At the GA, we heard from thought leaders in the Jewish world as well as Israeli politicians such as Prime Minister Netanyahu, MK Naftali Bennett and President Shimon Peres.  I know that one of the things I dislike to do is to sit and watch an hour’s worth of pictures from someone else’s trip, so I am not going to do a recap of everything we experienced.  I will just write about three.

 

During the G.A., the entire group marched from the Jerusalem City Hall to the Kotel.  Natan Sharansky, the Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, one of the Federation’s two main overseas partners, has been appointed by Prime Minister Netanyahu to determine a way to make the Kotel more open those who want to pray in an egalitarian way.  Natan lead the march and a large group of us went to the new area of the Kotel for egalitarian prayer and “davened” (prayed) the Mincha (afternoon) service together.  It was very moving to be part of this historic moment.  The Times of Israel has a story about the march and the picture accompanying the story captures Sue Linzer, Federation Director of Overseas Operations; Marcie Lang, our Federation Israel representative;  Deborah Baron, our COO; and Woody Ostrow, our Chair of the Board.  Check it out here!

 

The second item to describe is our time in our Region.  I am not going to tell you about all the wonderful projects our Federation funds (and we do!).  I wish to express the feelings we all get when we are in Karmiel and in Misgav.  We are truly with family.  There are hugs and kisses for all our good friends.  We lunched with the Mayor of Misgav, Ron Shani, and the Mayor of Karmiel, Adi Eldar, opened his home to us for dinner.  If you haven’t been to our region, or you haven’t been in a long time, think about our upcoming Volunteer Center mission this April.  You can click here to have more information sent to you.

 

Finally, I was honored to have participated in The Planning Summit of the Government of Israel-World Jewry Joint Initiative.  A group of approximately 120 Jewish professionals from around the world worked intensively and intensely over a two day period to help give some definition and framework to an investment the Government of Israel (GOI) is prepared to make in world Jewry, specifically to help build Jewish identity.  The GOI has committed $100 Million for this purpose.  It is interesting to note the willingness of the GOI (the Israeli taxpayers) to invest in Jews outside of Israel.  They have done so already in helping to fund Birthright Israel and MASA (long term trips to Israel), both of which are also funded by you through our Federation Campaign. 

 

I’m looking forward to resting up over Shabbat in preparation of next week’s Young Adult Division’s Main Event.   This is one of our big and great events for our 22-45 year olds.  Make sure you pass along the link below to anyone in that age range so they can come out and connect with our incredible Pittsburgh Jewish community.

 

http://www.jfedpgh.org/MainEvent2013.aspx

 

Shabbat Shalom!

 

 

Jeff Finkelstein, President/CEO

Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh