{"id":19650,"date":"2014-11-12T17:44:53","date_gmt":"2014-11-12T23:44:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=19650"},"modified":"2014-11-13T10:51:17","modified_gmt":"2014-11-13T16:51:17","slug":"at-g-a-jewish-federations-see-future-in-more-collaboration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/at-g-a-jewish-federations-see-future-in-more-collaboration\/","title":{"rendered":"At G.A., Jewish federations see future in more collaboration"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By URIEL HEILMAN<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: normal; color: #222222;\">OXON HILL, MD. (JTA) \u2013 There was the vice president of the United States, two Supreme Court justices and an Academy Award-winning actress with a compelling Jewish story. There were Jewish professionals, lay leaders, clergy and recent college graduates. The West Point cadets\u2019 Jewish choir performed. The Israeli prime minister appeared via satellite from Jerusalem.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19651\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Sharansky_GA.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19651\" class=\"wp-image-19651 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Sharansky_GA-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Sharansky_GA\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Sharansky_GA-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Sharansky_GA-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/225;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19651\" class=\"wp-image-19651 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Sharansky_GA-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Sharansky_GA\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Sharansky_GA-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Sharansky_GA-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-19651\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jewish Agency for Israel head Natan Sharansky addressed the final session of the JFNA&#8217;s General Assembly just prior to the satellite broadcast by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, (Photo by Alan Smason)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"font-weight: normal; color: #222222;\">Part pep rally, part training and part family reunion, this week\u2019s annual General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America drew some 3,000 people to a conference center outside Washington to cheer federations\u2019 philanthropic work, listen to presentations ranging from European anti-Semitism to crowdfunding, and to schmooze.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: normal; color: #222222;\">As usual, much of the talk at the General Assembly was how to bolster North America\u2019s 153 Jewish federations.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: normal; color: #222222;\">\u201cWe can go beyond exchanging ideas to actually exchanging services,\u201d Jewish Federations CEO Jerry Silverman said in a speech at the closing plenary. \u201cJFNA expanded the resources of our consulting and community development department, but what if we also leverage and share the resident expertise in this room and across our federations?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: normal; color: #222222;\">The federations face an uphill battle at a time when studies show younger American Jews are less affiliated than previous generations with Jewish institutional life and less likely to give to Jewish causes \u2014 let alone clearinghouses like Jewish federations.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: normal; color: #222222;\">Though federation annual campaigns are up by about 7 percent compared with this time last year, the number of federation donors has declined by about one-third since 2000, according to the sociologist Steven M. Cohen of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Meanwhile, last year\u2019s Pew Research Center survey of U.S. Jews found that 43 percent of non-Orthodox Jews ages 30-49 donate to Jewish causes \u2014 in contrast to their counterparts ages 50\u201369, some 60 percent of whom give Jewishly.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19652\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a title=\"Netanyahu address at GA\" href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2344.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19652\" class=\"wp-image-19652 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2344-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_2344\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2344-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2344-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/225;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19652\" class=\"wp-image-19652 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2344-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_2344\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2344-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2344-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-19652\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses GA on November 11, 2014. (Photo from Alan Smason)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"font-weight: normal; color: #222222;\">At the conference, the answer to these trends was twofold. One, organizers showcased dozens of federation programs that are piloting new models for programming and outreach. Billed by organizers as \u201cfedovations\u201d \u2014 a mashup of the words \u201cfederation\u201d and \u201cinnovation\u201d \u2014 they included case studies in reaching younger donors, providing services to the elderly, planning profitable events, and finding ways to engage and excite unaffiliated community members. Jewish Federations plans to share these success stories in a federation-wide online database to be deployed in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: normal; color: #222222;\">The second answer was for federation leaders \u2014 and some of the plenary speakers from outside federation, including the actress Marlee Matlin \u2014 to drive home the message of the importance of collective action in the Jewish world.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: normal; color: #222222;\">\u201cWe do have the intellectual and financial potential to effectuate substantive change, but only if we work together,\u201d Jewish Federations board chairman Michael Siegal said in a plenary address Monday. \u201cFederations must lead this charge and convene the necessary organizations and thought leaders because, simply, we have the reach that others do not.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: normal; color: #222222;\">Barry Shrage, the president of Boston\u2019s federation, called Combined Jewish Philanthropies, said that while many federations are doing terrific things, the challenge for the federation network as a whole is to identify priorities and then chart a course to address them collectively.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: normal; color: #222222;\">\u201cAt the end of the day, do we have an agenda or do we not have an agenda?\u201d Shrage told JTA.\u00a0 \u201cWhere are we going?\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19653\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a title=\"West Point Choir\" href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2334.