MIKE FISHER, z'l

Last Thursday, a great professional died. Mike Fisher was part of UJA and UJC for so long and was a great friend to lay leaders and a great partner to his fellow campaign professionals. I remember Mike from all of the help and guidance he gave to so many of us along the way. And he did so with a quiet reassuring competence. Learning that he he suffered a heart attack and left us last Thursday brought to mind so many with whom Mike worked -- the partnership he had with Mo Sherman and Harold Cohen, with Shimon Pepper and Bernie Moscovitz and Lee Twersky and, most of all, with Vicki Agron. What a team they were, filled with ideas, with an incredible commitment and with the joy of sharing their knowledge and passion with a willing lay leadership.

On almost every occasion that I visited the UJC offices (and before that UJA), when Mike worked at "headquarters," one would find Mike and Vicki in Vicki's office sharing ideas. When Mike was the UJA Regional Director for the Midwest, we worked together as partners...and when he moved to Southeast Florida as UJA's human investment in the growing communities there, he and I spoke no less than weekly, working together on the merger that created the Broward Federation, on the allocations issues of those communities, and I all of the time learning from him. I remember the times Mike would meet me at airports around the Midwest and Florida, and would teach me as I criticized his driving skills...but I was, as he knew, listening all the time for no one...no one...understood federations and our system better than Mike Fisher.

Mike's insights into campaign and donors throughout our system, the depth of his knowledge of our institutions' past and future, he tried to pass on to so many of us. But that institutional memory was lost when Mike left UJC and we have been without that vital memory ever since. As Vicki wrote many of us "My G-d, what that man knew about our business and how generously he taught others." Now Mike has left us.

Mike embodied the word mensch. Maxine and the Fisher Family will be sustained in their grief today by incredible and joy-filled memories of Mike, and so will we all.

Rwexler

MUSINGS

From many e-mails I have received, I know many readers would prefer more of UJC, less of my Musings. With apologies to those of you who want to read my venting, here is another reflection.

Thursday, June 28, 2007
A Day in the Life of a Country We Love
Copyright March 2008
Richard Wexler
Chicago

The day our dear friend, Steve Nasatir, the Chicago Federation CEO, and two of his colleagues were almost struck by Qassam rockets fired by terrorists into the Southern Israel development town of Sderot, and the day Israeli media leaked that the criminal charges againt the Past President of Israel would be reduced to charges of sexual harrassment, not rape, the Israeli Knesset focused on far more important and criticqal matters in the national interest as reported in Ha'aretz:

Miniskirts, but no shorts? Knesset ethics committee debates MKs' attire
by: Shahar Ilan

A parliament in sandals. The committee that recently met to draft an ethical code for the Knesset devoted special attention to the subject of sandals. Likud Party faction chairman Gideon Sa'ar asked whether wearing sandals was accepted practice in other parliaments.

"Yes," replied former Knesset speaker Reuven Rivlin (Likud), "In Yemen."
Sa'ar said, "In this respect, I wouldn't consider Yemen a role model>'
Deputy Knesset Speaker Ahmed Tibi (Ra'am - Ta'al): "Sandals are more accepted in the United Arab Emirates>'

A coalition for sandals. Labor MK Shelly Yachimovitz said the so-called "biblical" sandals were representative of Israeli culture and were therefore more acceptable "than luxury brand shoes manufactured by children in a sweatshop in China." Chairman of the Knesset Ethics Committee Haim Oron (Meretz) described his personal dress code to the assembled panel: When the plenum is in session, he wears shoes, on other days, he wears sandals. Some say the chairman of the National Union faction, Uri Ariel, wears sandals to the Knesset even during the winter.

Appropriate dress. Paragraph 11 of the draft of the new Knesset ethical code states: "Knesset members will appear in the Knesset building in clothing that speaks to the dignity of the parliament and the dignity of its members." (ed., after this debate what dignity is left?) An argument broke out yesterday among the committee members as to whether this paragraph was necessary. Israel's best parliamentarians -- those who take pains to be present at ethical code meetings (ed., do I sense irony or sarcasm?) -- participated in the discussion. Kadima MK Amira DIn n claimed that the paragraph relating to a dress code should be erased because its very existence "embarrasses and humiliates me." Sa'ar responded that a dress code existed in various parliaments around the world.

