Three years after the American Israel Public Affairs Committee nixed its annual policy conference, which was held each spring in Washington, D.C., during the COVID-19 pandemic, Jewish professionals are still experimenting on the Jewish conference circuit, trying to replace what was the central place to see and be seen, network and shop for clients.
Stan Steinreich, who founded and runs an eponymous consultancy, told JNS that he is having success at the Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly, which was held Nov. 10 to Nov. 12 in Washington.
“It has been an important place to connect with Jewish community and Israeli leaders from around the world,” he said of the Federation event.
Many of the attendees at the Federation event this year “mourned the loss of the AIPAC conference but considered this event akin to that gathering in terms of networking and learning, albeit not at the same size and scale, yet,” Steinreich said.
Attending the AIPAC annual event was valuable for Steinreich, given the “sheer magnitude” of the gathering. “We had so many prospective clients to sit down and talk with,” he told JNS. “It was a worthwhile investment from a business perspective.”
Steinreich told JNS that the Z3 annual conference, a program of the Oshman Family JCC in Palo Alto, Calif., and the annual Jewish National Fund and Anti-Defamation League events are also good places for Jewish professionals.
“What made the Federation’s General Assembly different was it being in D.C. and having the feel and environment of the old AIPAC conference,” he said. (JNS sought comment from AIPAC.)
Shoshana Bryen, senior director of the Jewish Policy Center, attended many conferences before the pandemic and was a speaker at AIPAC’s last major event.
“People have changed,” Bryen told JNS. “We used to do a lot of smaller, in-person meetings and lunches—50 or so people—but now we do webinars. We get far more people that way—100 to 175 every week, and it costs much less.”
The Jewish Policy Center does most of its programming on Capitol Hill online, “and people seem to like it better,” Bryen said.
Although online events are more useful and cost-effective, “there are strong benefits to having people talk in person,” she told JNS. “The exchange of ideas and information is often better. I just don’t think it is viable right now.”
Rebecca Leigh, an educator and editor, found past AIPAC conferences to be “good at gathering everyone across the political aisle.” Leigh, who told JNS that she is “someone who deeply appreciates the intersection of progressive activism and Jewishness,” attended the national J Street conference this year, hoping “to hear how this conference tackled issues that matter to Israel and the U.S.-Israeli relationship while inspiring discussion among like-minded folks.”
She liked the “thoughtful, productive dialogue” but told JNS that, at times, she found the “overly political focus” at J Street served to “subvert the broader Jewish cultural or spiritual themes” about which many attendees are curious.
“J Street is ideologically closed off, which tends to keep the conversation thin,” she told JNS.
‘Strength in the collective’
In recent years, AIPAC has been hosting smaller gatherings, including for top donors, that pale in comparison to the annual event, which used to feature up to 18,000 attendees.
Brandon Fish, director of community relations at the Charleston Jewish Federation, attended the Federation gathering in Washington in November, which he told JNS was “one of the most well-attended in recent history.”
“I think the reason is that after Oct. 7, Jews are feeling more alienated in response to discord with what is happening in Israel and the overall antisemitism,” he said. “These conferences are a chance to be together and find strength in the collective, to remember that we are part of a national and international group of people that are well organized and doing good work in the community.”
Since the pandemic, some regular Jewish conferences have disappeared “because people got used to interacting virtually,” Fish said.
Shira Hutt, executive vice president of the umbrella Federation group, told JNS that attendance at the recent General Assembly was the highest in the past seven years. She said this reflects “the moment we are in, not just in terms of Israel but the ripple effects.”
“My sense is many of the people that attended the AIPAC policy conference are also connected to other organizations like ours, and they have continued to attend those conferences,” she said. She wasn’t sure if the Federation feels “a bigger sense of responsibility” since AIPAC stopped holding its major event, she said, “but we do consider it a major thing.”