Wednesday night, our Young Adult Division’s Ben Gurion Society held a program at the home of Cindy and David Shapira. A crowd beyond our expectations came to eat dinner and hear from our hosts along with Rabbi Alex Greenbaum and me about Jewish life and leadership. The final question posed to David and Cindy was as direct as possible: Why should we, these young adults, contribute to Federation?
David Shapira asked to be the one to answer the question. I wish I had him taped because I cannot write what he said verbatim and it was profound, eloquent and “right on”. I will not do it justice here. He explained that he has always contributed because the Federation supports so much in our community. The past year has shown him, especially because of his leadership role with the Federation’s Independent Committee to distribute the Victims of Terror Funds, a new perspective about how critical it is to have a convener of community to respond during difficult times or even tragedy. These young adults were nodding their heads in agreement. Equally as inspiring to me was hearing from a few of these young adults about their motivations for involvement. There is no doubt, our community’s future is extremely bright.
I mentioned in my message last week that Governor Wolf would be signing a law providing $5 Million in security funding to nonprofits. That took place yesterday and Josh Sayles, our Community Relations Director, and I along with leadership from other Pennsylvania Jewish Federations and the Pennsylvania Jewish Coalition were all on hand to thank our legislators and the Governor. Once the regulations are written on the application process, our Federation will once again serve as a convener of our local Jewish organizations and synagogues to brief them and advise them on next steps.
Finally, I look forward to seeing so many of you on Wednesday night at the Federation’s This is Us program featuring Chefs Michael Solomonov and Kevin Sousa. We already have a record turnout expected (over 400). If you haven’t signed up yet, do it before the event registration closes on November 12th at jewishpgh.org/this-is-us.
Shabbat Shalom and Go Steelers!