A LIGHT IN THE FEDERATION WINDOW?

My slippery (or frozen) fingers published this twice -- I just forgot to include the substance. So...

The South Palm Beach lay leaders began a Search for a new CEO. And, only weeks...that's weeks, not months and not over a year...after parting ways with his predecessor, the Federation hired a seasoned fund raiser, one who served on an interim basis when his predecessor was unavailable at JFSPBC, Irv Geffen. Hired someone from the inside, with federation fund raising experience. OMG. Kal ha'kavod to the leadership of the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County. And to you, Irv, as well. We are rooting for you and federation's success.

Just think, a federation's lay Board formed a Search Committee, did not hire JFNA Mandel, did not go to an outside headhunter, looked at its own professional staff and promoted one of its own. How retro, how 1980's, how marvelous....too marvelous for words. (Compare this with another Large City whose Chair appointed a Committee without any Board action to ratify the Chair's unilateral decision to extend a sitting CEO's term -- this in a community with an Annual Campaign incapable of supporting that Federation's historic commitments. Inasmuch as this community probably pays its national Dues, JFNA is...silent.)

So, remind the JFSBC lay leadership, we pay $10's of thousands in Dues for....what? #isht, TribeFest, the Daily Media Guide, Sheatufim, rebranding, delivering Yemeni Jews to Monsey, undisclosed overspending on the GA, an undisclosed $2,000,000 in unpaid Dues ...let me count the ways. And, then tell me it's not time for changes, a big changes.


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And, just as an aside, as the JFSPBC lights this candle in the federation window, I just want the leaders of JFNA to know that that light you think you see at the end of the tunnel? That's a train rushing towards you.

Rwexler

MISSIONS AND THE SCHIZOPHRENIA OF JFNA

I recently Posted about the sad and twisted promotion of JFNA's Heart to Heart Women's Mission (paraphrased "Pssst, come with us and you and only you can buy a beautiful necklace on the cheap...") Don't get me wrong, I applaud JFNA for increasing its Mission programming, just go about marketing national efforts in the right way, consistent with our values and core principles (if any remain).

On the eve of that Post, a FOB forwarded on an invitation for "major donors" to participate on a national High Tech Mission to Israel. Like the old shell game, JFNA has mastered the "now you see it, now you don't" of that con. Some of you may remember when JFNA initiated Blue Knot, a major effort to engage with leaders of North America's high tech entrepreneurs. Seeds were planted for three years, investments were made in the Silicon Valley, at High Tech Conventions, etc. And, then, about four years ago, JFNA just pulled the plug on Blue Knot, leaving the constituencies leaders high and dry. Now, a beautifully framed Mission to Israel is attempted -- one that could have built upon Blue Knot were it still in existence...but, it's not.

I would wager that the national Blue Knot investment over its three years didn't approach one year's investment in #ish.

Rwexler

MAY HIS MEMORY BE FOR A BLESSING

Yesterday Bruce Arbit, UIA's Board Chair, eulogized his dear friend, Yitzchak Shavit, z'l. Bruce's words were so beautiful and comforting, that I wanted to share them with you:

"As you all know by now, we lost Yitzchak Shavit z'l.
Yesterday was a long and difficult day for all of us.

Tomorrow as we lay him to rest in Netanya may be worse.
The loss of Itzik will be a painful part of our lives forever.
We all knew how ill Itzik was. But, at least for me, in some childish part of my mind,
heroes simply do not die.

And for me Itzik was a super hero.

Itzik dedicated his entire adult life to the service of the Jewish people and the State of
Israel, beginning with is service in Tzahal and then literally building Israel brick by
brick. He was truly a servant of his people.

I spoke to Itzik almost every single day during his sickness, but I never got the chance
to say goodbye. Ben Gurion said that whoever did not believe in miracles was not a
realist. I was sure that Itzik had earned his miracle.

Itzik told me he was ready to go, that he was tired of the struggle, he was sad that his
work was not complete, that there was so much more for him to do. He was worried
for Barbara. He told me he loved me, and thanked me for being "with him" while he
was ill. I told him " אזוב שטויות " "azov shtuyot" – the Hebrew term for "leave out the
nonsense". I guess in the Hebrew speaking side of my personality, I wanted to out
Israeli the Israeli.

I was sure that Itzik's miracle would come. I could not accept Itzik's acceptance of his
end.

