Out & About
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director when she met Zuritsky for
the first time. Working in develop-
ment and engagement, her first contact
with Zuritsky was on a cold call; she
“wanted to tell him a little bit about
who we are and what we do, because
he didn’t know.” Zuritsky agreed to a
meeting, and it was a fruitful one.

Bronstein was not yet AJC’s regional
director when she met Zuritsky for
the first time. Working in develop-
ment and engagement, her first contact
with Zuritsky was on a cold call; she
“wanted to tell him a little bit about
who we are and what we do, because
he didn’t know.” Zuritsky agreed to a
meeting, and it was a fruitful one.

The AJC “captured his imagination,”
Bronstein said, by dint of its impact on
local and national politics. Zuritsky,
with his interest in intergroup relat
“He’s a role model, a mentor and
innovator, someone not afraid to tackle
issues,” Bronstein said. “And Joe embod-
ies what AJC stands for. He is a centrist.

Zuritsky, for his part, sees the AJC
as a bastion of well-trained, intelligent
representatives of the Jewish people,
bringing a “diplomatic approach” to
sensitive, important issues for Jews
around the world.

“That’s something that the Jewish
1 University of Pennsylvania
celebrated people students
really need:
really highly qual-
Sukkot with Chabad in the ified Sukkah
on Locust
Walk. around the
spokesmen to speak
2 Abrams Hebrew Academy
world students
on Jewish had
and fun
Israeli learning
issues. And
that’s part what
AJC does,”
Zuritsky of the the Parkway
Council about Simchat Torah. 3 As
said. JE series, the Ken
Foundation’s “Parkway Presents”
ment and engagement, her first contact
Ulansey Ensemble performed at the Horwitz-Wasserman
with Zuritsky was on a cold call; she
Holocaust Memorial Plaza on the Benjamin Franklin
“wanted to tell him a little bit about
Parkway City. 4 Beth Sholom Congregation
who we are and
what we in Center
do, because
member Ivonne
Mosquera and her family
he didn’t know.”
Zuritsky agreed Rodriguez
to a
visited the
Beth Sholom
Auto Invitational featuring cars
meeting, and it was a fruitful one.

Bronstein was from not the
yet ’50s
AJC’s on regional
Oct. 23. 5 Jewish Family Service of
director when Atlantic
she met & Cape
Zuritsky May for Counties volunteers Bernice Matz
the first time. Working in develop-
and Rae Fierro, a mother-daughter combo, assisted
ment and engagement, her first contact
with a mailing for an agency fundraiser. 6 Holocaust
with Zuritsky was on a cold call; she
“wanted to tell survivor
him a Ruth
little Kessler’s
bit about daughter Michele Taroff and her
husband Scott
up the Ruth Fisch Kessler Memorial
who we are and what we do, set
because Endowed
Scholarship he didn’t know.” Zuritsky agreed to a to Stockton University in Galloway,
meeting, and it New
was Jersey,
a fruitful which
one. will go to an undergraduate student
Bronstein was interested
not yet AJC’s
regional and genocide studies.

in Holocaust
2 1
3 “wanted to tell him a little bit about
who we are and what we do, because
he didn’t know.” Zuritsky agreed to a
meeting, and it was a fruitful one.

Bronstein was not yet AJC’s regional
director when she met Zuritsky for
the first time. Working in develop-
ment and engagement, her first contact
with Zuritsky was on a cold call; she
“wanted to tell him a little bit about
who we are and what we do, because
he didn’t know.” Zuritsky agreed to a
meeting, and it was a fruitful one.

Bronstein was not yet AJC’s regional
director when she met Zuritsky for
the first time. Working in develop-
5 NOVEMBER 3, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
4 6
Courtesy of Beth Sholom Congregation
oe Zuritsky, chairman and CEO
of Parkway Corp., will be hon-
ored with the American Jewish
Committee Philadelphia/Southern
New Jersey’s Human Relations Award
at the organization’s annual meeting
on JULY 73.

Zuritsky, a longtime AJC board
member and a key supporter, was an
obvious candidate to be this year’s
recipient, according to Marcia
Bronstein, regional director of AJC
Philadelphia/Southern New Jersey.

The Human Relations Award “is for
a person who’s near and dear to AJC,
like a family member,” Bronstein said.

“That really does mean Joe, to a T.”
“I am honored, very much honored,”
Zuritsky said. “It’s part of supporting an
organization that I hold in high value.”
Zuritsky, a patron of many local,
national and Israeli organizations, said
he is flattered he was selected for the
award, though he admits that, having
been honored in a similar fashion so
many times over the years, he looks
forward to when he won’t impose on
friends for their support.

“Hopefully, this is the last honor I’ll
get,” he laughed.

