Dec 8, 2002 By: yunews
Dec 8, 2002 -- Students from Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life gathered one night during the recent General Assembly of the Jewish federation system and confronted Richard Joel.
The students peppered Joel, Hillel鈥檚 president and international director, with criticism that events during the United Jewish Communities鈥 annual gathering had condescended to them.Joel 鈥 who had delivered speeches, participated in panels and spent days working the summit halls 鈥 listened intently. He expressed sympathy for the students and asked them how they would have done things differently.
For Neil Moss, the chairman of Hillel鈥檚 board of directors and a longtime colleague, Joel鈥檚 reaction was 鈥渨arm and engaging鈥 鈥 typical for a corporate chief who also plays accordion, dances and sings into the wee hours at summer Hillel retreats.
鈥淪ometimes I joke with him that he鈥檚 an overgrown camp counselor,鈥 Moss says. 鈥淗e鈥檚 the guy who loses his voice.鈥
Joel鈥檚 voice now will resonate in a much wider arena: On Dec. 5, Joel, 52, was named president of 黑料社 All, the flagship institution of modern Orthodoxy.
His mission, Joel says, will be 鈥渢o move along an institution whose job is to inspire and educate and give opportunities to a generation of young people, who will in fact lead Orthodoxy and Jewish life and the world at a time when there is a darkness of values.鈥
He will make the transition from Hillel to Yeshiva by spring 2003, Joel says.
Joel鈥檚 election capped a controversial two-year search that reflected the debate over whether to allow someone other than a Torah scholar to head the world鈥檚 largest Orthodox university.
For the first time in its 116 years, Y.U. officials named neither a rabbi nor a Torah scholar, but a charismatic, popular modern Orthodox figure widely regarded for his management and fund-raising skills.
鈥淚 think he鈥檒l take an excellent institution and take it to all kinds of places we haven鈥檛 dreamed about,鈥 says Barry Shrage, president of the Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston.
Shrage, who also is a member of the modern Orthodox movement, predicts Joel is 鈥済oing to continue to develop a vision for modern Orthodoxy that can be communicated within the community and outside of it.鈥
For his part, Joel insists he鈥檚 setting his sights strictly on the world of Yeshiva, where he once was dean of the Cardozo School of Law. He has a daughter at the school鈥檚 Stern College for women and a son at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, or RIETS.
鈥淲ith real humility, I鈥檝e accepted the presidency of Y.U. No one has offered me the leadership of the Orthodox world,鈥 he says.
It鈥檚 noteworthy that he was elected during Chanukah, Joel says, as his new role also is 鈥渁bout the kindling of lights.鈥
Many who have worked with Joel say they鈥檙e confident he鈥檒l succeed.
In part, they point to Joel鈥檚 professional skills and his 14-year track record at Hillel: He took an organization of campus religious chapters loosely tied to B鈥檔ai B鈥檙ith and on the brink of financial collapse, and transformed it into a high-profile, well-funded, corporate-style entity, they say.
鈥淗e took an organization that was considered dorky and turned it around into a place kids want to be,鈥 says Lynn Schusterman, president of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Foundation, which has donated a good portion of Hillel鈥檚 $46 million annual budget.
Many involved in Hillel say Joel fueled the turnaround with his sheer magnetism. Schusterman calls Joel a 鈥減ied piper,鈥 while many cite his 鈥渃harisma鈥 in the near-reverent tones groupies reserve for rock stars.
鈥淗e has a vision for Jewish life that is very deep and compelling and profound,鈥 says Rabbi Jim Diamond, director of the Center for Jewish Life at Princeton University and of the Princeton Hillel.
鈥淗e is the total package. He has extraordinary ability in all areas 鈥 vision, speaking, people skills, management skills, creativity,鈥 adds Jay Rubin, Hillel鈥檚 executive vice president.
