A Smorgasbord of Jewish Ideas

A smorgasbord of Jewish ideas ing to the Jewish calendar – actual- ly face a much bigger challenge, I Israelis must be taught about think.” Relaxed in a dark suit without a Jewish culture, says Daniel Posen tie, Posen quietly contemplates his foundation’s work while sipping coffee at a Jerusalem hotel during a • BY STEVE LINDE itself, where, he said, most secular visit in January. Israelis know little or nothing about “The majority of Jews here and aniel Posen genuinely cares Judaism. around the world view themselves about Israel and the Jewish “The majority of Jews here are as secular,” he said. “We believe people. As CEO of the Po- missing part of their identity,” Po- that Judaism is first and foremost a sen Foundation, which he sen told The Jerusalem Post – “the culture. What do we do with the Jew Dfounded three decades ago with his part that comes through their cul- who says, ‘There’s nothing really for father, Felix, the cosmopolitan entre- ture and their own Jewishness. me because Judaism is for religious preneur and philanthropist strongly “I think the government has woe- Jews, or haredi Jews’? I think that’s a advocates spreading the values of Ju- fully failed to serve the majority of needless tragedy and something we daism as a culture, making Jewish her- Jews in this country,” he went on. should try to do something about, itage accessible to all. “Secular Israeli Jews are much more even in a small measure.” To Posen, lack of Jewish knowl- Jewishly impoverished than their Posen’s remedy? edge is a pervasive problem in the Diaspora counterparts,” Posen add- “Educate people, give them a Jewish world. Ironically, the prob- ed. “So Israeli Jews – even though smorgasbord of Jewish ideas. But lem is greatest in the Jewish state they speak Hebrew and live accord- you have to let them pick, not tell 8 POSEN FOUNDATION JUNE 2016 them what they need.” wife, Jane. came across the question of why so The Posen Foundation, which Born in Berlin, Felix Posen fled to many Jews are Jewishly uneducated, operates from its office in Holon, the US with his family in 1938. Both and who eschewed religion. I think supports a variety of projects to father and son became highly suc- that troubled him, coming from a advance Felix and Daniel Posen’s cessful commodity traders, dealing religious home. He was also trying belief that Jewish education is the in oil, metal, and minerals. Daniel to understand the bridge between right of every Jew, and promote a later became a founding member of Judaism as religion and Judaism as culture of Judaism. Trafigura Beheer BV, a Dutch multi- a culture.” Since taking the helm of the Po- national commodity trading com- As for himself, Posen said he too sen Foundation, Daniel has expand- pany founded in 1993. came late to Judaism and Israel. ed its activities in Israel beyond aca- After retiring, Felix Posen estab- “I was very Jewishly uneducat- demic endeavors. lished himself as a leading figure in ed in a way, and still am, to a large The Foundation’s flagship project the world of Jewish culture and edu- degree. Growing up in Japan and in is still its teacher-training program cation. Daniel has devoted his ener- England and other places, the only at Ofakim. But Daniel is pushing gy and talents to supporting Jewish way to learn about Judaism was by things further. Not only are there studies in Israel. taking classes from a religious per- more community-based programs, “My father came from a typical son. I learned to read and write He- including a cadet program in the modern German Jewish home, left brew, but I never learned what it all IDF, but the Foundation is build- before the war with his immediate meant. Today I can read Hebrew, ing ties with municipalities to place family, settled in the United States, but I have no idea what I’m reading, graduates in schools and adding in- in Washington Heights, which they and that’s the coined phrase of ‘pe- formal education programs for par- jokingly called ‘the fourth reich,’” diatric Judaism.’ I think it was very ents and children. he recalled. “Many of the German empty, the famous empty part of Under Posen, the program is shift- Jews ended up there, and quite a few the cart, and it was meaningless.” ing from an academic effort to a led a very cold yekkeshe life, with- What, then, led him to become community initiative. out a lot of passion,” Daniel recalls, involved in this field? “Ofakim is in a way our most am- smiling. “It really started when my father bitious program in Israel,” Posen “His father was the religious one started to take an interest in the said. “It provides high school grad- in the family, although it turned subject matter we’re involved with, uates going into university with a out he didn’t even understand He- and so we started the Posen Foun- Bachelor’s degree and teacher’s cer- brew, even though he knew all the dation together. While I still had tificate in three years. prayers. I think that really freaked my main job, my father – who had “Being a teacher is almost a life my father out, to imagine praying just retired – started to get a sense sentence of economic hardship and not knowing what you’re say- of what was going on in the world to some,” he said, “but you have ing. On the other hand, his mother of Judaism of culture, and the issues many passionate university under- was a pianist and well read – which surrounding it, and that’s how I re- graduates who want to teach, and is probably where my father got his ally got plugged in. in this series of courses, these kids interest and love of culture. So his “I worked one summer – in 1974 or are taught how to teach Judaism as culture really came from his moth- 1975 – on a moshav here, and spent a culture in the mamlachti (secular) er, religion from the father, and I my weekends in Nuweiba, so I start- school system.” think that fused his notion that ed late in life; I would say properly The Posen Foundation follows the something was missing.” not until 2003 or 2004.” Ofakim graduates in the three mu- Daniel credits his father with the What is the philosophy behind nicipal programs – Rishon Lezion, idea of establishing the Posen Foun- the Posen Foundation? Ra’anana and Kfar Saba – where they dation in order to offer secular Jews “The aim of the Foundation also provide informal programs on an entrée into Jewish life and learn- hasn’t changed. We’ve modernized Jewish thought for the teachers, ing. it because obviously I’m another parents and students, together with “My father was yearning to fill generation and I have a different other organizations such Alma, the void, but he never knew how, background than my father. I guess BINA and Herzog. and in the ’60s and ’70s you didn’t the bottom line is that notion of have many opportunities to figure Judaism as a culture should be in DANIEL POSEN was born in New out what Judaism was. He spent everybody’s bookshelf, whether York in 1958, but grew up in Japan his whole life working, and I think you’re religious or not. What you do and England. Today he lives in Lu- he was in a way a closet academic,” with it is another thing. cerne with his Swiss wife, Diana, Posen said. “As a typical yekke, he “We have thousands of years of and his two sons, age 22 and 20. His took time to survey what ails the history that people understand father, 87, lives in London with his world in terms of Jewish topics, and has been co-opted by the religious, POSEN FOUNDATION • THE JERUSALEM POST 9 and it is the fault of us, the non-religious, who have done nothing about it.” Posen said he and his father were motivated by the Shenhar Report two decades ago. It persuaded them to focus their initial energies on the Israeli educational system. “Professor Aliza Shenhar was hired by the government of Israel at the time to look at what ails education generally,” Posen recalled. “You know, math was No. 1, compared to most countries. What was the last thing on her list? It was Judaism. In a way, that was a terrible embarrass- ment to this country. “How could it be that the Jewish nation didn’t know how to teach Ju- daism in the secular school system? That got us thinking, how is this possible, and what is missing in the antiquated way of teaching? What came as a reaction to the Shenhar Report was how to teach Judaism as a culture, a wondrous thing. And it’s working. “At Ofakim, we graduate 10-15 students a year. It’s wildly expensive and not supported by many because they think it’s the job of the government to worry about things like that, but I don’t think you can wait DANIEL POSEN: We have always said that to be an educated Jew, you have to too long in any country.” know something about your religious brethren. (Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post) While Ofakim is their flagship program, the Posen foundation funds a wide variety of programs. Asked to share one of the Posen students. I think whatever they be- “I come to Israel probably every Foundation’s success stories, Daniel come, a doctor or a politician, you month and a half,” said Posen.

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