News

In late May, we hosted the first seminar for Cohort III of the Executive Leadership program. The theme of the seminar was the diversity of the North American Jewish community, which we explored through a mix of faculty-led sessions, spaces for peer reflection and a live inquiry project. The seminar fell shortly after the release of the 2020 Pew study on Jewish Americans, which made the theme particularly resonant for fellows and faculty alike.

Like many organizations, the Mandel Institute has shifted and re-designed its programs in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Converting our in-person seminars to virtual convenings has opened up new opportunities and modes of learning. Our Boston seminars typically include a site visit and a case study through which fellows can examine key issues facing the North American Jewish community. No longer constrained by geography, we decided to merge these two elements into a real-time inquiry project. We collaborated with graduate Rabbi Hugh Seid-Valencia to develop a case consultation about his organization, Jewish Silicon Valley, an in-process merger between the Addison-Penzak JCC and the Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley.

The latest issue of our newsletter profiles recent Mandel Institute convenings on responses to the COVID-19 crisis. Although the challenges are enormous, national networks, funders, organizations and individuals are responding in creative and often pathbreaking ways.

In recent weeks, responses to the pandemic coincide with an outpouring of national activism on the issue of racial justice. Galvanized by the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement, public support for addressing the issue of systemic racism has never been higher. How can Jewish organizations contribute to the cause of racial justice in the United States, and what are the special responsibilities of Jewish leadership? We plan to explore these questions with our fellows in the months ahead.

On May 27th, the Mandel Institute for Nonprofit Leadership convened philanthropic leaders to discuss responses to the coronavirus pandemic. Panelists included Rachel Garbow Monroe, President and CEO of the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, Jehuda Reinharz, President and CEO of the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation, and Andrés Spokoiny, President and CEO of the Jewish Funders Network.

On May 6th, the Institute convened a session for the fellows and graduates of the Mandel Executive Leadership Program with Doron Krakow, President and CEO of JCC Association of North America, Eric Fingerhut, President and CEO of JFNA, and Paul Bernstein, CEO of Prizmah: Center for Jewish Day Schools.

Mandel Institute graduates, fellows, faculty and mentors met on April 21st, 2020 for the second in a series of convenings on communal responses to the coronavirus pandemic. The session featured a talk on “Courageous Leadership Now” by Dr. Yehuda Kurtzer, President of the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America.