Joel鈥檚 rhetorical abilities are well-known. Nathan Diament, director of the Orthodox Union鈥檚 Institute for Public Affairs, says Joel 鈥渞ealizes the power of language in conveying ideas, in motivating people and institutions.鈥
It was Joel who created the two key catch-phrases at the core of Hillel: 鈥淛ewish renaissance鈥 and the motto, 鈥渕aximize the number of Jews doing Jewish.鈥
Still, some say the key is Joel鈥檚 ability to marry lofty words to real strategies.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not a JFK-style charisma, it鈥檚 something deeper,鈥 Shrage says. 鈥淲hat he has is a real vision that he can articulate and bring to life. People know he鈥檚 for real.鈥
Joel is also a workhorse, many say. Seth Goldstein, now a New York University law school student, earned an Edgar Bronfman scholarship while he was a Hillel member at Cornell University, which enabled him to work as an aide to Joel for a year.
鈥淗e鈥檚 nonstop; he never says no,鈥 recalls Goldstein, 24. 鈥淗is days start at 6:30 a.m. and go to 2:30 a.m. I would leave him at 1:15 a.m. and he鈥檇 still be going.鈥
Joel also served as chairman of an O.U. commission that investigated sexual harassment in the case of Rabbi Baruch Lanner. In December 2000 the panel released part of a scathing 332-page report blaming O.U. leaders for ignoring reports of Lanner鈥檚 abuse and urging major organizational reforms
At Hillel, Joel applied the kind of power-sharing leadership techniques that management gurus advocate. Colleagues speak of having 鈥渁utonomy鈥 and being allowed to 鈥渢ake ownership鈥 of their work.
But he also set the bar high.
鈥淥ne of Richard鈥檚 hallmarks was to say, 鈥榃e鈥檝e done this 鈥 now what?鈥 鈥 Rubin says. 鈥淗e strives for excellence.鈥
鈥淣ow what?鈥 is a good question.
The search for a new Y.U. head was so fraught with tension that it was only in the two days preceding the Dec. 5 vote that the boards of trustees for the university and RIETS appeared ready to back Joel.
Even then, it came only after Joel met with the trustees at length, face to face.
In the end, Y.U. officials arrived at an arrangement that some called surprising: Joel was named president of Yeshiva and chief executive officer of RIETS, while Y.U.鈥檚 outgoing president Norman Lamm, a highly regarded Torah scholar, will become rosh yeshiva, or head of RIETS, and university chancellor.
Yeshiva, a top-ranked university with five locations in New York 鈥 including RIETS, medical and law schools, affiliated health-care centers and high schools 鈥 has become a 鈥渧ariegated鈥 entity, according to Julius Berman, president of the RIETS board and a former president of JTA鈥檚 board of directors.
In light of its 鈥渃omplex鈥 character, Berman says, Yeshiva 鈥渞equires that much more leadership.鈥
The institution will remain committed to the motto 鈥淭orah U鈥檓adda鈥 鈥 Torah and science 鈥 indicating a synthesis of Jewish and general studies, Berman says.
Joel also has vowed to encourage 鈥渁 more integral relationship鈥 between different segments of the university, Berman adds.
For example, Joel might invite Lamm or other Torah scholars to lecture at the medical school on cloning and Jewish law, Berman says, or ask a medical school professor to speak at the college.
Exactly how Yeshiva鈥檚 new power structure will develop remains to be seen. Berman and others, including Joel himself, say the exact parameters of the roles Joel and Lamm will play still need be defined.
But those who know Joel say he embodies what Yeshiva is about, and is deeply committed to the university鈥檚 success.
A former New York assistant district attorney, Joel remains devoted to his wife and six children, reportedly never missing a Shabbat with them.
He also helped found a modern Orthodox congregation, Kemp Mill Synagogue, in his home city of Silver Spring, Md., that today includes 250 families.
Diamond, of Princeton, predicts Joel will 鈥渄o great things鈥 for Yeshiva, though even his friend is 鈥渘ot the Moshiach,鈥 or Messiah.
鈥淣o one is perfect. He moves very fast, he has a clear idea of what he wants and doesn鈥檛 want, and he can be very tough,鈥 Diamond says. 鈥淏ut I think that鈥檚 going to help him at Yeshiva. To be a university president, you have to be tough.鈥
漏JTA - Joe Berkofsky
