Month: January 2026

I stood in Hostage Square, Tel Aviv among a quiet crowd, patiently waiting. What was once a vigil site, a protest space, a place of mourning and solidarity was now the square where we were about to hear the collective sigh of a small country. At 843 days, 12 hours, 5 minutes and 59 seconds, the clock that made the abstraction of time in captivity real, was turned off. The body of Ran Gvili, the last hostage, was returned home.

Now the true healing can begin.

I am with ten amazing women from our community, on a National Women’s Philanthropy mission in Israel. Resilient is the word we keep hearing and seeing. It feels that way, and yet, you can see the cracks of exhaustion and immense sadness. The wife of a reservist said, “We are slowly starting to put our hearts together.”

Our Federation continues to work with partners on the ground.  We support the Jewish Agency for Israel, which operates Youth Futures, in response to the high levels of trauma among children. Research has found that PTSD is high among children: 15% of Israel’s children lived in communities infiltrated by terrorists, and 20% were displaced from their homes for months.

We are the initial investors in the Alin Beit Noam, Ilanot National Rehabilitation Center, a state-of-the-art rehabilitation center that serves Nova survivors, bereaved families, injured soldiers and adults with special needs.

The Israelis are grateful for our commitment. A Nova survivor said, “we want to be the heroes to the heroes of October 7.” Because of you, we are a community of heroes.

This Shabbat will be the first time since October 14, 2023 that we won’t need to say a prayer for the hostages.

Am Yisrael Chai.

We often think about B’nai Mitzvah as being about the moment when a child gets up, blesses and reads from the Torah, chants haftorah, gives a D’var Torah, and maybe even leads some of the prayers in synagogue. Scenes in film and TV, and perhaps our own experience with family and friends, reinforce the idea that, to become B’nai Mitzvah, this is what one must do. For the parent of a child with learning disabilities or other needs that make following this scenario impossible, marking the milestone might seem inaccessible.

The good news is that, according to Jewish tradition, the only thing that someone has to do to become an adult in the Jewish community is to turn 13 (or, traditionally, 12 for girls). And so, there are many ways to mark this milestone according to the needs of your child.

More than $300 million in federal security funding is available this year to help protect Jewish institutions. Accessing that funding, however, is competitive, technical, and time-sensitive.

That’s where JShield comes in.

Funding Helps—But Access Isn’t Automatic

Federal security grants can make a real difference, but only if institutions are able to secure them. The process is competitive and complex, and without support, too many opportunities are left on the table.

This year, lawmakers have proposed allocating approximately $300 million to the Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP), a $25 million increase over last year. It’s an important step but accessing that funding still isn’t simple or guaranteed. Applying requires time, technical expertise, and careful coordination—resources many organizations don’t have while also running programs, supporting families, and serving their communities.

Where Federation Leads

Through JShield, The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington helps local Jewish institutions do this work with clarity and confidence. The support is practical and hands-on: advising organizations, preparing grant applications, and guiding them through a process that can otherwise feel overwhelming. This support is provided at no cost to institutions.

In 2025 alone, this work helped bring more than $5.25 M in security funding into our community. That funding helps institutions access resources they might otherwise miss and strengthens the safety of Jewish life across our region.

Security Is Ongoing Work

There is no finish line when it comes to security. It’s not a single grant or a one-time investment. It’s ongoing work that requires expertise, coordination, and strong relationships.

Through JShield, and with direct support from community donors, we help Jewish institutions prepare, apply, and stay focused on serving their communities.

We are excited and proud to share that JSSA, a longtime Federation partner, is expanding its hospice services to Northern Virginia—an important step in ensuring individuals and families in our region have access to high-quality, community-based end-of-life care when it matters most.

How this expansion came together

As part of our ongoing work to strengthen vibrant Jewish life in Northern Virginia, The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington supported early feasibility work for this expansion, alongside additional donor support from the community. We continue to work closely with partners to ensure evolving needs across Northern Virginia are being addressed.

Building on decades of trusted service

For more than 40 years, JSSA has been a trusted provider of hospice care in Montgomery County, supporting patients and families with expert clinical care alongside emotional and spiritual support. This expansion builds on JSSA’s more than 45 years of serving Northern Virginia through mental health services, aging-in-place programs, and its Holocaust Survivor Program.

