by Rabbi Hershey Novack

This article articulates to the St. Louis Jewish community that their support of local Jewish campus life benefits the entire St. Louis community. More broadly, these themes resonate in similar communities throughout the country. A version of this article first appeared in the St. Louis Jewish Light.

In 2008, Jewish Living magazine identified the Washington University campus area as the epicenter of one of the Top 10 Jewish communities in America, describing the school as “popular with Jews from around the country, known for its kosher kitchen and strong Hillel and Chabad programs with plenty of activities.” Indeed, St. Louis is a great city for Jewish college students.

Some believe that college students are the only ones who benefit from a high caliber of Jewish campus life. As I see it, the entire St. Louis community benefits.

In its broadest sense, college education is an investment in one’s future. And Jewish campus life is an investment in the Jewish future. College is often a place where adulthood emerges, and may be one of the last opportunities a young person has to develop an appreciation for Jewish living and values before setting out into the world.

I think about this each day, and this ideal drives our efforts at Chabad on Campus.

Our programs aim to serve young people from the entire community, at Washington U. and at other colleges in the region. Our student groups offer exciting programs and leadership opportunities, and we have facilitated Israel trips for over 500 students through Mayanot’s Birthright Israel program. We host family-style Shabbat dinners each week, and focus on Jewish learning. Students recognize us as advocates for Israel on those occasions when Israel’s detractors rear their heads.

All of these experiences provide opportunities for students to connect with a sense of Jewish community, one that is both of the students and for them. A community that is meaningful, accessible and inclusive of students of all backgrounds and levels of religious observance. A community of purpose that inspires its members to give to others.

Recently, a newly-graduated student wrote to me: “I’ve just been busy trying to get my life together for next year. Turns out, I finally got it together and I owe you a big thank you for it. I was accepted to the [Jewish service program] and I have accepted. I will be spending next year [serving the Jewish community] and I couldn’t have done so without your recommendation. On top of that, your support all through college has really given me a place where I always feel welcome and has really made the experience complete for me, especially with respect to my Jewish identity.”

Messages such as this reflect a simple and powerful idea: Involvement during college can lead to a life of meaningful community participation. For many students, that journey begins in St. Louis, and, with a rebounding local job market, St. Louis may indeed – and often does – become their home. Indeed, numerous local organizations draw both professional and lay leaders from the diverse body of those who studied in St. Louis.

To be sure, Chabad is not the only facilitator for Jewish campus life, nor do we seek to be. We are all the richer for the plentiful opportunities available for students to connect in our community. St. Louis Hillel offers a plethora of resources for college students, the historically Jewish fraternities and sororities foster a sense of belonging, a range of community service groups provide opportunities for community service, and a number of Israel interest groups seek to educate and advocate for Israel.

Many young people discover that becoming more engaged with their faith and people during their college years is an enriching experience that provides an essential sense of sacred community. This involvement during the college years can set the stage for a lifetime of meaningful engagement with the richness of our Jewish tradition.

St. Louis draws a significant number of talented young Jews to its universities. Together, we can work to retain them in our community, fostering a culture of energetic and knowledgeable leadership far into the 21st century.

Rabbi Hershey Novack is campus rabbi and director of Chabad on Campus in the St. Louis area. He has been serving St. Louis area colleges since 2002.

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from The Chronicle of Philanthropy:

Charities and Watchdog Groups Clash Over Monitoring Systems

Battles between charities and the watchdog groups that help donors decide where to give escalated last week when a major trade association released drafts of two reports by scholars who say the watchdogs may do more harm than good.

The studies, paid for and released by the Direct Marketing Association’s Nonprofit Federation at a meeting here, charge that the watchdog groups use evaluation systems that are confusing and simplistic.

What’s more, they said, because the watchdog groups are influential, charities often take steps that are not smart in the long-term simply to garner high ratings.

The watchdog organizations they studied are the American Institute of Philanthropy, Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance, and Charity Navigator.

