Jeff Finkelstein
A news story came out in the JTA (Jewish Telegraphic Association) entitled, “Obama Administration Earmarks $12 Million for Holocaust Survivors”. The article goes on to say, “The allocation from the Department of Health and Human Services to the Jewish Federations of North America, to be disbursed over five years…” I invite you to click here to read the […]
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While sitting in my synagogue during Yom Kippur services, I reread the “Al Cheyt” prayer in English. As you probably know, during this prayer we ask for forgiveness for the transgressions WE have made. They are recited in the plural, not the singular. It is done so because we are a community apologizing for our […]
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On Wednesday we fast for Yom Kippur. On Thursday at our Annual Meeting, our Federation will celebrate accomplishments for the past year and look towards the challenges we hope to conquer in the coming year. And the only comparison I’ll draw between the two is that, in a sense, Yom Kippur is the Annual meeting […]
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9/11, Shabbat and Rosh Hashana are all smooshed together in my mind. I’m thinking about the New Year with new possibilities. The apples and honey and my wife’s honey cake will all be devoured starting on Sunday night in the expectation of a sweet year. But today, hours before the restfulness of Shabbat settles in, […]
Read MoreIran. The last month and a half has all been about how to keep Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Our Federation has taken a very deliberate approach to provide information representing all sides around the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to the community. We do so within the following context that was established […]
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At our Foundation Annual Meeting this week, we announced the most successful year in our history, adding over $25 Million to our assets under management. We distributed more than $13 Million back to the community from our Foundation. By all accounts, this was a truly remarkable year of success. While the announcement of this record […]
Read MoreI was so upset when walking to Jewish Heritage Night at PNC Park on Tuesday night to see the Jews for Jesus group on the Roberto Clemente Bridge (on what would have been Roberto Clemente’s 80th birthday). I wasn’t that upset that they were there. What makes America great is that they have the freedom […]
Read MoreBrian Schreiber of our JCC and I were truly blessed to take part in a retreat sponsored by the Harold Grinspoon Foundation during the last week. Approximately 40 professionals, mostly from Federations and a few JCC’s, all of whom lead organizations involved with PJ Library, participated. The purpose was to brainstorm ways that each of […]
Read MoreI have the title of President/CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh. I want to admit something. I don’t know everything happening in our community where Federation has a hand in it. This week, I “got schooled” about some of our communal impact. Tuesday night, the Federation distributed checks to college students to assist […]
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I know I haven’t written in several weeks. My lack of authoring this weekly piece is not a reflection on the quantity and quality of work being done by our Federation. During the last few weeks, I was in Israel as part of the Jewish Agency for Israel’s Assembly and Board meeting. The Jewish Agency […]
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We focus so much of our work on the planning, fundraising and financial oversight role of the Federation. In fact, at yesterday’s Board meeting, we approved over $9 Million in allocations from our Annual Campaign and Foundation. That happened because of the planning, fundraising and financial oversight we do so well. Sometimes, we have to […]
Read MoreWhat do you think about spying on others? This week’s parshah contains the famous story of Moses sending the twelve spies into the land of Canaan. Ten of them return to falsely describe how terrible the land is in order to scare the people from wanting to travel there. Two, Caleb and Joshua, appropriately and […]
Read MoreYesterday, the Federation presented the Ira and Nanette Gordon Award to Emily Richman, the Federation’s Assistant Campaign Director. The Gordon Award is presented to a professional from the Federation or one of our ten beneficiary agencies who is in the early years of his/her career. Instead of writing to you this week, I want to […]
Read MoreA snapshot on your Federation: The 2015 Annual Campaign now sits at $12.3 Million towards our $13.7 Million goal. We have secured $4.9 Million in EITC funds for our Jewish Day Schools and Jewish preschools, a $600,000 increase over last year. Our Foundation has added over $23.5 Million in new and additional funds, already exceeding our goal […]
Read MoreThis week’s Parsah, Bamidbar, has a description of the twelve tribes and how their camps were structured. While each tribe had its own location where it’s members lived, they all shared in something important, being members of the Jewish people. Saturday night begins the holiday of Shavuot, one of the three pilgrimage holidays in the Jewish calendar. […]
Read MoreThe Post Gazette printed an insert magazine on Thursday titled, “In the Lead”. While nearly all of it is dedicated to the private and public businesses of our region, one page talked about nonprofits. On that page, there is a list of “Top Foundations”. This list is not ordered by asset size, but by the […]
Read MoreLeadership is all about….leading. I’m really proud of a meeting that took place this week in our offices on McKee Place. Many Federations across the country use the same database and website platform. The product we are using is relatively new to all of us. It has incredible capabilities. Our marketing and Information Technology (IT) […]
Read MoreIt’s been a marathon week of nonstop activity. At the beginning of it, over 30 Pittsburghers who graduated from the Wexner Heritage Program as well as recipients of the Wexner Fellowship descended on Columbus, OH to celebrate the Wexner Foundation’s 30th Anniversary. This wasn’t just a party of 1,200 people from around North America and Israel, it […]
Read MoreI remember in the late 1970’s, my parents saved up enough money to take their first trip to Israel. When they returned, they gave me and my siblings gifts. I remember I was given a t shirt that said “Israel Is Real”. I know it sounds a little corny today, but it was a big […]
Read MorePassover ends and immediately the activity in the Jewish community starts to move at a frantic pace. The number of events, programs and meetings is beyond belief and is a testament to the kind of engaged and interested community we have. I would only mention one such event from this past week, the Yom Hashoah […]
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