Per the AJC, Zuritsky “has been a
stalwart member of AJC’s Board and
Executive Committee for many years. He
is a passionate advocate for AJC’s mission
of protecting Jewish lives and commu-
nities, ensuring a safe and secure Israel,
and advocating for democratic values and
human rights for all. Joe has long been
a supporter of interfaith and intergroup
dialogue, and a lifelong learner.”
The 2021 annual meeting, AJC’s
77th, will feature a keynote address
from Drexel University President John
A. Fry in the virtual ceremony where
Zuritsky will receive his award.

Bronstein was not yet AJC’s regional
director when she met Zuritsky for
the first time. Working in develop-
ment and engagement, her first contact
with Zuritsky was on a cold call; she
Courtesy of Stockton University
Courtesy of the Jewish Family Service of Atlantic & Cape May Counties
Photo by Sophie Don
Photo by Rabbi Levi Haskelevich
JESSE BERNSTEIN | JE STAFF
Courtesy of the Abrams Hebrew Academy
around town



last word
Jack Belitsky
ADVOCATES FOR NORTHEAST PHILADELPHIA
AT THE JEWISH FEDERATION
JARRAD SAFFREN | STAFF WRITER
I n 2010, leaders at the Jewish
Federation of Greater Philadelphia
asked Jack Belitsky to submit
some names of people from Northeast
Philadelphia who could fill a spot on
its board of trustees. The organization
that tries to help Jews throughout the
region thought it had a blind spot in an
area that was often forgotten.

Belitsky, a resident of the Northeast, was
president of the advisory committee at the
KleinLife community center and chair of
the Northeast Synagogue Council. He was
the right man for the task.

But when he submitted his names,
Jewish Federation leaders said no to
all of them. Instead, they came back
to him with a different one entirely:
his own.

“I was honored,” Belitsky said.

The man who was perhaps the most
active member of the Jewish commu-
nity in the area also became its repre-
sentative in the regional body. It’s a role
that Belitsky has played for 12 years
now, helping to increase funding for
programs in his neighborhood.

Jewish Federation money now helps
provide Belitsky’s neighbors with basic
needs like food, shelter and socializa-
tion, particularly through programs
at KleinLife. It also goes toward fun
activities like a soup and story hour, a
book discussion group and an art ther-
apy program.

Belitsky, 82, participates in many of
the activities with fellow seniors.

“I have been speaking for many years
to the people at (Jewish) Federation
about the needs of the Jewish popula-
tion in the Northeast, and the leader-
ship has agreed that we need to provide
these activities for people,” he said.

“This is where I live. This is where I
attend synagogue. This is where I have
grown old,” he added. “And I think I
have an obligation to give back to the
community.” Belitsky moved to the Northeast 57
years ago because it offered walkability
to his synagogue at the time, Ner Zedek,
but also to banks, supermarkets and
anything else he needed. He remained
at Ner Zedek for 50 years and walked
there on Shabbat and other holidays.

Today Belitsky is a member — and
a member of the executive board — at
Congregations of Shaare Shamayim,
which welcomed Ner Zedek into its
community in 2017. He’s also a congre-
gant at the Beth Sholom Congregation
in Elkins Park. And he says it’s his deep
faith in Judaism and the value of tik-
kun olam, or repairing the world, that
motivates him to help his community.

Belitsky first developed this faith
from spending time with his grand-
parents, Morris and Bessie Kaytes, who
were shomer Shabbos and who empha-
sized the importance of tzedakah. The
city resident even built his career as
an elementary school teacher in the
Neshaminy School District around
serving others.

“It has always been an integral part
of my life,” he said.

Belitsky never married and does not
have kids. But he still wants to help
future generations.

Belitsky likes to tell the allegory of
the old man who is planting trees when
some people walk by. They say, “You’ll
never see the fruits of these trees,”
according to Belitsky. And the old man
responds, “I plant these for future gen-
erations.” “Not only am I doing this for myself
but for others who will come along in
years to come,” he said.

Andre Krug, the president and
CEO of KleinLife, and Inna Gulko,
KleinLife’s director of support services,
described Belitsky as “a total pleasure,”
“a very low-key kind of guy,” “a mensch”
and “very personable, too.” Gulko men-
tioned that every time he meets with
someone, he asks about their kids.

“He cares,” she said.

But the KleinLife leaders also
explained that they rely on Belitsky
to help them raise money and get the
attention of the Jewish Federation, and
that he’s quite good at it, even though it
often brings out a different side of his
personality. “He could be tough when he needs to
be in terms of advocating his position,”
Krug said.

Jacques Lurie, the executive director
of Shaare Shamayim, has worked with
Belitsky for years and called him “an
institution in Northeast Philadelphia.”
The duo was able to get funding
from the Jewish Federation to start
the Northeast Philadelphia Kehillah,
which brings together the Orthodox,
Conservative and Reform communi-
ties in the area.

“We’re talking about ways to do
things and Jack will cut through it and
say, ‘Here’s the best way to do it,’” Lurie
said. “And you take a step back and say,
‘That was spot on.’” JE
jsaffren@midatlanticmedia.com JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
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