It seems that antisemitism in the USA is DOWN by 13 percent in 2011.  What will the ADL do if antisemitism drops 15 percent in 2012?  Funny that, with such declining antisemitism, the ADL is not considering a “Mission Accomplished” moment and closing up shop.

And speaking of closing shop, the JFNA announced today that it was shutting down Otzma, one of those deep-context, long-term Israel programs that actually grounds North American Jews in the realities of Israeli life and goes on to produce alums (60 percent of which) who dedicate themselves to bettering the Jewish community in a way that 10 sleepless days on a bus can and does not.  (Read more about Otzma here.).

(And you can read all of the back-patting Brandeis stuff about Birthright – it still will not show how a majority of BRI alums go on to work in and for the Jewish community… because they do not.)

In other words, I blame Birthright.  …Not for the decline in antisemitism, of course.

For that, I thank Sarah Silverman.  And her dad.

I blogged a bit about the #JFNAGA earlier this month and earlier this week, someone bounced me a link to a website where I might better improve my Understanding [of] Select Core Priorities 2011 - the new JFNA funding scheme whereby a bigger group of tailored individuals would decision-make and non-profits would be required to compete for funds.  Which, incidentally, sounds like a great premise for a new reality TV program…

Coming this Hannukah, Dreidling for Dollars will follow several teams of non-profit competitors as they jockey for position to secure funding for their initiatives.  Who will eat the most latkes?  Who can best withstand wax burns from lighting 1,000 Tzfat beeswax candles?  Who can sing ALL the verses of Maoz Tzur?  Our celebrity panel of judges, which will include the biggest cross-section of machers assembled to date, will express their communities’ priorities as they determine, based on revolutionary, new funding formulas, who will share the grand prize: guaranteed revenue for fiscal 2011 into 2012!

So I read through the short paragraphs which promised to “drive clarity and understanding around the new JFNA allocations model, Select Core Priorities 2011” and I must admit I had an easier time working through Derrida’s Writing and Difference. Despite much effort over the years, I have never been able to crack the nut of this particular discourse.   Drive clarity indeed.

Incidentally, not only do I need remediation and accommodations for MBA-speak and  Non-profit-ese, I also need someone to help me out with “the innovation ecosystem”.   But I digress.

Jonathan Sarna, Brandeis University historian of American Jewry, was quoted in the Forward as saying that this new process reflects a more free market and competitive approach.  This dynamic, he claims, has “very, very deep roots in our history.”

To which I respond:  Gosh.  Considering all that has happened since 2008, it is not outrageous to ask if, perhaps, we might find a better tzedakah alternative than the “free market approach”…?

I have been a bit distracted lately working on galley proofs of End of the Jews and other vanity of vanities… and with the passing of the weeks, I recalled that I have long neglected the unrolling of Thoughts 4, 5 and 6 about “peoplehood.”  So, here, in a thought-nutshell, three more thoughts about “peoplehood”:

Read Rabbi Elie Kaunfer’s op-ed.

Re-read Rabbi Elie Kaunfer’s op-ed.

Then think about it some more.

Not that Rabbi Kaunfer’s op-ed was a mind-blowing polemical tour-de-force, but its context made it important.

Following the verbiage coming out of Denver (including an e-mail which gathered the best tweets from the GA and thus defeated the purpose of twitter), I came across Rabbi Kaunfer’s op-ed, a variation of which he delivered as a speech at the JFNA General Assembly.  Though I am sure what he said annoyed some folks in Denver, it is not by any means revolutionary:

[H]ere’s the problem with [continuity] theory: In our zeal to ensure the Jewish future, we forgot to articulate why it matters for Judaism to continue.

This observation has been said elsewhere before by others.  Including this blog.

Nevertheless, it is should be pointed out that for an invited speaker to get up at the GA and basically tell the continuity people that continuity is hollowed out as a galvanizing narrative and funding formula took a lot of chootspah.

And with that, continuity has now officially tipped, toppled over and broken.  The continuity people should now be in need of another buzzword, slogan and brand.

May I nominate chootspah?  It is topical, short and punchy – and can be branded with the following, compelling image:

Here's JUDAISM!!

Thoughts?