A letter to JFNA regarding Richard Sandler’s recent comments on David Friedman

Three and a half months ago, following the announced appointment of Steven Bannon as chief strategist and senior counselor to the president, thousands of Jews began contacting the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), and their local affiliates asking them to condemn the appointment.

In the end, local Jewish Federations and Jewish Community Relations Councils representing a wide spectrum of sizes and geographic diversity, came out forcefully to say that individuals who empower white nationalists should not have a place in the White House.

JFNA offered no formal public response.

In private, JFNA Board Chair Richard Sandler, and other senior level JFNA professionals claimed that their hands were tied due to JFNA’s strict policy to be non-partisan and to not make statements on political appointments. This policy was succinctly articulated by Mark Gurvis, JFNA’s Executive Vice President, in an internal memo to local federation professionals seeking guidance on how to respond to the popular outcry. He reminded them, “as a national organization it has not been our practice to make statements about specific appointments, and recognizing that there are thousands more coming we are not going to start now.” He continued, “JFNA has a process, in which all Federations are invited to participate, through which we develop our public policy priorities. We will be monitoring the new Administration and Congress, as we have in the past, through the lens of our established priorities, and actively advocating on behalf of our agenda.”

Though this policy offers no solace to those of us who believe that Mr. Bannon countenances white nationalism, it nonetheless is intellectually coherent, and potentially “good for the Jews.” That is, if JFNA leadership is deemed to be too political or speaks out too loudly, perhaps they could be shutout of the decision making process for the next four years, or risk the federal grants and contracts that help to underwrite many of our community’s key priorities.

However, despite the apparent existence of this long standing strict policy to maintain silence on political appointees, this past Sunday, at the Jewish Agency Board of Governors winter meeting, JFNA Board Chair Richard Sandler publicly voiced his support for David Friedman to be the U.S. Envoy to Israel. For those of us with short memories, this is the same David Friedman who called the ADL “a bunch of morons,” called the Jewish senate minority leader a “sycophantic minion” for the president’s “blatant anti-Semitism,“ and called progressive zionist activists “worse than capos.”

In a follow up email sent to local federation executives and the JFNA board the next morning (following news reports of his statement), Sandler explained that the remarks, “reflected my personal view, based upon my analysis of the situation and my personal contact with Mr. Friedman. They were not meant to offend anyone, but rather encourage discussion.” To my knowledge, neither Mr. Sandler, nor any JFNA staff shared this statement more widely than the few professionals and laity privy to the initial email, nor did they attempt to correct any of the news articles that trumpeted this endorsement in their name.

Frankly, this clarification letter raises more questions than it answers. Why has the JFNA and Mr. Sandler not actively corrected these apparently erroneous news articles insinuating JFNA’s support for Mr. Friedman? Does Mr. Sandler really believe someone who calls other Jews “worse than kapos” is a “good representative” for our community? Does the JFNA professional staff or board believe that it is ok for its representatives to express a personal view, based upon one’s analysis of a situation in order to encourage discussion on any topic? Put another way, if Mr. Sandler were to have voiced support for BDS initiatives to end Israel’s military presence in the areas of Judea & Samaria that are currently not annexed by Israel, would that have also been ok?

Already there’s been a backlash. I have heard from colleagues involved in Federation Young Leadership initiatives that they are completely demoralized and are considering putting their time, money and energy elsewhere. A former past president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle has announced that her gift to them this year is dependent on their refusal to pay dues to JFNA, and she will be advocating for others to do the same. Local federation and community relations council professionals are having to deal with the fallout from angry constituents and other ethnic and faith community partners.

I do not question Richard Sandler’s commitment to our community. As a volunteer and contributor to my local federation I am both aware and so thoroughly appreciative of the time and financial contribution that he has committed to the well being of the Jewish people. But I do question his judgement, and the judgement of the rest of the JFNA leadership who have remained publicly silent in this apparent breach of protocol and policy.

Perhaps though, all this is fitting with Purim upon us in just a few short days. As Mordecai reminds Esther in the Megillah – “if you do not stand up in this crisis, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another quarter.” I hope that like Esther, Richard Sandler and the rest of the JFNA leadership will guide us through these troubling times, but if not we too will find relief elsewhere.