by valerie jonas
Was it just another night with a speaker? Or did it make a difference?
The night in question was Jan. 28, when the Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East Bay and its educational arm, the Center for Jewish Living and Learning, launched the East Bay Jewish Community Leadership Series.
It was the first gathering in recent years of this magnitude: 170 people involved in the East Bay Jewish educational system — rabbis, school directors, teachers, lay leaders, heads of school, camp directors.
Scott Shay, author of “Getting Our Groove Back: How to Energize American Jewry,” delivered a 10-point plan, his antidote to the downward spiraling of the American Jewish community. His wakeup call is being heard throughout the country. For the East Bay, listening to Shay’s call is like being hit over the head with a ram’s horn.
The East Bay is home to an estimated 120,000 Jews, with roughly 25,000 connected to community endeavors. That means we, in this one community, have 95,000 Jews at risk of losing their Jewish identity within one generation, largely because they just don’t know about the rich, diverse Jewish community educational opportunities for their children.
Shay makes a case for drastic proposals. Some rub distinctly against the grain of the established community — he suggests dropping funding for programs that are not top priorities. With political correctness, he stopped short of saying which ones. But his message is succinct: Doing business as usual will put us out of business.
Shay cited terrifying statistics on diminishing American Jewish birthrates, increasing philanthropic giving to non-Jewish causes and waning Jewish affiliation. He is a top-level, highly regarded lay leader at synagogues and religious schools. His creative suggestions might not all be right for the East Bay, but his business acumen and passion for community are powerfully credible.
Do I agree with Shay? Are we on a path of doom after all these thousands of years of struggles and successes?
What I agree with, and what is pertinent to those 95,000-plus unaffiliated or loosely affiliated Jews in the East Bay, is that we need to do something and do it quickly. I agree with Shay that the singular most important thing we need to be doing is marketing and investing in our Jewish education system. This is why our educational system was the focus of the first East Bay Jewish Community Leadership Series event.
Following Shay’s remarks, four workshops looked at reinventing day school tuition, engaging teens, meeting religious school needs and involving preschool families. The ideas, critiques, praises and frustrations shared were absolutely liberating. Our community proclaimed the need to invigorate, fund and market our most important product: the Jewish education system. We also agreed on key needs: providing more professional opportunities for teachers, raising salaries to a living wage and recruiting talented young people to the field.
If we can fill 20 percent more of the seats in all classrooms, we’ll have the backbone of the vision to engage the next 20,000 Jews in the East Bay. This is the critical mass needed to enlarge everyone’s circles and ensure a thriving community. Filling 20 percent more of the seats in our schools, places at our camps and travelers on our Let’s Go Israel Trip will bring more young people, more synagogue members and more donors to keep it all running. But it will take all of us who care about the future to make it happen.
The next gathering of the Leadership Series, which is funded by a generous grant from the Koret Foundation and
the Lesser Memorial Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation, will be March 17. Rabbi Lee Bycel, executive director of American Jewish World Service’s Western Region and former dean of Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles, will talk about Jewish leadership, followed by four provocative workshops.
In coming months the series will include skill-building sessions for taking on the challenge of invigorating the community.
A full report and podcast on the first Leadership Series
dialogue is available at www.jfed.org. Register for the March 17 at www.jfed.org/leadership or call (510) 839-2900, ext. 261.
It’s free — all it will cost you is one night. Come out and be part of the future.
Valerie Jonas is regional director of the Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East Bay. She can be reached at valerie@jfed.org.
CopyrightJ, the Jewish news weekly of Northern California