July 3, 2003

OU Announces Appointment of Zale Newman as National Director of National Conference of Synagogue Youth;
 
NCSY Veteran Brings Key Business Skills in Addition to Youth Work Background

The Orthodox Union's National Conference of Synagogue Youth (NCSY), which has offered highly successful youth programs of informal Jewish education and outreach across North America for the past half century, today announced the appointment of Zale Newman of Toronto, a 35-year veteran of NCSY activities, as its new National Director. "Reb Zale" as he is known in Jewish outreach circles, comes to NCSY with a background as a highly successful marketing and business executive in Canada and as one of the Toronto Jewish community's most active lay leaders.

Among his many activities in the Jewish world, Mr. Newman has served as the record producer for the legendary Shlomo Carlebach and as the creator of the international educational phenomenon known as Uncle Moishy and the Mitzvah Men.

The announcement was made in New York by OU President Harvey Blitz, Executive Vice President Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, and NCSY Youth Commission Chair Moishe Bane.

"The search committee was impressed by Zale Newman's clear vision for the future and his emphasis on the ways of reaching young people," said Mr. Blitz. "He is incredibly creative, has a proven track record, strong leadership skills, and a NCSY background that spans many years. He is concerned not only for the Jewish development of young people, but for their total development as individuals."

"Reb Zale" brings with him the aim of rapidly expanding the number of teenagers NCSY reaches in the United States and Canada over the next three years, utilizing the sophisticated techniques he has mastered in his varied career. These include conducting extensive market research; the creative use of the Internet; developing new techniques in fundraising; teaching Jewish tradition in avante garde ways, and not least, reaching millions of children through the 15 albums, six videos and ten world concert tours of the Uncle Moishy and the Mitzvah Men series.

Starting his NCSY activities in 1968, Mr. Newman later served as an advisor to various NCSY regions, eventually serving as the Regional Director in Montreal. After leaving NCSY to enter the private sector, Mr. Newman continued to assist the organization in a variety of other capacities, including Co-Chair of the Canada Regional Youth Commission and as a teacher and speaker at hundreds of NCSY events over the past 29 years.

"Our lay leadership team is very excited about the new skills that Zale Newman is bringing to NCSY and to working very closely with him," said Moishe Bane, the NCSY Youth Commission Chair. "His charisma, creativity and vision are infectious, making us confident that NCSY will be a much larger force in the Jewish community in the years ahead."

A graduate of Yeshiva University, Mr. Newman also did graduate work at McGill University in Montreal and holds an MBA in Marketing and Corporate Strategy from York University in Toronto. Prior to college, he attended yeshiva in Jerusalem for two years and has continued a rigorous course of daily Torah study since that time.

Mr. Newman's business background includes executive positions at General Mills (Canada) and a variety of financial services companies; he is currently a partner with Panfinancial, a highly successful financial services firm in Toronto.

Mr. Newman will begin attending to NCSY affairs while he is still finishing up his business responsibilities in Toronto, and will officially move to OU National Headquarters in New York on January 1, 2004. Already, he is traveling throughout the United States to meet with NCSY staff and lay leadership in the various Regions.

He will head the NCSY leadership team which for the past year has been led by Shira Reifman, who has been appointed permanent Director of National Operations; and by Rabbi Glenn Black, who will continue to serve as the Regional Director for Canada while working on behalf of National NCSY as well.

"This is the most exciting and challenging opportunity I have ever faced," Mr. Newman said. "But it's also the most inspiring, as I believe that NCSY, which is already one of the most successful youth movements in North America, can grow enormously both in numbers and influence, given the right tools and using the right resources."

"NCSY can change the future direction of the entire Jewish people," he added, "by reaching out to each and every Jewish youngster, whatever his or her connection to the Jewish people may now be. For me personally, this is going to be hugely rewarding."

Terming Mr. Newman "almost a legend for his success in the world of informal Jewish education," OU Executive Vice President Rabbi Tzvi Hersch Weinreb declared, "Zale Newman is a creative whiz who brings key entrepreneurial skills to our table. His energy, innovativeness and ability to make things happen are the aspects of his business background that most stand out."

"He is a man of vision, but practical vision," added Rabbi Weinreb. "He sees the big picture, knows how to teach Torah, knows kiruv (outreach), knows young people, knows staff development and motivation, knows the world of the Internet and websites. To reach today's youngsters, creativity must be balanced with management skills. Zale Newman has both in abundance."

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.

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