I did not understand that Itzik had already received his miracle in the love and
devotion of Barbara Salmanson. Barbara and Itzik's love flourished in the shadow of
Itzik's first bout with cancer and there is a clear sadness in their relationship having
bookends of Itzik's illnesses.

Some people say that if you ask a carpenter how to fix something, he will tell you to
use wood, and if you ask a welder how to fix something, he will tell you to use metal.
If you asked Itzik how to fix something, he would tell you to raise money..
For Itzik was an extraordinarily talented craftsman in the endeavor of his choice.
Itzik was a fundraiser. He was not involved in financial resource development, or
moves management or any of the well defined new science. Itzik was one of an elite
class of journeyman fundraisers.

Itzik would always call me after any major organizational meeting and ask me for the
run down on what happened at the meeting. If he was frustrated by what I shared
with him – he would always respond the same way: "Would you please tell them to
go out and raise some money". Itzik truly believed that if we were all busier raising
money we would not have time for what he considered to be nonsense.

I came to UIA hoping to have another wonderful professional lay partnership, which I
had enjoyed in my other volunteer postings.

I was never Itzik's partner. I was his grateful student. The Mishna teaches us:
חבר" ; רב וקנה ל ; עשה ל " "Aseh lecha Rav u'kneh lecha chaver". "Find yourself a
Teacher and you will have acquired a friend". As the Mishna promised, I found my
teacher and I got a wonderful friend.

We have all lost our teacher. He taught his lessons by his personal example. We
have lost an indefatigable advocate to for the building of strong Israel and a vibrant
Jewish Connection to Israel. We have lost our friend. Yitzchak Shavit.

As we dedicated the Yitzchak Shavit Resource Development Building in Jerusalem,
minutes after Itzik's passing, the sky went dark, the wind howled and winter rain
began to fall.

The light that was Itzik was gone.

The lights of Jerusalem and in all of Israel burned dimmer last night.

All of our hearts, thoughts and prayers go out to his beloved Barbara Salmanson; his
sons Adan and Einar; daughters-in-law Nitsan and Inbal; grandchildren Ofri Adan and
Edni; and brothers Gideon Shavit and Yonatan Shtiebel.

May the entire Shavit family be comforted among the mourners of Zion and
Jerusalem and may his memory continue to be a blessing to all who knew and loved
him.

Bruce A. Arbit"

Amen. Thank you, Bruce.

CATCHING UP...ONCE AGAIN

~ I am pretty certain that at the recent JFNA Board Meetings in Orlando, CEO Jerry reduced from 5 to 3 JFNA's "strategic focus areas." These will now be restricted to "Global Jewish Responsibility; Thought Leadership and Idea Generation; and Strengthening Federations." Uh-huh. You are going to be getting "[N]ew efforts (which) will help JFNA provide greater value and measurable results to Federations." Uh-huh. If only it could happen.

~ A Festivus classic. Writing in the Jewish Exponent, highlighted in one of Silverman's Daily Media Guides, is an op-ed: A Modern Day Exodus: Young Flock to TribeFest. Sure. Here is the introductory paragraph: "Next month more than 1,000 Jews from across North America are expected to wander into the desert for three days and nights to discover their personal connection to Judaism. While these modern day descendants of Moses and Sarah will trek by plane, train and automobile to their destination -- the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, their journey is equally important to the future of the Jewish people." OMG!!! What more needs to be said...or written?

~ Our Continental "leaders" decided, based on what other than intuition, G-d knows, that attendance at JFNA Events -- GA, TribeFestivus -- would spike upward if all such Events were convened in the most "attractive" cities. Glitz over substance. So, what happened, New Orleans proved hospitable but attracted far below projections; same with Las Vegas for the Festivus. Maybe, just maybe, as my sorely tested intuition tells me, we need events at more inclusive price points and where substance trumps glitz. But that's not going to happen, is it? All of that could happen in Las Vegas, of course, but just link to the Fest site and see how that venue is being promoted.

~ I have it on good authority that CEO Jerry engineered a $400,000 reserve in the JFNA Budget to deal with potential Dues defaults. Of course, with lay and professionals alike wearing blinders as to those very defaults, the total reached $2,000,000 before application of the reserves (I think -- but the number might be $2.4 million before the application of the reserve resulting in the $2,000,000 figure. With JFNA one has to ask the specific question of someone who might...might...have the answer.) Whether the unpaid Dues number is $1,600,000 or $2,000,000, it is a BIG number with no source for payment.

