The Jewish Community Federation has a unique theme for this year’s campaign — “No Gift Touches More Lives.”
Hopefully that’s the message you’ll be hearing this weekend, on Super Sunday, when a volunteer calls your home asking for your 1999 campaign pledge.
We urge that you answer the call with a pledge — and a better one than you made last year.
The money you give the federation goes first to our local community to support the various Jewish institutions that do so much good on a daily basis.
For instance, Jewish education programs that encourage Jewish continuity and discourage assimilation are badly in need of financial help. We need to send as many teens to Israel as possible and educate them in teen chavurah programs so their Jewish education doesn’t end after bar or bat mitzvah ceremonies.
Care of the elderly is also a pressing need as that population increases. More housing is needed for the well elderly, and more beds are needed for the frail.
Your federation gift also supports Jewish culture, including our museums and film festival as well as lecture series. Studies have shown that promoting Jewish culture also encourages affiliation in Jewish life.
In addition, your donation helps those Jews who are less fortunate, including new emigres who have fled the former Soviet Union as anti-Semitism there increases. Thousands of Russian Jews have integrated successfully in the Bay Area and begun productive, Jewish lives because of aid from the JCF.
In Israel, the money you give to the federation goes to help the needs of individual Israelis rather than the institutional bureaucracies. Various programs are funded, including those that provide job training, business loans and aid to the poor.
The federation also spends dollars to boost Arab-Israeli communication and to promote pluralism among secular and religious Jews.
Many charities will knock on your door during 1999 but your Jewish donation should be your highest priority because, as the JCF campaign theme implies, no gift will touch more lives.