October 30, 2024

Dear Friends,

Last night we had a powerful Federation event featuring the thought-provoking and inspiring words of Dara Horn. We came together, 750 strong, in a strong show of communal resilience and optimism, even in the face of difficult times.  Thank you to Lucy and Herb Pruzan, and Stephanie and David Shujman, for chairing this powerful community gathering.

I wanted to share a few excerpts from my remarks last night with you (if you are interested in reading my remarks in their entirety, you can click here.)

For many of us, the need to ensure the future of Jewish communal life has felt distant in our lifetimes. Yet, this past year has forced existential questions to the forefront—questions many American Jews thought were settled long ago. Jewish history is filled with stories of our people finding acceptance, prosperity, and stability, only to have those hard-won gains stripped away when the dark forces of antisemitism and hatred reemerge. Over the last year, many of us have likely wondered: Is Jewish life in America still on an upward trajectory or have we arrived at an inflection point where the next generation of American Jews will be worse off than the current one?

To be clear: the answer to that question is not preordained or inevitable. We need not be victims to the whims of the world around us, but rather by being organized and strategic as a community, we get to write the next chapter in the story of Jewish life.  […]

Take a moment to ask yourself: What kind of community do you envision being a part of? What kind of place do you want your children and grandchildren to grow up in? 

I want us to live in a world where our kids are proud to stand up to share about their Jewish heritage rather than one where they hide their identities to avoid social criticism. A place where we embrace the diversity within the Jewish people and find more opportunities to stand together, united. A community where we can confront hate together with our allies as opposed to confronting hate alone. […]

The Federation exists to meet both the most urgent needs of the day and also to ensure the long-term stability and vibrancy of our community. We are here today, with 75,000 Jews in Seattle, because our parents and grandparents and great-grandparents supported the Federation, and other organizations, as our community grew. Generations before us recognized that though we may not always agree on everything, our role is to invest in the future by committing to working together and by supporting our cross-communal organizations.

The challenge our generation faces is to not allow external forces to tear us apart and rather to recognize that we have an opportunity to build the future and the community that WE aspire to live in.

We also debuted a new video highlighting our ongoing work—take a look below.