Sitting in the National Office and looking down at 58th St., I can see an interesting sight. Besides the swarms of Catholics headed to St. Patrick's Church to receive their Ash Wednesday blessings, a film crew is setting up to tape some scenes of NBC's "30 Rock." The production staff are running every which way in order to make every single aspect absolutely perfect, and the show cannot go on without them.
Anywho, I got to thinking about it and I came to the realization that Young Judaea is very much like the production that I'm witnessing below. It takes every single person for the production to go well. Just as in Young Judaea, it takes every single person for the movement to run smoothly.
What also happens in a production is constructive input. In other words, everyone has a say in something and can propose new, revolutionary ideas when they come along. Just as Tina Fey has a director to tell her when to look in what direction and how to add a certain intonation to a phrase, we at Young Judaea have the peers, who essentially know whats best for our movement and have the power to voice that.
Where is our production right now? How can we make it "Two thumbs up?" You. You can bring this movement back to what it once was.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Letter
At the request of an alum, I am posting this letter by Eileen Freed. It was originally posted on facebook on the 10th of February and was in response to the restructuring of YJ.
"Nancy Falchuk
President
Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America
50 West 58th Street
New York, NY 10019
February 9, 2009
Dear Nancy,
On January 13, I watched your pod cast in which you called on Young Judaea alumni to participate in a campaign to ensure the future of Young Judaea. You asked for 100,000 donations from those closest to Young Judaea in order to ensure that Young Judaea, a “vital component” of Hadassah’s core mission, would continue to be the “most vibrant Zionist youth movement in America. I watched your pod cast with the knowledge that Hadassah has been hit hard by the fall of the stock market and the unfortunate loss of over $90 million from investments with Bernie Madoff. I appreciated the commitment to Young Judaea you professed in light of these challenges.
I believed that in recognizing that Young Judaeans are “people of action; molded by their experience in the youth movement” and that “hundreds of thousands of young people found their Jewish voices through the training, peer leadership, passion and camaraderie” they received in Young Judaea, Hadassah intended to do everything possible to ensure that Young Judaea would be able to continue providing those opportunities in its second century. I knew that Hadassah faced difficult choices in all areas of its operations and certainly would not have been surprised if there were some changes coming for Young Judaea. But, I also believed that your plea to alumni to help put Young Judaea on solid footing was sincere, and I would have worked hard to help you reach your goal.
Imagine my surprise when, on the very same day, my daughter, a member of mazkirut in the Midwest Merchav received a four-page letter from Ramie Arian and Shelley Sherman outlining a number of steps being taken – some had already been taken – which would completely eliminate support for the year-round programming which is the core of Young Judaea. By the evening of January 13, all Merchav staff had been terminated, leaving the chanichim unsure of how they would be able to implement the programs they’d already been planning.
It is difficult for me to express the depths of my disappointment with Hadassah and the top staff leadership of Young Judaea. The duplicitous nature of your communication with alumni, the complete lack of understanding of Young Judaea’s function as a youth movement, and the total lack of respect for the current teen leadership leave me feeling betrayed by organizations I have been connected to for over four decades.
I am disturbed by subsequent communications from Ramie Arian attesting to the continued strength of Young Judaea in light of the recent actions. He uses strong enrollment in Year Course and registration for camps as evidence of Young Judaea’s good health. Do you and Ramie really think that the outstanding Jewish leaders to which you alluded in your pod cast really developed their skills solely in camps and Israel programs? Until 1975 or so, there was no Sprout Lake; generations of Young Judaeans in the Northeast got their start in year-round activities. Until the mid-1980’s only a few Young Judaeans participated in a summer Israel program; most received leadership training at Machon at Tel Yehudah and used those skills to great effect in their regional programming. To be sure, Year Course was the ultimate Young Judaea experience; but the majority of those who have remained most involved and influential in their Jewish communities are those who had been active Young Judaeans before they went on Year Course.
As I indicated in my email to Ramie on February 6, Young Judaea is not Year Course, and it is not camps. The tremendous leadership qualities and commitment to Israel and the Jewish people demonstrated by Young Judaean alumni and that you alluded to in your pod cast did not come solely from those program, although they are certainly contributing factors. The three former Young Judaeans running for Knesset this week did not just go to camp and Year Course, they were participants and leaders at all levels of year-round programming. Year-round activities offer opportunities for teens to develop programming, coordinate events, lead peers and learn from mentors. This is the nature of a youth movement and is what sets Young Judaea apart from other youth organizations. This is what you and Hadassah are discarding.