Here's what happened -- as I have written, several times -- Federation A received its Dues notice, but could not or would not pay more than $X. It so advised JFNA, either seeking a "hardship" finding or a Dues abatement. JFNA determined through its Financial Relations Committee that given the volume of hardship requests, it would grant none...that's none...sent back a promissory note and a "payment plan" (usually with no prior discussion) to Federation A, which ignored it. At some point, a responsible JFNA professional (the Financial Relations Committee was not monitoring the communal circumstances) suddenly noticed the mountain of unpaid deferrals. The rest is history -- in November the JFNA Board (without the necessity of doing so) passed a By-Law Amendment authorizing Deferral Agreements and restating the Draconian consequences of non-payment -- to no effect. Then, after the 18 month build-up of deferrals finally brought the problem to the Budget Committee. The growing financial crisis has yet to be brought to the Board.

The success of our entire institutional structure, chevre, is based on trust -- trust of the donor in the federation; trust of the federations in our continental organization. Given the growing failure of that organization and its leaders to steward our donors dollars entrusted to them, the system becomes increasingly at risk. And still we remain silent.

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves.

~ Speaking of "greater value and measurable results" -- if your federation has received from JFNA the names and e-mail addresses of real prospects out of the wondrous #ish or Heroes efforts, would you let me know off-line? And if you know how much these "programs" have cost, would you let us all know? Many thanks. There is a chasm between the promise of "measurables" and the reality.

~ The Forward just extolled JFNA on modifying its personnel policies (As JFNA advised us) so as to join the 21st century of corporate America with a "maternity/paternity family leave policy" (that I brought to the law firm I chaired back in 1988). JFNA also implemented a flex-time policy with the JFNA re-brand to "formal flexibilty." (The full article can be found at http://www.forward.com/articles/135334/#ixx1E4oX4H7z) As Silverman pointed out: "When you're looking at what we stand for, who we are as a people, we really need to walk the talk." Well, Jerry sure knows how to talk the talk, anyway. Sure. Kal ha'kavod and Amen.

Rwexler

ITZIK, z'l

Yitzchak Shavit passed away today after a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer. If you knew Itzik, as so many of us did, you would not have been surprised at the tenacity of his fight against tremendous odds. For in everything that he did, Itzik was a fighter.

At JFNA, Itzik was the "go to" guy for so much -- access to the Prime Minister, sources for funding special projects, and, to the end, for understanding financial resource development, the great good it could do...and how to do it. He was a ferocious protector of what he believed to be his territory, his donors, his Israel Emergency Fund, and his JAFI. Woe unto those who tread upon that diverse turf. But, unlike many of us, Itzik was dedicated always to the goals as he saw them, as he defined them, and he drove himself 24/7 toward the singular objective of tikkun olam, of making this world a place of safety and greater comfort for those of our people most in need.

I was privileged to work side-by-side with Itzik for so many years -- first when I was named UJA Chair when we worked together to build upon what was then the unique projectization of the Jewish Agency's budget -- created by Itzik in a great lay-professional partnership with Chicago's Edgar Cadden, z'l. As UJA Chair I had Itzik's help in naming Jane Sherman as Ed's successor at the IEF -- and Jane and Itzik would form a partnership of great strength from those days forward. I was blessed to have been his lay partner in our work together in the research and drafting of the Resource Development Guidelines that we promulgated, worked through the then UJC bureaucracy (and no one...no one...could work their way through the various bureaucracies he confronted time and again any better than Itzik) only to see them shelved by unthinking leaders of then UJC.

But it was in his work as the Executive Vice-Chair of UIA within JFNA where Itzik demonstrated, time and again his outstanding professionalism. It was a constant juggling act to balance the demands of JFNA leaders with the fiduciary responsibilities of UIA to our system. And all of the time Itzik was raising millions of dollars under the IEF umbrella through the merger, through the uncertainty (and what was perceived as "competition") of JAFI NA, until the end.

As Bruce Arbit, UIA's Board Chair, said today, few have had "...a greater hand in literally building the State of Israel brick by brick." And few had greater pride in achievement.

To his beloved wife, Barbara, and Itzik's beautiful family, know that you are in our thoughts and prayers, as all of us remember this great, dedicated leader.

