The Next Generation of Jewish Leaders

Something in our DNA inspired Jews to be a voice for social justice and public service in America. Jews have served at all levels of civic leadership since the founding of this country. Whether motivated to advance perceived Jewish interests or to champion social justice issues, a disproportionate number of Jews have been councilmembers, Assembly members, members of Congress and senators. My generation has grown to expect that our local elected officials would be Jewish and that there would be Jewish political leaders on the national landscape.

However, Jewish leadership in civic life appears to be waning, as evidenced by a decline in Jewish political representation. At the national level, leading Jewish representatives will no longer be in Washington in 2013. The reasons are varied:  retirement (Joe Lieberman and Barney Frank); redistricting (Howard Berman or Brad Sherman); or extraordinary circumstances (Gabrielle Giffords). As a result, 2013 will mark a historically low point for Jewish representation in Congress. This decline of Jewish representation is occurring at the local level as well. At its peak, five of the 15 Los Angeles City Council members were Jewish, yet as of July 1, 2013, we will have just two, possibly three. And legendary L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky will be leaving office in 2014, a result of term limits.

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