Jewish News, Jewish Newspapers

Forward 50, 2008

Lessons in Leadership

One of the benefits of the never-ending presidential campaign that Americans were treated to this year was a lesson in leadership. On stage before us were aspiring leaders of different races, genders, backgrounds, temperaments, debating skills and political persuasions. That the final winner was a man with an uncommon intellect and breathtaking rhetorical skills, unnerving calm and a bracing vision for the future says a lot about this nation. That Jewish voters supported Barack Obama's historic election in overwhelming numbers says a lot about this community at this time.

Searching for that breadth of leadership within the community is a more challenging task. Rather than parading before us, some of the American Jews highlighted in this year's Forward 50 earned their distinction quietly. Although theirs were not the loudest voices, nor the usual ones, by words and deeds they shaped American life as Jews, largely for the better, sadly sometimes for the worse.

The task of selecting these 50 names was aided by you, our readers. Every year there's a certain degree of input — shall we say lobbying? — on behalf of some candidates, which the journalists who choose these names take into account appropriately. But this year, for the first time, the Forward directly asked readers to submit nominations and, much to our delight, the process surfaced a number of strong candidates we might otherwise have overlooked. Thank you to all who participated. You can be sure we will ask you again next year.

Two narratives dominated the Jewish story this year, and, naturally, are reflected in the Forward 50. Jews played an outsized role in the presidential election campaign and, by the looks of it, will continue to do so in the new Obama administration. Some of the most intriguing developments came from unexpected places: a young lobbying group that shook up the Washington establishment; a brash video that was viewed by more than 1 million on YouTube alone and introduced new words into the mainstream political lexicon.

This was also the year the kosher meat industry faced its greatest legal, consumer and ethical challenges. Led by the courageous reporting of our Nathaniel Popper, the saga of the now-bankrupt company that once was the country's largest producer of kosher beef and poultry exposed major lapses in the U.S. justice and immigration systems, and prompted rabbis of all denominations to examine the moral dimension of a central Jewish tenet.

The importance of this story is underscored by the inclusion — a rare one — of a non-Jew as the 51st name on this list. Father Paul Ouderkirk, the priest of the Catholic church in Postville, Iowa, displayed unusual leadership and compassion by helping displaced workers and their families to survive. Indeed, at times it has seemed as if Father Ouderkirk and the good members of St. Bridget's were among the few in this sad story willing to do the right thing.

The Forward 50 celebrates leadership, creativity, impact. It also reminds us how far we still have to go to truly repair the world.

What do you think about our choices? Weigh in here.

TOP PICKS

Morris Allen
Rabbi Morris Allen was ready for his moment in the spotlight this year: leading a Jewish food revolution. Since 2006, Allen, who leads a Conservative congregation in suburban Minneapolis, has been the most vocal critic of Agriprocessors, the country's largest producer of kosher meat. After heading a committee that investigated and criticized working conditions at the plant, Allen, 53, helped devise a new system, known as Hekhsher Tzedek, or Justice Certification, to evaluate the conditions under which kosher food is produced. The Hekhsher Tzedek spoke to thousands of years of Jewish tradition about business ethics and played into a larger burgeoning American fascination with where our food comes from. It all came to seem like foresight when Agriprocessors' Iowa plant was the target of an immigration raid in May. The Hekhsher Tzedek became a national phenomenon and a rare galvanizing point for the struggling Conservative movement. While the Justice Certification at first generated intense opposition among large segments of the Orthodox community, now even some Orthodox rabbis are acquiescing to the logic of bringing some oft-forgotten Jewish ethics back into practice.