Rwexler

"I'M FROM JFNA AND I'M HERE TO HELP YOU"

Today's Post title is my addition to "the check's in the mail," "Drinking? Why no, officer," "I gave at the office" and other statements to fear and disbelieve. What brought this one on, you ask?

Well, I was paying attention at the JanuaryJFNA Board meeting when the North Shore Federation's Shep Remus, serving as the Chair of Global Operations:Israel & Overseas, introduced JFNA's Global Ops Director General, Rebecca Caspi, to present the ("I know it's confusing") "Select Core Priorities" to the gathered Board members. The presentation was not just "confusing," it was also stupefying. Here's the deal -- no matter how much your federation allocates to overseas needs, no matter whether you have increased, decreased or maintained your 2010 core allocation, your federation can reallocate 10% of that allocation to one or more of a set of JDC- or JAFI-defined Select Core Priorities. If the intent was, as the JAFI-JDC leaders stated, to increase federations' Israel-Overseas allocations -- that would be great. But JFNA's leaders, in response to a frustrated federation leader, said: "This is just an interim step. When we have the Global Planning Table up and running, we will have ever greater control with how our federations' allocated dollars are spent." (Or words to that effect.) There you have it.

While JAFI indicated to those assembled that one/the intent of the Select Core Priorities "process" was to increase the total funds to both JAFI and JDC, I heard no one from JFNA echo that hope. Further, there was no indication that a new JFNA/JAFI/JDC advocacy initiative, mandated by the 2010 JFNA/JAFI/JDC Agreement (the "Agreement") has yet to be planned or even given any apparent thought to by JFNA. The JFNA "attitude" (so filled with "attitude") is this: "We'll implement those parts of the Agreement that we care about, the rest...not so much." (An example -- JFNA formed a Work Group/Committee/Sub-Committee (whatever they may call it) on creating a second membership criterion -- a community's capacity allocation for overseas needs. The Committee/Work Group/Sub-Committee's one recommendation to date -- that all allocations be paid through JFNA. Why? "Because, after all, we are JFNA." (While all of this is on-going, JDC has written its Board members advising them that they will be the frontline within their federations to advocate for the Joint's Select Core Priorities.) It's ONAD all over again. As predicted.

JFNA may continue to refer to JAFI and the Joint Distribution Committee as "partners" but someday soon JFNA's leaders will be called upon to act like partners, to walk the walk and not just talk the talk. So far, it has been all talk, no walk, and not just for months, but for years.

I think that by now we know a joke when we hear it.

Rwexler

"WHAT GOT US HERE WON'T GET US THERE" -- THE CLICHES THAT DRIVE US

There are so many cliches in the air at 25 Broadway -- a veritable motherlode in fact -- that I believe the cliche is too often a substitute for substance. I thought that I would focus on just two of them:


1. "What got us here, won't get us there." Great line, appropriated by JFNA ostensibly from one of the great Jewish mega-philanthropists of our age orany age. When that philanthropist said it, he probably knew where "here" was and the "there" he was trying to reach. (In reality, the phrase is the title of a book written by Marshall Goldsmith.) I remember well when my beloved White Sox fired a rather successful General Manager of the team because "he got us from Point A to Point B, but we didn't think he could get us to Point C." We understood -- "Point A" was the depths and "Point B" was contention and "Point C" was the World Series. For JFNA (and please forgive me for this) we don't know where "here" is and we don't have a clue where "there" is; until you know the "here," you can't know the "there," can you? At 25 Broadway it's "here, there and everywhere." Five "areas of focus" are now three (and that includes "thought leadership"), but the Budget allegedly supports over 50 separate "programs."


So, just show us where is "here" and then begin to demonstrate that you actually have a concept for "there." I challenge our leaders to name five areas of JFNA activity that they believe represent the federations' (not JFNA's) priorities and how JFNA is striving to meet them.

2. We are going to "...deliver greater value and measurable results." OK, good. What does this mean? Usually followed by...

3. "we are going to do more with less." The reality to date: "we are going to do less with less" and we can prove it..and then we will complain that we don't have more...

4. Everything we will do will be "robust" -- "robust dialogue," "robust debate" -- and then it isn't.


Let me add one of my own: Zero-based thinking starts with no preconceived notions or sacred cows.

