April 1, 2009
"It’s Innovation, Stupid"
By Staff Report, The Jewish Week

Since the early 1800s, New York has suffered through 11 major recessions, and each time the press said the city would never recover, according to Dan Doctoroff, former deputy mayor for economic development and rebuilding for New York City under Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

“But New York has always come back stronger than ever,” he told more than 200 people on Monday at a “community conversation” at UJA-Federation of New York, convened by the charity and The Jewish Week.
Doctoroff, who is president and director of Bloomberg LP, asserted that ultimately it was major innovation — “it’s innovation, stupid,” he said — that righted the course and set the economy in new directions, and he predicted the same will happen again, though acknowledging the situation will worsen before it improves.
Doctoroff’s message, stressing the positive power of recovery and renewal in terms of New York’s financial condition, meshed with themes of Jewish continuity emphasized by John Ruskay, CEO and executive vice president of UJA-Federation, and Gary Rosenblatt, editor and publisher of The Jewish Week, in their remarks.

Ruskay reminded the audience, whose invitees included lay and professional representatives of the federation and its agencies, educators, rabbis, and foundation officials, that “even at this moment of pain, contraction and fear, we remain the most privileged Jews who have ever roamed this planet.
“Fear and insecurity constrict the heart and close the hand,” he said. “Recognizing our multiple gifts opens the heart and enables us to extend our hands. At this moment in time, as leadership we must hold both.”
Rosenblatt, citing Doctoroff’s message and Jewish history, asserted that one of the lessons underscored from the three-hour conference was that “innovation is not a luxury, it’s a necessity.” He said Judaism “has always been about innovation, flexibility and responding creatively to crisis,” adding that the federation system is “being challenged to step up” in this time of economic chaos.

In addition to the keynote presentations, the program included a 40-minute segment for table discussions, where attendees were grouped according to one of 15 topics they chose in advance to discuss, ranging from caring for the unemployed to supporting Jewish day schools.

The closing session was a panel discussion, moderated by Rosenblatt, on “Seizing Opportunities: Developing a New Paradigm for the Jewish Community,” with Rabbi Andy Bachman, senior rabbi of Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn; Felicia Herman, executive director of the Natan Fund; and Rabbi Joy Levitt, executive director of the JCC in Manhattan.

Rabbis Levitt and Bachman said they are seeing more and more people coming through the doors of their institutions these days, many of them seeking community, and this puts an economic strain on the ability to provide services and resources.

“Can we be agile enough to respond quickly?” Rabbi Levitt asked, noting that, for example, the JCC has created a teen camp this summer on realizing that fewer teens will be going to overnight camps or other out-of-town programs.

Rabbi Bachman said that 170 families from his 700-family liberal congregation have asked for dues relief in recent months and that foundations have helped make up the difference.

He called on Jewish groups to do a better job of combining resources, and asserted that “new models can liberate us,” suggesting that synagogue membership be made universal so that one could then attend any congregation.

Herman, whose organization is made up of wealthy young business people whose grants primarily go to incubate Jewish start-ups, agreed with Bachman, noting that “no one can afford to be territorial anymore.”
The more that Jewish organizations can “remain mission-driven” and the less they concern themselves “with turf,” she said, the better off the community will be.

In his opening keynote address, Doctoroff spoke of the need for “creative regeneration” and said that “what we need to be doing right now is: don’t make things worse, and get ready for the recovery.”

It would be a mistake, he said, for New York City to cut services too radically, as happened in the 1970s, leading to increased crime and decreases in education, sanitation and transit services.

As a result, he said, “people fled the city in droves,” and it took 25 years to make up for the 800,000 people who left during the 1970s.

He praised UJA-Federation for “streamlining” its operation “but not its core mission” of social service, noting that “the crisis now is emotional as well as economic” and that it is important to move beyond fear and the resistance to take bold steps.

“It’s all about taking risks and pushing ourselves to think in new ways,” he said.

Ruskay spoke of UJA-Federation’s major response to the economic crisis to date, the new $7 million Connect to Care program that, starting in May, will provide a wide range of assistance to people in need at seven one-stop centers around the city, as described in last week’s Jewish Week.

