Who would have thought that the founding executive director of the small but feisty Progressive Jewish Alliance would accept a post as CEO at the Jewish Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma counties http://www.sfjcf.org/aboutjcf/press/2008/sokatch.asp?

The PJA (www.pjalliance.org) is an example of the new kind of Jewish social justice--activists based in urban LA and the Bay Area who use religious concepts like kashrut to protest sweatshop labor, or who cite talmudic chapter and verse to lobby for restorative justice. Unlike most of organized Judaism, PJA's organization is composed of grassroots working groups who often connect with PICO and other interfaith grassroots groups on particular projects.

What a difference from the SFJCF, a hoary institution that has been headless for almost seven years because no one wanted to brave the bureaucracy! This is the organization that hosts a "latke ball" at hanukah, and boasts about their business leadership council. Aside from building a very beautiful JCC with a great pool, the SFJCF has done nothing exciting in years.

Will Daniel Sokatch be able to revive this institution? Can institutional Judaism be revived? These are not insignificant questions at a time when Jews increasingly disaffiliate from organized Jewry. Keep watching...