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by Ariel Kahn

In its gorgeous new Suffolk location, this year’s Limmud Fest was blessed with some sunshine and an extraordinary degree of good cheer. Marketed as “the hottest festival in the British Jewish calendar”, the volunteer-run residential festival attracted a record 650 participants for four days of non-stop Jewish learning and culture. The sunny rolling hills of the South Downs were home to over 150 sessions of learning, the majority of which took place outdoors – a true celebration of Judaism without walls and a chance to embrace the Hebrew month of Ellul in the tradition of reflection and learning for which it is known. First timer Mikey Franklin, a London-based policitcal activist and educator summed up his experience in four words: “Fabulous, tiring, exciting, engaging.”

The focus on nature, the Pardes (The Orchard), Song of Songs and food created fascinating continuities between sessions and presenters of very different styles, so one could complement text study sessions and challenging debates with dance, movement and stand-up comedy workshops. As always, music was a real strength, with Sephardic music given a radical makeover by the Israeli band Shuk, founded by teachers and educators exploring the range of Sephardi musical heritage, and New Yorkers DeLeon, who gave the same tradition a groovy urban/rock makeover. A memorable musical havdallah and melaveh malkah under the stars led by band members and singers was accompanied by fire-swingers and fire-jugglers which helped sum up the Limmud Fest spirit.

A contingent of expert overseas presenters explored fascinating links between Jews, food, texts and sexuality, with American Rabbi Steve Greenberg and Israel’s top TV chef Gil Hovav looking at gay narratives in textual and contemporary sources. This was complemented by Film-Fest, showing a range of related films such as Ushpizim, with Bangor University’s Nathan Abrams leading discussions on the sticky relationship between Jews and food in film. This emphasis on revealing silenced and suppressed narratives reached its fullest voice in the fabulously witty Girls in Trouble, a U.S-based band helmed by Alicia Jo Rabins, celebrating the darkly adult world of the women of the Bible. In true Limmud style, Rabin’s contributions to the Fest programme included full concerts for an enthralled 600-strong audience, as well as equally popular text sessions exploring midrashic interpretations of a variety of women in the Tanach. New Limmud favourite Rabin Tweeted to her followers around the world from the event: “A Haiku for you: The hills are dotted / with sheep and Jews / It’s Limmud Fest ’10”

The relationship between Torah and the environment was treated both intellectually and experientially, with guided walks from LSJS’ Rabbi Natan Levy, planting, and tips on creating an edible Jewish garden from educator Nic Abery. Participants could move effortlessly from soul food to real food and back again, with plenty of more light-hearted and practical opportunities, to make organic beer, Israeli cookies, Rosh Hashanah dishes with chef Denise Phillips, Jewshi (Jewish sushi!), or just relax in the sunshine and meet new people from all corners of the Jewish community and from places as diverse as Estonia, Budapest, Jerusalem, Paris and Finland.

As usual, the 180 or so children of all ages were also excellently served, both by the enthusiastic and friendly youth leaders, and by bands such as The Macaroons. Children and families enthused about the well-attended educational sessions such as how to talk to your children about God led by local Jewish ethics teacher Mark Shoffren and family friendly sessions on halakha facilitated by internationally renowned Jewish educator and writer Joel Grishaver. As a parent myself, I hugely appreciated the efforts of the volunteers running all aspects of the families’ provision, from the Fest Nursery to the free babysitting, from the Shabbat family services to the toy-themed seuda picnic on Shabbat afternoon.

The sense of a community on a shared journey fed by diverse experience ran through every aspect of the excellent programme, with opportunity to be as active or reflective as one desired. What seems to make Limmud Fest unique is the opportunity to explore an extraordinary range of voices and insights, in an open, welcoming atmosphere that gives an inspiring, colourful, tasty and uplifting picture of what it means to be a Jew in the 21st Century. It was hard not to leave there feeling invigorated and ready to face the forthcoming Days of Awe more prepared and more positive about the Jewish year ahead.

“It is very rewarding to be part of a community where generations learn and teach each other without preconceptions” said Yusmin Kilim, Co-Chair of Fest 2010. “Limmud Fest is a celebration of Jewish learning and of the creativity of the Jewish community without divisions of age, affiliation or geography.”

