Legacy Fund Week 5 - "I want you to succeed me."
by Rabbi Nate DeGroot
An email came across my inbox in 2021: A job description for a six month, temporary, National Organizer position at The Shalom Center, mobilizing Exodus Alliance, a Passover fossil fuel finance campaign.
Arthur had just turned 88 and I was searching for my next gig. The job didn’t pay very well, but it would allow me to put off finding long-term work. And far more importantly, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to work alongside the legendary Arthur Waskow. I applied and was gratefully hired.
Less than two months in, Arthur called me and told me, “Humans plan and God laughs, but still we plan. And my plan is to continue to direct The Shalom Center until I turn 91. I want to celebrate my shmitah bar mitzvah birthday (7 x 13 = 91) and I want to know what the %&#! happens in the 2024 presidential election.
“And then,” he said, “I want you to succeed me.”
I was deeply humbled and incredibly honored - of course. And, what he was proposing seemed to me like a completely nonsensical request. Because Arthur and The Shalom Center have been so synonymous since the organization’s founding in 1983, what does The Shalom Center even mean after Arthur is no longer Director?
Well, we spent the last three years pursuing that question.
First, we developed a strategic vision that was exciting to us and that we believed could be the foundation of The Shalom Center’s next chapter. Second, we built out and leveled up our organizational infrastructure to support a new organizational lifecycle - with a new website, an expanded board, an amazing advisory council, and lots of back-end overhauls and upgrades. And third, Arthur and I entered into a kind of covenantal partnership of generational transition, release, and receiving.
The official leadership transition happened last October at The Great Save-In, our Hoshanah Rabbah actifest, when Arthur turned 91 and ritually “passed the lulav” to me.
Over these past three years, the transition was consistently invigorating, inspiring, and filled with many blessings. And like all transitions, it had its challenges.
But so far, thanks to you all and so many committed people, we’ve made it work! And not just work, but grow and deepen and expand in truly amazing ways. Ways I’m excited to share with you over the next two weeks, as we build towards Shavuot, and beyond.
So yes, this campaign is absolutely about honoring Arthur’s legacy through the biopic film, the blessings you can write him, and the video tributes you can record for him. And we hope you participate in those efforts!
But just as important, this Legacy Fund is about the future.
It’s about what becomes possible when new generations live out the teachings that Arthur and his peers have taught and embodied throughout their lives. It’s about what becomes possible when new generations evolve and adapt and compost what has been into what can be. And it’s about sustaining The Shalom Center into the future.
Because all throughout this transition, dating back to when we were first planning for FortyFest, Arthur and Phyllis have told me that Arthur’s greatest wish is for The Shalom Center to continue to thrive into the future. That’s why he asked me to succeed him. And that’s why we’ve launched this Legacy Fund: To ensure a prophetic Judaism lives on beyond Arthur, through the work of this beloved organization.
On this Lag B’Omer - as we shift our attention towards revelation - and in the weeks to come, I’m excited to share more about The Shalom Center’s present and future.
With blessings and gratitude,
-Nate
