Following ‘difficult’ year, Federation calls for hope during annual meeting
'Despite the immense damage, both mental and physical in Israel and in Jewish Pittsburgh, we continue to remain a resilient community'
The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh marked a “difficult” 12-month stretch during its 2024 annual meeting. Speaking before nearly 150 community members at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh on Sept. 11, Federation volunteers and staff recounted a period marked by increased antisemitism, conclusion of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial and lingering effects of Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas.
“Despite the immense damage, both mental and physical in Israel and in Jewish Pittsburgh, we continue to remain a resilient community,” Federation’s Chairman of the Board Jan Levinson said. “We stay true to our values and respond to strength, unity and unwavering resolve. That’s why resilience has become our hallmark, and what Jewish Pittsburgh is known for.”
“It was a difficult year, emotionally with the horrifying attack of Oct. 7 and its aftermath, the rise in antisemitism in our own backyard, the recent effort to place an antisemitic referendum on the City of Pittsburgh’s November ballot, and so much more,” Federation President and CEO Jeffrey Finkelstein said. “Through our response to each of these, and in everything we do for our community, we are driven and guided by our vision of creating a flourishing Jewish community where everyone — everyone, that’s all of you and people who are not here — feels included, supported and inspired. And it all happens because of you, our generous supporters.”
During the past year, Pittsburgh’s Federation raised $8 million toward Israel relief, which combined with $850 million collected by the Jewish Federations of North America provided food assistance to more than 285,000 Israelis, treated 1.7 million patients and trained 190,000 counseling volunteers, according to Finkelstein.
“It would be hard to overstate the amount we accomplished as a community to support both the people of Israel and Jewish Pittsburgh,” he said.
Finkelstein, who marked his 20th annual address at the organization’s helm, cited the installation of an empty Shabbat table and seder table in Schenley Plaza, the hosting of two rallies and a Yom Ha’Atzmaut Israel Independence Day March, bussing of 400 people to Washington D.C. for the March for Israel, production of yard signs supporting Israel and “a ton of work in security” as examples of Federation’s local efforts to better community.
These actions are a result of “extraordinary fundraising achievements from this past year,” Finkelstein said.
While the umbrella organization’s annual campaign raised $14.1 million, the Jewish Community Foundation added $21.8 million in assets. The Foundation now totals $351.8 million, the first time in its history to eclipse $350 million at year’s end.
“These dollars, expertly managed, will solidify our ability to support our community for generations to come,” Finkelstein said.
Along with touting organizational achievements from the past year, the Federation used its Sept. 11 program to present two community awards.
Past board chair David Sufrin received the Emanuel Spector Memorial Award.
“I have learned so much from my experiences, and I have been fortunate to share what I’ve learned to make our community a bit better,” Sufrin said. “In this organization volunteers do 10% of the work and get 90% of the credit, and the staff does 90% of the work and gets 10% of the credit. So I want to take a moment to recognize and thank the professional staff of the Federation that, over the years with my involvement, have made Pittsburgh Federation one of the most highly respected Federations around the world and has provided strength and support to our beneficiary agencies in the whole Jewish Pittsburgh.”
Federation’s Director of Community Security Shawn Brokos received the Doris & Leonard H. Rudolph Jewish Communal Professional Award.
“The reason I’m getting recognized tonight is because of all of you. It’s the work I do, but it’s the work I do with all of you,” she said.
Brokos, who came to the Federation after nearly three decades of service to the FBI, told attendees that Sept. 11, 2001, and Oct. 27, 2018, are the “two most significant dates in my professional career.”
As a Newark-based member of the FBI in 2001 and a Pittsburgh-based member in 2018, Brokos keenly observed devastating acts of terror and hate.
Still, she said, there’s cause for optimism.
Brokos read “A Call to the Living,” a poem written by Algernon D. Black, a late teacher and leader emeritus of the New York Society for Ethical Culture.
Throughout her career, Brokos has transported its text from office to office.
She said she’s interpreted the poem differently throughout her life. Now, though, “what it means to me, especially in everything we’re facing is that we must keep on living, no matter how hard our days have been and will continue to be. We must keep living into the challenges we face as individuals and as a community, and we must keep the call and have faith in people.”
It’s undeniable that “darkness” exists in the world, she continued, but “I have hope because I have tremendous faith in people. I have faith in me and I have faith in all of you.”
Brokos, who along with receiving a standing ovation from attendees credited her family, colleagues and the community with enabling her success, closed her remarks by citing and personalizing another familiar passage.
The late anthropologist Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
“We, we, all of us,” Brokos stressed. “All of us in this room tonight are that small group.” PJC
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
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