News & Conference Information from AJFCA for February 11, 2011

AJFCA regrets that our list serve has not been working properly. We value the list serve as a crucial tool in the ability of our member agencies to contact one another, share resources and learn from one another. We have been working through our IT staff in Baltimore and our website host in New Jersey to resolve the issue and we hope to have the list serves running again as soon as possible. Fortunately, we are well under way in our website redesign, which includes a new, user-friendly list serve. The new website will be hosted by our design firm in Baltimore so that any future issues will be able to be resolved much more swiftly. As always, we are grateful for the patience and support of the member agencies that have called in about this issue.

D'Var Torah

Lee I. Sherman

President & CEO

Demands on Leadership

As I write this week, I am in Ashkelon, Israel, only six kilometers from Gaza, and, therefore, less than 100 miles from Egypt. I have just watched President Mubarak's speech in which he announced he is not leaving his position. The news is reporting great unrest in the square, with the likelihood that the crowd could get more aggressive in its demonstration. Some of the reporters on the scene are describing Mubarak as "delusional," that he does not appreciate or recognize the will of the people.

This week we continue our Torah reading in the book of Exodus. Although there is some debate as to the path of the Israelites on their journey to Israel, there is no disagreement that at this point of the reading, they are still in the Sinai Peninsula, in what is modern day Egypt. In Tetzavvah, we read about the ascension of Aaron and his sons to the priesthood. Although there is no democratic election, the rules and guidelines that God directs to the priests make it clear that they have very specific responsibilities so they can perform their duties as intermediaries between the people and God. The descriptions of the priestly vestments are not about decoration, but about an outward commitment to the task. We read in a later parashah what happens to Aaron's sons when they do not perform as expected. We have high expectations for our leaders, as we should for people who can affect so many lives.

There is great uneasiness in this part of the world about what will happen in Egypt. The people I have spoken to in Israel are concerned about who, and what, will replace President Mubarak, who has kept the peace with Israel for over thirty years. We know that Egypt has great challenges ahead. We pray that they will get the kind of leadership that responds to their concerns, brings peace to the region, and reflects the leadership principles contained in the Torah.

Have a peaceful Shabbat.

2011 AJFCA Annual Conference Update

"Thriving in the New Frontier"

Ann Zeller

Director of Meetings & Conferences

Closing Plenary Session: Guest Speaker Gayla Rogers

A motivational visionary leader, an inspiring capacity builder and the University of Calgary's first female dean of the Faculty of Social Work will be the guest speaker at the AJFCA Annual Conference's closing plenary session on May 17^th.

Gayla Rogers will present Thriving in the New Frontier: The Imperative of Visionary Leadership at the conference in Calgary.

Gayla has consulted widely on social education in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, and has served on and provided consultation to many community boards throughout Canada.

She earned a PhD from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in the United Kingdom, and a Masters in Social Work from the University of Calgary. She began teaching on the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Calgary in 1978, and in 1998 became the Faculty's first female and first alumna to serve as Dean. She completed her 12-year stint as Dean last June.

Recent honors include being named a Woman of Influence by Deloitte, and Woman of Vision by Global TV. She has also received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Calgary-the highest honor by the university's alumni association, and was inducted into the Order of the University of Calgary for having a record of distinguished service to the University.

JFS Calgary Invites You To Attend Their Host Community Event

Expanding your knowledge won't be confined to the physical grounds of the conference center at the 2011 AJFCA Annual Conference. As conference veterans know, the host committee schedules fun activities that educate attendees on the Jewish and community culture of its community.

This year, our Calgary hosts will sponsor a dinner at historic Heritage Park Historical Village, the largest park of its type in Canada. The venue displays the history of Western Canada and also highlights the prairie Jewish history through a visit to the Montefiore Institute, also referred to as "The Little Synagogue on the Prairie."

This structure is a small, wooden synagogue originally built in Sibbald, Alberta, west of the Alberta-Saskatchewan border. It was constructed in the mid 1910s by the Montefiore colony of Jewish immigrants who had settled in Alberta in 1910. Named after Sir Moses Montefiore, it served as a synagogue, Hebrew school and community center for Jewish farmers.

Today, the building is one of a few remaining examples of the small, wooden synagogues built by pioneers on the Canadian and American prairie. It was moved to Heritage Park Historical Village in 2008 at a cost of more than $1,000,000, and became the first Jewish house of worship to be housed in a Canadian historic park.

Be sure to attend this fun and educational event on May 15^th. You will be able to sign up for it on the Conference Registration Form when the form becomes accessible within the next few weeks. You can also access more information on this event from Lou the Mountie.

Program Update

Lisa Budlow

Director of Programs

CEO Survey

Thank you to the many CEO's who have already answered the survey we sent out last week. We have begun importing your agency's current information into the spreadsheet that will populate the directory on our new website. Please keep the survey responses coming. We would like everyone's information in the directory to be as current as possible.

Purchasing Point Webinar

The webinar for AJFCA member agencies who wish to learn more about the Purchasing Point program will be held this Thursday, February 17, 2011 at 1:00 p.m. EST. Purchasing Point is a program that allows participants to purchase goods and services from companies such as Federal Express, Staples, Dell, Sprint, Sherwin Williams and more at 20-40% discounts. It is FREE to our members as a benefit of your membership in AJFCA.

To register for the webinar, click here. Or to sign up for Purchasing Point and begin accessing its benefits right away, go to http://ajfca.purchasingpoint.org and enter invitation code: AJFCA620.

News from Washington, DC

Shelley Rood

Director - Washington, DC

Jewish Disability Awareness Month

Jewish Disability Awareness Month (JDAM) is commemorated each February by dozens of Jewish communities. Its mission is to unite Jewish communities and organizations to raise awareness and support meaningful inclusion of people with disabilities and their families in every aspect of Jewish life.

AJFCA and all the major movements in Jewish life are involved in this effort and engage in programming sponsored by Jewish organizations to highlight the needs and the strengths of people with disabilities in the community. The Jewish Federations of North America produces a Jewish Disability Awareness Month Resource Guide to help organizations support meaningful inclusion of people with disabilities and their families.

This February, AJFCA is cosponsoring a briefing on Capitol Hill, hosted by the Jewish Federations of North America and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, to educate members of Congress and their staff on issues such as employment, civil rights, and education in the disability community. For more information about the Jewish Disability Awareness Month Resource Guide or the briefing on Capitol Hill, please contact David Feinman.

Jewish Military Chaplains Memorial

Military chaplains provide emotional and spiritual support to Americans serving our nation all over the world, often placing themselves in dangerous situations. To date, 13 Jewish military chaplains have died in the line of duty.

Chaplains Hill in Arlington National Cemetery memorializes the names of more than 200 chaplains who have perished while on active duty, but astonishingly, none of the 13 Jewish chaplains are memorialized on Chaplains Hill. AJFCA has written a letter along with the Jewish Federations of North America and more than 30 other Jewish organizations urging members of Congress to cosponsor legislation needed to designate the space for the memorial.

For more information or to help advocate for this legislation with your Senators and members of Congress, please contact Shelley Rood, AJFCA Washington Director.