The Youngers of Zion
Rosenblatt, Gary
THE YOUNGERS OF ZION GARY ROSENBLATT UJAft YOUNG IIAKRSMPCABMET AND HOW IT GOT THAT WAY Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! No, it's a plane! Yes, it is a plane! An El Al plane, filled with Super...
...Said one member, "There is absolutely no justification for excluding women, but if they are accepted, it will destroy the Cabinet...
...Chairman Abromson said that as a general rule, members are asked to contribute five percent of their first $25,000 in income and ten percent of what comes after that...
...Like missions to Israel—the singing, dancing and praying at the Western Wall...
...It removes the stigma of ignorance...
...As for the men now on the Cabinet, some said they didn't care who belonged, as long as the members could meet the taxing requirements...
...For some it was the Six Day War...
...Richard Manekin of Baltimore said his being on the Cabinet has had "no negative effect" on his family life, but he added that "for some there is a strain," and he wondered how many Cabinet members are divorced or separated...
...He said there is a strong sense of camaraderie within the group...
...According to one member, about 75 percent of the new members are chosen through the "cousins club," or informal, word-of-mouth recommendations from current members, and about 25 percent are chosen through the more formal process...
...and • establishing a far-reaching program for the Jewish self-education of its members, ranging from book-of-the-month offerings to retreat seminars to complete curricula for self-study...
...One of the greatest benefits of the Cabinet experience," said Neil Norry of Rochester, New York, "is the relationship with peers and the friendships that grew out of it...
...I think that's the toughest part of all," said one former Cabinet member, "and it's especially hard for guys from small communities...
...Its director, Barbara Fask (who plans to give up her position as assistant director of the men's Cabinet) said the new group will be geared towards independent women and will have fewer than 50 members...
...disguised as young businessmen and professionals, perfectly conventional in manner and appearance, their secret is more startling: they are the Youngers of Zion...
...Next, the candidate is interviewed by a Cabinet member, following which he may be asked to submit a formal application...
...That vision belonged to Rabbi Herbert Friedman, who, when he conceived the Cabinet in 1962, was executive vice chairman of UJA...
...Still there were a few members who argued that Jewish content should be an essential element of the Cabinet...
...At first we wondered why such bright, with-it people would want to be involved in Jewish life," she said...
...They told of helping each other to make crosscountry moves, of vacationing with each other's families...
...Donald Gould said that he was first approached to join the Cabinet "because I was my father's son...
...It's extremely successful financially, but personally I don't like it," says Richard Manekin...
...Michael Pe-lavin had to be literally dragged to a UJA leadership conference by the executive director of his local federation...
...We can get away with trying things that other organizations cannot...
...Whether or not the story is apocryphal, it is known that in its early years the Cabinet was composed primarily of the sons of generous UJA contributors and was geared almost exclusively towards fund raising...
...raise money, raise Jews...
...A deliberate attempt was made to upgrade the intellectual and perhaps spiritual level of the Cabinet by adding to its ranks a small number of rabbis and academicians...
...Alvin Katz, a Cabinet member from Baltimore who is separated from his wife, remarked, "I would say that I have neglected my family over the years...
...Linda Abromson recalled, "When my mother approached Joel and me in 1961 for a $25 pledge to UJA, we turned her down...
...And Cabinet involvement has often led to intensified religious awareness among the members...
...A decision is then made by the Cabinet's Membership Committee...
...She asserted that the new Cabinet will work with, but not under, the UJA Women's Division and that "one's husband's position will have no bearing on membership...
...it has broadened its vision and attracted young men from a broad spectrum of religious and professional backgrounds...
...It is the Cabinet's responsibility, however, to make avenues open for Cabinet members to explore substantive Judaica for themselves...
...The Women's Division is fine for those women who feel comfortable in it, but it won't attract independent young women who work and make their own decisions...
...Even Joel Abromson acknowledged that "there is a tremendous amount of pressure to give a big gift, but much of it you put on yourself...
...As expected, the local federation was not pleased...
...He noted that the Cabinet itself has served as a prototype for all other Young Leadership-type organizations created within the American Jewish community...
...The Cabinet is definitely an elitist group and it lacks democracy," he said...
...The annual retreats—bearing one's financial soul...
...Psychologically, there are those who say that the men are fearful women would control the group, or that the men are not used to working with assertive, independent women as opposed to wives, mothers and secretaries...
...The conflict is evident in every major city, but according to Alan Rudy, the federations are viewing the situation too narrowly...
...An El Al plane, filled with Super Jews...
...But which should come first...