Jeremy Ben-Ami
Jeremy Ben-Ami gave the Jewish dialogue in Washington a very different feel this year thanks to his new organization. J Street, where Ben-Ami is executive director, is envisioned as a progressive pro-Israel advocacy lobby that will offer a counterweight to Aipac, which liberals like Ben-Ami perceive as too hawkish and unrepresentative of views held by most American Jews. Before Ben-Ami got J Street up and running, there were many doubters, but over the last year it has become a fund raising powerhouse. Ben-Ami has not just used that influence on the Middle East, he created a political action committee, JStreetPAC, to lend a liberal Jewish voice to domestic politics. Among the 41 candidates the PAC supported, 32 won their races. More significant was the presidential race, in which Barack Obama was buffeted by rumors about his faith and commitment to Israel. The 78% of Jewish voters that Obama won over offer support for Ben-Ami's vision of a liberal, open American Jewry. Ben-Ami, whose grandparents were among the founders of Tel Aviv, served as President Bill Clinton's deputy domestic policy adviser and served on Howard Dean's presidential campaign. But with a Democratic majority in Washington, Ben-Ami's biggest acts are likely yet to come.

Rahm Emanuel
When the new president takes office in January, the man at his side will be the son of an Israeli, Rahm Emanuel, or "Rahmbo" as he is known in Washington for his take-no-prisoners style. The Illinois congressman who will be Barack Obama's White House chief of staff, is described as one of the most talented political hands in Washington. After earlier stints as an adviser in Bill Clinton's White House and as chair of the Democratic caucus in the House of Representatives, Emanuel, 48, is expected to help the new president achieve ambitious goals. Emanuel, who grew up going to Jewish day school and visiting Israel every summer, volunteered at an Israeli military base during the 1991 Gulf War. Emanuel's father, Benjamin, was a member of the right-wing underground during the British mandate, but Rahm is known as a centrist who supports the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Insiders credit Emanuel with orchestrating the 1993 historic handshake between Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat by advising Clinton to grab the two leaders by the arms and make the moment happen. With Emanuel's clout, who knows what similar moments are in store during the Obama presidency.

Penny Pritzker
As a member of one of Chicago's wealthiest families, Penny Pritzker comes from a line known for its business acumen. But perhaps nobody in the family has pulled off a financial feat that tops the vaunted fund-raising machine she helped build for Barack Obama as his national finance chair. Though Obama's troubles in winning over Jewish voters were a key story line in his presidential race, Jewish support helped him make the national scene. Pritzker is one of a cadre of prominent Chicago Jews — including the Crown family, Abner Mikva and Lee Rosenberg — who knew Obama as a state senator and helped form a key support for his 2004 Senate run. When Obama decided to make his long-shot presidential bid, he tapped Pritzker to help him raise the cash he needed. Pritzker, in turn, helped forge the most successful fund-raising campaign in American political history, merging a flood of small Internet donations with traditional Democratic big money. With the campaign over, Pritzker, 49, may return to helping run her family's Hyatt hotel chain. Or maybe not. Her name is being floated in Washington circles as a potential secretary of commerce.

Sarah Silverman
It would have been reasonable to assume that comedian Sarah Silverman had pushed the boundaries of Jewish humor as far as they could possibly go with a one-liner she delivered in her "Jesus is Magic" tour a couple of years back. "I was raped by a doctor," she says, her trademark shayna punim all wide-eyed innocence, "which is so bittersweet for a Jewish girl." This year, Silverman, 37, went further: Not only did she create a pro-Barack Obama monologue that gleefully skewered the polite discourse around the purported racism of some elderly Jewish voters, her video got into so many e-mail inboxes that comic Jackie Mason, a John McCain supporter, responded with an indignant monologue of his own. Silverman's election monologue may have been more popular than it was successful. The video was a promotion for "The Great Schlep," a Jewish organization's effort to get young Jews to fly to Florida and sweet-talk their grandparents into voting for Obama. Reportedly, only about 100 grandkids showed up. But Silverman is having a pretty good year: Her sitcom, "The Sarah Silverman Program," is in its second season on Comedy Central, and she won an Emmy for her anniversary present to her on-again, off-again boyfriend, comedian Jimmy Kimmel, a video in which she has a torrid affair with Matt Damon, starring herself and, well, Matt Damon. Bittersweet stuff.

Forward.com