Jewish Community Centers of North America (JCCs)

"As home to the greatest number of Jewish professionals, the JCC Movement and JCCs across North America are the central talent pipeline for Jewish communal professionalsan important responsibility. At our upcoming Professional Conference, five colleagues from the Mandel Foundation’s Executive Leadership Program will join me to discuss their diverse paths and unique journeys in the Jewish communal landscape." In today's blog post, Sue Gelsey, chief program officer at JCC Association, gives us a glimpse into one of the elective enrichment sessions being offered at this year's Professional Conference. If you're a JCC professional, be sure to register today for ProCon 2021: bit.ly/procon2021registration

Tune in tonight at 8 p.m. (EDT) on VirtualJCC.com to celebrate Yom HaAtzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day. Our program will open with a virtual tour of the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation and an interview with Chemi Peres, the chairman of the Center’s board and the co-founder and managing general partner of Pitango venture capital fund, which invests widely in the technology field, from IT to medicine. We’ll also be meeting three of Israel’s social entrepreneurs whose work has advanced innovations in cybersecurity, agriculture, and emergency health care. #DaysOfMemory #JCCMovement Register for Free & Watch: https://virtualjcc.com/watch/yom-haatzmaut-days-of-memory

Join us tonight at 8 p.m. (EDT) on VirtualJCC.com for Yom HaZikaron: The Power of Jewish Peoplehood Through Personal and Collective Mourning. We’ll be listening to an intimate conversation about loss and the healing power of personal and collective mourning as shared by Israelis who know the heartache and anguish from their own experiences. Solomon Shapiro, a lone soldier in the IDF originally from New York, will be facilitating a conversation with three bereaved families who will share the pain of loss along with the sense of community they encounternot only on this day, but every daythat allows them to move forward. #DaysOfMemory #JCCMovement Register for Free & Watch: https://virtualjcc.com/watch/yom-hazikaron-days-of-memory

"Echoing the joy and sorrow inextricably woven together in Israeli life, so it is with Yom HaZikaron and Yom HaAtzmaut. As Israel’s Memorial Day departs, ushering in Yom HaAtzmaut, the country will shed its grief and immediately move to the joy of Yom HaAtzmaut, celebrating the 73rd year of its miraculous existence, independence, and strength." Read this week's blog post from Leah Garber, director of JCC Association's Center for Israel Engagement in Jerusalem, then join us for "Yom HaZikaron: The Power of Jewish Peoplehood Through Personal and Collective Mourning" and "Yom HaAtzmaut: Moments of Pride Through Israeli Innovation" which will debut on the "Days of Memory" channel on virtualjcc.com on April 13 and 14 at 8 p.m. EDT each evening.

The Covenant Foundation announced $1.7 million in new grants, highlighting the continued promise and value of Jewish education in exceedingly uncertain times. JCC Association is excited and grateful to announce that we have received one of these grants for our program "JFEST: An Arts Festival for the JCC Movement Pilot Initiative. To create a virtual quarterly Jewish arts festival that will offer cultural and educational content to a network of more than 170 JCCs and their community members of all ages."

JCC Association of North America condemns yesterday’s unprecedented attack on our democracy and on the United States Congress by a mob seeking to disrupt the electoral process and the peaceful transfer of power that has been a hallmark of American democracy. The actions of those laying siege to the U.S. Capitol building shook this nation to its core, but it has also stiffened our resolve and our determination to restore honor and dignity to our country and its duly elected le...adership. For more than a century, JCCs have been an engine for building and strengthening Jewish community through the celebration of our diversity of opinions, backgrounds, and points of view. Overcoming the divisiveness, which was on such appalling display yesterday in Washington, D.C., will require a rededication to the idea that what unites us as Americans is far more significant than what divides usan idea that is at the very heart of who we are in the JCC Movement. See more

"God, in observing Moses’ repeated acts of compassion, seems to twist the idea of b’tzelem Elohim (in the image of the Divine) by acting b’tzelem Moshe (in the image of Moses), his partner, to begin alleviating the oppression and cruelty so long afflicted upon the Children of Israeland to make them all God’s own." This week's d'var Torah is written by Jane E. Herman, senior writer at JCC Association.

"...Jewish mindfulness and middot practices enable organizations to offer their staff and constituents meaningful opportunities to learn to be more present, more aware, and more compassionate toward themselvesleading, in turn, to wise and skillful responses rather than reactions that stem from confusion, pain, fear, or anger. With these tools at hand, individuals throughout North America’s Jewish community can decrease stress, increase productivity, and rise to meet challengeslarge and smallwith resilience, courage, and wisdom." Read more about how we can bring out the best in our professionals through Jewish mindfulness and middot in this week's blog.

Shabbat shalom and happy new year! Wishing a happy, healthy, and safe 2021 to all.