Leadership in 2013

Cincinnati Young Leaders, the name of our group leaves room for many interpretations in regards to the mission of our trip. However, what leadership skills and qualities do we exude climbing mountains in Eilat or riding camels in Jordan? Actually, a lot. After visiting the Kotel and then having a family-oriented Shabbat dinner with leaders from Cincinnati we became inspired to discuss our own roles as leaders in the Jewish community which raised us and had provided us with this incredible opportunity. After a fun morning filled with wine tasting and the evolution of many of us as wine connoisseurs we finally broached this complex topic. A recent survey of Jewish Americans showed a growing and perhaps alarming trend in the Jewish community. The two rapidly increasing sects of Judaism in the present day are the orthodox and unaffiliated movements, the two rapidly decreasing sects, in terms of population, are conservative and reform Judaism. What does this mean for the future of the Jewish community? We discussed and debated this topic, is this a problem? What does it mean to be unaffiliated? What responsibility do we have  to the future of our Jewish community? What role does our experiences in Israel play in this? How can we change this and what can we do on both our college campuses and in Cincinnati to ensure the survival and continued growth of our Jewish identities? These are some pretty loaded questions for us to grapple with. We discussed what does it mean to be a leader? What does it mean to be a Jew? And what does it mean to be a Jewish leader? In this case is Jewish being used as an adjective or a noun and what are those differences? And what conclusions did we draw from this? As a group it was obvious there are no black and white answers. Each of us define our Judaism, our roles as leaders, our relationship with our Jewish community, our relationship with Israel, and our relationship with each other differently. While there may be no concrete answers our continued discussions and actions associated with these issues are vital. We concluded our discussion going around the circle and sharing what responsibilities we have to our home community, what we will take back with us from our trip, what our Cincinnati Jewish community means with us, and other related topics. I believe we all learned a lot from each other and the talk. As a result from what everyone shared it appears as if we have a newfound sense of self and our relationship to each other, Israel, our Judaism, and our Jewish community. Although I cannot speak for everyone I believe we all left the conversation with a new outlook on the Jewish community and our future as Jewish leaders. Jillian Goldberg