From Our CEO
What Happens In One Week
September 15th, 2017

One week at UJA can take us far and wide.

Let’s start with last weekend, when I joined a group of New Yorkers who came to Charlottesville to support a rattled but resilient local Jewish community. There’s so much to say about the trip: How touched they were to see us. The way the Hillel at the University of Virginia (UVA), an anchor of Jewish life, is bringing students together through the crisis. How hard it is to reconcile the beauty and tranquility of the synagogue service we experienced at Congregation Beth Israel on Shabbat morning with the horrifying image of neo-Nazis carrying machine guns out front just a month before. Or, how a fourth-year Jewish student at UVA — whose dorm room opens to the main campus lawn where the hate groups marched — removed her mezuzah because she was scared they would come back and target her.

In the midst of our visit, by turns heartbreaking and inspiring (you can read my colleagues’ full recap here), I met a Romanian-born rabbi who told a story I’ve encountered before. It was the story of growing up in the Eastern Bloc, not really knowing he was Jewish until he attended a Jewish camp, and ultimately how the Jewish Agency helped him leave Romania. Now he runs the Charlottesville Chabad.

From the Hillel at UVA, supported on the national level by UJA, to the Jewish Agency, our largest overseas partner — the ripples of our impact could be felt and appreciated all the way in Charlottesville. And more than one transplanted Northerner — yearning for a taste of home — literally hugged me for the bagels, lox, and whitefish we brought from New York for Kiddush after services!

I returned to New York early Sunday morning to meet with seven members of Israel’s Knesset. They came to New York through the Jewish Agency to learn more about the American Jewish community. It was a critical opportunity for Knesset members — some who had never been to the United States, and rarely encounter a vibrant non-Orthodox Jewish community — to see our community in action, and hopefully begin to understand why the Kotel decision and conversion bill are so hurtful to the vast majority of American Jews.

Then, Monday morning, I had the honor of representing UJA at the ringing of the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, together with leaders of other nonprofits participating in “9/11 Day.” It was the 16th anniversary of 9/11, a day of tragedy that has evolved into a major day of service. I joined over 2,000 volunteers (225 of whom came through UJA’s Time for Good) at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, to prepare and pack 589,536 meals to combat hunger in our community, and also to send to victims of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

And finally, on Tuesday and Wednesday, I went with about 60 New Yorkers on a UJA mission to Washington, D.C., where we advocated at the White House and on Capitol Hill for critical issues facing New Yorkers and the Jewish community. We discussed security funding for Jewish institutions, support for vital human services, the need to treat immigrant populations with respect, and the responsibility to ensure we all live with dignity.

Just one week. One week of bringing people together — to make a difference, to offer comfort, to raise our voices, and to be heard.

So, as we look to celebrate Rosh Hashanah next week and the promise of renewal, we pray for a year of peace and prosperity for Jews and people of all backgrounds — from Charlottesville to D.C. to Houston to Florida to Romania to Israel to New York.

Shabbat shalom