Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs (JCFA)

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The Impact of Changing Issues on Federations and Their Structures

October 30, 1995

On the occasion of the century of the federation movement, let us look at the primary focus of the federation system twenty years ago when its power was at its peak, and compare the issues that preoccupied the federation movement then with those confronting federations today. This will provide a context to identify some of the more subtle issues at work in federations which guide or limit the governance process. It is my premise that federations have been excellent at responding to crises which have confronted Jews that were generated from outside of Jewish life. This crisis-oriented philosophy has permeated much of Jewish life and Jews' psyches.

The Federations Step Forward

October 20, 1995

Although its history as a Jewish community extends back to 1654, Jewish America was to all intents and purposes a colony of European Jewry until the nineteenth century, and was a dependency even longer. The combination of events and self-organization transformed it to be the dominant Jewish community for much of the twentieth century and the dominant diaspora community still. The federation movement became the keystone to that self-organization early, before it was recognized as such.

The Federation Movement in Three Contexts: American Jewry, the Jewish Political Tradition, and Modernity

October 20, 1995

The American Jewish community, the first fully emancipated Jewish community, is entirely a product of the modern epoch. As such it is in most respects a model of what Jewish life has become or is becoming for all but a handful of Jews in the world: based on the voluntary commitment, through a variety of paths, of those individuals who care to be Jewish, few of whom feel obligated or compelled.

The American Jewish Community Turns to the States: The Springfield Office of the Jewish Federations of Illinois

February 21, 1988

Israeli Emigres and the New York Federation: A Case Study in Ambivalent Policy Making for “Jewish Communal Deviants”

June 19, 1984

Federation Allocations for Jewish Education and Community Centers: A Comparison

November 24, 1983