Young Judaea has been struggling over the past decade, to be sure. I have been involved during this time period as a local madricha, youth commission chair, camp committee member, and mother of national and regional mazkirut members. I have seen a continual decrease in resources, both quality and quality, invested in Young Judaea’s success over the past decade. Some excellent ideas were developed to address declining involvement with limited resources, but implementation was poor. There was little understanding of the different needs of different regions and merchavim, questionable staffing decisions were made resulting in tremendous turnover in the Midwest, and advice and assistance offered by Young Judaea alumni was often disregarded. Ironically, during the past year, at least in the Midwest, things were beginning to improve. The measures taken during the past month have accelerated the rate at which national Young Judaea and Hadassah sloughed off the Zionist Youth Movement that was Young Judaea. For what remains is not a youth movement, it’s a loosely confederated set of camps and some Israel programs that are also rapidly losing their Young Judaean identity.
The January 13 letter and other subsequent communications from Ramie indicated that the changes are “an opportunity to return to YJ's roots as a peer-led and volunteer-driven youth movement.” The suggestion that YJ conduct all its year-round activities with volunteers is as preposterous as suggesting that Hadassah go back to its roots of running the organization via parlor meetings. I don’t know if Ramie thinks we should return to the 1920’s when my grandmother got involved in Young Judaea. Her group was housed and received support from the YWHA, not solely volunteers. I suspect year-round activities back then didn’t include transporting chanichim from an 11-state area with all the logistics that entails.
I don’t know much about the intervening years, but I can tell you that in the 1970’s, when I was a high school student and Bogrim programmer, a director handled all the logistics for year-round activities. The role of the mazkirut was (and is) to coordinate educational programming and recruitment for regional activities. All this work was completed with the mentorship of a Senior Advisor, a position that has also been eliminated under the “return to our roots” plan. At no time during my teen years did anyone on mazkirut or any parent reserve JCCs or camp sites for convention, coordinate bus transportation from airports, collect convention fees, arrange for cooks/meals, etc. The assumption that, in this day and age, when most non-profits, including Hadassah, turn to professional staff to conduct major portions of their business, Young Judaea should turn to parents and alumni to assume these roles is ridiculous. Life in 2009 is not like it was in 1979. More parents work and have limited volunteer time (this is why Hadassah has had to turn to paid staff). Even active Young Judaeans are much more involved in a greater range of activities than we were, and, because the regions are now Merchavim, their responsibilities are even more far reaching than ever.
As a five-generation life member of Hadassah and as a Jewish communal professional, I completely understand that Hadassah has some very wrenching decisions to make. I am sure many other difficult cuts and decisions have been made. Had you made an honest call to alumni and parents to work with you to ensure, through financial and human (volunteer) resources, the viability and success of year-round programming you would have found a much more receptive audience. However, in this, YJ's 100 anniversary year, I am frustrated and angered by the mixed messages of support and commitment alongside measures already taken that are destined to pull the rug out from under all the hard work done by the dedicated teens trying to continue the tremendous legacy that is Young Judaea.
I, for one, will not be one of the 100,000 donors to Hadassah for the benefit of Young Judaea because I do not believe you will use the money for the purpose of ensuring the strength and vitality of the movement. Rather, I plan to donate directly to my regional camp, CYJ-Midwest; the Midwest Young Judaea Bogrim account to enable the teens to continue to educate and motivate their peers; and to Tel Yehudah. I will be encouraging all alumni I can reach to do the same.
I welcome a personal response from you and hope you will consider developing a space for honest conversations with alumni, many of whom are professional and lay leaders in Jewish organizations, about the future, or lack thereof, of Young Judaea.
L’Shalom,
Eileen Freed
P.S. While not a central theme of my letter, I think it’s important that you understand the depth of involvement my family has had in Young Judaea and Hadassah. I hope that in knowing this, you will understand the level of commitment I feel and why the members of my family feel such a deep sense of betrayal.
My grandmother, Bea Garber, became involved in Young Judaea in 1926 and was actively involved with Hadassah serving as New England Region President and Youth Commission Chair when I was a teen. She made me a life member of Hadassah when I was just a year old, and she sent me to Camp Judaea in North Carolina in 1974 and 1975. I attended Tel Yehudah in ’76, ’77 and ’79 and served as my club president and as Bogrim Programmer of Connecticut region for 2 years. I was on Year Course ’80-’81.
