July 3, 2003

His Goal Is to Fight Jewish Assimilation and Intermarriage:

Zale Newman’s Vision of his New Job: 
 ‘We Will Build an NCSY for the MTV Generation’

“Our people will have the freedom to innovate, to create, to try new things and the freedom to fail,” Zale Newman tells listeners. “Our people will not be afraid to take risks. We will reward innovation and success. We will do this to reach our teenagers, to get them close to God, Torah and Israel.”

Zale Newman, who today assumes the position of National Director of the Orthodox Union’s thriving youth program, the National Conference of Synagogue Youth, has big plans for a big organization. With Regions all over the United States as well as for Canada in Toronto – where Newman currently makes his home – NCSY has established a decades-long record of success in strengthening the ties of Jewish teenagers from all walks of life to Jewish tradition and in fighting off the inroads of assimilation and intermarriage.

Now, Mr. Newman wants his team of young Jewish visionaries to take NCSY to a higher level, expanding its range dramatically in the remarkably short target period of three years. While continuing to address the needs of observant Jewish youth, he plans to do this by concentrating on outreach – called kiruv-- to those who know little about their rich Jewish heritage and are in danger of being lost to the Jewish people.

Not surprisingly, Mr. Newman terms assimilation the greatest threat facing the Jewish community today. “We must interest these young people in feeling that they are a critical part of the Jewish people. We must get to them before we lose them,” Mr. Newman says. Responding to this urgency, he plans to lead his team in building what he calls “NCSY for the MTV generation.”

Well versed in Torah, Mr. Newman prefers informal education over reliance on the classroom to win the hearts of Jewish young – shabbatons, summer camps, Israel programs and the like, all of which he plans to expand, along with heavy NCSY staff reliance on the Internet --“I’m very big on using the tools of today,” he declares.

“We want to use our well-trained, unbelievably dedicated and enthusiastic group of outreach workers, together with the latest in technology and innovative programming, to get to the very large number of young people we must reach.” Mr. Newman says.

Relying on tools he learned in the business world, Mr. Newman promises that NCSY efforts will not be based on guesswork, but rather on the techniques of market research, “to learn what the teens of today are thinking.” As in business, he plans on introducing programs on a trial basis in one Region and then expanding them nationally if they are successful; and as in business, he will make adjustments whenever necessary. “Teens are changing all the time. We must change with them,” Mr. Newman says.

The expansion of NCSY that Mr. Newman foresees can only come about through dramatically increased fundraising, which he plans to pursue on both national and local levels. Seeking both corporate and private sponsors for each new program, he will look to identify and approach major donors for the gifts to fund the new initiatives. “We are not seeking donors as much as we are seeking partners,” he declares. “We are looking for their hearts and minds, even more than their dollars.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Newman is completing work on a Siddur, High Holidays Machzor and Passover Haggadah for beginners, featuring simplified text and explanations and filled with graphics as learning tools. The key to his success is that he knows that even for the MTV generation, the sacred texts of the Jewish people cannot be minimized. “We intend to touch our young people emotionally and make them feel good about them themselves and about Judaism,” he says. “NCSY will always be positive and creative; it will always be upbeat. That’s the way we will succeed.”

The Orthodox Union, now in its second century of service to the Jewish community of North America and beyond, is a world leader in community and synagogue services, adult education, youth work through NCSY, political action through the IPA, and advocacy for persons with disabilities through Yachad and Our Way. Its kosher supervision label, the , is the world’s most recognized kosher symbol and can be found on over 250,000 products manufactured in 68 countries around the globe.

www.ou.org

# # #

Comments? Requests? Questions?

Orthodox Union Department of Communications and Marketing David Olivestone Director Stephen Steiner Director of Public Relations Main Office: 11 Broadway, New York, NY 10004 Phone: 212.613.8318 Fax: 212-613-0763 E-mail: steiners@ou.org  |  media@ou.org

OUPR Archives Recent statements to the press: 2002  |  2001  |  2000  |  1999  |  1998