Scott Shay

Scott Shay is a banker. He is the Chairman of the Board of Signature Bank of New York and is active in private equity investments through Shay Ventures LLC. Shay was previously a partner and a co-founder of Hyperion Partners, and served for eight years as a member of the board of Bank Hapoalim.

But Shay is also heavily involved in Jewish causes: He serves as a board member of the UJA - Jewish Federation of New York, the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education and the Jewish Agency for Israel. He is immediate past chair of the Commission on Jewish Identity and Renewal of UJA-Jewish Federation. He is also a member of the Birthright Israel Steering Committee and is chair of The Fund for Jewish Education.

With Shay, we will discuss his recently published book: Getting our Groove Back: How To Energize American Jewry in which he "examines the current state and future prospects of American Jewry and finds a Jewish community that is dangerously adrift and on an overall downward trajectory, due to a community-wide lack of shared purpose, focus, and mutual concern."

Readers can send questions to rosnersdomain@haaretz.co.il.

Dear Scott,

You suggest "to examine every Jewish organization once a decade to see if it has outlived its usefulness" and, as we all know, most of them aren't necessary, but they will never admit it, because they want to keep their jobs.

So can you tell us please, who do you think are the organizations that are still useful?

All the best,

Joel Brondwood, NJ

Dear Joel,

Wow, you want to make sure that I can never eat lunch in this town again!

Seriously, there is no doubt that there are too many Jewish organizations purporting to do the same exact thing but accomplishing too little and diverting resources that could more profitably be invested to ensure our shared Jewish future. In Chapter 7, I do mention some names and types of entities that are in some cases not only poor users of communal funds but also outright counter-productive.

Some basic governance steps would surely help. Chief lay people should have terms of no more than 4 years. Board members should have terms of no more than a decade. The idea of a once a decade thorough internal evaluation is not so far fetched. UJA-Federation of New York now requires a review of each of each agency it supports every four years. Through this process many agencies have been 'encouraged' to merge or to dissolve. More and more foundations are either being set up to spend down all of their assets within a set period of time to prevent incumbency/non-accountability disease.

The problem is that many other generally supported groups become primarily focused on their own self sustenance and thereby use scarce communal resources inefficiently. Would 10% of American Jewry know the difference if the American Jewish Congress and the American Jewish Committee merged together? Each AJC represents itself as representing American Jewry to the US public and to foreign governments. Without naming other names there are unfortunately scores of other entities in organized Jewish communal life that are simply duplicative. I think it is up to donors to encourage creative destruction or renewal of entities that have become tired or obsolete. Instead, what happens is that the old entities remain and new ones are formed to take on new issues.

This phenomena is the reason that I added the notion of review and creative destruction to one of the key planks for Jewish renewal.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Shmuel Rosner for hosting me as his weekly guest. I also want to thank the many readers who responded with insightful questions. I am sure that all the good questions made it hard for Shmuel to choose the topic each day.

Finally, I would like to thank the many readers of Getting Our Groove Back who have reacted so favorably to the book. I am happy to announce that the book is already on its second printing.

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Purim Sameach,

Scott

Dear Scott,

I recently wrote a letter to our rabbi (conservative temple) asking him to speak about a very un-PC (politically correct) topic - intramarriage.

Our temple goes to all ends to bring intermarried people and gays and lesbians into the fold but does absolutely nothing to encourage Jews to marry Jews. It's a taboo subject at Shabbat sermons, High Holy Day sermons. He talks about nonsense instead of energizing the congregation to go out there and marry Jewish and to continue to have a Jewish people.

I think they're afraid to offend the people whose children went and intermarried. Well, I'm sorry, but if this trend continues and the rabbis are such cowards, they will be staring at a congregation full of intermarried people and lesbians and gays in the very near future and there won't be any straight, totally Jewish families looking back at them.

For thousands of years, Jews have managed to stay Jewish despite horrible consequences but this complacent and comfortable generation feels it's okay to trash that concept and the rabbis are their enablers.

How do we get our Rabbis, the temple boards, the federations and the JCCs to figure out it's their responsibility to energize the community so there can be real Jews left in the near future?

Paulina

Dear Paulina,

Unfortunately, I hear the same issue from many Jews in the pew. In the book, I suggest that the Jewish community declare a 10 year moratorium on political sermons and in their place ask rabbis to speak about the issues that are most important to our shared Jewish future.

We need our rabbis to talk about earlier marriage ages, about family size, about how family decisions are so important to Jewish demography and about giving our children a quality Jewish education. We need our rabbis to worry about their Hebrew schools and to work to fix them. We need our rabbis to encourage youth groups, Jewish camping opportunities and Israel for congregational teens and young adults.

