For this week's column, I thought I would share some of the remarks I made during this past Sunday's 30th Annual Meeting:

 

As many of you may know, I began working at our Jewish Federation on March 1, 2005, making this past Saturday the start of my 21st year here. When I first started, I took on a personal goal… instead of people questioning whether there are Jews in our area, I wanted people to start saying, "Hey… did you see what the Jewish community over there is doing?"

 

I am excited to share that this goal has been accomplished as of last year, 2024. Here in Southern California and across the country, people are paying attention and taking notice of all we have been doing. Here are two examples that illustrated this fact – Back in February and March, our Jewish Federation led our community's efforts to stand up at local city council meetings to counter the calls for immediate ceasefire resolutions between Israel and Hamas by sharing how giving a platform for these discussions and decisions fomented anti-Jewish hate. Specifically, our effort before the Pasadena City Council was written up and shared with ALL of the Jewish Federations across the country and has served as a model for what other communities should do to counter the effort.

 

Then, in November, we launched a national BUYCOTT campaign (or reverse boycott) supporting Trader Joe's carrying Israeli products when a protest and petition against them was made public. Jewish communities in Greater Washington, Buffalo, St. Louis, Houston, Virginia Tidewater, Virginia Peninsula, Chicago, and the Bay Area participated. JewBelong and #EndJewHate also picked up the campaign and promoted it through their massive social media platforms and presence.

 

These are just two examples of things our Jewish Federation did in 2024 that helped fulfill the personal goal I set out to accomplish back in March 2005.

 

As we move into 2025, we will continue to offer our pillar programs that the community has come to know and count on:

 

Every Person Has a Name – We are partnering with Anne Frank LA, who will be providing this year's exhibition (Anne Frank – A History for Today), and they will have some of their teen docents on hand to answer questions and provide more insight. We are also partnering with the Armory for the Arts in Pasadena, which will be coordinating a weaving art project on Sunday morning while names are being read.

               

We are also looking forward to this summer's Camp Gan Shalom, our 27th Annual Jewish Book Festival beginning at the end of October, holding more PJ Library programs, as well as more Cultural Arts programs, including more Jewish Cooking Connection videos, and we are coordinating another community trip to Israel, with a culinary focus scheduled for November 2025.

 

In addition to all of this, we are in the early stages of developing a New Ambassador program. This program will help in our ongoing effort to increase our outreach by having ambassadors promote what our Jewish Federation is and does to their respective social circles. We will share more details about this program over the next several months.

 

Lastly, given our expansion and growth over the last several years, we plan to work on an organizational strategic plan to help us continue meeting the ever-changing needs of our community.

 

Even with all of this going on, my staff and I are committed to continuing to do our "behind the scenes" work on behalf of and for our community… This includes our ongoing outreach to local school districts, law enforcement, and local elected officials and our effort to work closely with our community partners to help keep our institutions as safe and protected as possible.

 

None of this would be possible without the support and dedication of our Board of Governors and staff, who work tirelessly and are dedicated to the work they do. Their guidance, wisdom, and insight are invaluable to the organization and support me as I lead our Jewish Federation.

We truly could not do what we do without the incredible support from our community.

 

Through the financial support we receive, our Jewish Federation is working every day to ensure there is a strong and vibrant Jewish presence and voice in the greater San Gabriel and Pomona Valleys.

 

Thank you to all of you for helping to make this possible. And I am excited about what 2025 has in store for our Jewish Federation and our local Jewish community.