RI Young Jewish leaders rally in D.C.
Reprinted from the 4/2/04 issue of the Jewish Voice & Herald
By Jonathan Rubin

WASHINGTON, D.C. - It was 2 a.m. and there were 500 Jews partying in the lobby of the Washington Hilton. It had been a long day of educational seminars, social activism dialogues and preparing for lobbying with senators and congressman the next day.

Social action was the theme of last week's United Jewish Communities (UJC) "Washington 14" National Young Leadership conference. The theme was aptly chosen - the recent National Jewish Population Study revealed that the number one identity-building element in today's young Jews was social justice. This means that the act of doing right in a world full of wrongs resonates more strongly with today's young Jews than spirituality, Israel, education or any other issue.

We were an eclectic bunch from Westerly, Johnston and Providence, composed of home health aides, cantorial students, neuroscience grad students, and various Jewish community professionals, 11 in all.

The conference was a huge undertaking for UJC - speakers included Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, comedian Al Franken, Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN), a smattering of Jewish community giants and, last but not least, "Average Joe" Adam Mesh, from the new reality TV show (at one point, a member of our contingent accidentally spilled some wine on this Jewish celebrity, but he was classy enough not to be too put off by it).

It definitely seemed to pay off in terms of attendance- the conference drew 2,000 Jews between the ages of 25 to 45 representing Jewish communities in more than 20 states. UJC is trying to foster a new generation of leaders in a Jewish world where the median age continues to climb, and in a world where "organized religion" often has the same appeal as a coat organizer.

The event was also an unabashed "dating market," and the numerous community parties (some which even had corporate sponsors like Bacardi) were events for singles to meet.

The conference had two phases - first to stir the emotions and intellects of the attendees through educational seminars, and second, to focus the passions inside an intense day of lobbying our elected officials on Capital Hill.

In one of the many breakout sessions, Islamic scholar Dr. Khaleel Mohammed gave a blistering critique of modern Islam that hit us very hard, due largely to the fact that he is a practicing Muslim. Mohammed said that modern Islam has yet to come to terms with the fact that it is no longer a world power, and that it still clings to prophecies that declare that any land ever occupied by Muslims belongs to Muslims until the end of time - including, of course, Israel.

The lobbying side of things was a completely new experience for most of our group. Every Jewish community had the same three issues to lobby on - first, Federal increases in Medicaid through 2005 (Nationwide, Jewish eldercare institutions receive as much as 70 percent of their operating budgets from Medicaid); second, federal assistance to increase security in high-risk non-profits, both in the Jewish community and outside it, and, third, the increasing danger of Iran's nuclear proliferation.

We had three volunteers from Rhode Island take these issues to the offices of Sen. Jack Reed, Sen. Lincoln Chafee, Cong. James Langevin and Cong. Patrick Kennedy. After a rousing speech by Sen. Clinton, scores of us ascended the buses and stepped out into politico central. None of our presenters had ever lobbied before, but they researched their issues and practiced their speeches, bolstered by the fact that, unlike paid lobbyists, they had a vested interest in the issues at hand.

Kennedy and Langevin were unavailable, but we spoke to their staffers, who were very helpful. Reed gave us a good deal of his time, and said he unanimously supported all of our resolutions. He even spent some time and schmoozed with us at the end, and we left impressed and energized.

We arrived late to Chafee's office, and found members of the 4H club waiting for him. To my delight, he took us first, and we had a quick audience. Chafee's staffers weren't as complicit as Reeds, and we received some unsatisfying "we'll look into it" responses.

Still, we were light on our feet as we left the white marble halls of the Russell Senate Building, knowing we, as representatives of our Jewish community in Rhode Island, did a pretty good job as political activists.

The hope of the conference was to stir the souls of the attendees into public and Jewish community service, so we hope that every year new leaders will emerge from this trip. The next conference is in 2006.

The trip was subsidized by the Jewish Federation of Rhode Island.

For more information on Young Leadership at the JFRI, contact Rebekah Raz at 421-4111 ext. 172 or email rraz@jfri.org.