Taking on changes

Being Jewish in an open society

LORI EPPSTEIN
Jewish Bulletin of Northern California
and LOU HIRSH
Managing Editor

After nearly 50 years in the public arena, the mission of Jewish community relations councils across the nation has come full circle. Once devoted to defending against anti-Semitism and opening Soviet borders to oppressed Jews, the councils now have refocused on their earlier goals of helping Jews define themselves - both as Americans and Jews, says Lawrence Rubin, executive vice chairman of the councils' umbrella agency, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs.

He says the modern-day question "What does it mean to be Jewish in an open society?" isn't too different from the driving question that followed Jewish immigration to the United States: "How does one become an American while still being Jewish?"

While the context is vastly different, the balancing act of maintaining dual identities is just as problematic for Jews today as it was before World War I. That's why the JCPA, comprised of 135 member agencies including the community relations council in Phoenix, has been steadfast in analyzing both Jewish and American public policy concerns.

In the Valley, the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix's Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) has the job of taking the pulse of the community on key public policy issues, then making local views known to legislators, the media and key civic and religious leaders.

Tami Schultz, director of the Phoenix JCRC, says that as the United States has moved to give financial and political assistance to the state of Israel, and as Jews in the former Soviet Union and elsewhere have gained political freedoms, this has enabled Jewish community-relations councils such as the Valley's to focus on national and state issues that have a direct impact on local residents.

The Phoenix JCRC in recent years has been increasingly focused on ensuring that the needs of local social service agencies are being met. Sometimes, says Schultz, it means playing a watchdog role, to make sure federal or state legislation does not negatively impact the work of agencies that help immigrants, the unemployed and others in need within the Jewish community.

While policy issues remain the lead priority, the council also is trying to assist with the federation's overall goal of building Jewish identity within the community. Mark Tynan, chairman of the Phoenix JCRC, says this needs to be accomplished foremost by focusing on young people, by stressing increased education, Jewish summer camp participation and youth trips to Israel.

"If we don't have a vital Jewish community, all those other things we care about will no longer exist," he notes.

While issues such as anti-Semitism and immigration are still important to the JCRC, the survival and continuity of the Jewish community are the bigger issues in the long run, says Tynan. In addition to boosting identity through education, Tynan says the JCRC is also focused on protecting religious rights - making sure, for example, that organized prayer is not allowed to take place in public schools, and helping and urging schools to avoid scheduling important events on Jewish holidays. (The council publishes a five-year calendar of Jewish holidays that is distributed to local school districts, and Tynan says most district officials are gracious in responding to concerns about schedule conflicts.)

Schultz says an issue in the coming months will be ensuring that charter schools maintain the same standards for separation of church and state that apply to public school districts.

Schultz adds that the JCRC is also monitoring federal proposals regarding "charitable choice" that would allow federal dollars to go toward religious organizations that carry out social-service functions. This too raises church-state separation concerns, she says.

"When you distribute public money to religious organizations, you can't be sure that the money is going to be spent on the programs it was intended for."

The JCRC's positions also reflect a lack of consensus on some issues. For example, Tynan says the council has taken no official stand on the subject of school vouchers because the Phoenix Jewish community, reflecting the situation for Jews nationwide, does not agree on whether to support state and federal programs that would, in effect, subsidize religious instruction.

Members of the national JCPA came face to face this year with the ongoing paradox regarding school vouchers. Committed to the merits of public education, the JCPA has historically opposed vouchers. But with growing sentiment that day schools are one of the best cures for assimilation, the group decided to re-evaluate its position, Rubin says.

Advocates of vouchers want the federal government to turn over education dollars to private schools, whose families pay tax dollars for public schools. While a voucher system would make Jewish day school education more affordable for families, some argue that the siphoning of dollars from public schools would sabotage public education for the neediest Americans.