Care that centers dignity and family

JSSA’s interdisciplinary hospice team of physicians, nurses, social workers, chaplains, and trained volunteers provides care wherever patients call home. Their model includes smaller nurse caseloads and more frequent visits during patients’ final days, contributing to a higher-quality end-of-life experience for patients and families.

Families consistently share the impact of this care. As one son recently wrote:

“The genuine care and concern for my mom demonstrated by every member of the team was amazing. Their only goal was her comfort and quality of life. My family will always be grateful to JSSA.”

Serving families across Northern Virginia

Hospice services will initially focus on Fairfax, Arlington, and Alexandria, with the ability to respond to needs beyond this initial focus area.

To learn more about JSSA’s hospice services in Northern Virginia, call 703-896-7900.

Across Greater Washington, Israeli shlichim (emissaries) are part of everyday Jewish life—showing up in synagogues, schools, JCCs, and community spaces. They share stories, lead conversations, and build relationships that help make Israel feel present and personal.

Hands-On Israel (HOI) is one of the primary ways this connection happens. Led by Federation’s community shlichim who live and work in Greater Washington, HOI offers interactive workshops grounded in conversation and personal experience.

Creating Space for Real Conversation

Hands-On Israel creates space for people to engage with Israel through lived experience and open dialogue. Workshops focus on story, discussion, and shared reflection—helping participants connect in ways that feel grounded, human, and approachable.

Designed for Different Starting Points

HOI is built with the understanding that people come with different levels of familiarity, curiosity, and questions about Israel. Sessions are designed with that in mind, offering context and conversation without assuming prior knowledge or a shared point of view.

Reaching Communities Across the Region

Workshops take place across Washington, DC, Maryland, and Northern Virginia, in partnership with synagogues, schools, JCCs, and community organizations.

Last year, the shlichim hosted 20+ Hands-On Israel workshops across Greater Washington. In the past five months alone, HOI has engaged approximately 150 participants through six workshops, with six additional sessions already scheduled. Several organizations that hosted workshops last year have invited HOI back to experience new offerings, and across settings, participants have asked for sessions to continue.

“After each of the classes, I received requests from our adult learners to please bring them back! Both Maya’s and Tamar’s presentations were thoughtful, engaging, exciting, interactive, and checked all of the boxes.”

A Steady, Long-Term Approach

Hands-On Israel reflects how we approach Israel engagement in Greater Washington: through relationships, conversation, and ongoing connection over time.
This work is part of The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington’s long-term commitment to building meaningful, people-centered connections to Israel across our community.

Learn More About Hands-On Israel

Interested in bringing a Hands-On Israel workshop? Sessions can be tailored to different audiences, ages, and interests, with themes ranging from Israeli culture and identity to facilitated conversation and pre-Israel trip preparation.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how change happens. What experiences or events have a unique and significant impact on a person’s life? What are the drivers or enablers that can move a community forward? What is needed to shift a trajectory, to address a problem, or seize an opportunity?

I am thinking about this because we live in a moment when we, as a Jewish people, are facing a series of challenges (and opportunities) as our world changes in significant ways. We therefore need to consider our approach when it comes to our work to build a vibrant Jewish community in the DMV.

For the past many years, we have worked hard to identify new programs or strategies that would bring people in. We have sought ideas from the community and funded a variety of new initiatives. And many of these initiatives have been successful. We have partnered with incredible local agencies and synagogues to create new initiatives and bring ideas to life. This work has been eye-opening and worthwhile.

I also want to explore what it might look like for this next period of Jewish life, if we shift our focus from continuing to source new ideas to scaling the initiatives that we know for certain achieve the objectives we have in mind—the ones that over years of study and observation have proven successful in building connection, identity, and community.

We know that Jewish overnight camp, youth groups, Jewish learning, immersive experiences, especially to Israel, Jewish day schools, and Shabbat dinners all achieve these goals. Moreover, and just as importantly, they are scalable. These may not be the only experiences that have such an impact, but channeling our energy and creativity into each of these six areas could yield tremendous results.

For example, there are currently 3,500 kids in Greater Washington who go to Jewish overnight camp. What impact might we have on the Jewish future if we doubled that number over the next ten years and another 3,500 children and teens experience the joy and community of camp? What if for the next decade, we focus on the proven wins in Jewish life—those things we know to be both high impact and scalable—and bring in many more people to these experiences?