I also suggest that congregations create new opportunities for adult Jewish learning. In a concept too large to discuss here I propose a new American minhag (tradition) to encourage bar/bat mitzvah renewal every 18 years after initial bar/bat mitzvah.

It has been found that over 70 percent of in-married Jewish families join a synagogue at some point. Most of these families leave after the children have had a bar/bat mitzvah. Synagogues desperately need new ways to connect with their congregants as the old ways are not working. Some congregational professionals get this while others do not.

If you live in a community where you have a choice of several synagogues I suggest you resign to join a different, more compelling congregation and tell your old synagogue board why you are doing so. Most organizations today try to have exit interviews with people who resign; synagogues rarely do this. So you have to take it upon yourself to be vocal for the good of the community. You should also try to get involved in your local federation to make Jewish renewal a top priority.

While it is sometimes difficult for federations to influence synagogues, federations can promote Jewish education and work to get every local teen and young adult to Israel. So be an activist and make it happen.

All the best,
Scott

Dear Scott,

I got a whole bunch of questions from readers following your last post. Here we go:

1. What are the most controversial ideas you have in the book? I didn't read it (yet) but maybe now I will.

Roni Brook, NY


Dear Shmuel,

Controversial points are generally in the eye of the beholder so different people find different points to which they take issue. The plank I have had the most response to is the notion of dramatically altering the concept of the Conservative Movement. The Conservative Movement lost over 2000 members per month over the 10 years from 1990 to 2000 based on the National Jewish Population Studies. This is the equivalent of one very large synagogue leaving the movement every month. The Conservative Movement needs to take dramatic action. I have proposed that the movement re-invent itself as an umbrella movement consisting of distinct mini-movements each with their own Law Committees. The new Conservative Movement would be united by 7 boundary principles that I detail in Chapter 10. For too long the movement has labored to reconcile the vast space between the Reform and Orthodox at one single point. The ultimate inconsistency of this approach was the decision by the single all embracing Conservative Law Committee to decide both that homosexual behavior was okay and that it was forbidden. It is okay to believe either position, but you can not believe both. As our sages said "These and those are the words of the living God, (but) the halakha is according to Beit Hillel."

Some have said that the bulk of the Conservatives will gradually migrate to the Reform Movement with a minority embracing Orthodoxy. This does not need to be the case if a re-invigorated leadership dramatically changes the course of the movement. The appointment of Arnie Eisen was a wonderful beginning; but it is only the first of what must be many steps.
Other proposals which have been controversial include the need to examine every Jewish organization once a decade to see if it has outlived its usefulness, creating a whole new way to Finance Day Schools, and, taking a new approach to patrilineal descent.


2. I agree that "The fundamental problem is that Judaism is not important enough for many to change their behaviors." The question is WHY?

Sara Amiti

For too many Jews who do not have a grounding in Jewish history and text, but rather have only what they learned from pre Bar/Bat Mitzvah Hebrew School, it is too frequently the case that there is nothing in their past that differentiates the importance of being Jewish from any other aspect of their modern identity. It is hard to put in a few words why it is important to be Jewish and why I am so worried about the potential for American Jewry to shrink to level where it becomes irrelevant to influence society for the better. I can say that I believe that American Jewry has been and is still a major force for good in America and the world. Jews innately feel that they must work toward the public good. In the current Congress there are 40 Jews who have devoted their careers to public service. Jews are well over represented in most charitable organizations. In one study I cited in the book, Jews, who comprise about 2 percent of the American population, were responsible for about 22 percent of the mega charitable gifts given during a 5 year period. (By the way over 90 percent of these donations were to general non-Jewish causes.) The list of Jewish cultural and medical contributions to American society can go on and on. Figuring out how each of us can be part of that is the first step toward an answer to this question.

3. Do you really believe that there's a way to make Hebrew school more appealing? I've been hearing people talk about it a lot, but have never seen one actually doing something about it.

Josh Eron

I am one of many that had a lousy Hebrew School experience. When I "graduated" Hebrew School I could barely decode simple Hebrew words, much less understand them. If American Jewry were to fail, future sociologists would probably place a good part of the blame on the idea of Hebrew School. omehow American Jewish parents felt that they could send their children to sub-standard Hebrew Schools for 4-6 hours a week and somehow they would come out as people who wanted to make Judaism or the Jewish People a core part of their identity.

