A couple of days ago, I met with a friend to conduct one of the many Pre-Jewish Community Summit interviews that are happening now. I have come to love these conversations because they move in a very different direction than one might assume.
Through these interviews I am receiving the gift of hearing stories. Memories. Dreams. Desires for self and community.
So, a couple of days ago I sat down with my friend with the expectation that I would know him better through his history — through his story. And his response saddened me. And I understood it.
“Judy, my story is not special. I am like everyone else. What difference does it make?”
He truly had difficulty articulating his story. He had not been asked this before. Years of living invisibly in this community reinforced his self-perception as the holder of a story that does not matter.
Yet (with some cajoling), he did share his story. And I, again, am wowed by the richness of experience, depth of dreams, and goals for our Milwaukee Jewish community among us.
And this is precisely why I am so very hopeful for the outcome of the hundreds of interviews, and for the hundreds of people who plan to attend the Jewish Community Summit on June 26 and 27 at the Milwaukee Public Museum.
The wisdoms we will all be privy to will be of inestimable value. And because of these wisdoms, we will be able to take that wise look at the Milwaukee Jewish Federation and its place in building the future that we all seek.
Personally, I seek a future where every Jewish person feels connected regardless of involvement. Where I would not hear: “I am not part of the Jewish community.” Where every Jewish person knows that the community is here to hold his or her hand when walking through a trying time — a community that each person knows is ready to embrace her or him.
I am going to be an interviewee. I am going to attend the Summit. I am going to listen to others, and I am going to talk about my vision.
And I, like the man I interviewed — like you — will be there to make a difference. To be heard. To be there to create the stories that I would be proud to have future generations tell about us.
Judy Guten is chair of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation’s Reimagining Project.
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