And many Jews are loyal to the public school system, which educated their immigrant parents and grandparents. Also, some opponents worry that the voucher system could also lead to government control over religious, private schools.

In the end, the JCPA reaffirmed its opposition to school vouchers. The members agreed that they could be devoted to advancing Jewish education while, at the same time, maintaining their commitment to national interests such as the separation between church and state.

"The Jewish values driving (our mission) remain the same," even though the focus of the JCPA has changed from generation to generation, Rubin says. Most JCPA position statements are sent to U.S. and Israeli policy-makers. Nevertheless, Rubin says "there is more of a sense today that the federal government is not necessarily the solution to our society's problems."

Members of the JCPA have had more success effecting change through local initiatives, public-private partnerships and working with local municipalities, Rubin says.

Promoting involvement
Since there is local disagreement on vouchers as the best way to strengthen Jewish learning and involvement, Tynan says the Valley's JCRC, like the federation as a whole, is dedicated to finding other ways to promote participation in the Jewish community, especially by newcomers to the area.

Tynan notes that Southwest Jewish communities face the same challenges posed by assimilation as are being seen in communities of the Northwest. He says intermarriage rates are similar in both regions - more than 70 percent, compared to the national average of just over 50 percent - because those parts of the country have high numbers of young transplants from other areas. Those people in general find it difficult to become involved in the Jewish community at their new home when they still feel ties to the community of the hometowns where they were raised.

Tynan says the Phoenix federation is ahead of other communities in addressing these problems and forming long-term plans to address them. The JCRC and federation are looking to find ways to get those new people involved from the start, and build on their involvement. "As a community, we've got to give these new people a chance to participate in something Jewish, so there's a foothold there."

This ties in to preserving the community for the long term, Tynan says. "We're concerned not only about our own Jewishness, but we want to make sure our grandchildren live a Jewish life," he says, adding that the JCRC and the federation in general will remain committed to outreach efforts and "making a good case to Jews as well as non-Jews" that this is a strong community.

"Different people have different triggers to get them involved. If we can do it through political programs or school issues or whatever, we'll do what we can to make people feel like they're a part of this community." Tynan says plans in the works for a new community center campus will be a step in the direction of unifying the community.

Looking beyond the Valley
While strengthening the community from the inside remains a priority for the JCRC, issues that go beyond the Valley are also key concerns for the council. Schultz says the JCRC is looking, for example, at addressing issues relating to the upcoming U.S. Census for 2000. In the past, there have been concerns that minorities are undercounted in the census. Also in the next year, Schultz says, the council will be monitoring federal proposals to restore religious liberties in various aspects of society, including in the workplace, following recent court decisions.

The Phoenix JCRC may also be addressing improvements in services to domestic violence victims, and will be keeping an eye on campaign reform changes on the way with the recent passage of state Proposition 200, calling for changes in the way campaigns are funded.

While the focus has shifted to national and community concerns in recent years, Schultz says keeping Valley residents informed about Israel remains a priority. For example, after last week's terrorist bombing at the central market in Jerusalem, Schultz issued a press release expressing the JCRC and federation's outrage over the attack.

"It is the firm belief of the JCRC, and the clearly expressed belief of the State of Israel and that of the United States, that the Palestinian Authority must be more active in preventing terrorist attacks in the region," Schultz said in the release.

Schultz says the council can serve as an important local conduit of information and awareness on what is happening in the Middle East.

"We have a pro-Israel congress, so it allows us to focus on domestic issues. But people still need to be educated about what's going on in Israel," Schultz says.

On the national JCPA's domestic plate for the next two years will be one of the biggest endeavors of the organization's public policy efforts.

"We will be looking at issues of race, gender and public policy," says Rubin, adding that reports and polls about the ambivalence the Jewish community has on affirmative action programs have prompted JCPA leaders to take up the subject for discussion.

"As long as we keep talking about it, that's good," Rubin says. "That's a Jewish discussion."shift focus of advocacy work

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