Miniskirts and shorts. Aside from sandals, different types of clothing were raised during the discussion. Yachimovitz asked whether flip-flops would be acceptable. Ahmed Tibi, who supports the paragraph on a dress code, asked sarcastically: "Why should people who enjoy sports not come in shorts?" Yachimovitz said: "Really, why not? A miniskirt, yes. But shorts, no?" For his part, Tibi proposed that MKs should wear neither leather nor fur coats, because these are manufactured from animal skins.

An what about Ciccolina? In the previous Knesset, certain female MKs wore tight and revealing clothing. (ed., I know, "helloooo, Spitzer" but...no) "In the previous Knesset, the clothes were shameless. We witnessed cases in which people came with exposed bellies," (and, then, there were the women, as well) Rivlin said. "Ciccolina (a former Italian MP who was also a porn star) has not yet visited the Knesset, but I'm telling you the day has come when there could be plenty of Ciccolinas here." (ed., Put the Knesset visitors gallery down as a mandatory visit.)

The kibbutnik and the settler. Special attention was devoted to the appearance of two Knesset members: Haim Oron, the kibbutznik, and Uri Ariel, the settler. Yachimovitz pointed out: "There are perhaps parliaments where they would have thrown Jumas (Oron) out because of his shirt, but we will not get rid of Jumas." "But this is my best shirt," retorted Oron. Yachimovitz said she also likes the settler-type clothing worn by Uri Ariel -- sandals, jeans and a simple shirt. Ariel asked if it was possible to hold a vote about this remark.

___________________________________________________________________

Ahhhh me, let's see, children are screaming in fear in shelters and classrooms in Sderot; three soldiers have spent two years as kidnap victims -- one in Hamastan, two in the grip of Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon, the Holocaust-denying Iranian President threatens the world with genocide...and the Knesset debates...sandals.

This almost....almost ...makes our Congress look responsible...almost.

Rwexler

ONE OF DAVID BEN GURION'S DREAMS

This has been a difficult couple of weeks for your Blogger -- subjected to in personam attacks, misrepresentations of my alleged actions, fingers pointed at this Blog, etc. I have even had trouble finding the humor in what has happened in New York these last 10 days. So this Musing:

DAVID BEN GURION'S DREAMS
copyright 2008
Richard Wexler

The recent, um, travails of now Former Governor Eliot Spitzer brought to mind David ben Gurion's dreams for a Jewish State. He said something like "I will know when we have a real State when we have Jews who are bus drivers and service station attendants, farmers and...prostitutes." Well, maybe that's not exactly what he said, but it's close. So on a recent trip to Israel I was not surprised to read a headline in a local Israeli paper that "80% of Israelis Against Punishing Prostitutes." What surprised me was the source. (And I do recall that 47% of all statistics are invalid.)

It seems that the poll that released this astounding data was commissioned by the Knesset's "Committee on the Status of Women." Yes, the Knesset's Research Department and its consultant, Teleseker Company, interviewed 500 people...500 people...to learn that less than 1/5th of them believe that prostitutes or the men and women who employ them should be tried in court. (Helllooo Eliot Spitzer, aliya now? Call your local shaliach.)

Now, here in the US of A we poll just about everything -- in fact there are some who believe...actually believe...that our government's policies are determined by the poll results. Yet, now I have read of a Knesset poll on this critical issue, apparently so vital to the Israeli polity that 500 of them would actually respond to the question.

The Knesset will no doubt debate the issue and some will point to this poll as dispositive. The Executive Director of Israel's Women's Network, in response to the poll, urged "...a massive re-education campaign to sway the public sentiment on prostitution." We have learned on our travels that 1/3 of Israeli children today live below the poverty line, do you think that changing that reality might move those who practice prostitution away from that line of work? Just asking.

