JDC organizes interactive Europe forum spotlighting young adult activists
By Derek Gale
Contributing Writer
On Monday, the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City participated in a Europe Forum that brought together young activists and leaders from across that continent to share their ideas, hopes and visions for Jewish life moving forward. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee hosted the forum.
Organized by key JDC staff for Europe, the forum was introduced by Lela Sadikario, director for JDC’s Junction Program — a Schusterman Foundation-backed initiative to help Jewish young adults in Europe realize their ideas for Jewish life and community.
Most of the hour-long virtual forum was spent in breakout conversations, facilitated by JDC board members and others. JDC’s central tenet for the conversations was that “the Jewish future in Europe is worth considering and nurturing,” as Sadikario said.
In one of the breakout conversations, a young woman — Eva Fortes — living in Barcelona, shared her vision of Jewish life there being “open.” Mosaika, a Barcelona-based organization is working to “normalize and ‘visibleize’ Jewish life in Catalonia and in Spain, and to open a dialogue not particular to any one movement or synagogue,” she explained. The organization focuses on Jewish culture and cultural events such as book festivals or concerts, inviting in non-Jews as well.
Then two young women, Sara and Rebecca, representing the Danish Jewish Society in Copenhagen — which also hosts literature events for Jews and non-Jews — affirmed Mosaika’s work, and noted their efforts to do something similar locally. “We wanted to try to make a space where we could talk and teach about Jewish culture,” they said, noting that they were looking to explore their Jewish identities while giving others room to do the same, without it being so closely linked to religion (as they described themselves as not religious).
Liza Cemel from Istanbul spoke about her work on a Jewish newspaper there, creating a youth section with the aim of reviving young adult participation/presence in the “shrinking” community, and preserving the culture and history.
And Sebastion Mizrahi, a South American living in Budapest, talked about a project he’s working on called Kesher that brings the experiences and heritage of some Jews to other Jews in the same place, for further understanding.
Finally, Talia Chain, living on a farm in Orpington, Kent, in the United Kingdom, talked about the role of social justice in the Jewish future. “My vision for the Jewish community is that we can find ways to connect through issues — so that Jews are the leaders on issues like climate change on the world stage.”
The conversation wasn’t exclusive of JDC leadership; several board members added their thoughts and insights, including Kate OBannon, an executive committee member, who shared that she connects as a “multi-ethnic Jew” who grew up in an interfaith family, and is thinking about the Jewish community and Jewish future as a “really diverse, multi-racial, multi-ethnic Jewish community.” She noted the diversity of representation in the forum and said that gave her hope.
After the forum, JDC asked participants in its Junction Multipliers program — those they have identified as young “movers and shakers in the Jewish world” who they believe can multiply the experiences for their own local communities and engage their peers for impact, to join another dedicated conversation.
In closing, JDC’s Diego Ornique, regional director for Europe, noted, “We are more interested in leading than leadership. We need to bring in new generations and give them room—fostering leadership has more to do with giving space than with teaching. Our commitment to supporting young leaders is a top priority.”
Russell Wolkind, JDC’s director of planning and partnerships in Europe, added, “There is a future in Jewish Europe; we have some amazing people building it.”