International Alumni Kallah 2009
by Randi Brenowitz, Palo Alto, CA

The recent Kallah was held in Boca Raton, Florida. While Boca is not Jerusalem, once we were inside our classroom, you would never have known that. The theme, Politics of Leadership - Then and Now was perfect coming right on the heels of the historic US inauguration and the intriguing Israeli elections.

After all the hugs, welcomes, introductions, and updates that accompany any Melton gathering, we started our session with a keynote address from Gordon Zacks, Chair of the FMAMS Board (and also Florence Melton's son). Gordy talked about his personal relationship with many US leaders and his hopes for the current administration. He also spoke about the need for Federations to examine their model which was developed when rescue and resettlement were the major needs of the Jewish people. As our needs change, so must our models of leadership. Gordy then graciously presented each Kallah participant with a copy of his thought-provoking book, Defining Moment: Stories of Character, Courage, and Leadership (Beaufort Books, 2006).

Our Scholar-in-Residence for the weekend, was Dr. Zohar Raviv, a gifted Melton teacher both in the US and Israel. We learned with Zohar several times during our Kallah and each time was a treat. Zohar reminds us that Jewish life is a perpetual roller-coaster with each descent giving us the energy for the next ascent. Thus, the expulsion from Spain and Portugal becomes the exodus to the east. Crises have the ability to move us beyond our comfort zone. In modern terms, perhaps the greatest legacy of George Bush is Barak Obama. Zohar also helped us understand that leaders share the same sight as others, but they do not share the same vision. The disparity between sight and vision is the landscape of leadership.

With that as background, we discussed biblical leaders like Abraham, Moses, the Priests, the Prophets, the Kings, and the Rabbis. We were led by local Florida Melton staff each of whom is a talented teacher and facilitator. As always in a Melton program, we looked at biblical, Talmudic, and more modern texts. We even compared the American and the Israeli Declarations of Independence as foundational documents that have created unique cultural norms and leadership styles each in their own country.

Dr. Yonatan Mirvis, FMAMS International Director, helped us understand the recent Israeli election and its implications for the formation of a new government. Thanks to him I can read my NY Times or watch CNN with so much more background and understanding. My friends all look to me as the expert on Israeli politics...and really all I'm doing is repeating what I learned from Yonatan.

Last, but definitely not least, we were privileged to learn with Rabbi Loren Sykes, Director of FMAMS North America. Loren is fairly new to our Melton family and we are so lucky to have him. His wisdom and insight into American Jewry and American leadership are a gift to our program. Loren reminds us that in these crazy times, "business as usual" simply won't work. Each of us must consider ourselves a leader and must take on the business of Jewish continuity and American renewal. Given the time of the year, Loren appropriately used Chapter 4 of the Book of Esther as our mandate for continued learning and leadership in the Jewish community. What a send off!

We closed, as all Melton sessions do, with more hugs and more agreements to keep in touch and a renewed commitment to study together again.