A STORY FOR OUR GRANDCHILDREN

Some stories are for the ages. The other night I was with my beautiful granddaughters, Sophia and Talia, from Portland, Oregon, ages 3 and 5, who said: "Ba Ba, Ba Ba (that's what they call me) please tell us that story again -- the one about the clothes..." "The clothes," I thought, and so I began, as all fables do:







Once upon a time, long, long ago, there lived a vain and arrogant Emperor ("arrogant," Talia and Sophia, "means an Emperor who believes that the Emperor knows everything") who cared too much about his clothes. So he hired two bad people who promised the Emperor the finest suit of clothes from the most beautiful threads and cloth. These threads and this cloth, the bad guys told the Emperor, are invisible to any one who is either stupid or not fit for his or her position. The Emperor is a little nervous about being unable to see the thread and cloth himself, so he sends 4 assistants (the people who the Emperor trusts to make his decisions) to look at the new clothes. They can't see anything but they tell the bad guys and, then, the Emperor how great these clothes look -- for they are afraid of losing their positions of trust if they tell the truth. When the bad people tell the Emperor everything is ready, the Emperor tells them to put the clothes on him and he will then parade through the town so everyone can see.







And, as the Emperor paraded through the town, almost everyone said, loud enough for the other townspeople and the vain, arrogant Emperor and his 4 trusted assistants to hear: "Look at the Emperor's new clothes, they're beautiful." But, two little girls, ages 3 and 5, named Sophia and Talia, who had no important jobs and could only see things that were real and important, went up to the Emperor's carriage and said: "The Emperor is naked!!" The 4 trusted assistants grabbed the two girls --"Foolish ones," they said, "Don't speak nonsense" and they pulled the girls to take them away, "We will remove your Ba Ba from his position of trust because of your criticism." But, suddenly, the girls' discoveries, which had been heard by the on-lookers, were repeated over and over again, first by a few and, then by more and more, until everyone cried out: "The girls are right! The Emperor is naked! It's true! It's true!"







The Emperor realized that the people of his Kingdom were right but he could not admit to that. That would mean the Emperor was wrong and weak. He thought it would be better to continue the parade under the belief that anyone who couldn't see his clothes was either stupid or incompetent or worse. So the Emperor stood on his carriage, while his 4 trusted assistants stood behind holding up his imaginary crown while his followers laughed and laughed.

"Baba, Baba," my beautiful grand daughters cried, "Why was the Emperor so silly and, why did you call him 'arrogant?'" "Because some Emperors just are, my darlings, they just are. They just can't help themselves. But, many are good and fair. As you grow up you will surely come to know the difference. And, once you know the difference, you must speak out"

Don't forget to tell this Hans Christian Anderson story to your grandchildren and children. It's a good one. (And don't forget it yourselves.)







Rwexler

IS IT "GOOD FOR THE JEWS?"

MUSINGS
copyright 2008
Chicago, Illinois

I am certain that all of us recall the days when our parents and grandparents would ponder every historical event, no matter how trivial, with but a single question: "Is it good for the Jews?" Most things weren't. Now, at a time, perhaps, when we should be raising that question anew, we are so comfortable in our own Jewish skin that we don't.

I was pondering this weighty question, however, when I read an article in the San Francisco Chronicle in June 2007. On a trip to San Francisco, I read a secondary headline in a local news story: "Jew Manipulates Funds, Accused of Theft." My G-d, I thought, is this how newspapers are referring to our People? (Then, one week later -- "Mayor Urged to Consider Ousting Jew.") This can't be good for the Jews. Then I read the story itself. It seems that an Asian-American San Francisco Councilman, Eddie Jew (probably not a MOT) stood accused of misappropriating City funds.

