Our Tikkun Leil Shavuot, a collaboration of the AJL, JCC and Federation was a great success, not because so many people participated and not because so many people studied, but because so many types of members of our community came together.

Over the next few weeks, our Federation, because of your support, will give many of our community's youth a direct connection to Israel.  Through our Israel scholarship program, we provide money for teens to travel to Israel.  The eighth grade trip from Community Day School is there right now.  Other students will be traveling on a myriad of teen trips from NFTY to USY to Ramah, etc.  The Diller Teen Fellows, a program funded by the Federation for 20 teen leaders from Pittsburgh, will be making their way to experience Israel with Israeli teen counterparts from our Partnership 2000 Region of Karmiel and Misgav.  The Emma Kaufmann Camp CIT trip to Israel, now partially underwritten through a permanent endowment in the Federation Foundation as part of the Centennial Fund for a Jewish Future, will be taking off in just about a week.  College students from Pittsburgh will experience Israel through Birthright Israel.

Some of these teens may be your offspring, or maybe your nephews, nieces or grandchildren.  In fact, they are all our children, part of our Jewish future.  Thank you for connecting them to our Jewish people. 

Shabbat Shalom.

Jeff Finkelstein, President / CEO

P.S.  Our 2010 Campaign currently sits at $12.2 Million towards our $13 Million goal.  The end is in sight!