We are currently debating and stress testing these questions internally at Federation and I want to share our thinking with you as part of that process. How does our list of impactful Jewish experiences strike you? Where do you see challenges with our approach? In what ways can the broader community contribute to Jewish engagement?

I look forward to hearing your thoughts. Through it all, know that our core objective remains the same: working together to build a community where everyone feels they belong, can connect deeply to others and the Jewish people, and inspired to shape our collective future.

More to come.

This past week I had the privilege of joining an informal group of Jewish foundation and Federation leaders to discuss issues facing Jewish life. This year especially, I appreciated the intentional time, set aside from my usual schedule, to dive into some deep discussions. The seventy-degree weather didn’t hurt either.

The tenor of our time together included a clear focus on the future. Everyone agreed that fighting antisemitism remains an urgent and essential priority for which we need to have a more integrated and effective strategy. At the same time, people were most eager to talk about the things we could build together. How to strengthen Jewish engagement, communal trust, bridges to other communities, our vision for a vibrant, pluralistic Jewish future, and so on.

Coursing through the week was the idea that now is a time to go all in. We are living in a moment that calls on us to grapple with the most critical issues facing the Jewish community. This is not a time for avoidance or incrementalism. We should not—and must not—shy away from what needs to be done.

And we can do it! Because the other consistent takeaway was that we collectively have the capacity to meet this moment so long as we work together. No single individual, organization, or foundation can achieve their goals independently but combined, we have everything we need to realize our shared ambitions. The scale and complexity of both the challenges and the opportunities we face demand collaboration, humility, and shared responsibility.

In the end, I left for the airport feeling hopeful. There are extraordinary people across the country doing extraordinary work on behalf of the Jewish people, thoughtfully, courageously, and with deep care for our community. I want to hold onto this thought for 2026 and, like the California sun, soak up all its benefits.

Over the weekend, an act of antisemitic arson devastated Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson, Mississippi—an attack not only on a building, but on the heart of Jewish life in a small and geographically isolated community. In a region with few nearby Jewish institutions, the loss of a synagogue carries particular weight. It was an attack on Jewish life in a place where sustaining it is neither easy nor assumed.

Several Torah scrolls were destroyed or damaged in the fire, a profound spiritual and communal loss for the congregation. One Torah that survived the Holocaust was protected and not damaged. Its survival does not lessen what was lost, but it stands as a reminder of the endurance of Jewish life in the face of hatred.

This was not vandalism. It was a deliberate act of antisemitic violence, echoing a painful history for this congregation, which was bombed by the Ku Klux Klan in 1967 for its civil rights leadership.
For Jews in small Southern communities, maintaining Jewish life often already requires resilience, vigilance, and deep commitment. When a synagogue is targeted, the loss extends far beyond physical walls. It disrupts the ability to gather, to worship, and to remain visible as a Jewish community. Our hearts are with the Jackson Jewish community as they begin the long and painful work of rebuilding.

We are working in close coordination with national and regional partners, including Jewish Federations of North America, as well as Federation partners in the region, including the Memphis Jewish Federation, the nearest Federation community. In response, The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington has opened a dedicated fund to support recovery and rebuilding efforts. This approach helps ensure support is coordinated, responsible, and responsive to real needs on the ground, while allowing the affected community to focus on care, recovery, and rebuilding.

How You Can Help

Support recovery and rebuilding efforts through a dedicated fund coordinated by The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington. Funds raised will be directed to trusted, vetted partners working directly with the congregation and community.

At the same time, this attack reinforces why shared investment in community security remains essential. Synagogues and Jewish institutions should never have to stand alone in protecting themselves. Here in Greater Washington, we continue to strengthen preparedness, infrastructure, and coordination through our community security efforts, reflecting our commitment to protecting Jewish life today and into the future.

This is the role Federation plays every day: connecting our community and its donors to moments of greatest need, stewarding resources with care, and helping ensure Jewish life can endure wherever it is threatened.

Moments like this test us, and they also remind us why collective action remains one of the most powerful expressions of Jewish responsibility and care.

For me, working to facilitate greater connection between our community and Israel feels like second nature. Since joining the Jewish professional world, it’s been a given that helping more people form meaningful relationships with Israel would be a core part of my work. Indeed, it’s a pillar of what we do at Federation and near to my heart as someone who knows and loves Israel.