...When one thinks about how many other lost souls there are who are not being reached, the inevitable conclusion is that similar programs are needed on a much wider scale...
...Dr...
...Consider: a group of high-powered men between the ages of 25 and 40, hand chosen for their leadership potential, traveling extensively across the U.S...
...They build on each other...
...And it worked...
...Able to solicit millions without losing their cool...
...All of the men I spoke with mentioned it, and some noted that their closest friends in the world were those they met through the Cabinet...
...At the annual retreat, when it is time for the pledges for the year to be made, the entire Cabinet splits up into groups of six to nine people...
...Still, Norry defended the Cabinet's modus operandi...
...Yet, in a way, the fund raisers and the educators are not incompatible...
...First, the candidate must be recommended by his Executive Director or National UJA representative and one Cabinet member...
...The idea behind it was that no one can be considered qualified for Jewish leadership in the community without some knowledge of, and pride in, the Jewish people and their heritage...
...This is insured by a unique—some would say harrowing—technique used within the Cabinet and known as "total disclosure...
...Not until everyone in the room agrees upon the figure is the man's final pledge determined...
...The major programs of the Cabinet in the early years were leadership development, missions to Israel, seminars, and solicitation training...
...But Chairman Joel Abromson termed it "a valid assessment...
...The percentage of professors and rabbis in the Cabinet has increased over the years but still remains small and some observers continue to view them as "fan dancers," as the token "thoughtful" Jews mixed in with the businessmen...
...The Cabinet is obviously filling a vacuum in the American Jewish community by involving and inspiring bright young men who cannot duplicate the emotional high of the Cabinet experience in any other organization...
...These men were expected to have the same responsibilities as everyone else and to contribute a significant percentage of their incomes to UJA...
...Missions to Auschwitz—facing the stark reality of the Holocaust...
...Some bristle at the description while others confirm it...
...The Cabinet is really the risk-taking arm of American Jewry," he says...
...The senior member of each group starts off the session by disclosing his complete financial situation, from income to expected inheritance, and then announces what his planned pledge for the year will be...
...A lofty objective, but not as pretentious as one might think...
...It's heady stuff for a 30-year-old guy to meet a Golda Meir, a Moshe Dayan, to visit secret military bases for briefings...
...Our success is dependent on our sense of fraternity...
...The Judaica program involves sending the Cabinet members books each month on Jewish history, philosophy, art, literature and holiday observances...
...I don't believe in democracy when it comes to fund raising...
...But they do differ, at least to a degree, on what they perceive the Cabinet's primary objective to be: whether it is to provide UJA with future national leaders, to train leaders for the local communities, to spread Jewish identity and awareness to the masses, or merely to raise funds...
...I wasn't too intrigued, but I went to Israel, half as a lark and half serious...
...Afterwards, I decided to go to Israel with my wife...
...What motivates a young man to volunteer so much of his time, energy and income to the Cabinet...
...And we intend to make aliyah...
...The Women's Division was created for the purpose of "plus giving"—to collect that extra amount of income a wife contributes on her own after her husband has already given to the general campaign...
...Perhaps...
...But it's a matter of priorities and it depends on the attitude of the wife and the family...
...Mervin Verbit, a Cabinet member and sociologist, calls the total disclosure policy the closest thing American Jewry has to self-imposed taxation...
...So the Women's Division strongly opposed the idea of a coed Cabinet...
...He told them they were special and he made them feel special by taking them on missions to Israel to meet with top government leaders...
...The term of membership is one year (members may serve four consecutive terms, officers a maximum of seven) and members must be between the ages of 25 and 40...
...I had been active in Hillel when I went to college, but then I dropped out," he said...
...Maybe subconsciously I sought this kind of Jewish organizational involvement because my marriage was unhappy...
...All of this travel and responsibility can take a toll on a member's family life...
...We jumped in with both feet...
...The change came slowly, though...
...To be an effective fund raiser, you must be an effective Jew...
...But this was true of UJA and virtually every other major American Jewish organization prior to the Six Day War," he hastened to add...
...David Rosenberg, a pediatrician and former Cabinet member from Vineland, New Jersey, explained, "I feel you can't raise money without emotion...
...We just weren't involved...
...Fraternity' implies great social interaction," said Alan Rudy, "and though the Cabinet has it, it is not the group's primary purpose and so the description is misleading...
...I think it was around 1970 that the Cabinet began to accept the idea that we're not just solicitors, we're educators...
...Too dramatic...
...Another on-going area of tension is the inherent competition between the Cabinet and the various Young Leadership programs operating on the local levels under the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds...
