Martin Citrin, the outgoing president of the Council of Jewish Federations, said here last Saturday night that the Federations must reassess “our historical ways of doing business” in order to meet the challenges and dangers facing North American Jewry and Israel.
Citrin was to have delivered his address at the opening plenary last Wednesday nigh, but he adjourned the session before it began following a prolonged boisterous demonstration by 40 young people on behalf of Ethiopian Jewry. (See full story in the November 16 Bulletin.)
Shoshana Cardin of Baltimore, who was born in Tel Aviv and is currently the foremost volunteer of the Baltimore Jewish community, was unanimously elected president of the CJF. She became the first woman president in the 52-year history of the CJF.
Addressing more than 2,000 community leaders from the United States and Canada, visitors from abroad and guests attending the 53rd General Assembly of the CJF, Citrin said that “we are moving into the time when more and more we have to be related and respond to the issues in our lives on behalf of being one national, or if you will, one continental North American Jewish community.”
OLD WAY OF DOING BUSINESS IS OBSOLETE
He noted that there must be more emphasis on “the collective interests of the North American Jewish community.” This, Citrin said, “will mean a new look at things like pooling our resources, creating new linkages, gearing up to react to crisis, streamlining and reallocating our human and financial resources on the basis of national and international priorities to a greater extent than ever before.”
Citrin, who was presenting his “thoughts and perspectives on the major goals of our North American Jewish community” after three years in office, made it clear that the old way of doing business — zealously guarding “local autonomy in setting priorities and objectives” — is no longer adequate to meet current and developing problems and opportunities.
Citrin listed four major developments which underline and determine “our total Jewish communities’ changing needs and priorities:
* “Today, 80 nations are ranged against us — and make no mistake — they are against us as Jews and not just those of us who live in Israel.”
* “Today, one of the two world superpowers stands opposed to everything our people stand for.”
* “Today, the position of influence and affluence that our people have achieved in these and other free nations is fuel, on the one hand, for those who seek to curb or threaten our hopes, and on the other hand, the sun of our success here has melted the mortar of adversity that bound us together in the past and made us strong and unified us.”
* “But today also — that same influence and affluence increases our capacity to deal with our adversaries and exploit our opportunities.”
As a result, Citrin stated, “we cannot deal with the enemies of our people and the enemies of our nation of Israel, or with the in-gathering of our Jewish exiles, or the uplifting of our disadvantaged, or the spiritual and cultural enrichment of our people — each Federation unto itself.” The former local Federation autonomy in setting priorities and objectives has become absolete, he said.
“No responsible Federation leader would say that his or her own Federation could begin to deal adequately with building meaningful relationships with Israel and effective community relations … totally within the borders of that community and without support, assistance and involvement with other Federations throughout North America and other Jews throughout our countries and continents and indeed the world,” Citrin declared.
He emphasized that he was not calling for an end to “our pluralistic society, or the merger of all Jewish institutions and organizations, but rather a recognition and understanding of this subtle, yet critical change in the dynamic of how we must work together in the future as opposed to how we have worked together in the past.”
Citrin underscored that the time has come “when each responsible member of our North American Jewish community must realize our essential interdependence and must come to grips with what this means to us in our local Federations and in our national organizations.”
FOUR GOALS OF NORTH AMERICAN JEWRY
He listed “four great goals of our North American Jewish community, four pillars of purpose that are the foundation of our work together.” These are:
* “To build and strengthen the religious and cultural values of our tradition (to) insure our continuity in the generations ahead.”
* “To make our Jewish community an ever more positive force for peace and prosperity for our country, and justice, opportunity and fulfillment for all who live there.”
* “To strive for freedom from oppression, bondage, ignorance and want for Jews everywhere — an end to Jewish prisoners, whether economic prisoners or political prisoners, whether in Odessa or Addis Ababa, whether in Teheran, Hatikva or The Bronx.”
* “Our goal, or more accurately stated, our prayer, our resolve is to see a safe, secure, flourishing State of Israel.”
Citrin declared that “There are obviously shadings of difference among us on the interpretation of these goals, but we all face generally in the same direction on these major concerns and we all march — if not to the same tune, at least to the same theme in our journey to hoped-for realization of these aspirations.”
CARDIN HAS RICH AND VARIED BACKGROUND
Cardin was instrumental in the planning of the General Assembly serving as the chairman of the program committee. In addition, she currently serves CJF as the chairman of its human resources development committee. In Baltimore, she is chairman of the Board of her local Jewish Federation, the Associated Charities and Welfare Fund.
The recipient of a Certificate of Distinguished Citizenship from the State of Maryland in 1979, Cardin was inducted into the Maryland Jewish Hall of Fame in the same year. She is the author of several publications, including, “Women: Where Credit is Due” and “Decade of Progress,” both written for the Maryland Commission for Women.
A graduate of the University of California at Los Angeles, Cardin was a Fellow in Organizational and Community Development at Johns Hopkins University in 1976-77 and received her Masters Degree in Planning and Administration from Antioch University in 1979.
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.