Sorry, Eddie, but I have to admit to some relief. In this age of political rectitude, I began to question the headline writers at the Chronicle. Were they just "having a little fun?" Were they negligent? Were they willful? (By Summer 2007, all Chronicle references were to "Eddie Jew.")
Is there something inherently wrong when a Jewish person is referred to as "Jew?" Or, has the acceptable only been what we call ourselves? From my own experiences over time, from Don Rickles to Woody Allen to Larry David, with all sorts in between, we have never hesitated to make fun of ourselves -- except, of course, when we were making fun of others. Telushkin's collected works contain example after example of self-deprecating humor. But, we have always been sensitive to "others" making fun of us -- perhaps because we know "where that could lead. How critical to our sense of comfort are our self-censorship and the rights of free speech guaranteed us in the United States.

Rwexler

BEST PRACTICES

On the coldest Chicago Winter day in a decade, UJC's Planned Giving and Endowment and Research and Planning Departments convened what proved to be a meaningful Conference at the O'Hare Hilton. Focused on a Research Report on Best Practices in communities with a separately incorporated Foundations, the day revolved around the publication of the Research Report and in learning from each other. By all measures, the day was a success.

I participated as the Chair of the PG & E Task Force on Foundation Governance for the past 5 years, but the laboring oars were pulled by UJC's Senior Professionals, Joe Imberman and Rabbi Lou Feldstein, with Consultant Debbie Bussel and Facilitator Ephraim Schachter. The most critical part of the Conference was the participation by foundation and federation leaders from around the country who flew in in large numbers -- 20 of the 32 communities/foundations which participated in the research were with us. And, beyond the research, we learned a great deal operating from the premise shared by all that in this highly competitive philanthropic environment in which all of us operate, collaboration is the connective tissue with which we will not just survive but prosper.

This Research and its fruits would not have been possible without the committed leadership of, first, Chicago's Lester Rosenberg, immediate Past Chair of the UJC Planned Giving & Endowment effort, and Paul Morton, from Toronto, the current Chair. Both were active participants in the day. The major participants, however, as it should have been, were the foundation and federation lay and professional leaders present -- they challenged, they were provocative and creative. All this made for a terrific give and take on matters of trust, competencies and, always, collaboration.

Not every Conference like this one is deemed worthy of an UJC Briefing but it is an effort like this Conference that says more about the UJC-communities working together than does many a Briefing. The Bussel Research Study can be found on the UJC Website, I'm told. It's worth a read.

Rwexler

An Addendum: On March 13 I received a letter from Howard Rieger addressed "Dear Colleagues" and including the Research Study,

OY VEY! NO EGG ROLLS

Once in a while, as promised/threatened in an earlier Post, I offer you a Musing from my new Manuscript -- Judgment Fled....The Musings of a Wandering Jew. As with my earlier Posts, some of you will hate it, others will ignore it, some will try to read something unintended into it and others, hopefully may even find it humorous.

Oy Vey! No Egg Rolls
copyright 2008
Richard L. Wexler

One of my Chicago friends and professional partners -- a terrific Jewish professional -- sent me a story appearing on Reuters website with his own commentary: "How to really bring Israel to her knees>"

The February 12, 2008 story written by Rebecca Harrison reporting from Jerusalem was titles: Eateries go on spring roll strike. In pertinent part:

"Israel's Asian restaurants went on a one day spring roll strike on Tuesday
in protest over government plans to rid kitchens of foreign chefs, and said
sushi and noodles would be the next items off the menu. The restaurants
are angry at government plans to purge Japanese, Chines and Thai eateries
of Asian cooks and replace them with Israelis as part of a broader program
to cut the number of foreigners working in the Jewish State. Friends, I don't
make this stuff up, I just report it.)

The Israeli "Ethnic Restaurant Organization" (you should know that Israel has
the highest number of non-profits per capita of any country in the world -- ed.)
said the country's 300 Asian restaurants refused to serve spring or egg rolls --
among their most popular choices -- Tuesday, and planned a follow-up strike
in two weeks for the sushi and the noodles. "Today there is no egg roll and in
two weeks time there will be no sushi and noodles," Arnon Volosky (not a typical
Asian name -- ed.) head of the Organization, told Reuters.

