A Step in the Door: Getting Involved in the
Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia
Passionate about community, but don’t know where to start? The Jewish Federation of
Greater Philadelphia brings concrete ways to get involved with like-minded peers. There are many
opportunities to connect – whether through shared interests or common life stages. Each group
has meaningful programming, leadership and philanthropic opportunities, and curated missions.

Want to get involved but don’t see the right group? Contact the Jewish Federation’s Director of
Affinities and Volunteer Engagement Marni Davis at mdavis@jewishphilly.org.

Neighborhood Groups
Women of Vision
Who should join? Anyone living in Greater
Philadelphia can participate in a Kehillah
(Hebrew for “community”), which includes:
Bucks County, Buxmont, Center City, Chester
County, Delaware County, Lower Merion,
Northeast and Old York Road.

Opportunities: Family-friendly programming,
Jewish holidays celebrations, hands-on
volunteering, curated missions and
educational classes.

Goal: Bridge geographic areas to create
inspired Jewish communities and offer
programming and enrichment for all ages.

Who should join? Self-identifying Jewish women and
girls. There are various lifetime membership levels.

Opportunities: Advocacy and educational programs.

Members can also vote on strategic grantmaking to
benefit Israel and Greater Philadelphia.

Goal: Impact the lives of self-identifying Jewish
women and girls across generations and geographic
boundaries through social change and social justice.

NextGen Who should join? People in their 20s, 30s
and early 40s.

Opportunities: Volunteering, giving societies,
leadership programs, social events and mission
trips around the world.

Goal: Connect leaders and philanthropists
looking to give back while building community.

Jewish Federation Real Estate (JFRE)
Who should join? Real estate and industry
related professionals. There are JFRE and Young
JFRE membership options available.

Opportunities: Unique professional gatherings
and social events, private tours of new
properties, Young JFRE mentorship program,
and members’ only events.

Goal: Advance real estate careers while
advancing the community.

Women’s Philanthropy
Who should join? Women of all ages.

Opportunities: Leadership development, social events,
networking programs, travel experiences, volunteering and
giving societies.

Goal: Engage women in the fulfilling work of supporting the
Jewish community in Greater Philadelphia and around the world.

Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC)
Who should join? Civic-minded individuals
interested in advocacy and public affairs.

Opportunities: Educational programs, advocacy
initiatives and mission trips in Greater Philadelphia,
Harrisburg, Washington, D.C. and Israel.

Goal: Create a network that amplifies the Jewish
voice on a local and national stage for public policy
while advancing a just and pluralistic society.

Mission Who should join? People looking to broaden their horizons
and discover Jewish culture around the globe.

Opportunities: Highly curated trips, introductions to local
community members, and first-hand experiences as to what
the Jewish Federation is doing to meet the challenges Jews
are facing around the world.

Goal: Provide a unique sense of purpose through immersive
travel experiences that encompass social justice, community-
building and the investment of a secure Jewish future.

Learn more about these options
and their giving opportunities at
jewishphilly.org/get-involved 8
JANUARY 19, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT



YOU SHOULD KNOW ...

Rabbi Alex Weissman
Courtesy of Reconstructing Judaism
Jarrad Saffren | Staff Writer
R abbi Alex Weissman remembers walking into the
Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Wyncote for
the first time. It was November 2010, and he was a
27-year-old Tufts University graduate who had held a few jobs
with community and service-minded organizations, like the
Center for HIV/AIDS Educational Studies & Training in New
York City.

But while Weissman knew he was intellectual (he graduated
magna cum laude from Tufts, a school with an 11% acceptance
rate), Jewish, spiritual, queer and
progressive, he did not feel like he had
found his place yet.

That changed when he started
looking at the art on the walls at
the RRC and meeting its faculty and
students. The art, as the Wynnewood native
recalled, was unlike any he had seen
before in a Jewish space. It was not
just a bunch of portraits of “Eastern
European Chasidic men,” he said. He
saw colorful images that “celebrated
our liturgy,” that marked each day of
creation and that celebrated Jewish
union organizers from the 1920s.

“It’s a vibrant recognition of the wide
range of tradition that our people hold
and not a very narrow view,” he said.

And the people, well, they just
welcomed him with “love and care,”
Weissman remembered. Now, the
ordained rabbi wants to do the same to
new RRC students like his younger self.

In the summer of 2022, the
Germantown Jewish Centre member
took a job as the director of RRC’s
mekhinah program for mentoring
“emerging religious leaders,” accord-
ing to the rabbi’s profile page on the
college’s website. The 39-year-old is
also serving as the school’s director
of cultural and spiritual life. He spent
six years working toward his ordina-
tion at the RRC in 2017 and now, after
almost the same amount of time away,
he is back.

“This is a position I could see myself
being in for a very long time. And that
felt very compelling to me,” he said.

“I’m almost 40. It’s good to feel more
rooted.” The RRC program is designed to
get students out into the Jewish
world and, during his time in rabbin-
ical school, Weissman learned from
rabbis who still shape his approach
to the job today. He worked at
Congregation Beit Simchat Torah
in NYC, Temple Shalom in Newton,
Massachusetts, and the Jewish
Family and Children’s Service
of Greater Philadelphia. He also
shadowed rabbis when he was not
working in a formal position.

Rabbi Adam Zeff of the Germantown
Jewish Centre showed Weissman that
he could be “serious and grounded
but also playful and funny.” Rabbi
Sharon Kleinbaum of Beit Simchat
Torah in New York gave sermons that
taught the student “how to speak
to people in ways that are deeply
rooted in Torah and also relevant to
the current moment.” And Rabbi Vivie
Mayer, Weissman’s predecessor at
the RRC as director of the mekhinah
program, showed him what it meant
“to give myself over to the tradition,”
the rabbi said.

“To not only be an active participant
in shaping it to but to be shaped by it,”
he added.

As he learned from those spiritual
leaders, Weissman grew into one himself.

And upon graduation, he became one
as the senior Jewish educator at Brown
University Hillel for three years. In 2020,
he moved on to dual roles as the spiritual
leader at Congregation Agudas Achim
in Attleboro, Massachusetts, and as the
director of organizing at the nonprofit
T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human
Rights. But when Weissman saw the opening
at the RRC, he knew he had to apply.

“It feels full circle in that way, from
first walking into the building and now
coming back and, yeah, being home
again,” he said.

The rabbi has the job he wants in the
place he wants to work; he is married to
his husband of four years, Rabbi Adam
Lavitt; he is a member of a synagogue
in his neighborhood; and he is back in
the area where he grew up.

Now he’s ready to do his job.

“In my role as instructor, my hope is
to give students access to our long,
complicated and beautiful tradition,”
Weissman said. “And my role directing
cultural and spiritual life is to foster
belonging for students in ways that
build them up, that nourish their souls,
so they can do the same for the people
they serve.” ■
jsaffren@midatlanticmedia.com JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
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