H eadlines
Jewish Federation Honors Three Young Leaders
L OCA L
JARRAD SAFFREN | JE STAFF
THEY SAY MILLENNIALS
don’t have their lives together,
but these three young Jews are
exceptions to that stereotype.

Matt Shipon, 32, Jan
Kushner, 36, and Tamar
Silberberg Shiffman, 39, are the
Jewish Federation of Greater
Philadelphia’s young leadership
award winners for 2021. They
will be recognized at the Jewish
Federation’s board of trustees
meeting on Sept. 30.

All three area residents are
successful young professionals
who have taken the very adult
step of doing charitable work in
their community. For their efforts,
Shipon, Kushner and Silberberg
Shiffman were identified as poten-
tial leaders of the future.

Shipon won the Jack
4 SEPTEMBER 30, 2021
Matt Shipon
Courtesy of Matt Shipon
Jan Kushner
Photo by Mindy Kushner
Goldenberg Young Leadership
Award, Kushner the Myer
and Rosaline Feinstein Young
Leadership Award and Silberberg
Shiffman the Mrs. Blanche Wolfe
Kohn Young Leadership Award.

The three young Jews talked
about how they grew into leaders.

Jewish Federation at age 24.

After focusing more on Greek
life than Hillel at Penn State
University, Shipon graduated
and went to Israel via Birthright.

The trip was the first time
since summer camp as a kid that
Shipon was surrounded by Jews.

He also said he was inspired after
Matt Shipon
meeting with Israeli soldiers.

Shipon, a real estate devel-
“I felt like I lost that connec-
oper, got involved with the tion when I went to college,”
JEWISH EXPONENT
Tamar Silberberg Shiffman
Courtesy of Shani Albo Photography
Shipon added. “I felt a need to
reconnect.” Shipon came home and
started volunteering with the
Jewish Federation.

For a couple of years, he
helped run the leadership
development program, a sever-
al-month class that taught
students “everything about the
[Jewish] Federation,” including
how to raise money and how to
allocate it, according to Shipon.

After that, Shipon joined
NextGen, the branch of the
Jewish Federation for Jews in
their 20s and 30s. As chair, he
helped build an at-large board
that created 40 new leadership
positions. Essentially, Shipon was
creating space for his leader-
ship students to become actual
leaders. “It’s going to be our genera-
tion that needs to make changes
for the future,” Shipon said.

According to the 32-year-
old, though, millennial Jews
aren’t yet falling into the typical
synagogue models. So, he thinks
that the Jewish Federation needs
to lean into nontraditional
methods. “Our generation is interested
in volunteering. Our generation
See Honors, Page 9
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM