The United Jewish Appeal announced today the establishment of a National Young Leadership Council with a membership of 6,500 drawn from 5,000 communities throughout the country as a permanent part of its regular campaign structure. The announcement was made at a press conference by Alan Sagner of Newark, N. J., who is serving as national chairman of the new group’s governing body, a 73-member Young Leadership Cabinet.
In introducing Mr. Sagner, Rabbi Herbert A. Friedman, UJA executive vice-chairman, said the development of the Young Leadership Cabinet stemmed from a recognition that the new Jewish generation was an American-born and American-oriented generation which spoke an American language frequently untouched by any association with the historic milieu of the East European background of their parents.
“We must learn to speak their language,” Rabbi Friedman said. He stressed that the UJA was, in terms of adult education, the most important educational instrument in the American Jewish community, “certainly in regard to Israel.” This instrument, he said, and the fund-raising activities of the UJA, was passing into the hands of the younger generation and if its members were not imbued with Jewish knowledge and Jewish values, they would be leaders without adequate backgrounds.
“An organization has a responsibility to work hard to mold its future leaders and not to depend on chance for those leaders,” Rabbi Friedman emphasized. “That is the meaning of the Young Leadership Cabinet.
NEW GROUP TO ‘SELL’ U. J. A. TO PRESENT GENERATION OF U. S. JEWS
Mr. Sagner, who is serving his second term as general chairman of the United Jewish Appeal of Essex County, described the work of the new group as that of “selling the UJA to the present generation of American Jews” and he said the effort was based on appeals to reason rather than to emotion.
“We are competing not only for dollars but also for the upcoming leadership,” he said. “Many able young Jews are being attracted to secondary Jewish and general causes and lost to Jewish communal leadership for lack of enough effort to attract them to the aid of their people.”
Mr. Sagner pointed out that when young Jews became involved in the work of UJA and made first hand visits to Europe and Israel, they returned with a better sense of priorities as between local Jewish causes and UJA needs. “We expect our young leaders to be active at the local Jewish level and also to represent the UJA effectively at the conference allocation table when the time comes to distribute the funds raised largely on the story of the needs of Jews overseas presented through the UJA,” he stated.
Rabbi Friedman presented a “profile” of the membership of the Young Leadership Cabinet. He said the average age of the members was 36 to 37. On the average, each member had one university or college degree. The majority were children of American born Jews. Most of them were in business, including selling, merchandising, construction. Other professions represented included insurance, banking and law and some engineers and other professional men.
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.
