Fellowship inspires a serious re-think of our Jewish community

Daniel Mackintosh, Daniela Peiser, David Jacobson
and Gabi Sulcas before Shabbat.

Four Cape Town community members participated in the prestigious 23rd international Nahum Goldmann Fellowship, held in Israel during June 2011.

David Jacobson, Daniel Mackintosh, Daniela Peiser and Gabi Sulcas represented South Africa in this inspirational and innovative Fellowship. They were amongst more than 45 other global Jewish leaders, representing 17 countries and including the full spectrum of ‘Klal Yisrael’, from Orthodox to Reform, religious to secular, left to right.

The Fellowship is a special institute aimed at nurturing a new generation of Jewish communal leaders across the world. The programme provides an intensive experience of Jewish learning, living and leadership for young people from around the globe between the ages of 25-40, who show serious interest in their ‘Jewishness’ and demonstrate a potential for individual growth and communal leadership. Around 700 Jews from around the world have participated in the Fellowship programme to date. The Fellowship is initiated and sponsored by the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture.

Through discussion groups, workshops and lectures, this year’s Fellowship, entitled Repair, Rejuvenation and Redemption of the Global Jewish Community, covered complex and controversial topics within the global Jewish community. These including establishment and non-establishment organisations, Israel-Diaspora relations, Zionism, Jewish identity and continuity, Jewish peoplehood, Jewish leadership, defining words such as ‘community’ and ‘Judaism’, and examining Jewish texts.

A range of international experts participated as faculty in the Fellowship, including Dr Stephen Bayme of the American Jewish Committee; Dr Stephen Donshik, a management consultant; Prof. Ruth Gavison of the Hebrew University; Prof. Benny Ish-Shalom of Beit Morasha; Dr Rina Rosenberg, a psychologist; Natan Sharansky, chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel; Dr Ethan Tucker, cofounder and Rosh Yeshivah Machon Hadar; and Prof. Jack Wertheimer from the Jewish Theological Seminar.

Jewish community and identity
The Nahum Goldmann Fellowship is unusual among leadership-centered programmes for incorporating the study of classic Jewish texts in its weeklong agenda, which largely addresses issues of Jewish community and identity. The Fellows personify diversity in terms of religious observance as well as national origin. They come with a shared desire to strengthen their own Jewish communities, and many of them leave with a changed sense of their personal Jewish identity, questioning their own assumptions as a result of the intensive discussions.

All of the South African participants found the Fellowship inspiring and constructive from both a personal and professional perspective. Through its open and inclusive approach, it encouraged personal growth and development in terms of exploring personal identities and views vis-à-vis the local Jewish community, the global Jewish collective and Israel. Spending significant time with like-minded Jews from around the world further enhanced the level of discussion and debate.

The participants look forward to continuing this journey of exploration and learning, and are committed to their on-going and dedicated contribution to the Jewish community