New president: B’nai B’rith must modernise

B’NAI Brith’s new national president James Altman has conceded the organisation must change to remain relevant for the future.

Altman listed the ideas he believes will take the organisation forward when he addressed the body’s annual convention in his inaugural speech on Monday.

“The more we stay the same, the more tired we will all get, the more we will bemoan the lack of young people joining B’nai B’rith,” he said. “My vision is to see a continuing development of programs and initiatives with which Jewish people of all ages will want to be involved.”

Among examples Altman gave¬† of projects he believed would “fire the imagination” of members, was supporting the green objectives of the American group Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life.

“It’s an area of enormous importance, and one in which I am convinced that B’nai B’rith can make a valuable contribution,” he said.

Atman also suggested programs for supporting younger members of the community afflicted with mental illness. In addition, he said Jews in Australia and New Zealand could make a meaningful contribution towards combating internet hate and anti-Semitism on campuses, while supporting community outreach programs and raising awareness of  issues facing minority groups.

“We need people with imagination and energy to forge this new path,” he said. “More of the same is a recipe for failure.”

B’nai B’rith international president Dennis Glick, who flew in from the US for the conference, told The AJN the future also meant embracing new forms of communication. “We’re an organisation that’s been in existence now entering our 168th year and [people] think of us as in the past,” he said. “We’d like them to think in a more current and topical sense of what we do.”

Glick reinforced B’nai B’rith’s philosophy of advocating on behalf of Israel, the Jewish people and human rights in general. “My role here was to encourage [B’nai B’rith Australia] to involve themselves in more supportive advocacy roles, both for humanitarian purposes as well as for the state.

GARETH NARUNSKY