June 2012 - Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington

center LEADERSHIP
OFFICERS
Scott M. Cohen, President
Bradley Stillman,
Vice President for Administration/Treasurer
Mindy Berger, Vice President for Development
Heidi Hookman Brodsky,
Vice President for Member & Guest Services
Randi K. Meyrowitz, Vice President for Program
Abbe D. Lowell, Vice President & General Counsel
Robyn Judelsohn, Secretary
Darryl Shrock, Assistant Secretary
Andrew P. Shulman, Assistant Treasurer
Robert G. Epstein, Ombudsperson
Robert Weiner, Executive Director Emeritus
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Rick Cantor • Felicia K. Gottdenker
Matthew Weinberg • Michael E. Winer
Daniel H. Abramowitz
Gilly Arie
Brent Berger, M.D.
Robert I. Black
Nathan Bortnick
Andrew Bridge
Monique Buckles
Andrew Chod
The Honorable
Brian Feldman
The Honorable
Douglas F. Gansler
Barbara Goldberg Goldman
Amy Guberman
David S. Bender
Stuart Bindeman
Bernard Forseter
Greg Friedman
Toni Goodman
Eric Kassoff
Michael Kay
Mark Lerner
Jeffrey Linowes
Morris Cafritz z”l
Marcella E. Cohen
The Honorable
Stuart E. Eizenstat
Barry P. Forman
Rosalie B. Gerber z”l
Michael S. Gildenhorn
Col. Julius Goldstein z”l
Simon Hirshman z”l
Lesley Israel
Rosalyn Levy Jonas
Edward H. Kaplan
Joel S. Kaufman z”l
Harry King z”l
Fred Kogod z”l
Robert P. Kogod
Samuel Lehrman
Harry M. Linowes
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
COUNCIL OF ADVISORS
PAST PRESIDENTS
Neil Gurvitch
Nancy Jacobson
Andrea Felzer Marmon
Brian Pearlstein
Sandy Perlstein
Arthur Polott
Adam Polsky
Helen Rubin
Andrew Sachs
David Shapiro
David Waghelstein
Samantha Wasserman
Sharon Zissman
Lawrence Mann
Alan Meltzer
Pamela Nadell, Ph.D.
Howard Ross
Julie Silver
Kathy Sklar
Marc Solomon
Susan Zuckerman
Steven D. Lustig
Philip N. Margolius
Col. Benjamin Ourisman z”l
Sydney M. Polakoff
Richard B. Reff, M.D.
Leo Schlossberg z”l
Burnett Siman z”l
Beth C. Sloan
Charles E. Smith z”l
Andrew M. Stern
John D. VerStandig
Bernard M. Weisz
Bernard S. White z”l
Morton H. Wilner z”l
Donald E. Wolpe
z”l of blessed memory
EXECUTIVE TEAM
Michael Feinstein, Chief Executive Officer
Ruth E. Carski, Chief Financial Officer
Tracey E. Dorfmann, Chief Program Officer
Amy I. Gantz, Chief Operating Officer
Tasha Museles, Chief Development Officer
Amanda M. Goldstein,
Communications & Marketing Director
Living Our Values Message from Michael
Over the last few months I have shared with you the
Center’s new mission, vision and core values and
howtogethertheyinformourdirection,theprograms
we offer and the way we connect with our community.
Throughout our strategic thinking and direction setting
process,Iregularlyfoundmyselfwonderingwhetherwe,as
a Jewish institution, are leading, following or
in synch with the broader Jewish community.
YoucanimaginemycuriositywhenIreceived
the Public Religion Research Institute’s
publication entitled “Chosen for What? -
Jewish Values in 2012,” which provides
the results of this year’s survey of Jewish
Americans.
The Jewish Values Survey seeks to
understand distinctive Jewish values,
culture and experiences, and their
connections to Jewish political beliefs and
behaviors. The importance of five Jewish values was
surveyed: (1) pursuing justice, (2) caring for the widow
and the orphan, (3) tikkun olam (healing the world), (4)
welcoming the stranger, and (5) seeing every person as
made in the image of God. The survey also looked at the
importance of Jewish identity and religious practices and
beliefs. From my seat at the JCCGW, you can imagine
that I was most interested in the survey results related to
Jewish values and identity. While the survey responses
reflect demographic differences, I think the overall results
are informative:
• At least 80% of American Jews say that pursuing
justice and caring for the widow and the orphan are very
or somewhat important.
• More than 70% of American Jews say that tikkun
olam and welcoming the stranger are very or somewhat
important.
• A majority of those surveyed say seeing every person as
made in the image of God is very or somewhat important.
There is clearly a broad consensus on the importance
of four of these values in informing political beliefs
and activity. Our core values align well with the survey
results, as our values include gemilut chasadim (helping
those in need through acts of loving kindness), tikkun
olam (making the world a better and more just place), and
hachnassat orchim (welcoming guests). As a JCC, we are
much more focused on activity than on political beliefs.
Thinking about what we “do,” has led me to some serious
organizational soul-searching. I know that we live our
values of being welcoming and taking care of those
in need. We can always do things better but I can see
those values in action every day from how we welcome
those new to the community and how we include those
with different abilities, lifestyles and beliefs, to how
we provide financial scholarships to those in need and
nutrition programs to help seniors age in place. Everyone
is welcome.
Michael Feinstein, CEO
JUNE 2012
My disappointment is in the extent to which we engage
in tikkun olam. Yes, each year our JCC Maccabi athletes
participate in a “day of caring and sharing,” Camp JCC
has its new Mitzvah Corps social action camp program,
and we organize projects for Montgomery County’s MLK
Day of Service and Federation’s Good Deeds Day. These
are all important programs but
they do not rise to the level of an
ongoing commitment to social
action that makes our community,
our county and our world a better
place. Avaluesodeeplyheldbyour
Board and by the American Jewish
community should play a bigger
role in the daily life of the JCCGW,
and this will be a key initiative as
we move forward. I hope that I can
count on you to volunteer as we
increase our efforts in tikkun olam.
The survey also looked at which qualities are most
important to the respondents’ Jewish identity. Almost
50% of American Jews identified a commitment to social
equality, 20% cited support for Israel and 17% mentioned
religious observance. Cultural heritage/tradition and
general values did not register significantly. Our JCC’s
commitment to connecting our community to the people,
history, culture and land of Israel clearly puts us out in
front of the Jewish community at large. To that end, we
have a young shlicha (Israeli emissary) on staff to provide
Israel education and bring Israel to life throughout the
JCCGW and the community. We also offer a wide array
of Israeli films, music and cultural programs and will soon
be sponsoring trips to Israel and rolling out an exchange
program for teens with the community centers in our
Partnership Together (a program of the Jewish Agency for
Israel that partners Jewish communities around the world
with Israeli communities) sister city, Beit Shemesh.
Our own benchmarking participant survey shows
increases in the numbers of Jewish and non-Jewish
respondents who say that we have helped them gain a
better understanding of (1) the state of Israel, its people
and culture, and (2) the complexity of the Middle East
today. The positive impact on non-Jewish members of
the community is particularly noticeable and gratifying.
Over the long term, our goal is that a connection to Israel
will increasingly be cited as a key component of Jewish
identity in our community.
In comparing the values survey to what we do, we see
that in some areas we walk the talk; in the area of tikkun
olam we are not yet there; and with regard to making
Israel as a key component of Jewish identity, it appears
thatweareleadingtheway. Yoursuggestionsonhowwe
can better live our values are encouraged and welcome.
Please let me know what you think by emailing me at
mfeinstein@jccgw.org.
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