My husband, Gary, went to CYJ-Texas for four years and was at Tel Yehudah in ’76, ’77 and ’78. He served as AVP and Mazkir of Texas-Oklahoma-Louisiana (TOL), and his one regret in life is not participating in Year Course. While in college, he served as Senior Advisor in TOL.
While we were living in North Carolina, Gary and I attended Bogrim conventions with our very young children; they wanted a doctor at the conventions, and we were delighted to expose our children to Young Judaea almost from birth.
When we moved to Ann Arbor in 1998, we began sending our son to CYJ-Midwest. I served as a local club advisor for two years and served as Central States Youth Commission Chair and a number of other Young Judaea related positions. All three of my children have attended CYJ-Midwest – my youngest will be spending her last summer there this year. My son served on the regional mazkirut and was National Bogrim Programmer in 2006-2007. He went on Machon and was on Year Course last year. My middle daughter is on the merchav mazkirut and is running for National Bogrim Programmer next weekend at National Convention. She is registered for Machon this summer.
My daughters are 5th generation life members, and just a year or so ago, I made my husband and son life associates."
"Nancy Falchuk
President
Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America
50 West 58th Street
New York, NY 10019
February 9, 2009
Dear Nancy,
On January 13, I watched your pod cast in which you called on Young Judaea alumni to participate in a campaign to ensure the future of Young Judaea. You asked for 100,000 donations from those closest to Young Judaea in order to ensure that Young Judaea, a “vital component” of Hadassah’s core mission, would continue to be the “most vibrant Zionist youth movement in America. I watched your pod cast with the knowledge that Hadassah has been hit hard by the fall of the stock market and the unfortunate loss of over $90 million from investments with Bernie Madoff. I appreciated the commitment to Young Judaea you professed in light of these challenges.
I believed that in recognizing that Young Judaeans are “people of action; molded by their experience in the youth movement” and that “hundreds of thousands of young people found their Jewish voices through the training, peer leadership, passion and camaraderie” they received in Young Judaea, Hadassah intended to do everything possible to ensure that Young Judaea would be able to continue providing those opportunities in its second century. I knew that Hadassah faced difficult choices in all areas of its operations and certainly would not have been surprised if there were some changes coming for Young Judaea. But, I also believed that your plea to alumni to help put Young Judaea on solid footing was sincere, and I would have worked hard to help you reach your goal.
Imagine my surprise when, on the very same day, my daughter, a member of mazkirut in the Midwest Merchav received a four-page letter from Ramie Arian and Shelley Sherman outlining a number of steps being taken – some had already been taken – which would completely eliminate support for the year-round programming which is the core of Young Judaea. By the evening of January 13, all Merchav staff had been terminated, leaving the chanichim unsure of how they would be able to implement the programs they’d already been planning.
It is difficult for me to express the depths of my disappointment with Hadassah and the top staff leadership of Young Judaea. The duplicitous nature of your communication with alumni, the complete lack of understanding of Young Judaea’s function as a youth movement, and the total lack of respect for the current teen leadership leave me feeling betrayed by organizations I have been connected to for over four decades.
I am disturbed by subsequent communications from Ramie Arian attesting to the continued strength of Young Judaea in light of the recent actions. He uses strong enrollment in Year Course and registration for camps as evidence of Young Judaea’s good health. Do you and Ramie really think that the outstanding Jewish leaders to which you alluded in your pod cast really developed their skills solely in camps and Israel programs? Until 1975 or so, there was no Sprout Lake; generations of Young Judaeans in the Northeast got their start in year-round activities. Until the mid-1980’s only a few Young Judaeans participated in a summer Israel program; most received leadership training at Machon at Tel Yehudah and used those skills to great effect in their regional programming. To be sure, Year Course was the ultimate Young Judaea experience; but the majority of those who have remained most involved and influential in their Jewish communities are those who had been active Young Judaeans before they went on Year Course.
As I indicated in my email to Ramie on February 6, Young Judaea is not Year Course, and it is not camps. The tremendous leadership qualities and commitment to Israel and the Jewish people demonstrated by Young Judaean alumni and that you alluded to in your pod cast did not come solely from those program, although they are certainly contributing factors. The three former Young Judaeans running for Knesset this week did not just go to camp and Year Course, they were participants and leaders at all levels of year-round programming. Year-round activities offer opportunities for teens to develop programming, coordinate events, lead peers and learn from mentors. This is the nature of a youth movement and is what sets Young Judaea apart from other youth organizations. This is what you and Hadassah are discarding.
