Shabbat Shalom
Leadership 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) […]
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It’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 […]
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I 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 […]
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Passover 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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A quick story about something that happened to me this week… My daughter is participating in a teen trip to Israel this summer. I called the office of the organization running the trip to let them know that our Federation subsidizes every teen going on a teen trip to Israel (when you have attended a […]
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Wednesday was a great day. It started with a meeting and ended with an event. The morning meeting, a two hour gathering of a great group of committed lay leadership, engaged the group in serious discussion about our community and how to best address one of our communal priority areas in order to get the […]
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I take much of the language in this week’s Shabbat message from a correspondence I received from our national system, the Jewish Federations of North America. I know that for many of us our “Jewish attention” has been focused on our local Jewish community, on the Israeli elections and on growing anti-Semitism across Europe. I […]
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The buzz this past week has been about Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech in Congress. Admittedly, there is a divide both within and from outside the Jewish community as to whether the Prime Minister should have given the speech at all. There is debate about the right way to eliminate the Iranian nuclear threat. One thing […]
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In last week’s New York Times Magazine, “The Ethicist” had a question posed to him. The question raised was, “During a pledge drive for a public-radio station, an on-air personality made an accusation I’d never heard: that regular listeners who never contributed were behaving unethically.” Is it unethical? The Ethicist responded that it was not […]
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Debbie Winn Horvitz, the CEO of the Jewish Association on Aging, spoke at a meeting of the Federation Beneficiary Agency Executives. Debbie mentioned that at a recent session of the Wechsler Leadership Development Institute (Federation’s Young Adult leadership development program), one of the attendees was very taken by an aspect of the work of the […]
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A tremendous Fundfest took place this past week. Despite some tough weather, hundreds came to the Federation offices to get on the phones to reach out and connect with other fellow community members to ask for their support of our 2015 Campaign. Fundfest has propelled our campaign to $6 Million and added many new donors to our […]
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The Centennial Fund for a Jewish Future, our Federation’s initiative to secure permanent endowment dollars to fund Jewish identity building programming, has had exceptional progress since its inception just five years ago. To date, approximately $24 Million in commitments have been secured and with much of those commitments already being paid by generous donors, we […]
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I had intended to write today about a visit during my family’s December vacation in Atlanta at the Ebenezer Baptist Church. I wanted to tie that into this Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend when we recall King’s struggle for civil rights in this country. However, recent events have unfortunately redirected my message. Nearly three years […]
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Over the past few years, the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh has sent several missions to Cuba. We witnessed a small yet vibrant Jewish community and saw the work our dollars make possible with our own eyes. As part of those missions, we visited the American Intersection. As you know, the United States has not […]
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Sunday night was the graduation of this year’s cohort of Diller Teen Fellows. This group of 20, who have been together with a group of teens from our Partnership2Gether Region of Karmiel and Misgav as part of a leadership development program, will travel to Israel in a few weeks. Their originally scheduled trip this summer had […]
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I write today about our Jewish future and about two ways our Federation is looking and preparing for that destination. Monday was the first Pittsburgh Jewish Community Scorecard Roundtable. Approximately 65 volunteer and professional leaders in our community came together to review some of the findings in our first round of collecting data as part […]
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Last night, we held an incredibly successful, first ever, Men’s Night Out event. A crowd beyond our expectations came out to hear ESPN star Herm Edwards. The evening was fun and inspirational as we talked openly and directly about the needs of our Jewish community and the ways that these men can make a difference. […]
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In my message last week, I mentioned that I was going to be at the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America. The GA made international news with a panel discussion with two Jewish Supreme Court Justices, a session with Marlee Matlin “speaking” about inclusion for individuals with special needs, a live video […]
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Sunday is the beginning of the three-day Jewish Federations of North America General Assembly. Volunteer and professional leaders from all 153 Jewish Federations and 300 Network communities from throughout North America, along with representatives of both national and international Jewish agencies, will be on site to learn, network and be inspired. We are really proud […]
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I am writing on Thursday night having just left Buffalo Blues in Shadyside. Our Shalom Pittsburgh(the Federation’s outreach programming arm for 22-45 year olds) effort holds lots of bar nights for our young adults. I have been to many. This week, four of our community efforts to reach out and engage Jewish young adults joined forces […]
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