Tuesday, August 20, 2019

AND, NOW, PRESENTING....FEDlab

G-d, I wish we all could return to the days when we would argue rationally and b'shem shamayim about substantive things. But, as of right now, with Jerry on his way out, and Eric on the cusp of being in, JFNA, as always, reverts to form. With the announcement of FEDlab (yep, that's how they want it but lab is encased in a faux light bulb) JFNA's leaders are presenting a "by invitation only" (no I did not receive one, maybe someone will take me as their plus one) off-year (or maybe it's "on year) substitute for the forlorn Genral Assemblies which, of late, have barely attracted flies. 

As faithful readers know, I believe there is a full-time professional at 25 Broadway charged with creating names for all things JFNA with the prefix Fed -- as in FedCentral, FedWorld, FedNothing and so many more...so, now, Fedlab. Old wine in a brand new bottle and a brand new wrapper -- and an "invitation" to make you feel special. The GA will be chaired by the ubiquitous (and, aren't all true leaders of JFNA, ubiquitous, really?) New York leader, Jodi Schwartz.

How will this thing be different from that thing? Let JFNA explain:
"Today we are calling -- across generations and discipline -- upon the thought leaders, change maker and most forward-thinking communal leaders in our community to engage in a three-day laboratory. To reexamine our approach to traditional challenges. And to shape a plan for the ones over the horizon.
FedLab will engage you with expert facilitators in deep conversation and interactive, problem-solving experiments to test assumptions, find real solutions and bring us to the next level.
FedLab is about taking a leap in order to land on new ground for our shared Jewish future."
(I have to admit that as I read this thing, I flashed back to Animal House when the brothers all mumbled "Bullshit, Bullshit, Bullshit" at their suspension "trial." But, I digress.)

The foci:

  • "Defeating the 'Anti' Agenda" 
  • "#EngageJewish"
  • "Action for Good in the 21st Century."
A select group of 200 has been invited: "Come ready to utilize all your powers of innovation , strategy and partnership in the lab."

I am not making this up.

Cannot wait to learn the results...

Rwexler

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

They are really good at "reaching out" with a plethora of fluff encased in buzz words.

Anonymous said...

Watch the lemmings line up while the rest of us await the predictably sad results.Better they just allocate the cost to JDC.

Anonymous said...

No surprise is it that JFNA shuts down the annual GA and then establishes this thing that the leaders must believe that making it "by invitation" will give it the cache that the GA lost somewhere years ago. Hint: the invitees are in the main the jFNA Board and the usual array of professionals.

A waste for one and all.

Anonymous said...

How could Rewnee Rothstein end up with the GA responsibility? Is it just another example of organizational dysfunction/ She might be a great marketing and comunications pro but the GA (and, arguably, this "Lab" thing, are or were supposed to be substantive) but, under her leadership the numbers at a succession of GAs were bad enough to fold the GA up into an every other year failure rather than an annual one.

Anonymous said...

The question: can or will Fingerhut put the organization out pof its current and long-term misery -- things like this? Or will JFNa continue to careen from failure to failure, waste to waste? These folks can'tn get out of their own way and, apparently, never will.

Anonymous said...

Ah Renee Rothstein, the AIPAC Policy Conference guru who Jerry lured away from AIPAC to transform the GA.
And then typical of JFNA leadership, after 6 years, gornish.
And now it's been announced that she is stepping aside to return to DC.
I would like to see the list of accomplishments over the past 6 years on her resume.

Anonymous said...

JFNA was indeed a LAB experiment over the past 20 years or so - an experiment that has cost us millions in waste and also uncountable damages to our once serious national communal structure.
Most of the damage is irreversible - absorption and then destruction pf UJA and UIA , for example - but at least we can stop the waste on an inflated budget which accomplishes nothing.
Maybe it will be possible to create something positive in its place, but there is no future and no sense in allowing JFNA to continue to exist.
ENOUGH!