by Robert Wiener
NJJN Staff Writer

February 19, 2009

As she contemplates being the sole Jewish member of Gov. Jon Corzine’s Advisory Commission on Faith-Based Initiatives, Rabbi Amy Small is aware of both her more focused responsibilities as well as her wider tasks.

“My role is to have in mind the social needs of the Jewish community and the social service agencies of the Jewish community, as we look at various priorities,” she said in a telephone interview on Feb. 11.

“But my role is also to act more broadly as a religious leader in helping make group decisions on how to apportion limited resources to do the best good,” the religious leader of the Reconstructionist Congregation Beth Hatikvah in Summit added quickly.

Small said she is also aware of the potential conflicts with other commission members over such controversial policies as abortion counseling or AIDS prevention efforts.

She is confident, however, that the commission’s work” is not going to be about conflict; it is going to be about collaboration,” she said. “Sometimes you work with various viewpoints, and there may be limitations to that kind of collaboration. I am prepared for that. I am not going in there looking for a fight of any kind, but rather for ways we can work together.”

She was appointed by Corzine in December to be one of nine public members of the commission, which advises the governor on funding nonprofit agencies operated by religious institutions in New Jersey.

Other appointees include Christian and Muslim clergy members, a banker, an attorney, and a historian, as well as representatives of six state government departments (see sidebar).

A second rabbi may be added to the commission if a seat becomes vacant. Commission chair is the Rev. Calvin McKinney, pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church of North Jersey in Garfield.

“We don’t fund churches or mosques or temples or synagogues,” explained Edward LaPorte, executive director of the Office of Faith Based Initiatives, which oversees the advisory commission’s work. “We could fund a Jewish vocational service but we couldn’t fund — for lack of a better phrase — the Anshe Chesed Synagogue. But if the synagogue created the Edward LaPorte Job Placement program, we could fund that organization,” he joked.

Small insisted she is “not there to lobby for the Jewish community. It should not be a competition between religious groups. Rather, it is a diverse group of religious leaders and business leaders. We are brought together because we have different insights and different perspectives on how to help, to the best we can, the people of New Jersey.”

According to LaPorte, faith-based funding is generally earmarked for services to seniors, youth at risk, prisoner reentry programs, substance abuse resistance education, and English as a second language courses.

‘The big picture’

Small said she intends to look at “the big picture” as she considers “things close to my heart.”

High on her list is job training. “It is especially important to provide educational opportunities to put people back on their feet economically, so they can be supportive members of the community. In Jewish values, the highest level of tzedeka is to help people so they no longer need your help,” said the rabbi.

Another of her priorities is health care.

“Everybody should have equal access to health care. I know our small corner of the world cannot effect that change on any grand scale. But in any way we can help to make sure health care is provided for those who need it, I would consider it to be a very important cause.”

Beyond evaluating grant proposals, part of the commission’s work “is education about our various religious communities,” Small said. “There are sensitivities that state agencies need to be aware of in terms of different religious practices, and I am very glad I can bring that to the table.”

Small came to Corzine’s attention when he was still New Jersey’s United States senator and she joined a delegation of rabbis “to lobby him about an issue of concern — the issue of torture.”

A few weeks later she was invited to deliver the invocation at a state Democratic Party convention in Atlantic City when Corzine was nominated as its candidate for governor. Last October she led an opening prayer at a special session of the State Legislature. “I had a chance to have a private ‘hello’ with the governor afterward,” said Small. “It was a unique opportunity. There were all kinds of people swarming around, and he was gracious to take a moment to say ‘hello’ and have a chance to connect.”

Small said she looks forward to her first commission meeting later this month and is “pleased that there will be a diversity of political views around the table. The religious leaders sitting around the table will use our leadership skills to help the state best serve its population.”

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Based in church, but sanctioned by state

THE OFFICE OF Faith-Based Initiatives in New Jersey’s Department of State was created in August 2002 by former Gov. James McGreevey.

In a proclamation, McGreevey declared it “vital for the State to provide an effective mechanism for guaranteeing active participation by representatives of the faith-based community concerning the formulation and implementation of government programs to assist faith-based organizations.”

The commission has 15 appointed members — including Rabbi Amy Small — joined by representatives from the state’s departments of Community Affairs, Education, Human Services, Labor, State, Commerce, Corrections, and the Attorney General’s office.

They serve without either salary or term limits, meet up to four times a year, and stay in touch at other times through conference calls.

New Jersey’s faith-based program is a companion piece to federal efforts begun in the George W. Bush administration’s Office on Faith and Community-Based Initiatives. The Bush program gave direct funding to religious organizations and, most controversially, allowed them to hire on the basis of religious factors.

“But they were in a different playing field,” said Edward LaPorte, executive director of New Jersey’s Office of Faith-Based Initiatives. “We don’t fund religious organizations. They did. The separation of church and state is inherent in our office.”

President Barack Obama changed the name of the federal agency to the Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

Its executive director is Josh DuBois, a Pentecostal minister who ran religious outreach for the Democrat’s presidential campaign; among its members is Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.

It is not clear whether the hiring practices it allows will differ from those in the Bush years.

“Obama has not changed anything yet,” said Marc Stern, legal counsel for the American Jewish Congress. “He has deliberately not taken a policy position on that. He said during the campaign he would, but he has not, and he appointed people to his committee who have a variety of views. We do not know how that will come out yet.”

“In all politics, you have to pick your battles,” commented Small. “You have to try to accomplish what is most important at the moment, and if that is not his priority I can respect that, given what he has to deal with right now.”

— ROBERT WIENER

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