Ariel Kahn, is a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Roehampton University and teacher at the London School of Jewish Studies.

image courtesy Chaim Bacon

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Israel has a doctor shortage and as a result a new series of initiatives has been launched – spearheaded by the Jewish Agency (JAFI) – to facilitate the aliyah and absorption of doctors into the country’s health system.

Within the framework of one of the programs, 30 doctors made aliyah this week and headed to JAFI’s Beit Canada absorption center in Ashdod. During their first year in Israel they will learn Hebrew and take a preparatory course for the Israeli medical licensing exam. Those who pass the exam will begin working in hospitals connected to the Clalit health fund and the Ministry of Health.

A second group of 16 doctors will be arriving at Kibbutz Merhaviya in October as part of the “First Home in the Homeland” project. This program is aimed at doctors with more than 14 years experience in the field, as they are exempt from the licensing exam and can receive their certification after a short time in the hospitals along with a verbal exam.

Also this fall, around 60 young doctors and medical students will be coming to Israel through MASA Israel Journey. This program will enable young people to become familiar with the Israel medical system by working at Soroka Hospital in Beersheva or the Rambam Hospital in Haifa, besides strengthening their connection to Israeli society.

The programs will be expanded to European countries in the future.

image: Brian Hendler

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from The Jewish Week:

JCC, Synagogues In Holy War In Boca

… the JCC’s decision has ignited a war in this heavily Jewish Broward County community. As synagogues around the country struggle with membership numbers and count on the High Holy Days to sign up congregants, thereby padding their coffers, rabbis here are seeing the JCC’s action as “usurpation” and an “invasion.” There are even fears that Boca synagogues might ban a representative of the Jewish federation, which funds the JCC, from making his annual High Holy Day pitch.

And as JCCs around the country shed their old image of being merely a gym and a pool and instead search for a new mission – including offering services and religious programming, particularly aimed at the large numbers of unaffiliated Jews – the turf battle in Boca is the leading edge of a trend that is likely to play out all over the country in the coming years.

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Today, Ralph Goldman turns 96. And he can still be seen, as active as ever, bustling around Jerusalem, Blackberry in hand.

Here in Israel, Ralph’s achievements are part of legend. He is the father of its JCC movement and founder of the Brookdale Institute and The Israel Center for Social Policy Studies, (now named the JDC Myers Institute and the Marilyn and Henry Taub Center for Social Policy Studies, respectively) and ESHEL. Before that he was a guiding spirit behind Malben, the program that gave Israel its first, rudimentary social services infrastructure in the early days of statehood. And before even that, he was the advisor to Prime Minister Ben-Gurion on relations with the U.S. Jewish community and the founder of the Israel Education Fund. Prior to statehood he was a member of Teddy Kollek’s team that worked tirelessly to evade the British blockade and, later, to prepare Israel militarily for the war of Independence. With that illustrious background Ralph became the professional head of JDC in 1974.

In honor of his birthday, JDC has collected some of their favorite Ralph pictures.

image: Ralph in Warsaw, Poland 1981; courtesy JDC

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The New Orleans Jewish Day School Reemerges From Disaster
by H. Glenn Rosenkrantz

Metairie, LA – Kindergarten classroom, destroyed. Administrative offices, gone. First and second grade facilities, upended. Materials and resources, washed away or damaged.

And that was just on the first floor.

Hurricane Katrina’s rage and the resulting floodwaters five years ago this week spared precious little, and the New Orleans Jewish Day School – situated here on the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain just west of the city – was no exception.

“The storm demolished us,” said Dr. Bob Berk, head of school. “The school was wiped out.”

Nearly 100 students, from pre-kindergarten to eighth grade, had barely begun the academic year when Hurricane Katrina changed everything.

For the school and the broader Jewish community, the loss was a blow in a region boasting a pre-Katrina population of about 10,000 families. Many of them fled to places like Houston, Atlanta and Baton Rouge, or found alternative schools for their children after the disaster.

“Our infrastructure of families supporting our school was gone,” said Berk, noting that about 20 percent of the community was lost. “Rebuilding buildings is easy. But rebuilding community is not.”

