INEXPLICABLE COMPOUNDED

So, the "leadership" of the Conference of Presidents, upon further review of its decision to nominate as its next Chair the immediate past Chair of HIAS, once an important Jewish organization and today neither important nor Jewish, decided to double down. As if its Nominating process wasn't sufficiently screwed up, that CoP "leadership" determined to (a) extend the term of its sitting Chair and (b) create the position of "Chair-elect" so that the Conference members might "get comfortable with" the nominee.

That not being enough, the same "leadership" decided that it would characterize the opposition to the nominee as being part of a "right wing" conspiracy, the easier to brush off legitimate concerns with the Chair nominee having led HIAS at a time of some incredibly bad institutional and political choices. And, of course, the outspoken opposition by the Zionist Organization of America and that entity's voice, Morton Klein, made it easier for the CoP to engage in sophism to divert attention from the sad choices it had made in process and substance. Regrettably, some reporters have bought into the sophistry lock, stock and barrel. See, e.g., Melissa Weiss writing of "...an uproar from right-wing groups" in JewishInsider -- even going so far as to accept the HIAS CEO's self-characterization  of HIAS as a "Jewish organization" which it once was but is no longer and hasn't been for a long time.

Bottom line, HIAS, once among the most critical Jewish organizations of any when it was the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, decided to eliminate Hebrew from its name and its work and evolved into just plain old HIAS, an acronym without meaning, and thereupon ceased being a Jewish organization with a non-Jewish refugee client base -- it had ceased being a major organization years earlier. 

Some day there will be some analysis of how an organization, with great professional leadership and some important lay leaders, could have put the organization in the position it finds itself, followed by the decision to mischaracterize all of those opposed to this nomination as being of "right wing groups." 

Whatever the end of this chapter may be; there is little chance that it will end well.

Rwexler

INEXPLICABLE

As those of you who are long-time readers of this Blog will remember, your author holds no brief for the Zionist Organization of America, even as I appreciate that organization's unequivocal support of Israel and its political acumen under its President for Life, Morton Klein. I now find myself in agreement with the ZOA in its shock and in its opposition to the nomination of the immediate past Chair of HIAS to succeed Art Stark as Chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. I am, with ZOA's and many Conference leaders, in total disbelief, although my reasons may be different. And, while Jonathan Tobin, the prolific editor-in-chief of the Jewish News Syndicate, has framed his own question raised by the Conference's nomination -- Do the Jews really need a Conference of Presidents? -- there seems to this writer to be little reason to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

There are multiple reasons to oppose Dianne Lob's nomination, let alone her election, all of them compelling. None of those reasons suggest that she lacks great leadership skills: some of those reasons are more compelling than others. For example:

1. HIAS is neither a "Major" Jewish Organization nor, for that matter, any longer a "Jewish" one. It was once one of the great Jewish entities; no longer. ( I served oin its Board and Executive back in my youth.)While the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society once was responsible for bringing Jewish immigants to America by the 10's of 1000's, the organization has eliminated Hebrew from its name and, in fact, now operates as an "acronym" supporting a general refugee population and, for reasons unclear, has joined with organizations whose raisons d'être are to oppose Israel. I have written before of the HIAS fund-raising letter I received at Pesach 2019 pleading for financial assistance for a Muslim refugee; a noble effort, one about which we were reminded in a strong JTA editorial supporting Lob's nomination (Conference of Presidents Names the Right Chair) but one which ignores HIAS' current stance that has disassociated itself from those same Jewish roots. Caring for the "stranger" has always been and should always remain part of the Jewish communal n'shama but is hardly a reason for HIAS' continuing membership on the CofP or for its past-Chair to be elected to lead it.
2. Under Ms. Lob's leadership, HIAS made common cause with radical organizations and individuals which/who have stood opposed to the State of Israel. If the Conference quite properly opposed membership for JStreet, it is hard to conjure the arguments for Dianne Lob's Conference leadership. And, then, HIAS made a conscious politicasl decision to position itself as the Jewish Organization which not only opposed the Trump Administration's immigration policies but Trump himself. An ad featuring a HIAS v. Trump banner featured a fund raisng message built on that confrontation. Many of us oppose these policies ands the Administration's slavish devotion to them, but HIAS has made of its opposition a political act as well as a principled one.
3. Since its inception, the Conference has been Chaired by men and women of incredible distinction, recognized American opinion leaders and influencers with total dedication to the State of Israel. Among them: Cardin, Lauder, Tisch, Abram, Stone, Zuckerman, Klutznick and Greenberg. The organizations which they led stood in support of Israel. I have no doubt that Dianne Lob is a wonderful person and strong leader but one would have to engage in real sophistry to argue that for purposes of election to the CoP Chair, one ahould ignore that but for her leadership service to HIAS she would not be considered for the new position. There are some at the Conference who in their support of Lob's candidacy who have argued that the CoP membership should divorce Lob from her HIAS leadership service -- sorry, it doesn't work that way.

