Last night, LC and I had the opportunity to sit on a panel of 'young Jews' with JJ Flotkin, and flanked by Sandy Cardin, President of the Charles & Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation. We spoke our minds, and in the process, 'challenged cherished beliefs'.
When the VP of the STL Jewish Federation asked us to speak, we were honored, and a bit freaked out. Who are we to think that we have any answers, for that matter, aside from the traffic we get on this site, and the people we get to sit down with for Shabbat dinners, who are we to even try to represent a generation of Jews.
Never-the-less, the opportunity was presented, and we took it.
The meeting itself was a perfect illustration of some of the disconnect that takes place between the generations.
The proceedings began with Robert's Rules of Order material, then moved to a check presentation from Anheuser-Busch(InBev). Sandy Cardin then got up and proceeded to, very eloquently, describe (indirectly) how those very proceedings were things keeping young Jews away from 'organized Judaism'.
First, organization/institutionalization, keeps us away by having a specific leadership structure in which one must advance through the ranks in a very prescribed fashion. It may take 10 years to get to a leadership role. Sandy acknowledged that this structure holds little appeal.
Second, the idea of 'get 'em while their young' specifically as it pertains to fundraising, may be totally incorrect. Sandy stated, very much in line with how we feel, that the emphasis should be on building a community, so that people have personal ties to giving later on.
When it came time for us to speak, LC, JJ, and I represented fairly different approaches to young adult involvement in Judaism.
LC, who has written about the subject before represents the 'more ish than Jewish' approach, having recently become involved through Moishe House activities (which is incidentally now primarily Schusterman funded).
JJ, president of the Young Professionals Division of the Federation, represents a more settled young adult, being married with a child, and is very involved with the Federation and many of the programs therein.
I really hope that our perspectives were helpful for those assembled at the Fed last night and more than that, I hope that we can inspire some real movement around the topics we discussed.
One of the most interesting points brought up by Sandy, and expounded upon in the course of the panel discussion is the fact that, whether or not it is acknowledged, we are a part of the community. Whether or not our events and activities revolve around the JCC, Federation, or Hillel (and increasingly not) young Jews around the country are continuing to foster community, build connections, and have meaningful Jewish experiences.
Read More......
Showing posts with label Jewish Federation of st. louis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jewish Federation of st. louis. Show all posts
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Supply-side Jewishness
If you check out jewishinstlouis.org, you'll see (if you can figure out how to navigate it) a plethora of organizations, entirely too many, perhaps.
There are organizations for all ages, levels of observance, interests, and usually, more than one within a particular niche.
While it is theoretically wonderful to have a community that supports such a wide range of organizations, it also leads to a battle over attendance and impact.
The Jewish Federation, to an extent, supports a zero sum game within Jewish organizations. I say this because almost all of the organizations get at least partial funding from the Federation, and for organizations to get continued or increased funding, they must continually prove their worth through attendance.
A few weeks ago, I attended an event for the Saint Louis Israel Connection, an organization which seeks to connect Jews in St. Louis with Israel.
The event was pretty cool, I got to see a good number of people there, everyone enjoyed themselves, the bar owners liked us...by all accounts a successful event.
I mean, I had a chance to actually interact one on one with some people specifically because the place wasn't packed.
Now let me be clear, it would have been great to have more people there.
That being said, St. Louis is not a big enough pool for this 'bigger is necessarily better' type of an attitude to prevail.
But it's not just St. Louis. In an article on Jewcy.com, the problem of collaboration is smacked upside the head.
Often we are so wrapped up in the mission of our individual group that we lose focus of the fact that the over-arching guiding force behind all of our organizations and groups stems from the desire to build a strong and vibrant community, something that is hard to create when we act territorial.
Not only that, you turn off participants. I don't want to be a part of a group that is so isolated that it disconnects itself from the community.
And now for your viewing pleasure, Obama's Roast of Rahm Emmanuel:
Read More......
There are organizations for all ages, levels of observance, interests, and usually, more than one within a particular niche.
While it is theoretically wonderful to have a community that supports such a wide range of organizations, it also leads to a battle over attendance and impact.