The government argues Israelis can be trained. 'Everyone can make Chinese food,
it's not impossible to learn,' said Shoshana Strauss, a lawyer working on foreign
worker issues for the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor. Asian restaurants
first started dishing up Chicken Chow Mein and Thai Green Curry to Israelis about
thirty years ago and have evolved into a $1 billion shekels a year ($275 million)
industry."

It is fortunate that Israel faces so few problems that it can focus on ridding the country of the expert chefs who prepare the regular Sunday take away diet of Chinese, Japanese and Thai, ahem, cuisine.

What if this spread to America. Would we Jews have to restrict our Sunday dinners to pizza or corned beef sandwiches (not that that would be such a bad thing) or, horror of horrors, cook on Sunday evenings?

While in Israel this week, I can report to you that after investigation, the strike is not going well.

Rwexler

NEW MODELS/PROFESSIONAL

As Ken Krug and I rode into Jerusalem together for the February Board of Governors meetings of the Jewish Agency for Israel, I got to know a little about this new Federation professional -- the Executive Vice President/Chief Operating Officer of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles. Ken joined Federation directly from a long career with the Rand Corporation bringing new ideas and new reactions to old ideas to his new service to the Jewish people.

I reflected on this during a conversation with Don Sylvan in the lobby of the Inbal Hotel. Don, a past Board Member of JESNA from Columbus, Ohio, became JESNA's President and CEO in 2005. After sharing our memories of the South Side of Chicago where both of us grew up, Don told me, as Ken had, his excitement in serving the Jewish People. Here were two lay persons who joined the cadre of Jewish professionals. This is a great and absolutely necessary evolution.

I remember early on his career as President and CEO of the Allied Jewish Federation of Colorado, I visited with Doug Seserman, who had left the marketing field to enter Jewish professional life. Doug came filled with new ideas, most, if not all, of which that Federation has put into play with success. Doug came to Federation and the adaptation of Federation to his new ideas has propelled it forward.

Then there is my friend, Beth Cherner, who played a significant role in Chicago's lay leadership until she "dropped everything" to join the staff of Chicago's Jewish United Fund as its Campaign Director where her energy and enthusiasm have driven our annual campaign to ever greater height.

These four -- Beth, Doug, Don and Ken -- are but examples of a new trend in Jewish communal professional life. They are joined by 100's and 100's more who came either from the business world or the world of lay leadership to Jewish communal professional life bringing new ideas and perspectives. We are fortunate to have them.

Rwexler

BOB, z'l

When you say the name "Bob" in the Chicago Jewish community, there has been no doubt during my decades of involvement about whom you were speaking. Everyone knew Bob, everyone respected Bob and everyone had the sense that Bob cared about them. Bob was my friend, my mentor, my leader as he was to so many of us for so many years. And, now, he has been taken from his family and from us, his extended family, so suddenly that few of us had the chance to say good-bye, to tell Bob how much he, his life, his leadership inspired us to strive for great things, to believe that we could accomplish great deeds, as he did so often...so often.

His life with Barbara was so beautiful and full. Skip and Liz and Deborah took Bob's life example and incorporated the beauty of it into their own lives and into the lives of their families. My wife, Roberta, and I remember so well, so many years ago, our first Young Couples Retreat at Camp Chi in Wisconsin, where Barbara and Bob were our leaders and demonstrated how leaders treat and nurture those placed in their care. I remember Missions to Israel led by Bob on which I was a participant, where Bob demonstrated leadership skills that I hope I have incorporated into my life. I served on my Federation Board under Bob's Chairmanship and remember full well, so many years ago, before it became part of the "itinerary," Bob and Steve Nasatir journeying to Ethiopia to see first hand the plight of a surviving remnant of our People. I remember the stories of Bob's chairmanship of the UJA Young Leadership Cabinet -- I am reminded of that time by so many in the communities I have visited over the years who shared their memories with me and asked me to bring back their regards to Bob. And I remember sitting with Charles Bronfman, Joel Tauber, Marvin Lender, Carole Solomon and Steve Solender debating who could succeed Carole as UJC National Campaign Chair when Vicki Agron said: "What about Bob"? And all of us, almost in unison said: "What a spectacular idea." And I remember Bob's joy in accepting the Chairmanship, his triumphs and frustrations in that role, but always his burning, continuing desire to make a difference for our People that ennobled him and inspired us.