I have reflected on these pages my personal hopes for William Daroff's success as the newly "ordained" Conference CEO while reflecting on how much more difficult that success is to achieve so long as the inestimable Malcolm Hoenlein remains in a very visible, public position as the organization's "Executive Vice-Chair" (even commenting to the press on the CoP professionals' hands'-off non-role in its Nominating process -- a comment that appears to be untrue). Now...this. If Hoenlein wants to be of real support to Daroff, he should have been/should be quietly urging CofP lay leaders to go back to the Nominating Committee drawing board and start over.

Rwexler

THE RISE AND FALL AND FALL AND FALL

Well, friends, it's time to get back to Blogging even as I pray that all of you are socially distancing, safe and protected.

All of us are experiencing the horrific impacts of this COVID-19 plague that has afflicted the World. The impacts on our families, ourselves, our People, our businesses are and will be devastating. While some optimists see the "day after" as one of opportunity, the realist in me strongly suggests that many of the Jewish organizations that we have helped to build will not survive -- at least not as they one were. 

And, that's where I would like to focus today and further as we move forward.

I read the brilliant plea from Doron Krakow, the Jewish Community Centers Association President, to the JCCA members, partners and funders seeking $1 billion in loans and grants as the Jewish Community Centers, revenue dependent at a time that the virus has eliminated the Centers' revenues. I hope JCCA is successful but our experience suggests that individual JCC Boards nationwide are built of wonderful leaders who have never been significant fund-raisers. In fact, after JFNA collapsed the Federation-National Agency Alliance two and 1/2 years ago, immediately costing the JCCs 100's of millions in allocations, the Movement was unable to recapture those dollars -- and those were better times. 

JCCs are but an example of agencies in dire need -- they all are.  Look at any National or local agency and understand that the safety net that we have helped to build is threatened with collapse. Is saving them beyond our capacity? Will/can community endowments -- created for those "rainy days" -- be allocated immediately becuase the "rainiest of days" are upon us? This is not 207-2008, this is so much worse.

Then, there is JFNA itself. After a decade of stasis and worse, JFNA, under Board Chair Mark Wilf and CEO Eric Fingerhut, appeared to this critic to be moving the Titanic off the iceberg, plugging the holes in the hull and moving albeit slowly toward some open water. Sure, the organization had completely abandoned its historic fund-raising responsibilities to  such an extent that Fingerhut was professionally leading the organization while also assuming the mantle of its FRD leadership with no depth of staff support. And, sure, the organization for at least a decade had abandoned its historic advocacy for funding overseas needs -- abandoned to the extent that last year the organization threw in the towel, telling the Jewish Agency, the Joint Distribution Committee and ORT "you want advocacy, do it yourselves" and "restructuring" the United Israel Appeal out of its former existence relegating that organization to meeting the bare minima of IRS Revenue Rulings. 

Now, with federations facing unheard of financial challenges to just keep the doors open and the social safety net they have built over the dcades literally threatened with collapse, there should be, there must be a national conclave dedicated to the restructuring of JFNA reflecting the new reality that no longer can the federations afford a $30 million JFNA Dues Budget, let alone a $50 million Budget in the aggregate. There must be an immediate Continental planning meeting to restructure JFNA as the trade organization it has become over its two decades of existence --  with financial support at an appropriate and severely reduced level. Yes, I am talking about a truly Draconian Budget...dictated by the circumstances of today.

Where to begin? The long ignored staffing bloat in JFNA-Israel would be an excellent starting point for significant cuts, with staffing everywhere truly and finally reflecting the organization's priorities -- security, Washington and Federation support services. As it appears that this iteration of JFNA has neither the capacity nor the interest in financial resource development (even as surveys of the federations had always identified FRD as the highest priority need of the system -- probably one of the reasons for no more surveys of community "needs") which, as recently as the last JFNA Budget was where 50%...50%...of your Federation's Dues were being spent, a 50% Dues reduction would not appear to be an unreasonable expectation.

It is now time for a dramatic JFNA "right-sizing." Anything less would be unacceptable in today's horrible economic environment. JFNA's Executive Committee have determined that an emergency exists. Earlier this month that Executive Committee convened and authorized the "Officers Team...to take such actions as they deem appropriate to to operate, manage and oversee all of JFNA's operational activities..."

Get on with it.

Rwexler