The Jewish Federation, to an extent, supports a zero sum game within Jewish organizations. I say this because almost all of the organizations get at least partial funding from the Federation, and for organizations to get continued or increased funding, they must continually prove their worth through attendance.
A few weeks ago, I attended an event for the Saint Louis Israel Connection, an organization which seeks to connect Jews in St. Louis with Israel.
The event was pretty cool, I got to see a good number of people there, everyone enjoyed themselves, the bar owners liked us...by all accounts a successful event.
I mean, I had a chance to actually interact one on one with some people specifically because the place wasn't packed.
Now let me be clear, it would have been great to have more people there.
That being said, St. Louis is not a big enough pool for this 'bigger is necessarily better' type of an attitude to prevail.
But it's not just St. Louis. In an article on Jewcy.com, the problem of collaboration is smacked upside the head.
Often we are so wrapped up in the mission of our individual group that we lose focus of the fact that the over-arching guiding force behind all of our organizations and groups stems from the desire to build a strong and vibrant community, something that is hard to create when we act territorial.
Not only that, you turn off participants. I don't want to be a part of a group that is so isolated that it disconnects itself from the community.
And now for your viewing pleasure, Obama's Roast of Rahm Emmanuel:
Read More......
Friday, October 10, 2008
A Fresh Start
At well over 6000 views, and having survived a full day of fasting leading into a delicious break-fast (which may have featured some of the most wonderful food EVER), we are back at it again with some even bigger things happening.
Earlier this week, I had a chance to meet with Barry Rosenberg, Vice President of the Federation, Yid-lover, Mensch, and as it turns out, a supporter of what we are all about (which, in case you need to be reminded, is bringing together post-college Jews to create a fly young community).
I think that there is a lot of possibility that came out of our discussion.
First, it is clear that even in the highest ranks of the Federation, there is an understanding of our importance of a demographic, as well as the fact that current outreach attempts are perhaps not at the level they would like.
Second, they are willing to act on these understandings, which shouldn't be underestimated as the Federation has quite a bit of clout, and resources.
The trick here is to find a solution that provides for the accountability that Federation must provide its donors, as well as the flexibility that we need so as not to become encumbered by too much structure. After all, we are building relationships, which need to be able to mature at their own pace and in their own way.
Really, as much as we have been placed in the role of leaders by default, we want to know what we could do that you would be interested in being a part of.
Should we carpet our basement, get a pool table, maybe a keggerator?
Should we try to set up weekly Hebrew lessons so that we can talk about attractive members of the opposite sex at bars without them knowing?
What are you interested in? I'm happy to do the leg work to turn the best ideas into reality. So go ahead, comment, email, SMS, whatever. But make yourself heard. It's your community too, what do you want it to look like?
Read More......
Earlier this week, I had a chance to meet with Barry Rosenberg, Vice President of the Federation, Yid-lover, Mensch, and as it turns out, a supporter of what we are all about (which, in case you need to be reminded, is bringing together post-college Jews to create a fly young community).
I think that there is a lot of possibility that came out of our discussion.
First, it is clear that even in the highest ranks of the Federation, there is an understanding of our importance of a demographic, as well as the fact that current outreach attempts are perhaps not at the level they would like.
Second, they are willing to act on these understandings, which shouldn't be underestimated as the Federation has quite a bit of clout, and resources.
The trick here is to find a solution that provides for the accountability that Federation must provide its donors, as well as the flexibility that we need so as not to become encumbered by too much structure. After all, we are building relationships, which need to be able to mature at their own pace and in their own way.
Really, as much as we have been placed in the role of leaders by default, we want to know what we could do that you would be interested in being a part of.
Should we carpet our basement, get a pool table, maybe a keggerator?
Should we try to set up weekly Hebrew lessons so that we can talk about attractive members of the opposite sex at bars without them knowing?
What are you interested in? I'm happy to do the leg work to turn the best ideas into reality. So go ahead, comment, email, SMS, whatever. But make yourself heard. It's your community too, what do you want it to look like?
Read More......
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
A Beacon of Hope (for MidWestern Jews)
A lot of Mid-Western Jews (myself included) like to bitch and moan about the fact that all the young Jews graduate and move to the coasts, or Chicago. Communities like Detroit reported that there are more Detroit-born Jews living in LA than Detroit itself (who would wanna leave Detroit?).
