Achievements of C.J.F.W.F. Assembly for Communities Outlined

The achievements of the General Assembly of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds, which met here for five days, were outlined by Philip Bernstein, CJFWF executive director, in a summary which emphasized that the session marked “another turning point” for the federations throughout the country.

“We ventured beyond the immediate to the long range,” Mr. Bernstein said. “We began to add the vision of a decade to the usual perspective of a single year; we began to explore not only where we are pushed to go by the force of events, but where we seek to go. We began to think seriously about aspirations and goals and basic purpose.

“We did this in several dimension: in what we must do within the Jewish community, by Jewish agencies, to overcome the pathologies — the problems that trouble us. We examined this in terms of the needs locally in our communities, nationally and overseas. We examined it in terms of what we would help accomplish as part of the larger society, through non-sectarian organizations and through Government. And beyond our pathologies we examined what we would do to build an enlightened and vigorous Jewish community that will enrich the lives of its members. We recognized that:

“1. Short-range planning must be guided by long-range goals.

“2. Annual budget reviews should be sharpened through guidelines developed in five to ten-year financial plans.

“3. Traditional Federation boundaries of responsibilities may have to be redefined to reflect new concerns.

“4. Increased government funds provide new opportunities to meet unmet needs of the past, emerging needs of the future, and to explore new areas where voluntary agencies can make special contributions. But we must be selective in accepting government funds so that as Jewish agencies we do not attenuate special Jewish purposes.

“5. The people using our services are likely to change. They will be people with more complex needs, more resources to purchase services, more sophisticated ideas as to what services they believe will be helpful, with more opportunities to select what they want among sectarian and non-sectarian resources.”

DISCUSSIONS ON ISRAEL STRESSED NEED OF INTENSIFIED AID

The discussions on needs in Israel, Mr. Bernstein pointed out, dealt with unemployment and poverty there — the inadequacy of the public assistance and work relief payments, and the need for programs in depth that will rehabilitate people and bring them to self-support through vocational training, better welfare services and other measures.

“In the discussions dealing with building Jewish life constructively here at home, we were able to move from the previous level of general challenges to the consideration of specific recommendations presented by our Council’s National Committee on Federation Planning for Jewish Education, established as a result of the Assembly’s action a year ago,” Mr. Bernstein stated. “The Committee report dealt with the responsibilities which communities as a whole should carry in this field, and with the most appropriate and effective use of communal funds for these purposes.”

The Committee submitted 28 specific proposals to obtain quality teachers, administrators and specialists, and eight related recommendations on post-elementary education. “The Committee will follow up in helping communities to consider and act on the recommendations most closely fitting their own needs, and will address itself to other elements of Federation responsibility in this field,” the CJFWF executive director emphasized. He added that the key is that progress will not come from exhortation alone, but must come from concrete, well-defined programs.

INVOLVEMENT OF NEXT GENERATION IN JEWISH RESPONSIBILITY

A number of the Assembly discussions dealt with the involvement of the next generation in Jewish responsibility. The emphasis was on opportunities for genuine participation by young people in communal services at all levels, in line with their individual qualifications — on the boards of Federations and their agencies, on committees, as volunteers in year-round services, in fund raising and in other ways.

“Running through all of the discussions was the urgent need for priority attention to overcome the critical staff shortages of Jewish agencies across the country,” Mr. Bernstein noted. “This problem will require most urgent action by Federation boards, committees and foremost lay leadership to attract the highest quality of young men and women to Jewish communal service. This applies to welfare, health, education and the rabbinate.

“It will demand leadership to obtain personnel specifically for Jewish federations and welfare funds and for the other Jewish services; and beyond that, to help obtain the Federal legislation which is indispensable for augmenting the university facilities, faculties, and field training to enlarge the entire pool of communal workers, of which the Jewish personnel are a part,” Mr. Bernstein stressed.