It is long past time for our community to resolve the very damaging controversy connected with the “Rachel” conflagration and to begin a necessary healing process.
Two of our important community organizations face ongoing and difficult circumstances that continue to erode their strength and vitality. Resolution and healing are essential if each is to continue to serve the community in a positive and constructive manner.
First is the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation, which is fighting for the retention of its good name. Despite the fact that the federation seemingly has been unable to resolve the situation, it is unthinkable that there should be a public debate about how pro-Israel the federation really is.
Part of the problem is that the federation grant-making process is not organized for the monitoring of its beneficiaries. Standards that cannot be enforced are useless and counter-productive. Many have called for changes that the federation is neither capable of nor responsible for providing.
At the same time, the federation must not ignore public, egregious actions by any of its beneficiaries that are obviously contrary to the federation’s own mission statement.
On the other hand, the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival is indeed fighting for its survival — and all of its positive values and contributions during 29 years of existence are in peril. A controversy that began in June is still alive in December, and it is clear that if it is left unresolved, the continued erosion of the film festival’s donor base and audience will last into next summer and beyond.
If anything, the intensity has increased as more and more people become aware of the situation. The SFJFF has suffered much more than attacks on its good name.
We believe there is a path to both resolution and healing and it does involve some “tough love.” It will not satisfy everyone but compromises seldom do.
The beginning of the process of resolution does start with the Jewish Film Festival. It, rather than the federation, was the cause of the problem and therefore the solution must start there. We believe that the current management of the SFJFF has committed grievous errors, which have caused this terrible controversy both to occur and to last for all these months.
The selection of Cindy Corrie as a speaker, and the choice of Jewish Voice for Peace and American Friends Service Committee as co-presenters of the “Rachel” documentary, created a highly politicized environment and attracted an audience that demonstrated open hostility toward Israel.
Past SFJFF programs also had their share of controversy, but not to this extent. Management issues that resulted in these decisions must definitely be dealt with before healing can begin.
As far as the SFJFF board is concerned, it is noteworthy that five of its 18 members — including the immediate past president, who had served until August — resigned in the wake of the “Rachel” controversy. The remaining board is complicit in the sense that, since the controversy arose, they have supported a strategy of evasion and have failed to deal with the necessity for change and accountability. Our proposal includes an effort to widen the existing SFJFF board.
Using an intermediary, such as Rabbi Doug Kahn of the S.F.-based Jewish Community Relations Council, a number of new potential board members would be presented to the existing board.
The goal: Elect a number of new board members that is equal to the number of existing board members. Until this process has been completed, the SFJFF board would not be making any major personnel decisions.
Then, the new board would be expected to adopt clear and public policies that would prevent a repetition of this summer’s debacle.
All of these recommended steps are essential. They would have to be completed before the healing could begin and would offer a fair and widely accepted resolution.
The problems that the SFJFF has experienced in the presentation of its annual film festival are not inherent to the task of running a Jewish film festival. They are unique to the SFJFF, and they have not occurred at other local Jewish film festivals in Sonoma County, Contra Costa County or Silicon Valley — or anywhere else in the United States, for that matter.
The healing consists of a major community-wide campaign to save the “New San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.” Additional funding will be required, as well as an effort to maintain the existing funding from both individual and corporate sponsors.
The wider board — which will represent the festival with a large range of backgrounds and experiences — should be of major assistance in this task.
We hope that the federation will exercise leadership at this time by supporting our proposal and sharing in the recovery effort of the SFJFF.
Time is of the essence in order to prevent further harm to each of these important organizations.
Larry Goldberg of Tiburon is a board member of the Jewish Community Relations Council and is on the regional board of AIPAC. Dr. Michael Harris of San Rafael is one of the founders of StandWithUs/S.F. Voice for Israel.