JDC to Send International Delegation to UJC Young Leadership Conference in Israel

Tel Aviv One conference will provide forum for relationship building and ideas exchange with North American counterparts

New York---The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee today announced that it will be sending 25 young lay leaders from emerging Jewish communities in Central and Eastern Europe, the Former Soviet Union and Asia to Tel Aviv One, United Jewish Communities' (UJC) upcoming Young Leadership conference, which will run from March 5 to March 8 in Israel.

The conference is designed to engage young lay leaders in relationship-building, education and new ways of thinking about the Jewish community. UJC's Young Leadership Conference will provide the opportunity for young lay leaders from North America to interact with their counterparts from the emerging Jewish world. The JDC delegation will include representatives from Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania, Slovakia, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and India. Several recent immigrants to Israel, who come from Ethiopia, Central Asia and Russia, will also join the group.

JDC is bringing this delegation because it represents a high-end venue to empower these young leaders and connect them to the larger Jewish community. Additionally, their presence at Tel Aviv One will allow their North American peers to learn more about the vibrant Jewish communities that are starting to flourish in countries that were, for decades, inaccessible to North American Jews and inhospitable to Jewish life.

"Tel Aviv One is a unique opportunity to create connections and to share experiences," said Edi Kupferberg, who will be attending the conference from Romania. "After all, we aren't so different, no matter from which corner of this small-big world we are. And all of us, more or less, have to deal with the same challenges in order to strengthen our communities."

Leaders like Kupferberg face huge challenges in revitalizing the richness that their communities once embodied. They are struggling to develop a critical mass of interested young leaders, to define community boundaries in parts of the world where inter-marriage has been the norm, to establish pluralistic values, and to build a cultural, social and educational infrastructure amidst a lack of Jewish legacy and mentorship.

"These are people in their late-20s and early-30s who are filling serious leadership responsibilities and they are looking for partners who can provide them with outside perspective and energy, " said Steve Schwager, executive vice president JDC. "It's important that the young leadership of North American Jewry knows who these leaders are, see their level of commitment and understands their challenges.

"At the same time, it's important for young leadership in the emerging Jewish world to gain appreciation for the highly successful and constantly evolving Jewish community models that UJC's Young Leadership Division embodies."