Young Judaea has been struggling over the past decade, to be sure. I have been involved during this time period as a local madricha, youth commission chair, camp committee member, and mother of national and regional mazkirut members. I have seen a continual decrease in resources, both quality and quality, invested in Young Judaea’s success over the past decade. Some excellent ideas were developed to address declining involvement with limited resources, but implementation was poor. There was little understanding of the different needs of different regions and merchavim, questionable staffing decisions were made resulting in tremendous turnover in the Midwest, and advice and assistance offered by Young Judaea alumni was often disregarded. Ironically, during the past year, at least in the Midwest, things were beginning to improve. The measures taken during the past month have accelerated the rate at which national Young Judaea and Hadassah sloughed off the Zionist Youth Movement that was Young Judaea. For what remains is not a youth movement, it’s a loosely confederated set of camps and some Israel programs that are also rapidly losing their Young Judaean identity.
The January 13 letter and other subsequent communications from Ramie indicated that the changes are “an opportunity to return to YJ's roots as a peer-led and volunteer-driven youth movement.” The suggestion that YJ conduct all its year-round activities with volunteers is as preposterous as suggesting that Hadassah go back to its roots of running the organization via parlor meetings. I don’t know if Ramie thinks we should return to the 1920’s when my grandmother got involved in Young Judaea. Her group was housed and received support from the YWHA, not solely volunteers. I suspect year-round activities back then didn’t include transporting chanichim from an 11-state area with all the logistics that entails.
I don’t know much about the intervening years, but I can tell you that in the 1970’s, when I was a high school student and Bogrim programmer, a director handled all the logistics for year-round activities. The role of the mazkirut was (and is) to coordinate educational programming and recruitment for regional activities. All this work was completed with the mentorship of a Senior Advisor, a position that has also been eliminated under the “return to our roots” plan. At no time during my teen years did anyone on mazkirut or any parent reserve JCCs or camp sites for convention, coordinate bus transportation from airports, collect convention fees, arrange for cooks/meals, etc. The assumption that, in this day and age, when most non-profits, including Hadassah, turn to professional staff to conduct major portions of their business, Young Judaea should turn to parents and alumni to assume these roles is ridiculous. Life in 2009 is not like it was in 1979. More parents work and have limited volunteer time (this is why Hadassah has had to turn to paid staff). Even active Young Judaeans are much more involved in a greater range of activities than we were, and, because the regions are now Merchavim, their responsibilities are even more far reaching than ever.
As a five-generation life member of Hadassah and as a Jewish communal professional, I completely understand that Hadassah has some very wrenching decisions to make. I am sure many other difficult cuts and decisions have been made. Had you made an honest call to alumni and parents to work with you to ensure, through financial and human (volunteer) resources, the viability and success of year-round programming you would have found a much more receptive audience. However, in this, YJ's 100 anniversary year, I am frustrated and angered by the mixed messages of support and commitment alongside measures already taken that are destined to pull the rug out from under all the hard work done by the dedicated teens trying to continue the tremendous legacy that is Young Judaea.
I, for one, will not be one of the 100,000 donors to Hadassah for the benefit of Young Judaea because I do not believe you will use the money for the purpose of ensuring the strength and vitality of the movement. Rather, I plan to donate directly to my regional camp, CYJ-Midwest; the Midwest Young Judaea Bogrim account to enable the teens to continue to educate and motivate their peers; and to Tel Yehudah. I will be encouraging all alumni I can reach to do the same.
I welcome a personal response from you and hope you will consider developing a space for honest conversations with alumni, many of whom are professional and lay leaders in Jewish organizations, about the future, or lack thereof, of Young Judaea.
L’Shalom,
Eileen Freed
P.S. While not a central theme of my letter, I think it’s important that you understand the depth of involvement my family has had in Young Judaea and Hadassah. I hope that in knowing this, you will understand the level of commitment I feel and why the members of my family feel such a deep sense of betrayal.
My grandmother, Bea Garber, became involved in Young Judaea in 1926 and was actively involved with Hadassah serving as New England Region President and Youth Commission Chair when I was a teen. She made me a life member of Hadassah when I was just a year old, and she sent me to Camp Judaea in North Carolina in 1974 and 1975. I attended Tel Yehudah in ’76, ’77 and ’79 and served as my club president and as Bogrim Programmer of Connecticut region for 2 years. I was on Year Course ’80-’81.
