Friday, July 6, 2012

RCA Election Results are in!!

I posted previously that I was running for the Midwest VP of the Rabbinical Council of America.
The poles closed earlier this week and the results were posted today.

I did not win the election.

But I am not deterred.  I lost to the officially nominated candidate 260 - 156.  That means that 155 other Rabbis believed that I was the best man for the job. 

This election was a great victory for everyone in the RCA. 

  • This election brought out more than 40 percent of the membership, still not a stellar voter turnout, but obviously a great improvement over past elections that consisted of just a handful of people affirming the nominated slate.

  • There was a great deal of election reform.  In past elections, in the rare event that an officer seat was challenged there was absolutely no election oversight.  This year, for the first time, the elections were run pro bono by a law firm.  There is still a way to go in election reform in order to give petition candidates a fare chance, but this year was a groundbreaking first step in the right direction.

  • The current leadership had to work very hard to retain their seats.  That means that they are not going to take those seats for granted.  If they want to retain those seats in next year's election they will have to be a more active leadership that works hard on behalf of the people that elected them.  This will be good for everyone.

  • The RCA made front page news in some national Jewish papers.  The coverage was inaccurate and served the current leadership's cause by portraying the popular petition candidates as fanatic right wing insurgents.  But - the RCA made front page news in a national Jewish paper.  That means that people are interested in what is going on in our organization. 

  • Lest anyone ever say that the RCA is a monolithic organization, our election results clearly demonstrate that there are differences of opinions among the membership.  The press tried to portray our internal debate as a bad thing.  In fact, our internal debates demonstrate what a great organization the RCA is.  1,000 Rabbis, each with his own distinct set of views and opinions on every thinkable issue, and we all still manage to get along and belong to one group.  That is a testament to our commitment to the Jewish value of civil and passionate disagreement and I am proud to be a member of an organization whose by laws allow for dissension and disagreement. 
I have every intention of running again next year.  I have already compiled a petition of 25 members and will submit my name on Monday. 
In the meantime, I will continue my regular involvement with the RCA.  I am founder and head of the new RCA Social Media Affinity Group (see the website I started for it at  www.GoRabbi.com) and I hope to be able to get on the convention committee this year.

Though I was not elected, this year's election was a great victory for the RCA as an organization, for each of its 1,000 members, and for the ten of thousands of people in North America and around the world that are served by Modern Orthodox Rabbis.

8 comments:

  1. What states are in the Midwest Region?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great question. The constitution is not clear. The guy who beat me is form Memphis.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Isn't that the Southern region? Do these gentlemen know their US geography? Surely there is a map available for them to look at.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Will you help many other Jews don't seem to want to help Israel any more.
    Help protect the Galilee: a nonviolent means for solving this problem

    Israel Ranches are being attacked, their land being stolen and their passive European cattle are being mutilated and killed by local Palestinians, jackals and wolves. Israel needs desert cattle that fits its environment and can defend it's self and it's calves. That breed of cattle is Texas Longhorn. The self-sustainable project will help Israel. Help us raise $240,000, to start. A 501c 3 nonprofit # 74-3177354.

    This is some of the ranches under attack
    http://youtu.be/hMF12Ru--yw

    http://youtu.be/TGfc2oRYyxA

    Thank you

    Robin Rosenblatt
    Israel Longhorn Project
    815 Hill St Apt 5
    Belmont, Ca 94002
    650.631.9270
    http://longhornproject.org

    ReplyDelete
  5. Why We Are Afraid, A 1400 Year Secret
    There are two critical questions for our age:

    What is the true nature of Islam?
    Why are we afraid to know about it?

    My books have answered the first question and now my new talk answers the second question.
    A few months ago a man videoed two talks that I gave in Chattanooga, TN. When he asked if he could post them on You Tube, I said sure and thought that no one would watch a 45 minute talk. Wrong! In two weeks time about 51,000 people have watched the entire talk. Now it is being subtitled in German, French, and Spanish. Who knew?

    This talk ties together the rise of Islam, the annihilation of classical civilization, the Dark Ages, the Islamic Golden Age, the doctrine of jihad and the psychology of the Western mind as analogous to the abused wife, all based on two large sets of data. The idea is the result of 10 years of research and it took 6 months to prepare the content and the graphics.

    For your viewing pleasure:

    Why We Are Afraid

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_Qpy0mXg8Y

    ReplyDelete
  6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_Qpy0mXg8Y

    ReplyDelete
  7. and

    A Rational Study of Radical Islam

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9sYgqRtZGg
    This message was sent to Robin@longhornproject.org from:
    Bill Warner
    Political Islam . com | Suite 500 3212 West End Av | Nashville, TN 37203

    ReplyDelete