In the immediate region, which claims a rich Jewish heritage, no other Jewish day school even exists. So reestablishing the institution became a priority for school and communal officials locally and nationally.

Jewish day schools are central venues for formal Jewish education, and are also reflective of a community’s vitality and commitment to generational continuity, making revitalization of this school a must, many said.

“The Jewish community day school is a cornerstone institution in virtually every Jewish community in North America, so its success needs to be the concern of everyone,” said Dr. Marc Kramer, executive director of RAVSAK: The Jewish Community Day School Network.

Rabbi Robert Loewy of Congregation Gates of Prayer in Metaire, a past president of the day school’s board, said the school is critical to the Jewish community’s strength and growth in New Orleans and the surrounding region.

“This school and bringing it back is a powerful symbol of hope for the Jewish community here,” said Rabbi Loewy, whose daughter graduated from the school just two months before Hurricane Katrina hit.

“Rebuilding New Orleans Jewish Day School is a catalyst for the rebuilding of this entire community. Without a Jewish day school, we could not attract Jewish professionals to the New Orleans community to rebuild and recreate it.”

With national attention focused on New Orleans and the region after the hurricane, Jewish foundations and other organizations have directed resources toward the school’s renaissance.

And, in many ways, rebuilding the school has allowed officials to re-imagine it.

The Covenant Foundation, for example, made a 2007 Signature Grant to the school to create a formal Judaic Studies program – with two full-time teachers – focusing on Hebrew language study and critical thinking based on Jewish text study.

“This grant allowed us to really focus in on what it means to have a high-quality Judaic Studies program,” Berk said. “Prior to the hurricane there was not much consistency in terms of the curriculum. The grant enabled us to build it so it is not so much teacher or personality dependent.”

The Foundation is also underwriting a program to introduce technology in the classroom and strengthen its use. The school is now a pilot site for innovative, digitally based learning programs and measurement tools, positioning it as a leader in technology-enhanced education.

Such developments allow the New Orleans Jewish Day School not only to compete with other schools for students, but also to firmly reestablish the institution as an anchor in the Jewish community, school officials noted.

“This funding is incredibly critical for the progress we are making,” said Karen Remer, president of the board of the school.

Rebuilding the school community is taking place on other fronts as well. The number of afterschool and evening programs for students, families and alumni has increased, as have the choices of afterschool clubs and informal educational opportunities.

“I look at kids who graduated from our school before Hurricane Katrina, and they have an amazing Jewish identity,” said Berk. “So it’s not as if these things weren’t being done.

“Due to the nature of rebuilding, we need to be even more organized and thoughtful about it all. With such a small population, these things don’t happen naturally. When there isn’t the critical mass of people to make these things happen, you have to think about it and push it.”

Berk, who became head of school in 2009, succeeded Gwynne Bowman, who he lauds for leading the institution in the first phases of rebuilding.

“Much of the credit for rebuilding in the immediate aftermath of Katrina should go to Gwynne, as well as to all of the local and national funders supporting us for the last few years,” he said.

The school has had measurable successes. Although middle school grades were eliminated after the hurricane, 51 students are enrolled for the current academic year, up from 17 in 2006. And young, involved Jews are returning to the area or moving there for the first time, giving school officials hope that they will enroll their children.

“The New Orleans Jewish Day School’s slow but steady pace of recovery is at once to be expected and, at the same time, an extraordinary, inspirational tale,” said Kramer. “Dr. Bob Berk is a field leader, so the school is in very good professional hands. The time is right for visionary philanthropic leaders to connect with the school to ensure that this amazing institutional journey has a happy ending.”

On Aug. 28th, as the city, region and country began marking the five-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, school officials joined the larger Jewish community and others at the New Orleans Jewish Community Center for Havdalah and a marking of the date. The theme of the evening: “Brighter and Stronger Together.”

“There is still grieving for what was lost,” said Remer. “My community is not what it was. But then again, look at what we’ve accomplished. And that is just amazing.”

Additional information about the New Orleans Jewish Day School can be found on the school’s website.

