AJC SF first impressions - Aug/21/2012

Jewish Community Federation Fellows are placed at governing boards of national or local Jewish organizations matching their interests. As a FedFellow in 2012-2014, I had the honor of being matched with the American Jewish Committee (AJC) here in San Francisco, CA.

Mervyn Danker
Regional Director
AJC San Francisco, CA

After a few rounds of emails, the regional director of AJC, Mervyn Danker, invited me to meet him on August 21, 2012 in his spacious office overlooking the Bay Bridge and the Ferry Building on the fourth floor of the Jewish Community Federation (JCF) building.  Mervyn is from Johannesburg with a recognizable South African accent. He also had a more subtle but definite hint of his origin on his tie in the form of Zakumi, the leopard mascot of the 2010 South African FIFA Football World Cup (aka. 'soccer' for my US friends). We have known each other tangentially from seeing each other on the Chabad SF Cable Car minyan. Implicit Jewish 'background check' immediately accomplished.

After listening to my introduction as a Hungarian Jew from a secular Jewish background, becoming shomer mitzvot in London, and now living a traditional lifestyle in San Francisco, he concluded that I am a baal tesuvah. I took his label as a compliment, even though quickly explained that being baal tesuvah has a connotation, at least in my head, of rejecting ones previous non-observant life style that I can certainly not claim about myself. I may have given up going to the movies on Saturday or eating milk and meat together, nevertheless I embrace my secular education and liberal-socialist upbringing.

To counterpoint Mervyn's (and apparently his staff's) initial impression of me as a 'closet haredi', I quickly emphasized to him that one of my goal of participating in the FedFellowship was to break down the illusory walls between modern orthodoxy and reform or even secular Judaism. I hope that I can lead by way of example as a traditional Jewish person, who wants to build bridges between Jews and non-Jews alike regardless of their levels of observance.

On the MUNI ride home from the AJC, I read through their publication of government and international affairs, called Capital Alert. In the April 2012 issue, probably the most interesting read for me was AJC's position on religious liberty and civil rights, including how the organization works to protect Jewish students from anti-semitism and their official stance on the faith-based initiative and the Workplace Religious Freedom Act. I already know that these will be topics that I will want to chat with Mervyn and Jennah Craig (AJC, ACCESS program).