communications professionals. In addition to broadly promoting the work of the federation system, JFNA frequently has "issues of importance" to convey. But the only conveying they do is to their own internal stakeholders, those who receive … Continue Reading
The Komen Fiasco: A Branding and PR Disaster
The dust has barely settled in the Komen/Planned Parenthood debacle, but the one thing that is clear is Komen - founded in 1982 - has in one brief moment, jeopardized thirty years of positive brand-building; Komen's brand today is just not the same brand it was only one week ago. And if you care about the causes Komen supports, this is not a good thing. The lessons for other organizations to absorb are numerous. The story begins just days before Christmas where, as The New York Times reports, Komen informed Planned Parenthood (PP) of their decision - one which they had actually been discussing for months. At the same time they notified PP, Komen decided not to speak of the decision - not to other grantees, not to their donors and not to the media. Komen's strategy was if they didn't speak … Continue Reading
State of Her Own
by Erin Kopelow and Ariel Beery for Tablet Magazine If all goes according to plan, this March we’re going to bring a daughter into the world. Specifically, we’re going to bring her home to our apartment on Chen Boulevard, in the center of Tel Aviv, the city we’ve made our home, though we were born in the United States and Canada. Had you asked us six years ago where we dreamed of raising a family, we’d have answered “Israel” without hesitation. But recently we’ve begun to doubt whether we should raise her in the Jewish state. It’s not the escalating situation with Iran that gives us pause, or the fact that our daughter will one day serve in the army: We decided to live in Israel with full knowledge of the security threats it faces. The reason we are concerned about raising … Continue Reading
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