As we approach Presidents’ Day, a time to reflect on leadership and service, we’re reminded that those who guide our community carry extraordinary responsibility.
Especially today.
We know all too well that we're living through a period of deep polarization. And the challenges confronting our community are greater than they’ve been in most of our lifetimes.
It’s precisely in periods like this that we most look to our leaders and communal professionals for guidance: Rabbis who provide spiritual grounding in the face of fear and fracture. Nonprofit executives who navigate shifting government funding, helping more people with fewer resources. Educators who help young people develop their Jewish identity and foster connections to Israel. Social workers and psychologists who guide individuals and families through trauma. Fundraisers who raise the resources that enable this critical work.
The tasks at hand are daunting.
Against this backdrop, and largely under the radar, UJA has long been focused on cultivating Jewish communal leadership across every age and stage of development.
We support a highly diverse group of early-career professionals as they build foundational skills. We start out by introducing undergraduates to the Jewish communal space through paid internships. Then we invest in emerging leaders and experienced managers. And we provide senior executives and CEOs with advanced learning and coaching. You can learn about professional development opportunities here.
As the programs are usually cohort-based, participants form lasting professional connections that often have the additional benefit of building relationships and trust across the denominational and political spectrum.
We also operate a graduate fellowship program, which offers scholarships for professionals pursuing graduate degrees in fields ranging from public administration and Jewish education to social work and rabbinic studies. Since the program began, nearly 700 professionals have received support to deepen their knowledge.
The impact of these investments is anything but abstract.
Just down the hall from me works a former scholarship recipient who began at UJA as a fundraising intern. With our support, she went on to earn a master’s in public administration along with a degree in Hebrew and Judaic studies. Today, she serves as my chief of staff — a trusted thought partner who helps translate strategy into action every day.
Another UJA professional began as a UJA-funded intern when she was 19 years old. She’ll tell you, proudly, that this experience led her to build a career in the Jewish communal world. Currently a planning associate in our Jewish Life department, with the support of UJA’s graduate fellowship program, she’s pursuing a dual graduate degree, an MPA and a master’s in Judaic studies.
At least two senior executives from our nonprofit network were once graduate school scholarship recipients and are now participating in advanced UJA executive learning programs. And they are only a few among many.
More broadly, the people who become Jewish communal professionals do so out of a deep sense of mission and purpose. No one enters these fields for the financial rewards. And yet as we know, communal professionals play an indispensable role in our lives. They are the helpers and carers. The strategists and organizers. The visionaries and mobilizers. The ones who are there for us at the most challenging and painful moments in our lives. Teaching our children. Holding our parents’ hands when we can’t. Guiding our community through the unprecedented moments we never saw coming.
No series of programs will fully address the need. But investing in people who want to dedicate their lives to our community is one of the most consequential things we can do.
Equally important, for those who feel called to this work, talk to us. Know that you will be supported and valued, with opportunities to grow.
Our goal — and our hope — is this: that in these turbulent times, we are helping to develop confident and visionary professionals, equipped to tackle the challenges of today and tomorrow.
Leaders ready to lead.
Shabbat shalom