A young boy who enjoyed last year's Celebrate Israel Parade. Photo: Shulamit Seidler-Feller

The parade, supported in large part by UJA-Federation of New York, is a project of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York (JCRC).

The Persian-Jewish community in New York has a strong connection as a community to Israel.

“For our community, almost everyone has family in Israel,” notes Shahram Yaghoubzadeh who lives in Great Neck and is a lay leader with UJA-Federation. “More than a quarter million Iranian Jews live in Israel now. In the early 1900s my great-grandfather traveled to Israel from Iran by horse and carriage. It took six months to go back and forth. Later my grandfather immigrated to the Jewish state.”

“Being Jewish and being a Zionist is important and I feel a need to be a part of this celebration,” Yaghoubzadeh says. The Persian-Jewish community is active through UJA-Federation in supporting college scholarships in Israel for Israeli students.

The Persian-Jewish community in New York will be represented in the parade through the synagogue Temple Israel of Great Neck, and organizations including the Iranian American Jewish Federation, Sephardic Heritage Alliance Inc., and United Mashadi Jewish Community of America, Inc.

They will join 200 groups and 35,000 participants who are expected at the parade from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, June 2nd. A Celebrate Israel Run will also take place in Central Park that morning, immediately preceding the parade.

Diversity of New York Jewry

“Jews in New York have different understandings about what it means to secure Israel’s future. But within the rich diversity there is virtually universal commitment to the security and well being of the people of Israel,” says John. S. Ruskay, executive vice president and CEO of UJA-Federation.   “On June 2nd, the diversity of New York Jewry is on full display at the Celebrate Israel Parade when we come together to stand with the people of Israel as they resist violence and in their pursuit of peace.  It’s a unique day. Join us.”

The parade’s theme this year is “Picture Israel — The Art & The Craft,” to present the many faces of Israel’s people and the variety of the land itself.

“UJA-Federation is delighted to be the major supporter of the Celebrate Israel Parade,” says Jerry W. Levin, UJA-Federation’s president. “The celebration allows our diverse  community to share our love and support of Israel and proudly show that emotional spirit.”

Learn more about how you can participate in the parade.

From left to right: D.J. (Jan) Baker and Kevyn Orr at UJA-Federation's annual Bankruptcy Luncheon. Photo: Chloe Apple Seldman/Michael Priest Photography

The event, organized by the Bankruptcy and Reorganization Group of UJA-Federation of New York’s Lawyers Division, raised $1.3 million to support UJA-Federation’s work.

The award that Baker received was named after Professor Lawrence P. King, who taught at New York University for more than 40 years and was a nationally recognized expert on bankruptcy. When he accepted the award, Baker quoted from the last speech King gave before he died, in which King emphasized the importance for his fellow lawyers to give back. “You’ll get a lot of satisfaction out of helping people,” Baker quoted King as saying.

“All of us here today have been incredibly fortunate in so many ways that it behooves us to remember the importance of giving something back,” Baker continued. He saw firsthand where the funds raised by the event were going when he recently had the chance to visit the New York Legal Assistance Group, a UJA-Federation beneficiary agency.

“It provides legal services every year to tens of thousands of New Yorkers on matters ranging from [Hurricane] Sandy, immigration relief, consumer protection …. It was a wonderful opportunity to see what the small seed planted 20 years ago by UJA-Federation has grown into today; I have to tell you Larry King would have loved it.”

Kevyn Orr also spoke about giving back as he explained the problems he faced in his new job trying to save Detroit from bankruptcy.

From left to right: Albert Togut, vice chair of the bankruptcy group, Marcia L. Goldstein, chair of the bankruptcy group, honoree D.J. (Jan Baker), Bankruptcy Chief Judge Cecelia Morris, and Harold S. Novikoff, chair of the bankruptcy group. Photo: Chloe Apple Seldman/Michael Priest Photography

“If you think about it, so many times America’s problems have been deposited on the steps of the bankruptcy court,” said Albert Togut, vice chair of the Bankruptcy and Reorganization Group, while introducing Orr. He cited the Great Depression and its aftermath, the tech bubble, and the 2008 recession as examples. “So it makes perfect sense that when this country doesn’t know what to do, it calls upon a bankruptcy lawyer to be ‘Mr. Fix-It.’”

Orr was brought in by Michigan’s governor, Rick Snyder, to oversee the city of Detroit’s financial operations and tackle its staggering debt. He said he underestimated the scope of the Detroit’s problems. It’s not just a question of setting the city’s balance sheets right, he explained.

“We can’t liquidate or sell off Detroit like many of us do when we go into our representations [for clients.] We can’t abandon the children and the people of Detroit, some of whom bravely still stay there and fight for their city,” Orr said. “This isn’t a traditional reorganization for a profit-making enterprise, this is the saving of a great American city.”

Orr compared his feeling of being called to action to take on the job of helping Detroit with the call to action in Judaism. “When I was asked to come here, I went on the website and reviewed UJA-Federation’s mission statement. What was reflected today in the presentation of the good works that the organization does so much of is truly a mitzvah.”

Joshua Nash (l) receives the Jack Nash Award of UJA-Federation’s Private Equity Division from Ludwig Bravmann. Photo: Michael Priest Photography

More than 200 of Wall Street’s icons gathered at the St. Regis New York, raising $1.1 million to support UJA-Federation’s annual campaign and expressing their good wishes and gratitude to the Nash family.

Throughout the evening, speakers praised Jack Nash, a legendary hedge fund pioneer who died in 2008, as one of the giants in the New York Jewish world, and they marveled at how his son has matched his example. “We often say l’dor v’dor” about the transfer from generation to generation, said John S. Ruskay, executive vice president and CEO of UJA-Federation, “Tonight we’re seeing it up close and personal.” Ruskay remembered how “Jack Nash’s presence filled a room,” and talked about how Joshua had inherited a similar presence and developed it in his own way.

Ludwig Bravmann, a longtime Nash family friend and business associate who presented Joshua with the first annual division award, added, “How proud your father would be to see you following beautifully in his footsteps.”

“This is a special and emotional night for me,” said Nash, recounting highlights of his father’s charitable work and thanking his mother, Helen, and many other family members and close friends in attendance. Receiving this award “is a privilege almost beyond comprehension,” he said.

Honoree Joshua Nasha (center), flanked by Jeffrey Stern (l), Peter May, James Tisch, and John Ruskay. Photo: Michael Priest Photography.

Nash praised his father as a mentor to many, including a number of people in the room, and a self-effacing believer in the responsibility to help others. He recalled how his father “admired the reach and impact of UJA-Federation,” and also talked about his own work with UJA-Federation and its enormous importance to him. “We are all so fortunate to live in America at the time we do,” he said, and spoke of the critical importance of doing tzedekah to improve the world.

“We’re so overwhelmed by the response for Josh,” said David L. Moore, CEO, Moore Holdings, and chair of UJA-Federation’s  Private Equity Division. He talked about the “widespread love and respect” for Nash and pointed to the thick journal full of personal messages of congratulations.

A Chance to Help the Most Vulnerable

Marc Lipschultz, Member and Global Head of Energy and Infrastructure for Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., and vice chair of the Private Equity Division, said, “UJA-Federation established this division to give professionals in our industry a chance to work together to help the most vulnerable in our society in New York and in Israel, and to address critical challenges facing Jewish communities around the world. How it has blossomed.”

Ruskay thanked the Nash family and others at the event for their key support and guidance in UJA-Federation’s work. Ruskay spoke of the great needs in New York, Israel, and around the world, and what UJA-Federation is accomplishing, “What a privilege it is for us to be able to do this work together.”