Friday, June 20 at 11 AM
With Tsach Saar, Deputy Consul General of Israel in New York
At the registration you will be able to enter a question you’d like to ask in advance.
Light refreshments will be served
Registration required. Location to be shared with registrants.
Jewish Federation & Foundation of Rockland county presents a conversation with Dr Tomer Malchi, founder of CultivAid, Israeli agrotech aid organization.
Learn how Jewish values and Israeli agricultural technology are improving the lives of hundreds of thousands of Africans in countries across the continent.
Registration required. Location to be shared with registrants.
Jewish and Zionist voices are being silenced in creative spaces. Join us on this new endeavor as we read and review from a curated list of Jewish authors. We have 38 books to choose from. Select one and we will reimburse you. Submit a review and be featured in our newsletter and social media.
A few minutes ago early this morning, my daughter returned home to Toronto.
In Israel on a seminar with educators and group leaders when the war with Iran began, like millions of others she spent most of a week in and out of a bomb shelter. She and her group were evacuated through Ashdod to Cyprus, and from there she was to have circuitously made her way here. Yesterday, while waiting to take off, Iran launched the attack that culminated in a missile strike on Sheba Medical Center in Beer Sh...
For the second time in two weeks, I find myself compelled to write a new message hours before we publish our newsletter. Circumstances give me no other choice. It reminds me of November 1989, when my Modern European History course in my 2nd year at the University of Toronto had to be reworked from week to week by my professor as Europe transformed itself and the Iron Curtain fell.
The events now occurring in Iran and Israel are no less transformative. Yet I know for myself, and for most, if ...
As Pride Month continues, celebrating the LGBTQ+ community, we also take a look back at a number of Jewish leaders who made cultural and historic contributions to that community. From politicians and lawyers to religious leaders, here is a list of some of those who have made a great impact for the LGBTQ+ movement and a just, equitable society.
Barnett (Barney) Frank, a congressman from Newtown, Massachusetts was the first openly gay member of Congress. In 1987, he came out as gay and in 201...
It had been my intention to write this week about our friends and allies in Rockland’s LGBTQ+ community. As Pride month celebrations continue, let us not only passively recall but also actively assert that the identity and the rights that our community believes are being eroded - by the hate in our streets, outside our events, and on too many campuses - are also often under threat for other vulnerable communities. In Rockland, our ties run deep. Wishing our friends and partners happy Pride...
It’s a byword these days, among us. Resilience is how we describe the way in which our people are continuing to weather this unrelenting storm we find ourselves in. We turn on the TV or social media, and see yet another protest, another violent attack, another scrawled swastika or vandalized Jewish site. After 20 months, it's brazen, and unlike the cowardly perpetrators, the motivation is unmasked.
I’ve been at this work for a long time, as I have shared in the past. There’s nothing ne...
One of the most important values in all of Jewish life is unity (achdut in Hebrew). And one of the supreme institutions that strives in the finest ways to insure unity in our Jewish community and beyond is our Jewish Federation and Foundation of Rockland County. For many, “Federation” may only be a name. But for so many of us, it is a lifeline that ensures that Jewish vibrancy is supported within our County and worldwide.
We are blessed that we have such a critical institution in our mid...
One of the most important values in all of Jewish life is unity (achdut in Hebrew). And one of the supreme institutions that strives in the finest ways to insure unity in our Jewish community and b...
The connection between Rockland’s Jewish Federation and Kfar Silver Youth Village is a recent one when a group of Rockland County residents visited the school, which is supported by ORT. The agricultural/residential school located just eight miles from Gaza is part of the Zionist dream to make the Negev bloom.
Students come from all over to Kfar Silver, some born in many parts of the FSU…former Soviet Union, as well as students from Ethiopia who were airlifted to Israel with their parents. One third of the student body—750 students—live on the campus. Many come from low socio-economic and single parent families, the disadvantaged part of Israeli society. By the time these kids graduate and move on to the IDF and further educational opportunities, Kfar Silver will have given these kids a leg up they might otherwise not have had.
Rockland County’s Jewish community supports Israel in many ways. Federation’s direct support of Kfar Silver is as much about supporting Israel as it is about supporting a special project we feel a connection with…one we have grown to love.
Rockland’s Adult Jewish Education classes are for you. Background doesn’t matter. Level of education doesn’t matter. A desire to learn and participate in riveting, fascinating classes is all you need. Join our classes taught by fascinating, articulate teachers and enjoy!
Got questions? We have answers.
For young moms and dads, reading stories to their children is something many do every night at bedtime…or even in the middle of the afternoon! PJ Library, which is a program of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, is underwritten in Rockland County by Rockland’s Jewish Federation. It provides Jewish-themed books for children, ages 2-8 every month and gives those moms and dads a wonderful way to help them understand and appreciate what it means to be Jewish…even at a young age.
PJ Library books are wonderful additions to every Jewish family’s library. It doesn’t matter what the family’s background, knowledge or family make-up or observance is. There are PJ Library books for every kind of Jewish family.
But PJ is not only about books. It’s also about Jewish-themed activities…like Zoom classes on cooking for the holidays. And outings where young Jewish families can meet and make friendships with other young Jewish families.
Leket Israel is the largest food bank and food rescue organization in Israel. Rockland’s Federation has had a long-standing relationship with Leket because we know how important it is to take care of the most basic need of making sure people who struggle to feed themselves and their families have food to put on the table each and every day.
During the year of the pandemic, Leket Israel had to change the way it feeds people in need. It went from rescuing good, nutritious food from restaurants, hotels, and even the IDF, and feeding more than 200,000 Israelis per week, to buying 12,000 meals a day because just like here in Rockland County, the need for food increased tangentially as the Pandemic worsened and people lost their jobs.
Here in Rockland County’s Jewish community, we have a strong relationship with Leket Israel. It’s a special project we support directly and that has come to mean a lot to us. Through donations to Jewish Federation, we can see the difference those donations make in the lives of those who are helped by Leket Israel.
If you see something…
The Community Relations Council is Federation’s advocacy arm. One of its prime roles is as the Rockland Jewish community’s voice with elected officials at every level from national to local. The CRC has developed relationships with many of these people and will contact them when there’s an issue that is of concern, and must be addressed. From gatherings the were highly visible, such as the one that occurred after the Monsey stabbings, to those that are strictly behind-the-scenes, the CRC takes a strong and active role in combatting antisemitism no matter where it occurs.
The CRC makes sure our elected officials understand the pernicious effects the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) has on the State of Israel, and the hateful rhetoric that is too pervasive on certain social media channels and group pages in and around Rockland County. When the CRC becomes aware of such hate speech or any violent threats against the Jewish community, it makes sure our local officials are aware of them so they can be dealt with.
The most important role Jewish Federation plays in the community is in community weaving. Federation has built a platform where all organizations and individuals can come together to share common concerns. Through Community Weaving, Federation brings synagogues and organizations together to work for the common good of Rockland’s Jewish community.
Whether it’s to learn how to apply for security grants, or the PPP during the pandemic, or learning how to set up endowment funds for the financial security of an organization through Life and Legacy, Federation has made Community Weaving the important initiative it is for the community.
