GUEST VOICE: We have no choice but to care for each other

Morris Zbar

There’s a well-known joke which, paraphrased, asserts that if you ask two Jews a question, you’re likely to receive at least three opinions.

The truth is that while we all have our opinions, and while we, as Jews, certainly don’t agree on everything, the 2014 General Assembly conference of the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), which recently wrapped up in suburban Washington, D.C., stressed the importance of coming together for one another, despite our differences.

Or, as one of the keynote speakers, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Britain’s former chief rabbi and a highlight of the event, said during his stirring plenary address, “I don’t need you to agree with each other. I need you to care about one another!”

And in today’s world, with Israel again in crisis, more than 20,000 Ukrainian Jews in the line of fire; a virulent resurgence of anti-Semitism in eastern Europe, Jews being attacked on the streets of France, and a new adaptation of the old virus that sees anti-Semitism camouflaged as anti-Israelism or anti-Zionism, do we really have a choice?

Combine these compelling and frightening global realities with the needs and challenges specific to our own communities and it’s vital that we put aside our differences – petty or not – and focus on the one thing that truly matters, and that is the well-being of the Jewish People, regardless of where they reside.

As president and CEO of UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, I was proud to participate in this important event, the pre-eminent leadership retreat for federation volunteer leaders and professionals from across North America and around the world. It is an event that reaffirmed what I had already known: that the Jewish federation system is unique and vital for a number of reasons, most notably for its ability to look at the whole picture, across the board, across the Diaspora and across the globe.

To that end, the cadre of engaging, inspiring speakers whom I had the pleasure of hearing – from leaders in politics and journalism to religion, the arts and the media – were not only there to entertain, but to help us think outside the box in new and dynamic ways about matters that are important to not only to Toronto’s Jewish community, but to Jewish communities in more than 70 other countries across the globe, all of which share commonalities unique to being Jewish in today’s often challenging climate.

There were a number of other highlights during the conference, dubbed “The World is Our Backyard”, including an address by U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden, who spoke of President Barack Obma’s “iron-clad” commitment to Israel’s security and even took a moment to reminisce about the time he took his children to where the Dachau concentration camp once stood as a lesson about what he called the “incredible resilience and indomitable nature of the human spirit.”

We heard from Jon Medved, a leading Israeli venture capitalist about the role of technology in creating the next generation of Jewish communities. Of course, with more than 3,000 high-tech companies and start-ups, Israel has the highest concentration of hi-tech companies in the world, apart from Silicon Valley, so this wasn’t a new message, but it was still nice to hear.

It was a wonderful experience being with 3,000 other people who are all committed to improving Jewish lives across the globe. We shmoozed, we ate, we discussed, we discovered, we listened and, most importantly, we learned that, like each of you, those of us who work day in and day out in the business of Jewish philanthropy have the ability to effect meaningful change in Jewish life when we work together for one common goal.

After all, UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, like all Jewish federations, touches more Jewish lives than any other Jewish organization, and, with some 200,000 individuals living here, in our own backyard, it’s a responsibility that we don’t take lightly.

 Morris Zbar is president and CEO of UJA Federation of Greater Toronto.