The Brits Weigh In on Tomorrow

After attending the Facing Tomorrow Conference, being treated to all the press reports (mostly American oriented – even if appearing in the Israeli news), and all the various comments both pro and con about the Conference floating around the blog-o-sphere (the Anglo-Israeli crowd commented heavily on the expense while people are hungry in Israel), here is a view from a U.K. attendee and speaker:

“… Peres succeeded beyond expectations in creating an event so ambitious in its reach, so impressive in its execution, that his countrymen could justifiably feel both proud and reassured about what it said about Israel’s international status…”

and this about our communities leadership:

“Other billionaire “conference trustees” — a long list including Lev Leviev, Daniel Abraham and Poju Zabludowicz — seemed not to see the irony in seminars discussing “the leaders of tomorrow” being dominated almost entirely by men over 55. No matter that, in one seminar, former Rutgers sociologist Chaim Waxman linked declining communal participation to an “increasing perception that the communal leadership is elitist, parochial, self-serving and resistant to innovation”. Pah: the “circle of wealthy old men” he identified as running most major Jewish organisations saw no reason to step aside.”

With our interest, here at eJewish Philanthropy, in the ‘younger generation’, I found these last comments, in particular, relevant. Guess the entrenched leadership of the Jewish communal world is a universal problem; reminds me of the recent Republican party Presidential primary race in the U.S!

Read more from David Rowan, editor of the U.K.’s Jewish Chronicle: Leadership: a billion-dollar question.

image source: thejc.com