The American Jewish community is losing some of its best future potential leaders because it emphasizes affluence rather than education and leadership ability, Stephen Blank, of Pittsburgh, international president of Alep Zadik Aleph–B’nai B’rith youth organization–said today in an address opening the 36th annual convention of the organization here.
“Money talks, and some of our finest young Jews are turned away from active communal interests and participation because of this practice in the Jewish community,” the 20-year-old president of the world’s largest Jewish youth organization stated. “In a democratic society,” he said, “leadership should be chosen on the basis of character, knowledge and education, rather than on financial standing alone.” However, he added, “persons of wealth are needed, and should be wanted in positions of leadership, provided they also have other qualifications.”
The youth leader’s remedy is a stepped-up program of leadership training for young people, with heavy emphasis on learning more about Judaism and about how the organized Jewish community operates. “As young Jews interested in the future of the Jewish community, we must learn all that we can about it; its goals, conflicts, problems, the history of its development, and an analysis of current trends,” Blank said.
In another part of his address, Blank, who recently returned from a trip to Israel, scored young Jews who fear having the “dual loyalty” label hung on them when they express sincere interest in Israel’s welfare. “As Jews, our relationship to Israel is unlike that which we enjoy with other nations. We cannot pretend there is no difference. One need not go there to understand this,” he said.
“This, however, in no way interferes with loyalty to our homeland, loyalty is not physical in relationship to a land or person. Loyalty relates to certain ideals. To me, both Israel and the United States embody the same ideals. If either nation fails to uphold these ideals, my own serse of loyalty demands that I protest. No Jew should be ashamed to harbor such sentiment.”
Some 175 delegates from four countries–the United States, Canada, Great Britain and Israel–are attending the six-day parley. In addition, 175 teenage girls–delegates to the 15th annual international convention of B’nai B’rith girls–sister organization of Aleph Zadik Aleph–convened here today for a separate but concurrent six-day convention.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