Bob never hesitated to "speak truth to power" -- if our goals were set too low, we heard about it; if he felt our commitments too small, we heard about it; if he felt a greater effort was needed, we heard about it. It was wholly predictable, knowing Bob, that long in the past he was one of the "Young Turks" who demanded a leadership seat at the Council of Jewish Federations. Today, many of us who toiled in the vineyards of Jewish life with Bob, depart for Jerusalem and the meetings of the Jewish Agency. There is nowhere else in the world, outside the bosom of his family, where Bob wanted to be than in Jerusalem. There was no leadership role he did not serve and serve forcefully with dignity and love.

Even in his final illness, Bob was imbued with the sense of optimism for which he was known. This past Monday he e-mailed one of his friends, a wonderful Chicago professional with whom Bob had partnered and mentored, about his treatment and his optimism about the weeks of treatment ahead. It was not to be. Bob brightened so many days for so many of us "..fair as a star when only one is shining in the sky." Bob gave so many of us, Bob's memories will give us, so much joy but as it has been written "...there is no joy the world can give like that it takes away."

Bob, we were blessed by your friendship and your leadership, we are sustained by our memories, as we must be. Zichron livracha.

Rwexler

A ZELLIAN CHALLENGE

Sam Zell is an incredible entrepreneur, a wonderful Jewish philanthropist who I first met when we were cabin-mates at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin as young boys. As the new owner of the Chicago Tribune Company, Zell has been touring his newspapers where he has engaged with his staffs in every venue in the candid and coarse manner for which he has become known as he has grown as a public figure. Yesterday he met at the Tribune Tower with Chicago Tribune personnel where he was criticized for "...his profanity-laced remarks elsewhere (which) raised concerns among staff..." Zell's response, quoted in his newspaper today, would seem appropriate to UJC's situation, with only minor changes:



I'm trying to make everybody uncomfortable. This (organization) has been eroding
before your eyes and you're worried about my (criticism)?...Everything I said was
with an intent to get everybody to get off their [behinds] and understand this is a
crisis. We've got to save this business. We've got to make this work. And we've got
to prioritize...If we keep operating the way we've been operating, there is no future.

If Sam Zell challenged our system in the way he has challenged his Company, would our system respond? Or would we commission another management consultant or another branding consultant for an organization that has been more studied by more consultants over a shorter period of time than any in history? UJC appears to be waiting for the ultimate consultant's study whose conclusions are those with which its transient leadership agrees.

Is there a need for a Zellian call to respond to a crisis at UJC? Our leaders seem very satisfied with its direction and reorganization. Others agree. Yet, as many federations have made clear, they object to the size of the Budget (and the consequent dues), UJC moves to "freeze" its budget at the very levels about which more and more federations complain and object. While JAFI and JDC suffer ever-growing deficits and move to cut deeply into programs for children and the elderly, UJC refuses to acknowledge that falling allocations from our system are, at the least, part of the problem; UJC announcing instead that these "partners" received $410 million in 2007, so what are they complaining about? (That gross number in JAFI's case includes Government [Israel and U.S.] funding, funding from campaigns in Canada and the Keren Ha'Yesod countries around the world, proceeds of asset sales [which reduce JAFI's and UIA debt] and, inter alia, direct contributions of Israeli philanthropists and the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews and Pastor John Hagee.) Contrary to the agreement at the core of the merger which created it, there is not even an acknowledgment of any UJC interest in advocacy for increasing the allocations to JAFI and Joint core budgets. When Federation cash payments to UJC for the Agency and the JDC reduced as at December 31, 2007, by another $3.5 million, the response was "what about the $410 million" -- "we got ours, sorry" seemed to be the attitude among some.

There are some great things happening within UJC (I hope to write about an UJC Conference I attended earlier today), but wouldn't a pep talk to leadership and ownership by Sam Zell be refreshing?

Rwexler