It may seem bleak for those of us who remain more than a 5 hour drive from a beach, but all is not lost.
A recently released report from the Cincinnati Jewish Community Study had a few surprising results.
First, the community is relatively stable. That is to say that the Jewish population of Cincinnati is stable, sort of. More than 50% of those surveyed were born outside of Cincinnati and decided to move to the City of Cin. Another 16% were born in da Nati, left, and then returned.
This report is important in a few ways.
The first is that St. Louis and Cincinnati are similar. Very similar. I mean like post-industrial-rust-belt-river-cities-with-a-lot-of-large-corporations-who-are -trying-to-figure-out-how-to-attract-young-talent-to-a-place-with-an-image-problem-similar.
Cincinnati has some things going for it that STL doesn't, many more fortune 500 companies that attract a lot of talent, for sevaral.
St. Louis has some things that Cincinnati doesn't, like Washington University/BJC, a rudimentary light rail system (Vote YES on Proposition M if you want to see it become useful), and about 10 more years of investing in lofts and development downtown, made possible by a historic tax credit.
These differences aside, both live in the shadow of place like Chicago, New York, DC, LA, and Boston, to name a few. These are cities in which young adulthood is played out without regard to the future, responsibilities, or savings.
Young adulthood, particularly Jewish young adulthood is difficult in places like Cincinnati, St. Louis (Minneapolis, Detroit, etc.) particularly because you don't have the mass of young Jews that can feed fresh energy into the community.
You end up seeing the same people at every event, which can be great, but can also be stifling (see Rosh's post on dating in STL).
The real importance that I see in this study, however, is that we matter to the current generation. A lot. You can see it in the choice of Rabbi Davids and his speech on Gen Next in the community (which you can read about here). It is apparent when communities like Dotan, Alabama offer Jews $50,000 to move in.
The established federated community is foaming at the mouth to outreach to us, connect with us, and bring us into the fold.
This is the beacon of hope. That the these people are starting to come around and embrace our reality. But they can't do it without us.
Knowing that the interest, and money, is out there.... How do we take advantage of it?
Read More......
It may seem bleak for those of us who remain more than a 5 hour drive from a beach, but all is not lost.
A recently released report from the Cincinnati Jewish Community Study had a few surprising results.
First, the community is relatively stable. That is to say that the Jewish population of Cincinnati is stable, sort of. More than 50% of those surveyed were born outside of Cincinnati and decided to move to the City of Cin. Another 16% were born in da Nati, left, and then returned.
This report is important in a few ways.
The first is that St. Louis and Cincinnati are similar. Very similar. I mean like post-industrial-rust-belt-river-cities-with-a-lot-of-large-corporations-who-are -trying-to-figure-out-how-to-attract-young-talent-to-a-place-with-an-image-problem-similar.
Cincinnati has some things going for it that STL doesn't, many more fortune 500 companies that attract a lot of talent, for sevaral.
St. Louis has some things that Cincinnati doesn't, like Washington University/BJC, a rudimentary light rail system (Vote YES on Proposition M if you want to see it become useful), and about 10 more years of investing in lofts and development downtown, made possible by a historic tax credit.
These differences aside, both live in the shadow of place like Chicago, New York, DC, LA, and Boston, to name a few. These are cities in which young adulthood is played out without regard to the future, responsibilities, or savings.
Young adulthood, particularly Jewish young adulthood is difficult in places like Cincinnati, St. Louis (Minneapolis, Detroit, etc.) particularly because you don't have the mass of young Jews that can feed fresh energy into the community.
You end up seeing the same people at every event, which can be great, but can also be stifling (see Rosh's post on dating in STL).
The real importance that I see in this study, however, is that we matter to the current generation. A lot. You can see it in the choice of Rabbi Davids and his speech on Gen Next in the community (which you can read about here). It is apparent when communities like Dotan, Alabama offer Jews $50,000 to move in.
The established federated community is foaming at the mouth to outreach to us, connect with us, and bring us into the fold.
This is the beacon of hope. That the these people are starting to come around and embrace our reality. But they can't do it without us.
Knowing that the interest, and money, is out there.... How do we take advantage of it?
Read More......
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