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Cosponsors: Hillel Jewish University Center, Panthers for Israel, Community Relations Council Background Israel today faces an intensive and increasingly sophisticated global assault on its right to exist as a sovereign, democratic and Jewish state. This is largely accomplished through the well-funded campaign of delegitimization that utilizes Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), among other techniques, to […]

I spent much of this past week in Israel at the Board of Governors meeting of the Jewish Agency for Israel. Topics of Aliyah (immigration) from France and Ukraine, engaging our young people in Jewish life and using Israel as a prism to do so, engaging more Arabs and ultra-Orthodox in the workforce, discussions about the unity […]

I thought that I would let some press about the Federation speak for this week’s email. First, our Super Sunday had great successes in raising important dollars for the campaign, involving members of our community and by engaging donors in our powerful work.  Click here for the story. Second, my colleague Rabbi Aaron Bisno and […]

Last week, I wrote about Super Sunday taking place this Sunday (January 31st). Our turnout is looking terrific, but we still have some limited space in our afternoon and evening sessions. If you haven’t signed up yet, please do so here. Sunday, February 7th will be our first Snowbirds event of 2016 in Longboat Key, FL. […]

During the last week of December, my wife and I traveled to Washington DC with the sole purpose of being tourists for two days. I have been to DC countless times, typically for meetings or for lobbying on the Hill, but haven’t been a tourist there in over 20 years. We took time to walk […]

On Wednesday, Cindy Shapira (our Federation Chair of the Board) and I experienced one of the most beautiful expressions of tzedakah in our recent memories. As Cindy and I were completing a meeting in our Federation offices, we walked into the lobby to see Erin from our accounting staff writing up a receipt for a short, Russian […]

The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh named Eileen Freedman, music director at the Community Day School (CDS), the recipient of the 2016 Ira and Nanette Gordon Community Professional Achievement Award. The award, established in 2000, may be given annually to a professional, early in his or her career, who has demonstrated outstanding service to the […]