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by Barbara Maduell

“I was in Montana, conducting feasibility study interviews.” That was the dry, seemingly boring answer I gave to friends and colleagues who asked me where I went last week. In fact, interviewing an organization’s stakeholders is a critically important part of the planning process for any special campaign initiative. The one-on-one conversations provide candid community feedback about the strength of an organization’s mission, identify potential leadership and major donors, develop compelling campaign messages, and clarify next steps to ensure that staff and volunteers are prepared for a time-consuming yet exhilarating and transformative effort.

One of the interview questions we always ask donors is whether they feel satisfied with the way in which our client organization solicits, acknowledges, and recognizes their gifts. Responses vary – from people who feel well connected and appreciated to those who only hear from the organization when they are asked for money once a year.

The Montana donors we interviewed each answered the question the same way, and it was an answer we don’t expect these days. The collective response went like this: “We don’t wait to be asked. The need is so great and the organization is so important, we just give as much as we can, as often as we can.”

Back to Anne Frank’s tree. This past week, wind, rain and disease felled this venerable tree that comforted a young girl hiding from the Nazis. Eleven prized cuttings from its branches were sent around the world. The news reminded me of a quote from young Anne that has captured pure generosity for generations: “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”

Today more than ever, nonprofit organizations need to build relationships through which they communicate with their donors frequently and meaningfully. What a wonderful thing when those dialogues inspire giving that doesn’t “wait a single moment,” and is offered with the joy Anne Frank felt when she looked out her window.

As you begin a new season of fundraising, what inspiring donor stories do you have to share? Let us know. We’d love to be able to share your stories with a wider audience.

Barbara Maduell, CFRE, is a former development professional in Seattle’s Jewish community; she is currently a senior consultant with The Collins Group.

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In 1988, I first traveled to the former Soviet Union. Not only did I take kosher food with me but I also had to be very careful about the public display of my Jewishness and my connection to Jews living in the countries of the USSR. Over the years, I have visited many places within the region and have been to cities like Riga, Vilna, Minsk, Kiev, Odessa, and Kishinev, among others. Although I loved traveling to the various cities, meeting local Jewish leaders and residents, and learning about the Jewish communities, I always felt living a Jewish life style required a great deal of effort and was not easy in any of these places.

Yesterday, I returned from a ten day visit to Russia and very few of my friends in Israel could believe that my wife, Marsha, and I actually vacationed in Moscow. In the weeks prior to the visit people asked, “You are going where for vacation?” or “Why would you want to take a vacation in Moscow?” Of course, having been to the City more than a dozen times over the last twenty plus years, I have friends who live there and I wanted to spend time with them. I have also developed a love for the aesthetic quality of Moscow. It has a unique architecture, albeit built during the Soviet years of ruling the country, and there is a plethora of wonderful art museums and galleries that is testimony to the wonderful appreciation of culture throughout the City. However, we did miss the Bolshoi Ballet as they were outside Moscow for the summer.

Having said all this, the most moving part of the visit was learning about the present state of Jewish life in the City for the people who want to learn about Judaism or take advantage of the richness of opportunities. During the last twenty plus years the Jewish Agency for Israel, the Joint Distribution Committee, the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, and other organizations and foundations have made important contributions to the rebirth of Jewish life. However, it is now evident that local philanthropists and organizations are stepping in and assuming responsibility for some of the wonderful developments.

There are not only three major synagogues in Moscow, but there is also an effort to begin local neighborhood “minyanim” (prayer services). For example, a new hi-rise apartment building was constructed in the city center and a number of Jewish families bought apartments in the building and acquired additional space to create a synagogue in the building. This would have been unheard of, and even outlawed, 25 years ago, and today it is a reality. In a similar way there is a plan to create local “minyanim” in areas where there are concentrations of Jewish people to support the activities of these “local synagogues”.

Of course kosher food is a very important part of Jewish life. During the visit we were able to visit three kosher restaurants and to notice they were all doing a brisk business. Personally we found the quality of the food on the same level with any kosher restaurant in North American or Israel. Eating in these places was a culinary delight and there was a good selection of kosher wines from countries around the globe.

