Are the young too selfish?
The UJC made something of a daring move Monday morning, opening up its only plenary of the day to seven young Jewish innovators and activists – leaders that stray from the typical mold of the federation "leader," who is much older and much wealthier than those on display this morning.
They included a young up and coming film producer, Ari Sandel, who won an Academy Award for his short film, "West Bank Story," a farsical musical about a love that springs between the scions of two warring fast food joints – one kosher and one Hallal – in Israel. There was also our own Dan Sieradski, a Jewish Web-maven who in his other life outside JTA is known as Mobius, the Orthodox Anarchist, and is prone to post-Zionist outbursts.
Despite Sandel's admission to JTA after his speaking engagement that he knew little to nothing about the federation system, and despite Sieradski giving the UJC elders on hand some serious mussar – generally that the federation system needs to drop more cash into helping the young develop their own initiatives – the plenary was well received by the federation stalwarts on hand.
Most beamed like proud parents after the plenary. And, afterwards, Sandel was swarmed by local federation leaders who wanted to bring him home to their sugar mamas.
Interestingly, the most harsh criticism came from some of the young leaders in attendance, who felt that, perhaps, the young speakers at the plenary came off as a little selfish.
Specifically, they were irked at remarks from Sarah Chasin, a senior at George Washington University, who took a year off of college to live and volunteer in Katrina-torn Mississippi.
During her speech, Chasin said that she felt good about helping out others, but ultimately she learned that helping others was mostly about herself: "I have always done community serivce," she said. "I do community service for me, I do it to meet people, I do it to feel connected, most importantly I do it to learn. I do it for me."
"The young people end up coming off as these really entitled individuals because it becomes all about what can the system do for me," said one young professional from a successful young Jewish dot-org in a conversation with JTA shortly after the plenary.
The professional, who wish not to be identified, was backed up by Aaron Bisman, the founder of one of the most successful new projects out there, JDub records, which initially produced and managed Matisyahu. "I dont think that is the entirety of what it is," Bisman said. "But it is coming off like that. Particularly some of the speakers are terribly inexperienced and I think that the UJC could have helped along some of these younger speakers. It is such a wonderful opportunity they gave them, and I think they wanted people to be able to say wha they wanted to say."
The fear among some under-35s in the lobby was that perhaps in the pursuit of individualism, young folks are being a bit short sighted and selfish. And that fear has extended to the blogosphere, where one commentor on Sieradski's speech on Jewcy.com, responded as follows:
"Judaism is not the ultimate extra-curricular activity, fad, or start-up ... it's a way of life that (if it is to last and have meaning) must be animated by a collective spirit and mutual endeavor ... and not refracted solely through the prism of the mercurial 'individual' as committed or as clever or as creative as s/he might be."
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Scott Brockman
11/13/07 11:42 AM
I am an Young Adult Professional in the Fedeartion System - I posted this yesterday on our listserve-
-----Original Message-----
From: Scott W. Brockman [mailto:Scott.Brockman@jewishpalmbeach.org]
Sent: Mon 11/12/2007 9:59 AM
To: YL - PROS
Subject: [yl-pros] Not at the GA? Here’s a Virtual discussion. Lets ENGAGE!
Dear YL Colleagues-
This week while most of us hold down the fort at work our peers and
superiors will be at the General Assembly being inspired and
reenergized. They will come back telling us about the cutting edge
programming they saw related to Young Adults. They will tell us about
innovative programs created outside the Federation system and how we
need to recreate or co-opt some of these successes into our own
communities. I am lucky in my community because my leadership already
sees the challenge of engagement and is starting to talk in serious
ways how we move forward in capturing this and the next generation.
We are the “community building business” but at the core of our business
is the practice of philanthropy. So how do we engage, attract and
educate while not forgetting our core business? Will this issue be
discussed this week at the GA ? I hope so.
We can’t continue to just do engagement for engagement sake and hope for
the best. Its our responsibility to go one step further as a Federation
professionals. Our outreach efforts needs to be towards a purpose. We
need plans and a strong strategic vision in each of our communities to
not just cast the wide net but to build personal relationship and
strengthen ties to our system. I strongly believe the central purpose of
any young adult division is to engage and track individuals to be part
of a “peoplehood” but then to get these individuals to act. Its after
all antithetical to Judaism to learn or to practice ritual, obey (or not
to obey) laws and not to act. We can’t have a healthy system built upon
just the ritual of showing up and attending events. Any visioning done
for our future needs to include a plan for our constituency to be
educated towards acting ethically, compassionately and generously. This
education can be done actively or informally but its best done when the
professional builds real solid relationships. What do I mean by building
relationships? Don’t we already do this?
We here alot of buzz within our system about the collaborative
fundraising model and Federations becoming a “Central Address for Jewish
Philanthropy”. My community of Palm Beach is a pioneer with this new
model and has had much early success. Our entire professional staff
have been asked to choose a few key individuals of high net worth and
engage them and track our relationships. We have all become “Donor
Relation Managers”. Its my responsibility to get to know my prospective
donors in this model and connect them with other staff and programs to
build the donors ties to our Federation. This process can and does
involve everyone in our community from the donors own peers, to our CEO,
to local Rabbis etc. This process does not demand immediate success but
in fact could take years until the donor is ready for a MEGA ASK . In
the interim the annual camping gift can be increased, the donor may
endow a gift or subsidize a program. The “mega ask “ is the ultimate
goal and borrows its idea from the University model of fundraising.
With the Collaborative fundraising model we have a clear vision of
involvement of an entire community towards a simple goal. So lets get
back to my question. What do I mean about building solid relationships
with young adults? If our goals include engagement with the Jewish
people and a call to action for young adults what is our “Mega Gift”
and how do we get there? Is it our responsibility alone as a Young
Adult professional to get there or also the community’s ?
Lets have our own session virtually and literally outside the GA today
on this list serve.
What are your models for success in bridging outreach to engagement?
Do you have a written down plan or do you shoot from the hip?
Is your engagement personality driven or system driven?
What are you local pitfalls? How can we help each other?
How can the system help us?