Eric Goldstein - Lessons From a Decade of Crisis Leadership

Episode 84 of What Gives?—the Jewish Philanthropy Podcast from Jewish Funders Network, hosted by JFN President and CEO Andrés Spokoiny. In this episode, Andrés speaks with Eric Goldstein, who, after more than twelve years at the helm of the largest local Jewish charity in the world, is stepping down this fall as CEO of UJA-Federation of New York. Eric came to the role by an unusual path, spending thirty-one years as a litigator before he ever sat behind a federation desk, and he arrived already knowing the organization from the inside as a board vice chair and a major donor. In this conversation, Andrés and Eric reflect on a tenure that ran through COVID-19, October 7, and a run of once-in-a-generation crises that arrived almost yearly. They talk about what all of this revealed about the Jewish community and the institutions meant to hold it together. Eric makes a full-throated case for the federation model in an age that loves to root for its disruptors. He speaks about the way UJA draws its boundaries while funding a community that includes both the Haredi world and LGBTQ Jews, and why he believes the widening animosity between the Jewish right and left, along with the drift of younger Jews away from organized Jewish life, may be the most urgent problem he leaves behind. Take a listen.