Federation hallmark is inclusion and integrity
Regarding the Feb. 5 op-ed by Michael Bien and Jane Kahn (“JCF guidelines don’t work for us”), the Jewish Community Federation philosophy, including with respect to donor-advised funds, is a very inclusive one: to enable donors, through a Jewish portal, to touch lives in countless ways locally, nationally and globally, and to do so consistent with the core principles of the federation.
I have worked closely with the federation for many years, and can attest to the care and sensitivity of the federation lay leadership and staff in taking seriously the trust placed in it by thousands of donors.
Federation CEO Danny Grossman has been explicit that extremism, whether from the far left or the far right, is incompatible with the federation’s core values, and his direction is followed carefully. Sometimes an assessment of a recommended organization can be made quickly, particularly when an organization is active on the local scene. Sometimes due diligence requires additional analysis and it may take time to feel fully confident about the decision. Bottom line — the federation has demonstrated a scrupulous commitment to growing donor impact in strategic philanthropy, including vetting proposed organizational grantees in as objective a way as is possible.
The care and integrity that goes into the process is something that should not only reassure our community but be celebrated. The work is painstaking, important and ultimately beneficial to our community because it affirms that the federation’s foundation is built upon core values that continue to unite us far more than divide us.
Rabbi Doug Kahn | San Francisco
Executive Director, Jewish Community Relations Council
Federation’s narrow funding criteria
The Jewish community can ill afford to alienate people like Michael Bien and Jane Kahn. They are our leaders; we should be following them, not shunning them.
Is the Jewish tent really not big enough to accommodate people who believe the occupation and attendant expansion of West Bank settlements are the biggest threat to the safety and security of Israel as a Jewish state? That BDS is a response to, not a cause of, the challenge Israel has as an occupier nation?
If the Jewish Community Federation is going to refuse to allow donor-advised fund recommendations based on its determination that the organizations’ activities undermine the safety and security of the State of Israel, ought it not deny funding to the right-wing supporters of the occupation whose actions conflict with the egalitarian principles of Israel’s Declaration of Independence and its Basic Laws regarding human dignity and liberty?
We urge the leadership at the federation to create a forum for revisiting the criteria for donor-advised fund recommendations. Jewish tradition demands a robust exchange of ideas and a profound belief in the divinity of all peoples. We and many others like Mike and Jane, who are truly within “the tent,” nonetheless experience tension between our love of Israel as a Jewish state and the occupation, which we believe is undermining its promise of greatness. Criticism of Israeli policies and promotion of human rights within Israel and Palestine should not be a bar to delivery of funds from a donor-advised fund.
Robert and Toby Rubin | Mill Valley
‘Human rights’ propaganda abounds
In their op-ed, Jane Kahn and Michael Bien regretted that their philanthropic donation to the American Friends Service Committee (the Quakers) was denied by the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation. Unfortunately, not all organizations that were once admirable still are. For example, the AFSC along with Jewish Voice for Peace recently ran a summer camp for BDS activists.
Another example: Robert L. Bernstein, the founder of Human Rights Watch, wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post recently regretting the direction the organization he founded has taken, complaining that “human rights groups have become the unwitting accomplices of the United Nations as almost every mainstream human rights group has ignored hate speech and incitement to genocide, not only against Israel but against all Jews.”
To those who wish to be better informed about the organizations that they are considering funding, please visit the website of Ngo-Monitor.org. Also, please pick up a copy of Tuvia Tenenbom’s best-seller “Catch the Jew!” Tenenbom illustrates how European-funded “human rights” and “cultural” organizations contribute greatly to the propaganda used to defame and delegitimize the Jewish state.
Sheree Roth | Palo Alto
Teaching the teachers
In a time when images of political refugees flood the media and hateful rhetoric is spewed by presidential candidates, the lessons of the Holocaust are more resonant than ever. As an educator with eight years of teaching experience, I appreciated the recent article “Holocaust fellowship builds network of ‘master educators’ ” (Jan. 29), describing the efforts of Jewish LearningWorks to strengthen the practice of teachers in a pivotal time in Holocaust education.
Grappling with the emotionally difficult and historically complex content surrounding the Holocaust can leave teachers walking a tightrope between emotionally overwhelming and detached. The Tauber fellowship aims to empower teachers both with knowledge and also emotional fortitude.
As one of these fellows, I returned from Israel committed to continuing Holocaust education for students, but also to other teachers. With that in mind, I am hosting an educators’ workshop on Sunday, Feb. 28 to explore the exclusionary policies in Germany from 1933-1939. All are welcome at this free event. Please contact me at [email protected] with questions or to register. We need to share the lessons of our past, to honor those who have come before us and to guide those who are yet to come. Join us as we continue this important work.
Tiffany Benson | Berkeley
Don’t blame the liberals
Vladimir Kaplan blames Berkeley liberals for being anti-Israel (Letters, Jan. 29). I have lived in Berkeley for 60 years and am more pro-Israel than anyone I know. My Berkeley daughter, Malka, was bat mitzvah at the Wall in Jerusalem and we all sent donations to AIPAC.
Why not blame “New York liberals” or “Madison, Wisconsin, liberals” or “Harvard liberals”? We are in contact with dozens of Berkeley liberals who all support and defend Israel. Do no blame an entire city for a handful of former Stalinists and leftists that live nearby.
Harry Lieberman | Berkeley
Fund tree maintenance, not removal
Regarding “Saving the city’s urban canopy” (Jan. 22), a huge tree problem in the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department, which Supervisor Scott Wiener didn’t mention, is the Natural Areas Program.
The Significant Natural Resource Areas Management Plan proposes cutting down 18,488 mature healthy trees — 13 percent of the 140,000 trees in Recreation and Parks’ care — to “convert forested areas into native scrub and grass habitat.” This count doesn’t include trees shorter than 15 feet, which would be just taken out like weeds. The plan also includes the use of the most toxic herbicides in city parks.
The costs are enormous.
Currently, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors is discussing a ballot proposition to increase Recreation and Parks funding by $3 million a year. The cost of implementing the natural resource areas plan is estimated to be at least $5 million a year.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if this money were spent on tree maintenance — not on cutting down trees? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Supervisor Wiener would tackle the problem of “San Francisco’s diminishing urban canopy” by going to the ballot with a proposal banning the cutting of healthy trees and the use of the most toxic herbicides in city parks?
Anastasia Glikshtern | San Francisco