A few weeks ago, I joined so many of you at the March for Israel in Washington DC. Most notable to me was seeing Jews from every walk of life standing together in solidarity for Israel and against the scourge of rising antisemitism. I feel a similar sense of pride in leading the Jewish Communal Fund; we are a pluralistic group of Jews (and non-Jews) coming together to support the issues and organizations we care about. Your philanthropic support of Israel is now over $50M. These funds support a myriad of humanitarian needs from medical to trauma to housing and education and so much more. We are also seeing increased grants going to organizations that address needs here in the United States such as aiding Jewish groups on college campuses and fighting antisemitism more broadly.
On November 29, JCF hosted a webinar focused on how we can lend philanthropic support to address needs in Israel and also to combat domestic antisemitism. We heard from: Jodi J. Schwartz, a partner at Wachtell Lipton and officer of UJA-Federation-NY about how the UJA Israel Emergency Fund is being allocated to meet the many needs of a country at war; Adam Lehman, President and CEO of Hillel International addressed the climate on campus and what is being done to counter antisemitism and support Jewish students; and the last segment addressed Jewish communal security. GoodNation, one of JCF’s independent philanthropic partners, introduced the JCF Jewish Security Smartfund that allocates money to six charitable organizations that are promoting security and fighting antisemitism. These organizations include: Community Security Initiative, Community Security Service, JewBelong, Secure Community Network, American Jewish Committee and ADL.* If you missed this informative session, please listen to the webinar here.
Many of our Fundholders share my sense of pride in being a part of this community of philanthropic Jews who stand ready to address not only the growing needs in Israel but here in the United States and benefit from the services that JCF provides. If you feel similarly, please remember to refer a friend to JCF.
Wishing our community here and in Israel a safe, peaceful and Happy Chanukah.
Rachel Schnoll, CEO
Jewish Communal Fund