eJP Op-Ed: Supporting the People Who Hold the Center: A Community Relations Imperative

Originally published by eJewishPhilanthropy.

by Rabba Rori Picker Neiss and Shauna Leavey

Over the past several years — and especially in the nearly two years since Oct. 7, 2023 — we have watched as Jewish community relations professionals have been stretched to their limits. They are navigating unprecedented challenges: rising and violent antisemitism, threats to democracy, global conflict, an increasingly polarized Jewish community and an American public discourse more fractured than ever.

Amid all that, they are expected to build bridges across deep ideological divides and represent the Jewish community with nuance and integrity, and to do all of this with shrinking resources and growing scrutiny.

And they are tired.

This is a field that has always asked a lot from its professionals. The direct impact of community relations work is challenging — if not impossible — to measure. Relationship-building is a long game, with outcomes that can take years to materialize. Success does not always come with metrics or headlines; it shows up quietly, when a door that was once closed is finally opened, or when trust that took years to build makes it possible for communities to avoid or weather a crisis.

Unfortunately, we find ourselves in an era that prioritizes instant gratification. Leaders and funders often want fast, clean wins with definitive data points. Polarizing voices demand hard lines and zero-sum approaches. We are being pushed to choose between false binaries — left or right, ally or enemy, in or out. Too often, Jewish community relations professionals are told that nuance is weakness and relationship-building is unacceptable compromise.

But here is the truth about this work: Hard lines do not get us the results we need, and bridge-building does not happen overnight.

At the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, we are deliberately investing in a two-fold approach to respond to this moment: By supporting the challenging work of community relations itself, and by investing in the people who do it.

Programs and resources matter — that is why we provide extensive guidance and substantive events, toolkits and other materials to shape the work on the ground on issues like engaging potential allies on antisemitism, working with teachers’ unions, protecting democratic norms, and so much more. But none of our efforts can succeed without people — real people — who are equipped, empowered and supported to engage in the long, difficult, relational work that this moment demands.

As two former JCRC directors, we know what it means to carry the weight of this work in challenging times. We have seen first-hand how community relations professionals are asked to represent, to interpret, to mediate and to lead — often all at once, and with little backup. In our own lives, we have felt the toll that this work can take on even the most committed and experienced of professionals.

We know that if we want to sustain this field, we must first sustain its people. That’s why we at JCPA are equipping professionals with additional support infrastructure that engages the full person, not just the professional role. That includes:

• Mentorship programs for professionals: Our national mentorship initiative pairs together JCRC professionals at different stages of their careers. The goal is not only career development – it is to build meaningful, sustaining relationships. Mentors and mentees alike describe how the program has expanded their vision of the field and deepened their commitment to it.

• Mentorship program for lay leaders: After the successful launch of the mentorship program for professionals, we heard from board chairs who also felt they would benefit from peer guidance. With so much pressure on professionals to be experts in everything — and so much criticism when results do not come instantly — it is essential to strengthen the professional-lay partnership to face challenges together.

• Peer networks and affinity spaces: We host both informal and formal gatherings, virtual and in person, from our annual summits to weekly Torah Tuesdays to ongoing WhatsApp chats, where professionals can connect authentically, not just as colleagues, but as people navigating shared challenges.

• Professional development and rejuvenation opportunities: We are providing access for JCRC professionals to meaningful learning and renewal experiences, such as an upcoming retreat. This includes providing travel subsidies, working with supervisors to support participation, and building connections with partners across the Jewish communal landscape to expand access to these resources.

• Adaptable, human-centered resources: Our toolkits are not one-size-fits-all templates. We design frameworks that are flexible, rooted in values, able to be molded to local needs and backed by one-on-one access to JCPA staff. Professionals know they can reach out any time for support, guidance, and collaboration, and we are grateful they do.

This is what a holistic investment in Jewish professionals looks like: meeting people where they are — emotionally, professionally and relationally — and helping them to stay rooted in work that rarely offers quick wins but can transform communities over time.

We are already seeing the difference. Professionals who we work with emphasize the importance of feeling less isolated and better equipped. They share successes that result from being empowered to address local challenges in ways that reflect their deep understanding and experience of their own communities. They feel not only more capable, but also more committed.

We believe that these efforts are urgently needed, and need to expand. If we do not make real investments in the people who hold the center in our communities — who refuse the false binaries and do the painstaking work of navigating complexity and relationship-building — we risk losing them.

As Barry Finestone, president and CEO of the Jim Joseph Foundation, recently observed in an important piece in eJewishPhilanthropy on the dangers of burnout among Jewish communal professionals, “We ask people to work in a storm that’s battering all of us from every angle. If we don’t start protecting and replenishing them now, there won’t be enough of them left to rebuild whatever comes next.”

We cannot afford to lose those people, or to scare them away before their leadership journeys even begin; and we cannot afford to lose the nuanced wisdom they bring to our communities.

At JCPA, we are modeling a different path. We are building systems of care around those doing community relations work. We are saying: This work matters, and the people doing it matter.

And we are inviting other organizations to join us. If we want to sustain the Jewish communal field, we must first sustain its people.

Rabba Rori Picker Neiss is the senior vice president and rabbi in residence at the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. Prior to that, she served as executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of St. Louis, Mo.

Shauna Leavey is the strategic community relations manager at the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. Prior to that, she served as the director of community engagement at the Jewish Federation of Howard County, Md.