Rolling Up Their Jewish Sleeves

By GARY ROSENBLATT

Think of them, if you will, as The Youngers of Zion.

They are about 160 men and women ranging in age from their early 20s to mid-40s, from the United States, Israel and 16 other countries who, calling themselves Kol Dor, “the voice of a generation,” are bound by a shared commitment to create what they see as a new form of Jewish organization, global in scope and dedicated to peoplehood, values and responsibility.

Formed two years ago as an outgrowth of a UJA - Federation of New York commission, the group is having its first major initiative: dedicating the Hebrew month of Cheshvan (Nov. 3-Dec.1 this year) as Jewish Social Action Month around the world. It is encouraging people to initiate acts of social justice and gemilut chasidim (kindness).

Kol Dor has lined up declarations of support from a number of dignitaries, including the chief rabbis of Israel and several other countries, as well as partnerships with a range of synagogues, organizations and youth movements, and dozens of educational initiatives promoting the project.

Yossi Abramowitz, 41, publisher of Jewish Family & Life!, a group of print and on-line publications, is one of three co-chairs of Kol Dor. He says the group has “a new vision” about how to get things done and inspire younger people by promoting Jewish unity and social justice, themes that resonate with a new generation in terms of ideology and marketing.

“We’re not waiting for the establishment organizations to come up with new models,” he said in an interview the other day, “we’re creating them ourselves,” and with little money and a grassroots rather than top-down approach.

Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) and Rep. Steve Israel (D-L.I.) were scheduled to host a reception on Capitol Hill this week to launch Jewish Social Action Month, and a closing ceremony at the end of the month is planned at Beit Hanassi, the home of the president of Israel in Jerusalem.

The fact that the lay-driven group has managed to engage leaders in the Knesset, Congress and other national parliaments in support of its activities makes Kol Dor worth watching, not only for what it is doing but how it goes about it. The emphasis is on peers working together on an international level, concerned less with religious and political ideology than promoting shared Jewish principles.

Perhaps this style will represent a bridge between the veteran Jewish organizations and a younger generation searching for values and meaning but turned off to old models of communal affiliation, with their complex bureaucracy and chain of command.

So while many Jewish organizations bemoan the lack of youthful participation — a new survey finds that the affiliation rate for young Jewish couples in San Francisco is 1 percent — Kol Dor’s early buzz suggests that even though younger people may not want to join a synagogue or federation, that doesn’t mean they don’t care about expressing their Jewish values in other ways.

Rebecca Lieberman, 36, a cultural consultant in New York and daughter of the Connecticut senator, said she became involved in Kol Dor because of the rapport she felt with other members at the founding conference in Sde Boker, Israel, in 2004, and identified with the group’s global, action-oriented perspective.

“It’s exciting to feel a sense of Jewish peoplehood around the world,” she said, noting that she had received an e-mail the day we spoke from a colleague in Mexico describing plans there for the upcoming social action month.

“Seeing people engage voluntarily, and with such enthusiasm about creating a new Jewish world is of enormous appeal to me,” said Lieberman, who had no previous affiliation with any Jewish organizations.

Laurie Blitzer, a management consultant in New York and one of the original American members of Kol Dor, said the group offers young leaders the rare opportunity to work together as peers on an international level.

“We are aspiring to shape ourselves as a Jewish organization for the 21st century,” she said, with members using video conferencing and other high-tech efforts to be in touch with each other.

Blitzer said she has never been involved with a Jewish organization “that is so absent hierarchy and internal politics.”

She and other members said one challenge was to work with established Jewish organizations when possible, so as not to duplicate activities, while making it clear to these organizations that Kol Dor aims to be different.

“We’ve been lucky to be able to stand for change and still get support from the organized community,” Blitzer said. “But it’s like walking a tightrope.”

A number of establishment organizations and philanthropies have been welcoming of Kol Dor, eager (if not desperate) to be involved with young leaders displaying energy and commitment, even if there is an implicit threat to the Jewish organizational status quo.

Eric Levine, vice president of the United Jewish Communities’ Renaissance and Renewal Pillar, noted that “as UJC thinks about non-establishment ways of engaging young people, Kol Dor’s emphasis on social action and justice resonated with us.” UJC, he said, has offered support and hopes to partner more with the group in the future.

It will be instructive to see how Kol Dor progresses, trying to balance its desire for growth with its plan to recruit new members individually and strategically, and whether it can sustain its energy and focus over time. For now, though, it represents a breath of fresh air in Jewish life and should be watched, and nurtured, as a possible model for the future.