Disunited Jewish Communities

It was bound to happen. UJC has been screwed up for so long it was only a matter of time before insiders took matters into their own hands -- at least as much into their hands as they could considering the bloggers have opinions but no power.

Well, they apparently have quite keen powers of observation. And the blogger(s) at DJC are saying aloud what many in the federation world already know -- UJC is a mess. And I'm not talking about the allegations of poor management directed at UJC CEO Howard Reiger and his senior team. Yeah, that sounds bad enough but it could also be sour grapes from those who are not part of the senior team (I'm trying to be fair).

Look, Mr. Reiger inherited a sick organization with a defective structure (how in the world can we expect one person to actually lead an organization when he has 150 bosses -- really the top 20 communities? Like those 20 communities could agree on anything?).

UJC is an organization that has yet to effectively operationalize the merger of its parent bodies UJA and CJF. It is an organization adrift -- that, to put it mildly, has a difficult time justifying its $40 million budget and one that is suffering from a serious case of "what's our mission-itis."

Let me start out by positing that if UJC disappeared tomorrow few in the nation's federations would miss it. Sure, some of the smaller (more like tiny) communities seem to rely more on UJC. But I bet the top 75 communities wouldn't miss a beat. Now that's not to say that an umbrella body serves no purpose. It is to say that this version of an umbrella body to the federation system serves no purpose (maybe that goes too far -- how about no purpose justifying anywhere near its budget?!).