...Michael Pelavin, a leading advocate for accepting women, asserted that many young women today would not be satisfied to join the existing Women's Division, which they see as an organization for their mothers and grandmothers...
...More than once I've gotten invited to dinner and had a great evening with a member I'd never met before...
...Linda Abrom-son, whose husband Joel, the current Cabinet chairman, has been away from home more than 80 days in the last year on Cabinet business, acknowledged, "It can be tough on family life...
...Now it's a standard...
...It was a real ego trip...
...Is the Cabinet, then, a kind of super Jewish fraternity...
...He upped his pledge...
...It was in the early 1970's that the Judaica program was added...
...No group as powerful or as prominent as the Cabinet is without its critics...
...Advocates of a coed Cabinet remain dissatisfied, but Arden Shenker called the creation of the Women's Cabinet "a realistic solution, given the structure of the American Jewish community," while Neil Cooper, the Cabinet's chairman-designate, said it was "a happy compromise—maybe we'll be ready for integration in four of five years, and in the meantime this gives us some flexibility...
...It is to do all of those things, they say...
...As to whether or not the books are read, the Cabinet manual notes that "it is not the responsibility of the Cabinet to determine criteria for the level of Judaic knowledge...
...But through a series of coincidences, she and her husband attended a National UJA convention in New York several years later...
...It still does...
...And so the Cabinet was born...
...And then something happens to him...
...They felt bucked," he said...
...There is much to be said for a group whose members find it so painfully difficult to leave...
...In the early years," he recalled, "there were some members who shared Herb Friedman's vision" of a fund raising organization deeply committed to promoting self-awareness and Jewish experience...
...The Abromsons' experience was not uncommon...
...In May, after much discussion and debate, the issue was resolved when the UJA announced the formation of a new, parallel-but-separate Young Woman's Leadership Cabinet...
...Membership is described in the Cabinet manual as a three-step process...
...But its image and style have remained intact and the type of individual who is drawn into—and sought by—the Cabinet is still basically the same: an influential (usually wealthy) community leader who displays national leadership potential and a willingness to work hard...
...They feel the local community comes first and UJA comes second...
...The Woman's Division raised about $70 million last year but is fearful that if its dynamic and successful young women were able to join the Cabinet, a serious leadership gap would jeopardize Women's Division's future success...
...Like lifelong friendships established in college or in the army, these are based on shared, intensely emotional experiences...
...That's the intriguing part of what the Cabinet is," he continued...
...And they usually admit to having substantial ego needs—needs which they say the Cabinet is able to fulfill in a socially acceptable way...
...What the Cabinet does is take a whole group of these bright young guys and help them learn together...
...For despite various criticisms of the Young Leadership Cabinet— that it is elitist, sexist, too involved with egos and the almighty dollar—few would disagree that this 15-year-old organization is one of the most dynamic and imaginative exercises in the history of American Jewish philanthropy...
...When I travel across the country," he offered, "if I'm in a city where I don't know anyone, I'll check my Cabinet directory and contact a local member...
...In fact, one academician was reportedly told in no uncertain terms to increase his pledge or resign from the Cabinet...
...Again, all at their own expense...
...In addition, a Cabinet member must be prepared to participate on the boards of local and national Jewish organizations, to organize and supervise local leadership development programs, to fill leadership roles at regional and national conferences, and to attend the UJA National and Regional Conferences, the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds General Assemblies, regional Cabinet meetings, the annual Cabinet retreat (which is closed to wives and children) and at least one Cabinet mission to Israel in the first year...
...David Rosenberg says that "turning members out to pasture is the Cabinet's biggest problem," and he feels some type of on-going group should be set up to make the come-down easier...
...UJA is a big business and if you ran a business, you'd pick people the same way...
...It's a major vehicle for the rebirth and regeneration of Judaism...
...Each member has his own story to tell, of course, but many are remarkably similar...
...Most of the members who opposed a coed Cabinet say they did so because they felt that, with women, the Cabinet would lose its esprit de corps and turn into a social club...
...They must always be alert and prepared...
...For the Cabinet has taken a select group of people, many of whom had been too busy to ever stop and think about their Jewish identity, and gotten them totally involved...
...initiating scores of community leadership development programs, involving thousands of men and women...
...He and others emphasized that it is not the quantity of the contribution as much as the quality that really counts, depending on who is giving and how much he can afford...
...It was also in the early 1970's that the Cabinet felt a responsibility to reach out beyond the very wealthy for its members...
...not only to solicit contributions for UJA but also to educate "the masses...