The good news is that there have been Hebrew Schools that have been either re-invented or built from scratch that are positive places that can have good outcomes. In New York, UJA-Federation and the Experiment for Congregational Education have partnered to work with up to 50 congregations on re-imagining their schools. It is too early for a final evaluation but the first fruits are very positive. There are definitely some successful Hebrew Schools and I have had the pleasure of seeing them. But parents need to do due diligence before they send their children to just any Hebrew School. The decision should not be treated as less important than the decision as to where to send a child to secular school.
All the best, Scott


Dear Scott
Your "to do list" will probably anger some members of the community. You ask parents to "encourage man to marry earlier," to "start families earlier, and to" discuss with daughters the risk of pregnancy after 35." You also ask rabbis to "promote early marriage and larger families". Can such advice be practical with the younger Jewish generation? Aren't you going to alienate them by making them feel that your policy invades their privacy?

Best, Rosner

Dear Shmuel,
You are quite right that some of the planks in the book are controversial. Interestingly, after have spoken to a fair number of audiences this position surprisingly is less so. I think almost everyone intuitively understands that there are just too many Jewish young adults remaining single for too long. About 15 percent of Jewish women do not marry until they are at the end of their child bearing years. The median age that Jewish men marry has passed 35. If you net out the children of intermarried couples who are specifically not being raised as Jewish, you get a net fertility rate of 1.2. At that rate a typical population halves in about 45-50 years. Because we American Jews are so much older on average than Americans as a whole, our population will fall by 50 percent in less time.

I think that people basically understand these facts even if they do not know the precise figures or the pace. The fundamental problem is that Judaism is not important enough for many to change their behaviors. If it is important to Jewish parents to see their children marry Jews then they need to make sure that they have Jewish experiences such as camp, youth movements and Israel trips. If it is important for Jewish parents to see their children marry Jews then they need to be models for why being Jewish is important to the world and personally meaningful. We need to explain why it is important for us to be fruitful and multiply. In modernity, bearing children is the ultimate unselfish expression of our peoplehood. None of this happens by accident, yet many in the American Jewish community expect it to be so.

In my plank on child bearing, I do not call on American Jews to suddenly begin having 6-10 children families. Rather I ask couples to think about having one more child. Those who have 2 children should think about having 3 and those who want to have 3 might think about bringing a 4th child into the world. These kitchen table decisions are more crucial to the future of American Jewry than all of weighty decisions brought down by the rarified councils of the organized Jewish community.

Probably the most satisfying part of having written the book is from hearing from some readers that they have seriously considered having another child even though they had previously thought they were done. If that happens than all of the time writing the book was well worth it.

All the best, Scott


Dear Scott,

I'll start with a more general question in order to let the readers know what we're talking about. The subtitle to your book is "how to energize American Jewry" and your answer is 300 pages long, but for this dialog we need the shorter version. So let me ask just these two quick questions:

1. Why energize American Jewry?
2. Your three-most-important-steps for revitalizing Jewish America.

Best

Rosner


Dear Shmuel,

I passionately believe that American Jewry has been and is a force for tremendous good for world Jewry, for America, for Israel and the world. When American Jewry galvanizes itself there are few limits to what it can accomplish. The success of the Save Soviet Jewry movement which directly contributed to the demise of the communist monopoly on power in the former Soviet Union is but one example. This was followed by a massive financial effort by American Jewry to pay for a large chunk of the cost if the exodus and resettlement.

The same impulse leads American Jews to be at the forefront of social justice causes, medical research, cultural contributions and political involvement. The current Congress has 40 Jewish members.

By the same token, when American Jews were divided and, partially justifiably confused and subject to anti-Semitism themselves, they did not adequately galvanize themselves to publicize and protest the unfolding Holocaust in Europe. That is not to say American ''Jewry could have stopped the Holocaust but it is possible to imagine that they could have lobbied for the bombing of the concentration camps and the like.

I also passionately believe that American Jewry still possesses the strength to revitalize its purpose, passion and numbers. But in 25 years the shape of American Jewry could be quite different and its ability to be a force for good in the world could be quite diminished. So we need to act now.

In terms of what 3 items I would place first, I would initially plead we need all ten outlined in the book. I think a good place to start is with the first three planks. They are reinventing Hebrew schools, changing the financing of day schools so that 50 per cent of American Jewish children can attend day schools and unifying Birthright Israel, summer trips to Israel and Masa in a way that insures that every American teen and young adult visits Israel on a quality experience trip.

These three steps along with the others would revolutionize the shape of American Jewry.

All the best, Scott