Pittsburgher Rona Kaufman joins Voice of the People’s first global cohort
Fighting antisemitismKaufman is one of only 150 in worldwide program

Pittsburgher Rona Kaufman joins Voice of the People’s first global cohort

“They will go back to their community to lead the change,” she said.

Rona Kaufman. (Photo courtesy of Rona Kaufman)
Rona Kaufman. (Photo courtesy of Rona Kaufman)

If you’ve seen Rona Kaufman’s videos on social media, you’ve seen her passion for Israel and Jewish identity. It comes as no surprise, then, that she was chosen to be part of the first 150-member cohort of Israeli President H.E. Isaac Herzog’s new initiative Voice of the People.

Since Oct. 7, 2023, Kaufman, an associate professor at the Thomas R. Kline School of Law at Duquesne University, has produced videos battling the anti-Israel misinformation dominating college campuses and has become more involved in the work of strengthening Jewish identity.

After learning about Voice of the People through LinkedIn, Kaufman applied to be part of the first cohort. The selection process included submitting a CV and a video explaining why she wanted to participate in the program. Several different interviews followed, beginning with an initial group interview that included 20 people. Early this month, she was “super excited” to learn she had been selected, she said.

“The idea of the organization is to get diverse Jewish voices from across the world to come together and essentially strategize and network, compare ideas and collaborate for the purpose of confronting the challenges that world Jewry is facing in a post-Oct. 7 world,” Kaufman said.

Herzog launched Voice of the People in April 2023, six months before Hamas’ terrorist attack in Israel, but the organization pivoted after Oct. 7.

Voice of the People “aims to engage a diverse range of Jewish voices from six continents, working together to collectively identify, discuss and creatively address the most pressing immediate and long-term challenges affecting the Jewish people,” according to its website.

Oct. 7 “reshaped paradigms and raised profound questions,” which have increased the relevance of the initiative. The organization lists rising antisemitism, the digital media battlefield and future leaders grappling with Jewish identity as urgent issues requiring a response.

To that end, 150 people, including 50 from Israel, 50 from the United States and Canada and 50 from the rest of world — have been selected to take part in a two-year program beginning with a four-day conference in March 2025.

Kaufman believes the mission of the initiative is more important now than ever, because, she said, Oct. 7 has shown the need for new leadership.

“In North America, we’re seeing a colossal failure of leadership,” she said. “Failure to anticipate the seriousness of the growth of antisemitism in academia and social justice circles that have been taking place for 30 years — a failure to anticipate it and confront it properly.”

Much of what has transpired — building bridges with other marginalized communities hoping that it would keep the Jewish community safe — has failed, she said, as has Jewish education and what she calls “extreme assimilation.”

Kaufman isn’t simply pointing fingers; she noted that she has served on the boards of various Jewish groups, so she shares in the blame.

“We didn’t know what we didn’t know,” she said.

Which is why she believes Voice of the People is so important.

“This is a cohort that is going to welcome other viewpoints that are not already represented,” she said. “I think that’s really powerful.”

In fact, Voice of the People’s CEO Shirel Dagan-Levy said the organization is working in unique ways to fulfill its mission, noting that the organization conducted a survey that more than 10,000 people in six languages across the globe answered.

“We asked them what do you think are today’s most urgent topics,” she said. “And we let them add anything they wanted to add with regards to what happened post-Oct. 7. We got unbelievable answers.”

Antisemitism, she said, is the top issue respondents cited, across the globe.

The organization, Dagan-Levy said, strives to be data-driven, transparent and live up to its name.

“We’re the voice of the people,” she said. “We don’t decide what to do; the people need to decide.”

That idea is tied to Herzog, who endeavors to be the president of the Jewish people, she said.

“His heritage — being the chairman of the Jewish Agency and his father as a president and his grandfather as the chief rabbi of Israel — he really feels responsibility not just for the state of Israel but for the global Jewish people.”

The initiative, she said, worked hard to find new leaders who could help with global issues of Jewish identity. To that end, 75% of people in the first cohort are below the age of 50, and the majority are between the ages of 18 and 40. Over 1,000 people applied to take part in the initial group. The final 150 represent a cross-section of world Jewry — men and women from diverse geographic locations, professions and educational backgrounds.

“Diversity nurtures creativity and innovation, and that’s what we want,” Dagan-Levy said. “We want Voice of the People not to be just another think tank but be a place in which we can come up with actionable solutions to really affect change.”

The council, she said, will be divided into 10 different groups — 15 people per group — and work with one facilitator and one fellow, who will guide them through the two-year cycle of the cohort. After that cycle ends, a new cohort will take their place.

“They will go back to their community to lead the change,” she said.

Kaufman said she has two goals in mind as she prepares for the cohort’s March meeting.

The first is to meet people who are as concerned as she is about the crisis she believes world Jewry faces now.

“I see us in an existential moment, and I think that how we move forward matters in terms of our security, in terms of the survival of western civilization and in terms of what the future of world Jewry looks like,” she said.

There is a split, Kaufman said, between those who believe in a Jewish homeland with a 3,000-year history, and those who believe “we are connected by bagels and a couple of cute prayers and that we’re just a global social justice movement wherein we’re forced to deny our Judaism in order to be a part of the club.”

Her second goal is to continue to build a strong resume, not for professional self-satisfaction, but to supply gravitas as she confronts “self-appointed leaders that spread lies.”

Kaufman believes Voice of the People will help accomplish both of those goals and help people understand the importance of Jewish identity and its connection to Israel.

“We have real issues to confront, and I want to be a part of thinking strategically about how to confront those challenges and to help direct where resources are going to flow and where our attention is going to flow,” she said. PJC

David Rullo can be reached at drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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