...Some people think of it as a group that has the idea: 'let's go get the money from people and get out.' But it's so much more than that...
...People at that level know how much they can give...
...But I felt I needed more than what I was getting locally so I accepted Cabinet membership...
...According to a UJA professional, the Cabinet chairman is not elected but is selected by the executive and membership committees...
...Their protocol is unwritten, but its mandate is clear: commit to Jewish survival and to Jewish life...
...Worried over the fuGary Rosenblatt is the editor of the Baltimore Jewish Times...
...But in those days, it was an aspiration...
...Attending that conference changed my life...
...It's 'How You gonna Keep 'Em Down on the Farm After They've Seen Paree.'" Donald Gould stressed the importance of the Cabinet having a high and constant turnover rate so that it can continually renew itself, but added, "going off can be a real downer, a disaster for some people...
...There's never been an attempt to have it otherwise...
...and most significant, it has put an increasing emphasis on "doing Jewish...
...Neil Norry, a former Cabinet member who resigned two years ago for personal reasons, says he still doesn't know how a chairman is chosen...
...For what motivates a successful fund raiser—or contributor—more than his sense of Jewish heritage...
...One thing is certain...
...I think it's generally agreed that they're the toughest fund raisers in the world," says Donald Gould, a former Cabinet chairman from Albany, New York...
...Something that, in his words, "turned me on...
...While most members today would agree that fund-raising is the "bottom line," in the early years of the Cabinet, fund-raising was virtually the only line...
...I think it makes the new members scared and uncomfortable...
...The Cabinet members are effective, and they take their roles seriously...
...It is very difficult for a bright, successful young man to come to terms with the fact that on one level—Jew-ishly—he's ignorant...
...Others point to a more practical consideration regarding the Cabinet's "men only" policy...
...Do not think of them as Green Berets, or as the Palmach...
...Perhaps the Cabinet's success in turning on these men to their Jewishness is indicative of a spiritual hunger that many American Jews have...
...Says Gould, "My being on the Cabinet has changed my life and my family's life entirely...
...But going back to one's local community after spending several heady years in the national limelight is a difficult transition to make...
...Hundreds of men have "graduated" from the program since it began, and an estimated 80 percent have gone on to assume major leadership positions in their communities and in national organizations...
...Or, in the cliche of the business world, "a good salesman is one who believes in his product...
...But we're not stealing them—we're just borrowing them and training them so that when they go back to their communities they'll be top-rate leaders...
...Able to write huge checks in a single motion...
...One common complaint is that it is elitist by nature (geared toward the wealthy), and undemocratic in its operation and in its selection of members and officers...
...I've seen cases where someone who upped his pledge $300 has been praised as much as someone else who upped his pledge $25,000," one member said...
...From a feminist perspective, Amy Stone, writing on the subject in Lilith, charged that the Cabinet "has been an obvious and glaring illustration of the fact the UJA looks only to men for its top leadership...
...And it is hard to have emotion without having a feeling for Yiddishkeit...
...And David Adler responded, "If excellence is elitism, then God bless elitism...
...for self-sacrifice and financial martyrdom...
...According to David Adler, who as director of the Cabinet is its top professional, the members' gifts range from "three-figure to six-figure...
...Able to visit Israel at the drop of a hint, to lead Jewish organizations without breaking their stride, to say "yes" to new tasks with narry a flinch...
...When I was a boy, I went to cheder, had my bar mitzvah, and then they never saw me again...
...Last August, the executive committee voted nine-to-eight to open membership to women...
...The beauty of the Cabinet is that it is a relatively small, highly responsive group of motivated, creative people...
...They note that a coed Cabinet would have a devastating effect on the existing UJA Women's Division...
...Rudy and others stress that the Cabinet was originally envisioned as a bold experiment—an organization set up to provide an alternative to the existing dollars-and-cents mentality of Jewish fund raising...
...The members themselves use such adjectives as "hard-driving," "successful," "upwardly mobile," "aggressive" and even "compulsive" in describing their common traits...
...In the past year, for example, the members received such works as A History of Zionism by Walter La-quer, Why I Am A Jew by Ed-mond Fleg, Destruction of the European Jews by Raul Hilberg, and Elie Wiesel's Messengers of God...
...It's too embarrassing for him to deal with, so he would never bother to explore his Jewishness alone...
...conducting numerous regional retreats, conferences, and seminars, reaching young leaders throughout the country...
...We went for three weeks in 1966 and were impressed by the country and the caliber of the people on our trip...
...After all, who knows how much of the future of the American Jewish community will be in their hands...
...Each Cabinet member must be completely candid with his peers in discussing his finances...
