By Nancy B. Greer President & CEO We have a thriving Jewish community, and one of our goals is to strive to ensure that it is also a welcoming place for the wonderfully diverse people who are a part of it. Every year during Pride Month, when summer’s sunny warmth is just around the corner, we celebrate the importance of belonging at Pride Shabbat. I invite you to join your Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle at Temple De Hirsch Sinai’s Seattle campus on Friday, June 23, to be a part of the gathering and be inspired.  In the spirit of welcoming and belonging, our annual cel ..read more

By Nancy B. Greer President & CEO Earlier this week, we received a lovely and thoughtful note from the Holocaust Center for Humanity. The Center thanked the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle for our advocacy in this year’s Washington legislative session that secured $1.5 million for Holocaust and genocide education over two years. The funding will enable the Center to expand its programs to teach students statewide about the lessons of the Holocaust and their relevance for the world that Washington’s children are growing up in. Securing that funding was just one example of our advocacy ..read more

By Nancy B. Greer President & CEO Jewish life is thriving in our region, and an important reason why is that our community welcomes leadership from people who bring to the table a diversity of inspiring talents and admirable strengths. I look forward to our annual meeting each year because we publicly honor and celebrate individuals who have done so much to help our community meet challenges, seize opportunities, and secure brighter tomorrows. I invite you to save the date for our annual meeting—Thursday, June 22, at the Stroum Jewish Community Center. (Registration link coming soon ..read more

By Nancy B. Greer President & CEOIn March, a group of 175 Jewish community leaders from around North America, including Seattle’s Ronit Droker and Andrea Lott, traveled to Latvia and Hungary for the National Young Leadership Cabinet’s International Study Mission. For Andrea and Ronit, participating in the mission was a powerful, memorable experience of what engaged, responsible leadership can accomplish. The journey illuminated the impact Cabinet has in developing the capacity of young leaders to make a difference for Jewish life. Cabinet is a Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) l ..read more

By Nancy B. Greer President & CEO Memory is a defining feature of Jewish peoplehood. Memory is embedded in our traditions and culture. We tell stories about our history, hold observances to shape the meaning of those stories, and pay it forward by passing them on to the next generation. Over the next 10 days, we will hold three commemorations, gathering in shared acts of remembrance that invite us to reflect on lessons from our past, their meaning for today, and what we can learn from them to secure our collective future. On Yom HaShoah, April 17-18, we remember the immense crime that was ..read more

By Nancy B. Greer President & CEO On Wednesday this past week, your Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle held its biennial Legislative Seder. At this gathering, state lawmakers and legislative staff from many faith backgrounds heard the story of the Exodus that the Jewish people have retold for millennia. The Legislative Seder is a compelling way to share with our elected representatives the Jewish values that are the foundation of our advocacy work in Olympia. For many of us gathered with family and friends around our Passover Seder tables a few nights from now, those values will be a th ..read more

By Nancy B. Greer President & CEO All around Western Washington, there are small Jewish organizations doing great things for Jewish life by bringing people together for shared experiences that lift up hearts and enrich minds. We’re pleased to announce our Fiscal Year 2023 Small Agency Sustainability (SAS) grants to nine Jewish organizations that serve our region so well. SAS grants are rooted in our organizational value of Kehilla/Areivut (community/mutual responsibility), empowering active Jewish engagement. To that end, Federation awards Small Agency Sustainability grants ..read more

By Nancy B. Greer President & CEO February 24, 2022. Two Ukrainians. Two stories. On the day the war began, Ludmila, her sister, and their mother fled Kyiv toward the border with Poland. They made it to Warsaw and upon their arrival, received the support they needed to make Aliyah. Ten days after the war’s outbreak, they arrived in Tel Aviv to make a new life in our Jewish homeland. Ludmila is now studying at Tel Aviv University and marvels at the friendship Israelis have shown her. “The climate in Israel is very warm and so are the people,” she says. On that same fateful day, Katya and he ..read more

By Nancy B. Greer President & CEO Purim will be here in just over a week, a joyful holiday when we come together in celebration to hear the Megillah. In the dramatic climax of the Purim story, Queen Esther speaks up on behalf of the Jewish people. With our survival at stake, Esther rises successfully to our defense with the power of her voice. Purim gatherings have all the trappings of a festive good time, but a central message of the holiday is serious—to ensure a strong and vibrant Jewish future, we must be our own strongest advocates. Especially at challenging times when we must pull t ..read more

By Nancy B. Greer President & CEO The key to brighter Jewish tomorrows is opening wider the doors to Jewish life today. Communal organizations all over our region get that. Like our three local Jewish overnight summer camps. Camp Solomon Schechter is planning a retreat with specialized staff that will enable special-needs children to better experience the magic of Jewish camp. In a similar vein, Sephardic Adventure Camp has a program to help special-needs children get the most out of going to camp. URJ Camp Kalsman is planning a Spring Fest to give new famili ..read more