My name is Jeff, and though I'm the co-chair designate of Federations' National Young Leadership, I didn’t grow up in a Federation family. I didn’t go to synagogue much or attend Jewish summer camp, and I never joined a Jewish youth group. However, as the grandchild of Holocaust survivor…
Rebekah’s earliest Jewish memories aren’t the most positive. Her mother converted to marry her father, but was never accepted by his family or their community. After years of being excluded from Passover seders, Rebekah wanted to distance herself from Jewish identity entirely. When she a…
Oszkár, 94, vividly remembers his Budapest childhood. Passover seders with family, singing in the synagogue choir, studying at vocational school--and the Nazis storming in and destroying all of it. Though he had dreamed of one day becoming a bank officer, the new anti-Jewish legislation tur…
Yechiya Ya’akov Dahari’s whole family diligently kept the Torah in Yemen even under the most trying of circumstances. As a metal worker who raised nine children through poverty and prejudice, he felt he was tough enough to handle life in Yemen. But as time went on, the situation became…
Livnat Kutz loves to make things grow, and living just five kilometers from Gaza in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, she’s seen enough destruction. So a few years ago, she helped a group of high school students suffering from post-conflict trauma plant a community garden. But rocket barrages destroyed ev…