A Changing Relationship Across Generations

In the current social and political climate, I am also recognizing how important it is that we articulate why we do this work and how we go about it. The Washington Post recently found that 68% of American Jews over 65 feels emotionally connected to Israel. For those between ages 18 and 34, that number drops to 36%. Stats like these abound.

There are a variety of reasons for this drop that I will not address at the moment (though I will in future reflections), but it’s clear we need to do more to support all Jews, and particularly younger Jews, in accessing one of the premier benefits that comes with their identity. Staying in relationship with Israel, even when we disagree or face different challenges, allows us to deepen our own Jewish experience. I’ve been fortunate to accompany many people on their first visit to Israel. It never gets old seeing them discover how special it feels to be immersed in a country with a Jewish rhythm, a thriving culture, Hebrew as a national language, and a clear sense of Jewish agency. It is an unparalleled mix of comforting and empowering.

Making Space for Complexity and Difference

Importantly, any successful approach to Israel engagement must honor the diversity of perspectives that exist in our community. I’ve seen the way October 7th and its aftermath has awakened people’s interest in and affinity for Israel. I have also seen the way many among us are struggling to figure out their relationship with Israel in this moment—and witnessed that struggle enrich our community by helping us all wrestle with what we believe and who we want to be as a people. The pathway forward must make space for multiple avenues of exploration, learning, and questioning.

How Federation Is Deepening Connection

To that end, Federation is undertaking a new phase in our Israel engagement work. Our goal is to strengthen the connective tissue—the infrastructure, programming, and partnerships—that will bring Greater Washington and Israel closer, year after year, in ways that resonate with each individual and organization. And to do so in partnership with Jewish organizations, lay leaders, educators, clergy, professionals, and philanthropists. We’ll be focusing on deepening everyday connections and building on the partnerships that have been forming organically these past few years.

What This Looks Like in Practice

Take our relationship with Kibbutz Nir Oz for example. A group of local synagogues came together to turn an emergency fundraising effort after October 7 into a genuine exchange. Kibbutz members have come to visit Washington, including former hostage Gadi Mozes, and some members of our community have visited the kibbutz in Israel. We are now supporting local lay leaders who are leading the partnership to shape opportunities for our community members to volunteer at the kibbutz and visit other Federation partners in the area.

There’s more to come, and I will be sure to keep you updated. For now, I’ll leave you with the thought that articulating the meaning that comes from a personal connection to Israel is a precious and urgent imperative. It’s on those of us who know and bask in that meaning to help others find it too.

Recently, a security concern was identified and reported quickly thanks to the awareness and vigilance of a few community members. Because they trusted their instincts and spoke up, the situation was addressed promptly and did not escalate.

While the incident itself was resolved, it offers an important reminder: training matters—and so does taking action when something doesn’t feel right.

Awareness Is a Skill We Can All Build

Every one of us has a role to play in maintaining safe, welcoming environments across our community and within our institutions. Sometimes that role looks like participating in a security training. Other times, it’s simply noticing what’s around you and trusting your intuition.

Small observations can matter more than we realize:

• An unfamiliar person lingering
• Clothing or behavior that doesn’t fit the setting
• A vehicle parked in an unusual way
• A conversation that feels out of place

Individually, these details may seem minor. Together, they can provide critical information—but only if someone chooses to say something.

As We Look Ahead

As we enter a new year, we know the Jewish community will continue to navigate complex and challenging moments. One of the ways we care for one another is by staying alert, informed, and prepared.

JShield supports this work by offering free security trainings for individuals and institutions across our community. These sessions help build confidence, sharpen awareness, and provide practical tools for navigating uncertain situations.

Just as importantly, we encourage everyone to:

• Trust yourself when something feels off. Your instincts are often the first line of defense.
• Speak up promptly. Timely reporting allows for effective response and mitigation, whether that means contacting JShield, your institution’s security team, a staff member, or local authorities.

Looking Out for One Another

Our strength as a community has always come from the way we look out for one another. This moment reinforces a simple but powerful truth: safety is a shared responsibility—a team effort. When we act together, we are more resilient.

Thank you for your continued partnership, your vigilance, and your commitment to keeping our community safe and welcoming.