INSIDE THE MONARCHY

It's time to take a look at the "new" JFNA fifteen months into the "new Regime." Unfortunately, there isn't much to report -- there has been a continuum from one Chair to the next and that just hasn't been a good thing -- unless one views a monarchy as good for the Jews. So I decided I would try to penetrate the opaque walls that JFNA has created and take a snapshot of that monarchy so hidden from view.

At JFNA there is an apparent lack of any sense of governing vision or sense of purpose permitted if it conflicts with the Chair's explicit belief that what's good for JFNA is good for everyone; and the Chair has continuously accrued power for its own sake. Instead of empowering others, the Chair chooses to "do it alone" -- mark up the Fair Share Dues Resolution, the Chair does it; draft By-Law Amendments -- the Chair will do it; implement a Global Planning Table without regard for ONAD-type consequences, the Chair will do it; hire that GPT consultant, the Chair will decide; "deal with" JDC and JAFI, the Chair will do it; program the GA, the Chair's job job; revamp the work of the Financial Relations Committee, the Chair will decide; revise the 2010 Cash Summary, redraw the Budget framework, preempt Committee Chairs in the middle of their meetings...etc., etc.

There's not much sharing, if any, going on. David Brooks, in brilliant New York Times Op-Ed piece last year, The Crossroads Nation, offered a conclusion that I wish the Chair could understand: "...creativity is not a solitary process. It happens within networks. It happens when talented people get together, when idea systems and mentalities merge." But, when you need to control everything, it's so hard!! It's hard to make synergy by and with only yourself.

The musician/writer/philosopher Bono has said: "You're as good as the arguments you get." But, this Chair brooks no arguments; she has made it clear that she views contrary opinion as "wasting my time." This is one reason why leaders with aspiration for higher office within JFNA suppress any disagreement with the Chair; they know the consequences.

This Chair has many leadership skills and just a little more than 15 months as Board Chair. Yet, there appear to be no "fixed principles or grand purposes" driving the current regime's leadership. Hope for this leadership fades as JFNA is literally on the brink -- federations failing or refusing to pay full Dues (or the definition of Dues fulfillment modified to fit the "circumstances" as a "deferral"), a belief the Chair has reinforced that "it's all about JFNA...and only about JFNA." And the sad, continuous rejection of history as irrelevant.

And what about the joy of leading, the fun? This leadership has beaten the stuffing out of fun and left it in a small pile in the corner. Never have I seen less evident joy in leadership (unless there is a microphone involved). JFNA has become the Jewish organizational equivalent of the National Football League, the NFL -- the "No Fun League." And, trust me, this Blog is not the proximate cause of the joy void...not by a long shot.

Sadly, when offered the choice of leaders who could serve with the Chair and assist her, she has chosen instead those who would agree. To paraphrase a courageous journalist in Russia who criticized those reporters who collapse in fear of the Putin government instead of doing their jobs, JFNA has become a place where those who know better are no longer fiduciaries "...at all, but bureaucrats, following the logic of...submission." JFNA is not better for the submission that has taken place there. Some of those that I have watched grow in their leadership who have not decided to move their leadership elsewhere have decided to merely acquiesce to anything and everything that doesn't gore their personal ox so long as they get what they want on "their issues" -- even if "their issues" fail to resonate with any but them. Amcha...what do they matter? What we have seen emerge under the leadership the last six years is what I would characterize as "crony governance;" where our large system is governed by a self-perpetuating oligarchy of cronies. It's both sad and self-destructive. I can't think of a successful federation among the 157 where this form of "cronyism" has been raised to the level of art and artifice. It wouldn't be permitted; but at JFNA it is tolerated and, by federation leaders' silence, encouraged. The social contract between the federation owners and their organization appears to be but a distant memory.

One of my dear friends reminded me that a good fisherman always baits the hook for the fish and not for the fisherman. If this Chair is unable to immediately manifest her leadership for and of all of us, articulate and follow a governing vision that arises out of consultation with the federation owners, it will all be over -- if it isn't already. But, the Chair can't continue to do it alone; or with the smaller and smaller claque of lay leaders and an even smaller group of Federation CEOs who pop in from time-to-time to "save the system" but are less and less willing or able to do so because the work in their own communities is so challenging and because to them, as some have told me, "things are better" -- or so they think.

