When Ben (not his real name) logged into Zoom to interview for our JGO Sloan Fellowship for young Jewish leaders, he was wearing a jacket and tie.

“You got all dressed up just for us?” I smiled, hoping to disarm him. He seemed nervous.

“Sorry,” he said. “I’ve just never spoken to a rabbi before and wasn’t sure what to expect.”

I glanced down and scanned his application: Student government. Top summer internship. Year abroad volunteering. No prior Jewish involvement.

Accept, I noted in the status column.

There is a well-documented age gap in Jewish leadership that poses a serious challenge to the future of our community. According to a 2023 study by Leading Edge, for example, 64% of CEOs and 72% of board chairs within Jewish organizations are over the age of 50. Many have discussed the urgent need to invest in the next generation of Jewish leaders, including recently in these pages.

But there is a key dimension of this dilemma which is often overlooked: The scores of young Jews allegedly being held back from the succession pipeline are largely disengaged from these institutions in the first place.

At the Jewish Grad Organization (JGO), we built a program that simultaneously addresses these dual concerns, engaging the disengaged and priming them for Jewish leadership. Since winning the Cutting Edge Award by the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles a decade ago, our Sloan Fellowship has become the flagship educational program of JGO. Graduate student fellows immerse in a semester-long curriculum combining discussions of Jewish texts on ethics and character development, masterclasses on leadership by A-list executives and direct introductions to premier Jewish nonprofits. In 2020, we expanded out of Los Angeles to launch a virtual cohort, and added an in-person cohort in New York in 2023. This year, we are expanding to four cohorts — two virtual, two in-person — with over 200 grad students expected to participate.

The many through the few

Although our organization draws over 10,000 graduate students annually to programs on more than 150 campuses nationwide, we allocate a disproportionate share of our time and resources to the Sloan Fellowship. Serving only 50 students per cohort, this program may seem like a small drop in a very large bucket — but there is a cumulative ripple effect that leadership programs like this one create. 

So far, 895 fellows have completed the program, representing a staggering 26,860 hours of Jewish learning. But the real impact is more than just cumulative, because leadership grounded in purpose and core values is a force multiplier.

In his recent book, Revenge of the Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell revisits his concept of hidden factors that trigger large-scale societal shifts. Gladwell describes a dynamic he calls the “law of the very few,” noting that a small, hyper-engaged group of “superspreaders” can make the difference between a flicker and a wildfire.

Our Chanukah liturgy celebrates how a small number of Maccabees defeated the mighty Syrian-Greek army, delivering “the many into the hand of the few.” Teach a handful of talented individuals to lead, and transform the world. True, the masses of disengaged young Jews may indeed never find that leadership pipeline. But the few who do can light the way for the others.

Sloan Fellows disproportionately go on to lead JGO’s affiliate student associations on campus, spearheading initiatives that engage thousands of their peers. They are the first line of defense against campus antisemitism. And following graduation, these young Maccabees take the express onramp to young leadership programs of federations, AJC, ADL and a host of other charities, amplifying this multiplier effect to the wider community and beyond.

Remember “Ben”? A year later, he was the president of his campus club, organizing big Shabbat dinners and making Super Sunday calls for his local Federation.

A ‘Moneyball’ approach to leadership

When looking for leaders, it’s not how you recruit but whom you recruit. Over the last nine years that I’ve been privileged to lead the Sloan Fellowship, I’ve reviewed thousands of applications and conducted hundreds of interviews. Typically we will receive a good number each cycle from impressive individuals who have already completed every Jewish leadership program out there and appear destined for greatness.

But here’s what’s surprising: Sometimes, these candidates paradoxically have less to offer their cohort — and vice versa — than others with zero prior experience.

Though it may be tempting for Jewish organizations to go after the low-hanging fruit when populating their young leadership programs, we take a different approach. When we recruit for the Sloan Fellowship, we purposefully seek talented, under-the-radar young people who don’t yet identify as Jewish leaders, or don’t even realize they could be.

As in the famous “Moneyball” method popularized by baseball manager Billy Beane, we scout out undervalued talent, students like Ben who may never otherwise set foot in Jewish leadership roles. We draw them in by casting a wide marketing net and tailoring our leadership curriculum to appeal to a wide audience, not just the usual suspects who already frequent Jewish organizations.

This focus may seem counterintuitive, but that’s exactly the point: We need to expand and diversify our pool of Jewish leaders to include those competing at a high level in general society, not just those comfortably ensconced in the small Jewish world. (Indeed, 68% of JGO participants have no other Jewish outlet, and have all the more to gain from this program.)

Tomorrow’s Jewish Supreme Court justices and Fortune 100 CEOs are getting their graduate degrees today. Whether they will have an opportunity to utilize their leadership talents for the sake of the Jewish People remains up to us.

A candle for one, a candle for many

On Chanukah, which celebrates the power of a single light to dispel great darkness, this paradigm is especially resonant. The Talmud (Shabbat 122a) teaches, “A candle for one is a candle for a hundred.” Though common practice is to light many more, the core obligation to kindle Chanukah lights suffices at just one candle per household. Light — and leadership — radiate outward.

As Jewish organizations grapple with the challenge of cultivating the next generation of leaders, the Sloan Fellowship offers a model for success. By casting a wide net, identifying untapped talent and investing in the “very few,” we are not only helping to fill the leadership gap but redefining who can be a Jewish leader today, one fellow at a time.

Just as the Maccabees used a small spark to kindle a revolution, we too can harness the power of a few to light up the many. If we are serious about a sustainable Jewish future, let’s seek out and empower those who don’t even know they’re the next generation of leaders — yet.

Rabbi Matthew J. Rosenberg is senior rabbi and chief operating officer at JGO: The Jewish Grad Organization (formerly JGSI), which serves Jewish graduate students and alumni at 150 graduate school campuses across North America. He previously practiced corporate law and taught at Georgetown University Law Center.