TORONTO — Len Rudner, who worked for 15 years at Canadian Jewish Congress and its successor the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), was let go from his post as director of community relations and outreach on Aug. 7.
The reason cited by CIJA and by Rudner himself was significant budget reductions to CIJA’s core funding.
“We had to undertake substantial restructuring, which impacted how key areas of activity are managed, including the community relations portfolio,” said Shimon Fogel, CIJA’s CEO.
He noted that Rudner’s position was one of several eliminated and that his departure isn’t a reflection of the regard in which he was held, but rather “the challenging financial realities that confront the organized Jewish community.”
Fogel declined to say who else had been let go from the organization.
He also wouldn’t answer specific questions about the cause of budget reductions or what CIJA’s restructuring will look like, but he stated, “Everyone is aware that the federations are under increasing financial pressure and have for several years been reducing their spending. CIJA [which receives funding from local Jewish federations] is not immune to these pressures. Like any responsibly managed organization, we continuously renew our activities to ensure we are investing precious donor dollars in areas that are more likely to show results.”
Rudner, who was born in Montreal and spent 22 years working in employment equity and diversity at CIBC before joining Congress in 2000, expressed no bitterness about his termination, stressing that there seemed to be real regret on both sides and that he didn’t believe the decision was connected to performance.
Congress was one of the Canadian Jewish community’s key lobby groups from the early 1900s until 2011, when it was effectively disbanded and its responsibilities folded into a new parent organization, the Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy, since renamed the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.
Rudner was initially hired by Congress to do community relations for Ontario and was later named national director of community relations.
His recognized area of expertise was developing relationships with organized labour groups and various ethnic communities, Fogel said.
Mark Freiman, the last president of Congress, said Rudner was well respected across multicultural and multifaith communities, and was “extremely effective in his outreach work and an expert on social policy matters.”
Rudner, 61, worked on a number of files during his tenure, including pursuing legal justice against Nazi war criminals in Canada, Holocaust Education Week and Jewish-Christian interfaith relations.
For him, Holocaust Education Week was particularly relevant as a vehicle for educating not just Jews but diverse groups about Nazi atrocities, and he played a role in bringing in, for instance, the Armenian and First Nations communities to participate.
In addition to these broader files, Rudner was known for handling individual cases of anti-Semitism.
Benjamin Shinewald, formerly national executive director at Congress, said Rudner was “the go-to person when an individual had a landlord or factory boss discriminating against them for being Jewish.”
Shinewald described Rudner as “one of Canada’s most knowledgeable, passionate, level-headed and effective Jewish communal professionals” and said CIJA’s decision to let him go was “deeply upsetting for those who desire a thoughtful, inclusive approach to Jewish communal work.”
Rudner said some of the work he’s been most proud of over the years has involved advocating on behalf of community members whose employers wouldn’t give them time off for Jewish holidays or whose schools wouldn’t accept that they couldn’t write exams on Shabbat.
He said he doesn’t subscribe to the criticism, often expressed by former Congress leaders, that CIJA has abandoned its social justice portfolio.
Rather, he said CIJA has thrown immense support behind pushing for transgender rights, anti-bullying legislation and government recognition of the importance of ethno-specific social services.
“I was supported by such great people at CIJA and am leaving feeling very lucky for the time I spent there,” he said.
