Growing up, I never thought I’d work for a Jewish Federation. As a teen and young adult, I was heavily involved in Jewish life and in Zionist youth groups, but the Federation system hadn’t factored into my career plans. I surprised my younger self therefore when after some time in academia, I applied for a job at the Jewish Federation of Cleveland in 2002.

The person interviewing me asked why it was I had chosen to take this step. I replied that if you want to create change, you must go to an organization that has the capacity to create change.

A couple decades later, I believe this more than ever. A Jewish Federation’s capacity to spur impact for and on behalf of a Jewish community is unparalleled. This is because the Federation structure allows us to operate on three levels at once: engaging individuals, partnering with organizations, and sparking community-wide action.

It’s for this reason (among many others) that whenever someone suggests a century-old system couldn’t possibly serve the needs of the future, I always push back. Federation is a legacy institution precisely because of our ability to evolve to meet the shifting challenges and opportunities we face. As Shira Hutt and Mimi Kravetz of the Jewish Federations of North America wrote last week, the Federation model isn’t static and never has been.

Of course, having the capacity to effect change doesn’t mean anything unless we put it to work. At Federation, we get to inspire, engage, and mobilize people to generate the resources and ideas that will help sustain Jewish life. Many organizations can raise funds, but only Federation can bring significant resources, a network of partnerships, talented staff and lay leadership, and the broader community together to tackle shared goals. We get to ask hard questions. Try new things. And work on the frontier of what’s next.

That’s another thing I love about the role of Federation—we are relied upon to serve as both leader and supporter. We have a clear vision for the future of Jewish life and take seriously our work to use our bully pulpit and to represent the needs and interests of Jewish Greater Washington. But it means just as much to us to operate in the spaces where we don’t have all the answers. Elevating important issues and bringing people together to have important conversations and express and exchange ideas is also a critical part of our work.

I was an enthusiastic job candidate back in the day, and my enthusiasm for what our community can accomplish has only grown. Especially now, as historic challenges mount, we must leverage the full extent of our capacity to create change. We have so much going for us as a community. It’s our job to convert that potential into forward motion for the sake of today and tomorrow.