On Friday morning, we were able to purchase prepared food that was organized by a kosher restaurant in one of the synagogues in the city. The food was fresh, plentiful and very tasty. In addition each table had a stack of plates and forks so that purchasers could sample the dishes before deciding to purchase specific items. I felt like I had eaten breakfast by the time we left with food for Shabbat lunch.

Not only are there several synagogues throughout the city but each one has several minyanim in the morning. People have a choice of going to one of three services in the morning. This might not seem like anything special but when you realize that Jewish prayer services were illegal (if not controlled by the government until 20 years ago) this is a miracle!

When asked about “Shaare Zedek” most of us think about the hospital in Jerusalem, however, in Moscow this is the mutli-service medical center in the middle of the city. People come from all over to avail themselves of the finest expert medical care that is provided to the Jewish community. It is patterned after the “Hesed” concept that was developed by the JDC years ago and has been expanded to meet the growing needs of the Jewish population in Moscow. As an added benefit, there is a small “take out” kosher food department so people can buy ready made foods during the week.

Perhaps the two real highlights of the visit for me were the Shabbat meal served in the Marina Rocha Synagogue and the kosher food available in regular stores. Friday night, the Synagogue sponsors several dinners for expatriate Israelis, expatriate English speakers, local young leaders, and one for the general community. No prior reservations are needed and whoever shows up is more than welcome to join.

We felt most comfortable joining the Israelis and more than 100 people were there the Shabbat we were, and this was considered a small group because many were still away for summer vacations. We participated in a Friday night service, and joined the group for dinner which included some singing and a few short “D’vrei Torah” (of which I was asked to give one.) All were welcomed warmly and made to feel very much at home.

Perhaps the most surprising development was walking into a regular (non-kosher) supermarket and finding Russian produced food products with the kosher symbol of the local rabbinic organization on the package. This was something very special and brought back memories of having to bring all food products to Russia because there was no kosher food available at all anywhere in the country. Last, but not least, was what I experienced when I entered a non-kosher bakery and noticed a letter on the wall from the Rabbinical Council of Moscow listing all of the kosher products that could be purchased in the bakery as they were made under rabbinical supervision. I could not resist and bought a sampling of freshly baked bread that tasted delicious and was a symbol of the new Jewish experience in Moscow.

Of course, I have not mentioned the classes, seminars, day schools, summer camps, university programs or the number other opportunities that now enhance Jewish life in the city. Needless to say, Moscow is a beautiful city that is now “Jewishly Friendly” and provides opportunities for local Jews to live a Jewish life and for tourists to feel very comfortable visiting the developing community. Having participated in my first rally to support Soviet Jewry during Sukkot of 1964, I thought it was a miracle to welcome these Jews to Israel in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, and now it is a second miracle to witness the quality of Jewish life in Moscow today.

Stephen G. Donshik, a long-time Jewish communal professional, is a lecturer at Hebrew University’s International Leadership and Philanthropy Program.

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from NTEN (Nonprofit Technology Network):

“Google Was Our First Office”: Managing a Worldwide Staff

[PresenTense] PT used technology from day one, says Simi Hinden, the director of the online community. A print magazine is one of PT’s main activities, providing an additional channel for the global community of young Jews to exchange ideas.

“Google was our first office”, Simi explains. They used Google docs to help share documents with the volunteers worldwide as they worked on the magazine. They also used wufoo.com, which helps create online forms, process applications for programs, manage magazine applications, subscriptions and more.

CRM

PT started using Salesforce.com in 2008, taking advantage of its free licenses for nonprofits. Salesforce helps manage PT’s contacts, work flow, fellows and mentors tracking, magazine subscriptions, opportunities, and donations.

It was not used efficiently at the beginning. Today, Simi is the sole person is dedicated to customizing Salesforce. Although she doesn’t have a strong technical background, she picks up things as she goes along.

At one point, they considered using civiCRM, another CRM platform, designed for nonprofits, but they found it to be too basic for some of their needs, like managing and tracking all the different people and organizations with whom they are involved.

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