For the first time ever, Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) will present its annual General Assembly virtually. The reimagined gathering of Federation lay and professional leaders, partners and supporters, presented exclusively online this year, begins Sunday, Oct. 25, and concludes Tuesday, Oct. 27.
Another first: The event is free to all for the first time. By working with sponsors to underwrite the expense, JFNA has removed barriers to participation. As a result, registration has grown considerably, with more than 6,000 people across North America planning to take part in two plenary sessions and a variety of workshops.
“We were excited when JFNA announced last November that the General Assembly would be held in Chicago in 2020, because it’s a short flight, a train ride or even a drive from Kansas City, meaning we expected to take more Jewish communal leaders to the conference,” said Federation President & CEO Helene Lotman. “By adapting to our circumstances and going virtual this year, even more Kansas City community members can take part, learning about the important work we do together not only for our local community, but for our wider Jewish community nationally and globally.”
Beth Liss, an officer of the Jewish Federation's board of directors, said she loves attending the GA and always feels inspired when she attends.
“I’m thankful to have the opportunity to virtually attend this year,” she said. “The speakers are always amazing and moving.”
With “Coming Together” as the theme, there will be a Federation Together plenary at 6 p.m. Sunday, inspired by Federations’ work over the past seven months. It will feature remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Alternate Prime Minister Benjamin Gantz. A second Jewish Together plenary, focused on the state of the broader Jewish community, will take place at 12:30 p.m. Monday. It will showcase the depth and breadth of Jewish communal life and share stories of how communities responded to crisis, reimagined everything, and shined together. It will include performances by the Maccabeats, Idan Raichel and Neshama Carlebach. Members of the Jewish community are encouraged to attend these two sessions by registering at generalassembly.org.
Besides the two plenaries, workshops are being offered on a variety of topics, including several featuring in-depth conversations on the role of Federation impact overseas (before and during the coronavirus pandemic), the possible future of Israel travel programs, and the role global Jewry has in relation to the State of Israel (and vice versa). Senior professionals and lay leaders from Federation’s overseas partners including the Jewish Agency for Israel, JDC, World ORT, the Israel Trauma Coalition and the Ethiopian National Project, will share what Federation means to them.
A one-day, invitation only virtual FedLab will also take place on Tuesday, Oct. 27, with five different tracks that will enable a small group of participants to take a deep dive into key areas of Federations’ work. FedLab was piloted last year to enable a different kind of convening for Federation leaders and partners to work collaboratively on major issues facing Jewish communities. The goal is to enable Federations to leave with concrete ideas about steps they can take in their communities on these issues. One example of a FedLab track is “Building Community Action Plans to address Jewish Poverty.”