...A number have become more observant in their homes and have enrolled their children in Jewish day schools...
...It opens you up to thinking 'what's the thread of Jewish survival?' "We have an obligation to understand Jewish values, and the Cabinet has heightened my Jewish awareness...
...And we just fell in love with it...
...He created an elitist group and he appealed to the members' egos...
...The others in the room are free to question him, to urge him to increase his pledge or, on rare occasions, to caution him to decrease his contribution...
...Others referred to the policy as self-immolation, a kind of "can you top this...
...For others it was the Yom Kip-pur War...
...I came back with the realization that I had to do more, that being a Jew today is a serious business...
...They're more diplomatic with others, but when it comes to giving, they're very hard on themselves...
...Cabinet membership is demanding, and it requires a sacrifice clearly beyond that of the normally "involved" Jewish leader...
...Gould also noted that the peer group aspect of the Cabinet is a key to its success...
...But through the Cabinet experience, after 16 years of marriage, my wife and I decided to keep kosher, to observe Shabbat...
...They often involve a young man from a nominally observant home who has given little or no thought to Jewish philanthropy or observance...
...They feel the Cabinet is stealing their best people...
...My theory now is: get a young man to visit Israel and you've got him for life...
...As David Adler noted, "I like to think of the Cabinet members as if they were a battalion on the front lines...
...All this from someone who didn't know where the Suez Canal was a few years ago...
...Another serious area of criticism involves the Cabinet's policy towards women...
...Alan Rudy, a former Cabinet chairman from Houston, sees the Cabinet as perhaps the only American Jewish organization which can afford to experiment, to take chances and not be afraid of failing...
...Over the years the Cabinet has grown from 40 members to more than 200...
...At that meeting, so the story goes, Rabbi Friedman told the young men: You are the next generation of Jewish leaders...
...No such statistics are kept, but, given the "workaholic" nature of many members, it would not be surprising to find that a number of them are no longer married...
...One Cabinet member acknowledged that, after he had been asked to join the Cabinet, he was urged by his local federation to put off joining the Cabinet until he had completed his term with the local Young Leadership program...
...Although the decision was supposed to be final, it seemed to intensify rather than halt discussion...
...Among its many achievements, the Cabinet is credited with being an early leader in: • establishing "missions" to Israel, and, more recently, Eastern Europe...
...The issue can be viewed on several different levels...
...But we were very impressed by the quality of the people...
...And if quality is elitism, then God bless elitism...
...providing the UJA with an "army" of trained speakers and solicitors for its annual campaign...
...Volunteering time and energy may put a strain on some, but the toughest requirement of all on Cabinet members is to "give a good gift" to the UJA...
...For most it was attending a UJA convention or participating in a mission to Israel...
...The story goes that Rabbi Friedman (who now lives in Israel) was struck by the fact that nearly all of the major contributors to UJA were middle-aged and older...
...But while the 223 members of the allvolunteer Young Leadership Cabinet of the United Jewish Appeal are not precisely Super Jews, they do come closer to earning that sobriquet than any other group in American Jewish life (with the possible exception of the Lubavitch missionaries...
...ture of national Jewish leadership, he sent telegrams to the sons of the top contributors, calling them to New York for an urgent meeting...
...Arden Shenker, an attorney in Portland, Oregon, who has probably been a member of the Cabinet longer than anyone, was a leader of the minority...
...Then, it is the next man's turn, and the process is repeated until everyone in the room has made a pledge, sanctioned by the others...
...The Cabinet sees itself, and is seen by the community, as the vanguard of Jewish leadership...
...Members are expected to work outside of their local communities, to solicit and speak anywhere in the country—and to pay for their own travel expenses...
...Indeed their goal, according to their manual, is nothing less than "assuring the survival of Judaism—the meaningful physical and cultural survival of the Jewish people and the development of Israel...
...In the mid and late 1960's, the Cabinet was totally into fund raising and leadership development," said Michael Pe-lavin of Flint, Michigan, who was Cabinet chairman in 1973...
...They contributed about $4 million to UJA this past year, averaging slightly under $20,000 each...
...You put 'Jewish' on the table and people will take from it...
...The methods Rabbi Friedman used were brilliant," one veteran Cabinet member recalled...
...Perhaps the most rewarding aspect of the Cabinet experience for most members has been the close friendships they have established...
...There was no Jewishness involved at all...
...It is not unusual for members to be called upon to speak three or four times a month...
...In the meantime, it is the Cabinet that continues to train our future leaders...
Vol. 2 • June 1977 • No. 8
