Throughout his career Joel Daner spent time mentoring those who would follow him in Jewish communal leadership — acting as a sounding board for ideas and offering advice on dealing with particular situations. Many of today’s Jewish professional and lay leaders were mentored and guided in some way by Joel.
Yachad takes great pride in naming the Joel Daner Yachad Communal Fellowship as a tribute to this great leader. It is presented annually to outstanding recent college graduates who want to learn and grow under Yachad’s auspices — promoting inclusion for all Jewish people. Joel Daner laid a path for the fellows to follow, paved with Jewish ideals, leadership, excellence and professionalism.
“There is such a need for this program and this is such a fitting way for Joel to be remembered,” Mrs. Selma Daner said of the fellowships named for her late husband. “He lives on, his memory lives on, and what he believed in still lives on.”
When Joel Daner passed away in November 2010 at the age of 72, he left behind a four decade-long career in Jewish civic and community service, in which he had an enormous impact on the professionalism of the men and women who devote their lives to the Jewish people. Among the highlights of Joel’s work was his role as a board member of the Jewish Service for the Developmentally Disabled (JSDD) of Metro West, New Jersey for 10 years. As president, he led the agency through a period of remarkable growth.
As a lay leader, Joel was also an enormous asset to Yachad and its mission of inclusion. He laid the infrastructure for the flourishing lay leadership boards in Yachad’s New Jersey, Chicago, and Florida chapters. His two daughters were intimately involved with Yachad as members; participating in many programs and services that Yachad offers such as Yad B’Yad’s summer travel camp and vocational services.
Joel was born to serve the Jewish people. As vice president for social planning and human resource development at the Jewish Federation of Baltimore, Joel mentored many graduate students from the Baltimore Institute of Jewish Communal Service, guiding them into careers in Jewish education and community service. In recognition of his commitment, Joel Daner was presented many honors, including the Saul Schwartz Distinguished Service Award, the most prestigious honor of the New Jersey Association of Jewish Communal Service.
Cultivating Jewish Leaders of Tomorrow…Today
Selma Daner speaking at Yachad’s 30th Anniversary Dinner
The Joel Daner Yachad Communal Fellowship (JDYCF) is a year-long fellowship, at the intersection of the Jewish community and the disability inclusion movement. It is designed to support the fellows’ development in working as part of a dynamic, multidisciplinary team that aims to meet the social and inclusion needs of Jewish individuals with diverse disabilities. JDYCF is intended to shape emerging leaders who are planning careers in social work, psychology, medicine, education, not-for-profit management, development, public relations, policy planning or organizational leader-ship; or those who hope to serve the broad Jewish community in a lay leadership capacity.
“Please God, each year there will be a new cadre of Daner Communal Fellows and they will have the privilege, in some small way, of knowing that hopefully they are learning, if you will, to become Joel Daners,” noted Dr. Jeffrey Lichtman, international director of Yachad.
Yachad seeks applicants with a strong interest in social services and disability advocacy. Applicants may be on any career path. Candidates must also be concerned about, and dedicated to, the global Jewish community.
“We are looking for focused and motivated individuals who possess a vision for what they want to accomplish and the drive to perform,” said Eli Hagler, Yachad’s associate director. “Our goal is to provide our fellows with the opportunity and guidance to develop, establish, and implement a plan that will create a lasting impact on Yachad and the global Jewish community.”
Fellows function as full time Yachad staff members, working out of the Orthodox Union’s national headquarters in lower Manhattan. Fellows are assigned a primary mentor — a staff member under whose tutelage and guidance they will directly carry out their diverse range of duties within the agency. Additional mentors will provide integrated training and experiential opportunities in other areas as needed. Together, the mentoring team will offer opportunities for the fellow to acquire proficiency in disability culture and Jewish organizational leadership.
Meet the Inaugural Fellows
Our fellows with Dr. Jeff Lichtman, Richard M. Joel, Selma Daner and Ken Saibel
ROBBIE GRAD
As an aspiring physician, I not only want to provide excellent medical care for my patients, but hope to be involved in health policy and advocacy as well. For this reason, I decided it would be an invaluable opportunity to work at Yachad where I have endeavored to shape the world toward my ideal of inclusion. I believe working for Yachad has provided the tools necessary to continue this pursuit throughout my career and help me develop the ability to create change in other sectors. As a Daner fellow, I am focusing on community and school outreach where I empower our young leaders and create sensitivity in our schools.
NOMI GOFINE
As a fellow, I primarily work with Yachad’s Birthright trips and New York Yachad’s social and recreational programming. Much of my focus is from the clinical services perspective, as well as working with Yachad’s advocacy department. I have gained a deeper understanding of the challenges those individuals with disabilities and their families face, and how to effectively address them as an agent of change. I plan on pursuing a joint degree in law and social work when my fellowship comes to an end.
STEPHANIE WEPRIN
I am using my role as a fellow to help Yachad continue its amazing work for the special needs community, specifically by working in vocational training as well as development and fundraising. I believe that this position will serve as a stepping-stone to my future in healthcare by allowing me to interact with so many people, especially a group that I feel so strongly about. Yachad is an amazing organization and I’m extremely honored to be a part of the team.
This article is from the 2015 issue of Belong Magazine. If you would like to receive a hard copy please email belong@ou.org.