My husband, Gary, went to CYJ-Texas for four years and was at Tel Yehudah in ’76, ’77 and ’78. He served as AVP and Mazkir of Texas-Oklahoma-Louisiana (TOL), and his one regret in life is not participating in Year Course. While in college, he served as Senior Advisor in TOL.
While we were living in North Carolina, Gary and I attended Bogrim conventions with our very young children; they wanted a doctor at the conventions, and we were delighted to expose our children to Young Judaea almost from birth.
When we moved to Ann Arbor in 1998, we began sending our son to CYJ-Midwest. I served as a local club advisor for two years and served as Central States Youth Commission Chair and a number of other Young Judaea related positions. All three of my children have attended CYJ-Midwest – my youngest will be spending her last summer there this year. My son served on the regional mazkirut and was National Bogrim Programmer in 2006-2007. He went on Machon and was on Year Course last year. My middle daughter is on the merchav mazkirut and is running for National Bogrim Programmer next weekend at National Convention. She is registered for Machon this summer.
My daughters are 5th generation life members, and just a year or so ago, I made my husband and son life associates."
Monday, January 26, 2009
Active Judaeans
I just received a request - from a Judaean who is active in her Jewish community - to circulate some information about fair media coverage from the most current conflict in Israel. As per my statement in the last edition of the Kol Ha'Tnua, I urge everyone to think for themselves and find information that can be trusted:
“It is important that we all know the real facts about Israel and the Middle
East conflict because there is so much misinformation portrayed as the truth
and even as eye-witness reports in the press. This has created a lot of ill
will throughout the world toward Israel and Jews. We need to call attention
to the false statements, correct them, and tell others why we support Israel
and why Israel must take certain actions to protect itself.
You can stay informed about Israel 's current situation on a regular basis by visiting the website of Stand With Us (www.standwithus.com and www.standwithuscampus.com) and/or subscribing to the email newsletters at Honest Reporting (www.honestreporting.com), the Israel Project (www.theisraelproject.com), and the American Jewish Committee (www.ajc.org).
And if you will give us the names and email addresses of friends who also might be interested in helping Israel in this way, we will add them to our mailing list and include them in our mailings.
Thank you for taking the time to read this letter and for sending us the names and addresses of new people to help with this project.”
“It is important that we all know the real facts about Israel and the Middle
East conflict because there is so much misinformation portrayed as the truth
and even as eye-witness reports in the press. This has created a lot of ill
will throughout the world toward Israel and Jews. We need to call attention
to the false statements, correct them, and tell others why we support Israel
and why Israel must take certain actions to protect itself.
You can stay informed about Israel 's current situation on a regular basis by visiting the website of Stand With Us (www.standwithus.com and www.standwithuscampus.com) and/or subscribing to the email newsletters at Honest Reporting (www.honestreporting.com), the Israel Project (www.theisraelproject.com), and the American Jewish Committee (www.ajc.org).
And if you will give us the names and email addresses of friends who also might be interested in helping Israel in this way, we will add them to our mailing list and include them in our mailings.
Thank you for taking the time to read this letter and for sending us the names and addresses of new people to help with this project.”
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Numbers
As I look outside to see the snow falling lightly, I think of the fact that I'll be in Malibu in a few weeks with my best friends. The numbers for NMW are on the up and up, but we still need your help. In order to create visible change in the movement, we need as many dedicated Judaeans to attend convention as possible. This means calling, writing, emailing, texting, and noodging your friends in any way possible. Be the change you seek!
The programming for convention is coming along swimmingly, and a great time will be had by all. Get excited, and be sure to post your comments on this blog.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
New Beginnings
As our country wipes her slate clean and attempts to start anew with fresh ideas, so do we in Young Judaea. As the President said, "everywhere we look, there is work to be done." This is correct on many counts, and holds true to our own beloved movement.
I'll leave you with a quote from the inaugural address of the 44th President of the United States: "All of this we can do; all of this we will do. There are some who question the scale of our ambitions...they have forgotten what [we] have already done. What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them."
May we in Yehuda Ha'Tzair be empowered by witnessing such a revolutionary event and hearing such inspiring words.
"With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents and endure what storms may come..."
Monday, January 19, 2009
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