United Jewish Communities: The Big Jewish Merger
The United Jewish Communities: Can Politics Keep Pace with Change?
Carl Sheingold
For 13 years I worked within the national Federation system. Some of my warmest memories are of occasions when local Federations and leaders worked together to fulfill a historic, national role. I recall several tangible examples of the Jewish community and its central fundraising institutions working together: the vote on collective responsibility for refugee [...]
Rengineering the UJC
Michael Hammer
Carl Sheingold usefully identifies three “story lines” in the merger of the old national systems into the UJC: the business/management line, the political/governance line, and the philanthropic line. While this division helps us better appreciate the range of issues involved in the merger, we need to recognize that all three lines are in fact [...]
Beyond Politics: Changing the Jewish Organizational Scene
Jeffrey R. Solomon
Carl Sheingold provides a valuable analysis of the creation of the United Jewish Communities and its opportunities and challenges. I would argue that this analysis understates many of those opportunities and challenges. Further, by framing them within the context of political issues, one loses the rich fabric of substantive, historical, human resource, and [...]
United Jewish Communities: A New Paradigm for Collaboration
Beryl A. Geber
The challenges defined by Carl Sheingold crisply sketch the issues that confront all the organized Jewish communities of North America. The UJC offers but a larger canvas and a broader audience in front of whom the solutions are to be tested and evaluated.
The major challenges are not new. Finding an organizing principle to [...]
Common Sense
Barry Shrage
Carl’s essay describes many of the critical issues faced by our national system in a time of radical change. He is right on target when he writes that “the most effective and efficient national service mechanism will not, in the long run, generate enthusiasm and loyalty from individuals or individual Federations unless also connected [...]
UJC: An Opportunity for Change
Evan Mendolson
Carl Sheingold’s essay on the UJC merger asks several critical questions about the direction of this evolving entity. At this important juncture of American Jewish communal experience, what new institutional connections and framework are necessary to address the profound changes taking place in the philanthropic environment? What will be the relationship between individual donors [...]
Our Task: To Reinvigorate the National Jewish Spirit
David Altshuler
Carl Sheingold’s essay on the UJC merger asks several critical questions about the direction of this evolving entity. At this important juncture of American Jewish communal experience, what new institutional connections and framework are necessary to address the profound changes taking place in the philanthropic environment? What will be the relationship between individual donors [...]
A View from the Inside
Stephen D. Solender
The driving force at the heart of the United Jewish Communities–its vision, its mission, those who work for and with us–is the sacred responsibility of every Jew, one for the other. It is our dream that the way we fulfill tikkun olam, repair the world, will insure the continuity of Jewish life in [...]
Visions: Israel, UJC, and Philanthropic Pluralism
Norman Rosenberg
The reorganization of the Federation system detailed by Carl Sheingold offers the American Jewish community an extraordinary opportunity to assess its relationship with a changing Israel. Will this represent an evolution in the Israel-Diaspora relationship and create a useful, meaningful, and effective role for us in relation to the distinctive challenges that Israel faces [...]