So, after 15 months -- JFNA refuses to publicly discuss a $2,000,000 Dues shortfall and has no line of credit to assist it; JFNA "inside" leadership is so tightly constricted that the Chair reappointed the New Orleans GA Co-Chairs (who presided over a $583,000 uncovered loss in 2010) to Co-Chair Denver 2011; major programs needed by the federations -- like SCN -- are put at risk while #ish, Heroes and TribeFest move forward; a fortune continues to be spent on JFNA-Global Operations:Israel and Overseas with little or no return; and FRD exists in name only, relegated to roles at infrequent Regional events and at Board meetings to present the work of others and in the Festivus and too little else. And if you want transparency: "let them eat cake."

Time is wasting; in fact, it has been wasted.

Rwexler

WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IN YOUR FEDERATION, IF...?

Assume you reside in Federation "A" and sit on its Board. Your Federation is doing some cutting edge programming, in particular for emerging leaders and the young. But you are raising less and less money, year by year. You and your fellow leaders have insisted that Federation cut its Budget. You have replaced your CEO with a younger professional leader from outside the federation system. Your overseas allocations have been cut by almost 50% in a decade. Your Federation Budget as a percentage of campaign has risen to 21% while your CEO is one of the 5 highest paid in our system. Would you sit in silence at your Federation Board meetings or would you speak out in protest?

Sound familiar? It should. We have an organization at 25 Broadway, New York, New York, that collects our money and sends it on. It raises almost (I give the CEO credit for his solicitation efforts) no money. It collected about $30 million in Dues in 2010 out of what appears to be $160 (+/-) million sent by the federations. JFNA's percentage of Dues culled out of its receipts -- 21%...that's 21%. So, for every dollar your federation sends to JFNA, it keeps 21 cents. (In its own calculations, JFNA tells the IRS and Guidestar that it is a cash machine, taking credit for the $800 million raised in the campaigns if your communities and mine. Probably a stretch.) And what does JFNA use those funds for? Check it out.

And, few if any on the JFNA Board are paying attention, let alone care. I submit that your federation would not tolerate a 21% overhead. Not for a minute. But JFNA...so add JFNA's 21% overhead to your federation's overhead -- the result is not a good thing -- unless one can rationalize that you are getting 21 cents of service and program for each dollar you send to 25 Broadway.

Rwexler

This Post was inspired by a Reader's e-mail.

THE "LESSONS" OF JEWLICIOUS

Our Posts on TribeFest (or whatever name JFNA is using today) has "inspired" a spate of Comments including several long pieces from Jewlicious, an inspired, and by its own definitions, totally inclusive outreach effort (among other efforts) to young, unaffiliated Jews. You should read the totality of Comments yourself, but here are the CliffNotes:

~ The organized Jewish community hasn't a clue as to how to reach the next generations -- generations being reached by, among others, jewlicious, g-dcast and Challah for Hunger.

~ "Young Jews...look towards their peer group for direction because the traditional 'major teachers, leaders and role models' have proven over and over again how terribly clueless they are."

~ Jewlicious will "...put on a kick ass Festival" that will attract "1,200 young Jewish adults" later this month. (And we are not referring to TribeFest.)

~ While it is evident by the language of the Comments that Jewlicious dislikes criticism (and has interpreted fair comment reflecting on the communities' failures as criticism of Jewlicious) almost as much as JFNA, its leaders are willing to engage, discuss and respond, unlike what one of its interns called "JayEffEnAy." (So much for branding.)

~The organized Jewish community is tone deaf and knows nothing (or almost nothing).

David Abitbol, the founder of Jewlicious offered the same bottom line that I, a young leader decades passed, would: "...the situation today is so different, so perilous it literally keeps me up at night. How did we get to this point? How did our continued community vitality become so imperiled? We could try to contemplate these questions -- and we do. But, in the meantime, we're working like the dickens to do something about it with what little resources we have at our disposal." This in a Comment in which David offered to meet to share and learn. How refreshing; how unusual -- words we never...never...hear from the leaders of JayEffEnAy.

No one would argue with the conclusion that Jewlicious has been an effective instrument for learning and inclusion. If its leaders have missed one of my points, JayEffEnAy would have been far better served by partnering with Jewlicious rather than, once again, attempting to remake the wheel in the form of TribeFest.

To Jewlicious, continued success; to JayEffEnAy, any success, some success, please.

Rwexler