He also called on the community to reassess its pursuit of “more” and “bigger” donors, budgets and buildings. “At what price?” he asked, adding that if the community reassesses its priorities “in responding to the acute economic challenge” of the moment, “we can accelerate the actualization of the communities we seek to create long-term.” Since the early 1800s, New York has suffered through 11 major recessions, and each time the press said the city would never recover, according to Dan Doctoroff, former deputy mayor for economic development and rebuilding for New York City under Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

“But New York has always come back stronger than ever,” he told more than 200 people on Monday at a “community conversation” at UJA-Federation of New York, convened by the charity and The Jewish Week.
Doctoroff, who is president and director of Bloomberg LP, asserted that ultimately it was major innovation — “it’s innovation, stupid,” he said — that righted the course and set the economy in new directions, and he predicted the same will happen again, though acknowledging the situation
will worsen before it improves.
Doctoroff’s message, stressing the positive power of recovery and renewal in terms of New York’s financial condition, meshed with themes of Jewish continuity emphasized by John Ruskay, CEO and executive vice president of UJA-Federation, and Gary Rosenblatt, editor and publisher of The Jewish Week, in their remarks.

Ruskay reminded the audience, whose invitees included lay and professional representatives of the federation and its agencies, educators, rabbis, and foundation officials, that “even at this moment of pain, contraction and fear, we remain the most privileged Jews who have ever roamed this planet.
“Fear and insecurity constrict the heart and close the hand,” he said. “Recognizing our multiple gifts opens the heart and enables us to extend our hands. At this moment in time, as leadership we must hold both.”
Rosenblatt, citing Doctoroff’s message and Jewish history, asserted that one of the lessons underscored from the three-hour conference was that “innovation is not a luxury, it’s a necessity.” He said Judaism “has always been about innovation, flexibility and responding creatively to crisis,” adding that the federation system is “being challenged to step up” in this time of economic chaos.

In addition to the keynote presentations, the program included a 40-minute segment for table discussions, where attendees were grouped according to one of 15 topics they chose in advance to discuss, ranging from caring for the unemployed to supporting Jewish day schools.

The closing session was a panel discussion, moderated by Rosenblatt, on “Seizing Opportunities: Developing a New Paradigm for the Jewish Community,” with Rabbi Andy Bachman, senior rabbi of Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn; Felicia Herman, executive director of the Natan Fund; and Rabbi Joy Levitt, executive director of the JCC in Manhattan.

Rabbis Levitt and Bachman said they are seeing more and more people coming through the doors of their institutions these days, many of them seeking community, and this puts an economic strain on the ability to provide services and resources.

“Can we be agile enough to respond quickly?” Rabbi Levitt asked, noting that, for example, the JCC has created a teen camp this summer on realizing that fewer teens will be going to overnight camps or other out-of-town programs.

Rabbi Bachman said that 170 families from his 700-family liberal congregation have asked for dues relief in recent months and that foundations have helped make up the difference.

He called on Jewish groups to do a better job of combining resources, and asserted that “new models can liberate us,” suggesting that synagogue membership be made universal so that one could then attend any congregation.

Herman, whose organization is made up of wealthy young business people whose grants primarily go to incubate Jewish start-ups, agreed with Bachman, noting that “no one can afford to be territorial anymore.”
The more that Jewish organizations can “remain mission-driven” and the less they concern themselves “with turf,” she said, the better off the community will be.

In his opening keynote address, Doctoroff spoke of the need for “creative regeneration” and said that “what we need to be doing right now is: don’t make things worse, and get ready for the recovery.”

It would be a mistake, he said, for New York City to cut services too radically, as happened in the 1970s, leading to increased crime and decreases in education, sanitation and transit services.

As a result, he said, “people fled the city in droves,” and it took 25 years to make up for the 800,000 people who left during the 1970s.

He praised UJA-Federation for “streamlining” its operation “but not its core mission” of social service, noting that “the crisis now is emotional as well as economic” and that it is important to move beyond fear and the resistance to take bold steps.

“It’s all about taking risks and pushing ourselves to think in new ways,” he said.

Ruskay spoke of UJA-Federation’s major response to the economic crisis to date, the new $7 million Connect to Care program that, starting in May, will provide a wide range of assistance to people in need at seven one-stop centers around the city, as described in last week’s Jewish Week.

He also called on the community to reassess its pursuit of “more” and “bigger” donors, budgets and buildings. “At what price?” he asked, adding that if the community reassesses its priorities “in responding to the acute economic challenge” of the moment, “we can accelerate the actualization of the communities we seek to create long-term.”