Now to Aly.  How many of you were cheering on Aly Raisman during the Olympics?  For me, I had such tremendous pride watching her compete to Hava Nagila with an Israeli flag hanging over the stands in the background.  In addition, when she dedicated her gold medal to the memory of the Israeli athletes brutally murdered by Palestinian terrorists at the Munich Olympics, she made me proud. 
 
I was, for sure, proud of Aly because she and I are both Americans.  But there was an additional layer that connected us.  We both are Jews.  Aly and I are part of the Jewish people.  She showed her Jewish pride in her choice of music and in her tribute to the Israeli atheletes.  I know that when things like the Madoff Ponzi scheme came to life, I was embarrassed because Bernie Madoff, like me, is also part of the Jewish people.
 
The GPT is all about thinking about our Jewish people wherever they may live and how we can best serve them.  We are all connected.  We all can and should share in our pride of a Jewish athlete, be disgusted with a Jewish criminal and we all can and should care about Jews in need.  That’s what it’s all about to be a part of the Jewish people. 

I hope we have many more “Aly Raisman moments” to celebrate!
 
Shabbat Shalom.
 
Jeffrey H. Finkelstein
President/CEO