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May 7, 2009
Jewish advocacy groups in MetroWest and northern New Jersey will combine in a move prompted in part by budget-cutting measures announced by United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ.
UJC MetroWest’s Community Relations Committee and the Jewish Community Relations Council of Northern New Jersey will form a “regional” advocacy body covering the state’s northern counties.
Hit hard by the economic downturn, UJC MetroWest, the Whippany-based umbrella philanthropy, announced its latest cost-saving moves last week, which included news of the merged operation.
Lori Price Abrams, director of the MetroWest CRC, was among 13 staffers whose positions are being eliminated by UJC MetroWest (see sidebar).
The regionalized CRC will be led by Joy Kurland, director of the JCRC of the UJA Federation of Northern New Jersey, covering Bergen, Passaic, and northern Hudson counties. She will be assisted by Melanie Roth Gorelick, associate at the MetroWest CRC.
The merger will take effect July 1.
“We came to the conclusion that the work of community relations in the Jewish community might best be taken to a different level,” said Arthur Sandman, associate executive vice president of UJC MetroWest.
The merged CRCs will have staff members at both the MetroWest headquarters in Whippany and the Northern NJ federation’s offices in Paramus.
CRCs advocate for Israel, Jewish issues, and interfaith affairs among lawmakers, civic leaders, and other faith-based groups.
“A lot of the issues transcend the boundaries of individual catchment areas,” said Sandman. “The service areas of our various federations do not match up to congressional or state legislative districts, for example.”
Sandman said he expects the streamlined organization will eliminate duplication.
“There are often cases in which two different federations are approaching the same legislator on a particular issue — sometimes moving the same policy position, sometimes advancing separately for agencies in one community versus those in another community,” he said.
David Gad-Harf, associate executive vice president and chief operating officer at the Northern NJ federation, said leaders of both federations will collaborate and “make sure the highest priorities of each area are being addressed.”
Gad-Harf did not rule out expanding the idea among the state’s 10 other Jewish federations. In the near future, he said, the new organization will contact “any other bordering federation that would be a logical partner with us and see if they want to join us.”
Within the next six to eight weeks, he said, he expects lay leaders in both communities to meet and “create this new design.”
Merle Kalishman of Livingston, the current chair of the MetroWest CRC, said operational details of the merger must still be worked out.
“There are so many important issues,” said Kalishman, whose term ends June 30. “Who is going to call the shots and say, ‘This is something you can no longer be concerned with’ or ‘This is something you should be concerned with’?”
Kalishman cited past efforts at organizing the MetroWest community around issues such as the genocide in Darfur or greater Jewish women’s participation in electoral politics.
“These activities cannot survive without staff, and that is where the problem arises,” she said. “Somewhere along the line there is going to have to be some very careful priority-setting.”
‘Face of MetroWest’
Lori Price Abrams began 11 years ago as an associate at the Community Relations Committee, the public affairs and inter-group relations arm of United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ.
She became its director in 2003 and lists among her proudest accomplishments issues of both local and international import.
These include the organizing of an interfaith coalition against the genocide in Darfur, advocating on behalf of Israel, ministering to naturally occurring retirement communities, and maintaining the historic Jewish cemeteries in Newark.
Her position, however, was eliminated last week as UJC MetroWest, trying to close a budget gap, announced the merger of its CRC with that of the UJA Federation of Northern New Jersey. Her last day is May 14.
Price Abrams praised the work of colleagues and lay leaders. “In reflecting on my experience here, I have been struck by the depth of commitment and generosity of the lay community with their time, expertise, and talents,” she told NJ Jewish News. “In particular the CRC chairs with whom I’ve served — including Merle Kalishman, Steve Flatow, Roger Jacobs, and Eileen Fishman — have deeply enriched and contributed to my life professionally and personally.”
But she also spoke of her disappointments during an interview in her Whippany office on May 5.
Among these, she said, were staff reductions in recent years.
“With more staff, we were a Jewish presence making connections with other faith groups,” she said. In addition to Israel advocacy, CRCs are active with such groups concerning a variety of other issues, including gun control and stem cell research.
“They aren’t ‘Jewish issues’ per se,” she said, “but they are things about which Jews have an opinion, and it was important that Jews be part of the public debate. We now have less ability to do those kinds of things, so that is a disappointment. It has diminished the debate.”
Colleagues praised Price Abrams, who grew up in Parsippany, lived on Kibbutz Yotvata, and took part in the Sar-El Volunteers for Israel Program. She has a law degree from University of California at Berkeley.
“Lori Price Abrams has really been a wonderful CRC director,” said Arthur Sandman, associate executive vice president of UJC MetroWest. “I learned a lot from her about the political landscape of the community and the issues we deal with. Coming to a decision that she could no longer remain as our CRC director was one that was very painful.”
“I am amazed at the scope of her understanding of the legislative picture,” said CRC chair Merle Kalishman of Livingston. “She is known and recognized by our senators and our congressmen and many local officials. She has really been the face of MetroWest.”
— ROBERT WIENER
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