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19653\" class=\"wp-image-19653 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2334-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_2334\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2334-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2334-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/225;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19653\" class=\"wp-image-19653 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2334-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_2334\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2334-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2334-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-19653\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jewish members of the West Point Choir sings a medley of military service songs at the 2014 G.A. (Photo by Alan Smason)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"font-weight: normal; color: #222222;\">He also dismissed concern about shrinking donor bases, saying the number of high-end donors is growing &#8212; they contribute the bulk of federation dollars &#8212; and that federations should not measure their successes by the checkbook.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: normal; color: #222222;\">\u201cThe most important thing is not to count how much money we\u2019re raising,\u201d Shrage said. \u201cIt\u2019s to count how many good things we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: normal; color: #222222;\">Vice President Joe Biden affirmed the Obama administration\u2019s \u201cironclad\u201d commitment to Israel\u2019s security and talked about his experience taking each of his kids to the site of the Dachau concentration camp when they were 15 to teach them about the \u201cincredible resilience and indomitable nature of the human spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: normal; color: #222222;\">Biden also called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a \u201creally great friend\u201d \u2014 in contrast to the recent characterization of Netanyahu as \u201ca chickensh*t\u201d by an anonymous Obama administration official in an interview with journalist Jeffrey Goldberg, who also spoke at the G.A.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: normal; color: #222222;\">Seeking out Ron Dermer, Israel\u2019s ambassador to the United States, in the audience, Biden said, \u201cRon, you\u2019d better damn well report to Bibi that we\u2019re still buddies. You got it, right?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: normal; color: #222222;\">Netanyahu, speaking to the assembly on Tuesday by video link, focused on Iran.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: normal; color: #222222;\">\u201cIran is not part of the solution, it\u2019s a huge part of the problem,\u201d Netanyahu said, referring to reports that the United States may be coordinating with Iran in their shared battle to crush the ISIS jihadist group in Iraq and Syria. \u201cThe Islamic state of Iran is not a partner of America, it is an enemy of America and it should be treated as an enemy.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19654\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a title=\"Veterans Day at GA\" href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2330.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19654\" class=\"wp-image-19654 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2330-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_2330\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2330-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2330-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/225;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19654\" class=\"wp-image-19654 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2330-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_2330\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2330-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2330-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-19654\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jewish American and Canadian officers honor veterans on Veteran Day at the GA. (Photo by Alan Smason)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"font-weight: normal; color: #222222;\">Netanyahu said such treatment should extend to nuclear talks now underway between the major powers and Iran \u201cby keeping tough sanctions on the regime, by making clear that the international community is determined to do whatever it takes to prevent Iran from breaking out or sneaking out to get the bomb.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: normal; color: #222222;\">He said a deal that would allow Iran a limited uranium enrichment capacity would be a \u201cdisaster of historic proportions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: normal; color: #222222;\">In another plenary, NPR correspondent Nina Totenberg got U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer to discuss the Jewish values that drive his work (tzedakah) and Justice Elena Kagan, who grew up Jewish on the Upper West Side, to reveal that she has become a duck hunter since joining the nation\u2019s highest court.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: normal; color: #222222;\">Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Britain\u2019s former chief rabbi, gave a rousing plenary address about the importance of Jews\u2019 commitment to each other despite their differences.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: normal; color: #222222;\">\u201cI don\u2019t need you to agree with each other; I need you to care about one another,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: normal; color: #222222;\">A late-night session featuring Goldberg and the editors of two Israeli papers, Aluf Benn of Haaretz and Steve Linde of The Jerusalem Post, was packed. Goldberg related that his conversations with Netanyahu and officials in his government left him with the impression that the Israelis plan to wait until the next U.S. president takes office before trying to rebuild ties with the White House.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: normal; color: #222222;\">The conference\u2019s theme was \u201cthe world is our backyard,\u201d and it included a sprawling indoor space designed like a backyard replete with patio furniture, artificial turf panels and giant dandelions. The corners featured small stages where presenters &#8212; the list included author Peter Beinart; Philip Gordon, the White House coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf region; and\u00a0Matt Nosanchuk and Noam Neusner, the current White House Jewish liaison and a predecessor in the post &#8212; held court during mealtimes. But many of the sessions were not listed in the conference booklet and had poor turnout.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: normal; color: #222222;\">Deborah Covington, vice president for planning and allocations at the Chicago Jewish federation, Jewish United Fund, said she came to the G.A. to network with peers and hear about federation work outside of what she regularly encounters. On that count, she said, the G.A. was a success.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: normal; color: #222222;\">\u201cThe breakout sessions felt relevant to me,\u201d Covington said. \u201cI thought it was a particularly good conference this year.\u201d<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"At%20G.A.%2C%20Jewish%20federations%20see%20future%20in%20more%20collaboration\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":19651,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19650"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19650"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19674,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19650\/revisions\/19674"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}