The New Reality

by Cory R. Schneider

Thousands of years before anyone could imagine a worldwide anything, let alone the Internet’s www, Yitro, Moses’ father-in-law, figured out how the overextended and exhausted Moses could share the information that he needed to with the people of Israel: “You shall seek out from all the people capable men... set these over them as chiefs of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens... Make it easier for yourself by letting them share the burden with you” (Exodus 18:21). This was the first information technology department, without benefit of electricity or molecular science.

Sometime in the late 1970s I bought our first computer. I loved being able to type and correct again and again without ever opening the bottle of white-out. Basically, it was a very expensive typewriter. Our first car phone was about the size of a shoebox and weighed more than several pairs of shoes, but it kept us connected (when there was a good signal) wherever and whenever. Today, I don’t leave home without first checking my email and tucking my cell phone into my pocket or purse.

It took several years (a nanosecond in biblical time), but today computers and phones connect us in once-inconceivable ways. It connects everyone, from parents and children away at college to organizations and all of their members.

While I have never claimed to understand the technology, I do understand that the world has shrunk. Today, Women’s League and other organizations can tap into the talents and skills of members no matter where they are. Travel time and expense are reduced or eliminated as people participate from home (dress code non-existent). Suddenly, women who had never expected to be involved are participating on an international level.

As someone who lives almost 200 miles from our New York headquarters, it is very exciting for me to imagine the possibilities as Women’s League adapts to this new reality. Last summer, I was able to hear concerns and questions about region realignment from 300 of our leaders. In turn, they gained a better understanding of the rationale behind the changes. Already we are preparing to provide our highly valued training services via conference calls so that sisterhoods can have the help of a Women’s League trainer immediately and no one need travel, give up a day of work, or pay a babysitter.

I also bring a slightly different perspective to my role as president. We Jews of Harrisburg are a small minority within central Pennsylvania. We do not have a kosher butcher, baker or take-out restaurant nearby. The distance to other Jewish communities is measured in tens and hundreds of miles. Because we are so few we feel a responsibility to have our voices heard. We work very hard at “being Jewish.”

In towns and cities across North America, Jews have the luxury of defining ourselves as communities because most of our relationships are within a group of people who have known each other for our entire lives, often going back generations. With few shuls or day schools (if any), we work at making opportunities to be with other Jews. We can’t just walk down the street to join friends for Shabbat lunch or to sit in their sukkah. But we do have a wonderfully rich Jewish life because we make it that way ourselves. There is a great deal of validity to what is happening beyond metropolitan areas, with their abundance of Jewish services. We feel ownership in our Jewish communities and our Jewish identities because we must maintain them by the sweat of our own brows.

Yet diverse communities like mine, and hundreds of others, still yearn to feel part of a larger entity. Women’s League, United Synagogue, and Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs, the Ramah camps, and USY enforce the lessons learned at home and create a richly textured Jewish future for our children, no matter where we live.

Women’s League can benefit from and involve all of our members, whether they live in New York City or Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in Los Angeles or Jerusalem. Our theme for this year is Kol Ishah – A Woman’s Voice. The gift that technology gives us is that every one of our women’s voices can now be heard. Women who were never able to connect are connected and they can contribute. We know that there is no substitute for face-to-face encounters, but we can diminish the geographic barriers to volunteer participation. Everyone can “share the burden” of leadership, as Yitro suggested to Moses. I invite each and every woman to add her voice to ours and thereby enrich the full and vibrant sound of Jewish women worldwide.