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



H EADLINES
Former JCC
President Shirley
Conston Dies at 94
OB ITUARY
JARRAD SAFFREN | JE STAFF
SHIRLEY CONSTON’S
father, Alex Stanton, cared
deeply about helping the Jewish
community. Before the United States
entered World War II, the
Philadelphia businessman
traveled to Washington, D.C.,
with a prominent rabbi to try to
convince President Franklin D.

Roosevelt to fi ght the Nazis. He
also served as general chairman
of the Allied Jewish Appeal,
the “overseas complement” to
Jewish Federation of Greater
Philadelphia, according to the
Jewish Federation’s website.

Young Shirley watched her
father and absorbed the lesson.

As an adult, Conston served
as president of the Jewish
Community Centers of Greater
Philadelphia from 1980 to 1984.

In the 1970s, she chaired the host
community activities for the
Council of Jewish Federations’
General Assembly,
the Federation of Jewish Agencies’
annual banquet and the 30th
anniversary of the state of
Israel festivities in Philadelphia,
among other eff orts.

So when she died on Sept.

19 at 94, Conston left behind a
similar legacy as her father.

“She felt it was extremely
important to strengthen Jewish
bonds,” said her son, Stuart
Conston. Th e Kaiserman JCC in
Wynnewood was one of the
JCCs that Conston led as
president. On Sept. 23, the
Kaiserman board of directors
honored her with a resolution.

“Countless individuals,
families and community
members have benefi ted from
the institution she helped
shape and build,” read part of
See Conston, Page 24
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Shirley Conston
Courtesy of the Conston family
© 2021 ProMedica
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SEPTEMBER 30, 2021
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