EVERYONE INTO THE POOL

A few days ago many of you sent on to me the announcement: Leading Jewish Thinkers and Activists for 6 Continents Convene in Jerusalem to Launch Effort to Achieve United Vision for Global Jewry. ("6 Continents" -- count 'em) This Initiative, not to be confused with any earlier Initiatives, is titled Our Common Destiny. It is designed "..r.to connect Jews to each other and to Israel across diverse religious and cultural identities through a shared set of ethics and values."

WOW!!  And, even more, this is an initiative (a "ground-breaking one") of the Genesis Philanthropy Group and the Government of Israel." Quite the challenge that the concerning Genesis Philanthropy Group/GOI have laid out for themselves and those they have engaged in this initiative. And, those engaged convened in Jerusalem September 9-11, apparently to draft a framing document. It should be noted that Xi Xinping, as I recall, announced in 2017 that China was to embark on The Community of Common Destiny -- so watch out for trademark litigation!!

As Ilia Salita, Genesis' President and CEO, stated:

"We are inviting Jews living in Israel and elsewhere to join in the crafting and completion of a document and ambitious as the Declaration of our Common Destiny* because we believe doing so has the potential to excite and engage Jews of all backgrounds and worldview. We know the initial draft of the Declaration will be vastly improved by the input it receives from the world Jewish community. This is Jewish crowdsourcing on a whole new level."

Nice. A whole paragraph of noblesse oblige. 

Though I admit I do not know all of the "thought leaders" engaged by Genesis in this project, there  are some great names and, as if intentional, not a single North American communal leader serves on either the Advisory Board (chaired by Sandy Cardin) or among the Scholars. This latter reality is no longer surprising but it is extremely disappointing. I know no one with a greater vision for the Jewish People than John Ruskay, Steve Nasatir, Steve Hoffman, Jeff Solomon and others from within (or nearby) the organized Jewish communities...and, yet, no one from among those entities which might, if part of the process, bring the diasp[ora communities together to engage.

These choices made by Genesis (and, perhaps, by Cardin) are clear --we are going to put out a nice, exciting academic Declaration and leave it to us peons to do the difficult work while not having been involved in framing this "Common Destiny.". And, as has been demonstrated before (in the failed implementation of the last Jewish Agency "strategic plan" -- it is now working on another; in the Government of Israel/Naftali Bennett's World Jewry Initiative, etc.), without engagement from the beginning, nothing much is going to happen at the grassroots level. Yet, with all of this, one has to wonder, do the organized Jewish communal leadership worldwide even realize how they have been dissed here; or, if not dissed....clearly ignored. And, if they do realize it, do they care that they are perceived by their omission to be pedestrian and, worse, irrelevant.

In addition, friends, worldwide Jewish organizational leadership -- of JAFI, of the Joint Distribution Committee, among others -- are not represented. 

These insults are manifest and, no doubt, well-earned

And, then, it emerged  the end result of this ambitious intellectual exercise after as few days and a charge from President Rivlin, The Declaration of Our Common Destiny For the Unity of the Jewish People. (Ahh, the presumption.)  Thanks to our friends at ejewishphilanthropy you can read this at: https://ejewishphilanthropy.com/the-declaration-of-our-common-destiny-for-the-unity-of-the-jewish-people-launched-at-beit-hanasi/?utm_source=Sept+11,+2019&utm_campaign=Sept+11&utm_medium=email 

So good luck and great success to these "leading Jewish thinkers and activists." Can't wait for the discussions we have been mandated to comment.

So, it is on to a "generation-defining event in modern Judaism." The pool, though, is getting a little crowded.

Rwexler






* N.B. apparently such a Declaration exists...somewhere