Two years ago, an article about Harold Zlot taking over as top lay leader of the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation said the presidency marked “the culmination of more than 30 years of federation involvement for Zlot.”
Culmination?
If defined as “completion” or “coming to an and” — then certainly not.
Even though his two-year term ended last week, Zlot still plans on staying very active in the federation, serving on the executive committee and doing, in his words, “whatever is necessary.”
For Zlot, that could mean a number of things.
Less than 24 hours after making his farewell speech last week, for example, Zlot was off to Chicago for a big meeting of the United Jewish Communities, the umbrella group for federations.
Then he left for Israel to attend the quarterly meeting of the Jewish Agency.
And then he joined a trip to Crimea, Ukraine and Russia with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, a federation beneficiary agency that provides global relief and rescue.
That type of commitment to Jews around the world and around the block was a cornerstone of Zlot’s term, which he spoke about in his farewell speech at the JCF’s annual meeting June 13.
Zlot lauded the federation’s response “each and every time” Jews in difficulty, “in our community or overseas,” turned to JCF and its agencies for help.
“I have been proud time and again,” he said, beaming.
He cited the federation’s recent actions in the upper Galilee region of Israel, where residents went through a nervous few days last month when Israel withdrew soldiers from Lebanon.
“Our Israel representative, Gila Noam, drove to the north from Jerusalem the day before the crisis began…to find out how we could be helpful,” Zlot said.
Within days, JCF sent a representative, Eve Bernstein, on a UJC fact-finding mission to Kiryat Shmona, the city in the federation’s partner region, and to surrounding areas. Bernstein is the new chair of JCF’s Israel and overseas committee.
Plus, Zlot added, members of the Israel and overseas committee were “in touch daily by e-mail and telephone” with Israeli contacts.
“And,” he added, “we stand ready to respond at any moment necessary with additional humanitarian and other types of support.”
In an interview, Zlot summed up his term by saying, “We made a lot of progress in addressing the mission and vision of the federation, and building a more vibrant Jewish community.”
He said the past two years have seen a great explosion of capital projects, “all of which will serve our community for decades to come.”
Zlot also said the federation fine-tuned its priorities during his tenure, focusing on Jewish education, culture, leadership development and teen programming. “We’ve really seen a lot happen in the last couple of years.”
Zlot, 62, succeeded Alan Rothenberg as president in 1998. A resident of Ross along with his wife Mary, he is general partner in The Access Fund, an investment management firm in San Francisco.
One of Zlot’s legacies is the JCF’s Young Adults Division, which he helped found several decades ago. He also pioneered efforts to assist Jewish victims of terrorist bombings in Argentina.
In leaving his post, Zlot praised the “well-organized, financially sound, forward-looking and effective Jewish community” in which Bay Area Jews live.