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D'Var Torah
Lee I. Sherman
President/CEO
Last week, my children and I were discussing the role of community service in making positive changes in our society. My daughter offered the example of one of her friends who had led a study of the elevators on her college campus to determine if they were truly accessible to persons with physical handicaps. It turned out that in many of the elevators, a person in a wheelchair could not reach the top floor buttons. And so, the issue was brought to the attention of the college administration and all of the elevators were retrofitted to be fully accessible to someone seated in a wheelchair. We all agreed that this was positive activism.
This week's parashah, Shoftim, focuses on the theme of justice. Shoftim means "judges," and the Torah reading addresses the appointment of judges and gives them some rules of operation. But, the language of Shoftim makes it clear that the pursuit of justice is not just a task for the judges. The famous words, "Justice, justice shall you pursue, that you may thrive and occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you," (16:20) appear in the opening lines of the parashah. This language is directed to everyone who will be entering the Land of Israel, which means all of the people. It is a communal and individual responsibility to safeguard our basic values and act justly to others. If we truly have a just society, it is not just for some, but for all. And the repetition of the word "justice" suggests that this pursuit of justice is meant to be active - in places where justice is absent, we must all work to secure it.
My daughter's college friend saw a problem and worked to correct it, even though it did not affect her directly. This same passion for justice is at the core of Jewish communal work and our communities' institutions. It is the responsibility of each of us to help the most vulnerable among us - the widows and orphans as described in Torah, but what we understand as all of those in financial hardship, emotional distress, or physical frailty. Our commitment to this work, as professionals and volunteers, is the furtherance of our quest for justice.
Shabbat Shalom
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Help Communities Recover from Hurricane Irene
Over the weekend, Hurricane Irene made its way up the East Coast of the United States, leaving a wake of  destruction in its path. As of latest report , 43 people were killed, thousands were displaced - many losing their homes and businesses - and 2.85 million are still without power. The sum toll of incurred damage is not yet known as flooding continues in several affected areas.
Repair the World has reached out to Jewish communities along the East Coast and in the Caribbean to determine areas of need. Volunteers and contributions will be desperately needed as affected communities work to rebuild following the hurricane's wreckage. Please consider lending your support. To learn more about helping, click here.
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New AJFCA IT Professionals Forum
AJFCA is pleased to offer a member forum for information technology professionals. We are excited for our agencies' IT professionals to have an opportunity to exchange ideas, information and insights. Thank you to Warren Sufrin, JFCS Pittsburgh's Director of Information Technology for suggesting the new forum.
If you would like to join the IT forum, and are not already registered for forums, please email Barbara Tapper your name, your agency and the name of the forum(s) you would like to join. Barbara will email you your username and password once you have been entered into the system.
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New Toolkit Offers Budget Basics for Seniors 
 For many vulnerable older adults, the path to economic security begins with basic money management. Learning how to budget, avoid scams, and apply for benefits can help them stay independent longer. With support from the Bank of America Charitable Foundation, the National Council on Aging (NCOA) has developed a Savvy Saving Seniors toolkit to help professionals educate older adults about good money skills. Learn how to use it at a free webinar.
How to Facilitate the Savvy Saving Seniors Financial Education Program
Friday, September 16th
3:30pm-4:30pm ET
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Idealware's Tip of the Month - Getting Started with Email Fundraising
No matter how small your organization is, email fundraising is an effective way to communicate with donors and raise money without substantially raising your overhead. Emails provide inexpensive reasons and reminders to give, and some donors are more likely to read and act on an email. It's not particularly complicated-here are a few tips from Idealware to get you started.
- Define Your Strategy. This includes formulating a plan, defining your campaign goals, and identifying and listing donors you think you can count on to give, and then creating a team to implement the campaign.
- Define Your Story. Develop a compelling message to inspire people to donate. Tell supporters a story about why it's important to support your organization, and about what their donations will support. When possible, put names or faces to the people the campaign will help, or paint a vivid picture of what the hoped-for results will look like.
For more tips visit, "Getting Started with Email Fundraising."
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COA Offers Discounted 3-Part PQI Webinar Series
The Council on Accreditation (COA) is delighted to announce that they will be offering a discount to all AJFCA members who are interested in attending their upcoming three-part Performance Quality Improvement (PQI) series. Members can access this webinar series for only $75 (normally $200).
COA's PQI Webinar Series - $75 for members of AJFCA - discount code "SPON"
Part I: An Introduction to COA's PQI Standards
Tuesday, September 20th, 3:00pm-4:30pm EST
Part II: Outcomes and Measures
Tuesday, September 27th, 3:00pm-4:30pm EST
Part III: Closing the Loop
Tuesday, October 4th, 3:00pm-4:30pm EST
Members can register using the attached form or contact Danielle Cook.
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Gold stein Named CEO of Jewish Family & Children's Service of Philadelphia Jewish Family & Children's Service of Philadelphia announced that effective September 1, 2011, Paula Goldstein will be the Agency's next President and Chief Executive Officer. Please join AJFCA in congratulating Paula! _____________________________________________________________________________________________ New Director Begins at Jewish Family Services of Central Kentucky Talia Smolkin replaced Paula Clancy as the new Director of Jewish Family Services of Central Kentucky on Tuesday, August 23rd. AJFCA wishes her a smooth transition and welcomes her to the AJFCA network. JFS of Central Kentucky's Federation has changed their name to Jewish Federation of the Bluegrass. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Providing Help for Senior Bullying at Jewish Family & Children's Service of Boston Senior Bullying is starting to gain national attention, thanks in part to Marsha Frankel, LICSW, Clinical Director of  Senior Services at Jewish Family & Children's Service. In her recent blog posts, Mean Old Ladies? and Social Bullying , Marsha reports that bullying is a major problem, resulting in unnecessary suffering for older adults already facing the demands of aging. Ten to twenty percent of elders living in senior housing may experience some type of bullying from fellow residents. Bullying usually takes the form of shunning or excluding someone, sarcasm or pointed comments, and spreading gossip and rumors. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Jewish Family Service Association of Cleveland's YouthAbility Receives Endowment Gift Jewish Family Service Association's YouthAbility helps youth, ages 16 to 24, with disabilities or who are at-risk, to deve lop job skills through community volunteer assignments, group projects and small business enterprises. Currently, over 300 individuals each year participate in the program. Because of its unique nature, public funding has been very difficult to obtain. JFSA recently received a one million dollar endowment commitment to support JFSA's YouthAbility Program. Although the gift will secure the program's fixed operating costs, there is still a need to fund the program's diverse activities. |
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