Celebrating Jewish Life in Collier County
Federation Star Published by the Jewish Federation of Collier County serving Naples, Marco Island and the surrounding communities www.JewishNaples.org Y info@jewishnaples.org
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
4A Community Relations Comm. 6A Women’s Cultural Alliance 7A Jewish Interest 10A Community Focus 14A Tributes 17A Focus on Youth 19A Rabbinical Reflections 20A Synagogues 21A Organizations 24A Business Directory 26A Community Calendar 27A Community Directory 1B Jewish Happenings 7B Israel & the Jewish World
4A Major Gifts and Lion of Judah event
16A Chabad Naples Grand Opening celebration
25A Newcomers Brunch photos
4B Project Tolerance exhibit
March 2012/5772 Y Vol. 21 #7
The small Federation that thinks BIG David Willens JFCC Executive Director
T
hat’s our Jewish Federation of Collier County. We are not Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Kansas City or other major cities like Boston, Baltimore, New York, MetroWest New Jersey – not to mention many small communities in the Midwest and East. We are our own unique community made up of residents from all of the above-mentioned cities, including our friends from the Canadian Provinces, the UK and other global destinations. Although we may be small, what we do, we do in a BIG way. We just completed our two main events of the year – our Community Celebration Event was simply phenomenal and our Evy Lipp People of the Book Cultural Event was SRO…how do you top that?! Well stick around this month for the March 22 event planned by our Community Relations Committee, Catholic/Jewish Dialogue, Holocaust Museum, and the Center for Judaic, Holocaust and Human Rights Studies at FGCU, when we welcome to our community Father Patrick Desbois, author of Holocaust by Bullets…this is going to be extra special. I want to focus on one thing that makes us unique and about which our donors can feel proud: How we allocate the dollars we raise. Several years ago our Allocations Committee developed a list of organizations, projects and programs that we continue to support to this day. The list is timely and follows many current global trends addressed by the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), our national body. The key principle that we follow is to support programs and projects that provide services to some of the most vulnerable Jews.
Jewish Federation of Collier County Inc. 2500 Vanderbilt Beach Rd., Ste. 2201 Naples, FL 34109
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help to fund the Preschool at the Progressive Synagogue in Kiev, Ukraine, so that the youngest Jews, in one of the oldest Jewish communities, have the opportunity to learn and embrace our precious heritage. We also send funding to the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) for the small but vital Jewish community in Cuba, just ninety miles from our shores, and still under the yoke of a totalitarian regime. This month we will be sending out our Passover Direct Mail Appeal to the community. It is an opportunity to make your pledge of support before you head back north at the end of the season. If you have already made your gift for 2012 we thank you – and if you have not yet pledged your support, please consider it when you receive our mailing. Your donation is truly a lifeline of support for so many Jews in so many places, which is why we continue to say No Gift Touches More Lives.
Your donations go for needed social services in our local community, provide scholarships for our youth and teens to go to Jewish summer camps and Israel – supporting national initiatives that protect the rights of us as Jews in this country, Birthright Israel, and Hillel on our college campuses – as well as addressing a multitude of humanitarian needs of Jews in Israel and around the globe. Not only do we allocate funds for core programs determined by the JFNA, but we also fund Neve Michael – the residential community for over 250 abused and neglected Israeli children. We support Yad LaKashish – the sheltered workshop in Jerusalem for 300 elderly and disabled. We support the enrichment programs at the Sapir Community Center for immigrant children in Kfar-Saba. We provide direct funding to World ORT so that they can offer transportation for students to attend their school in Odessa, Ukraine. We
NO GIFT TOUCHES MORE LIVES COMMUNITY RELATIONS COMMITTEE COMMUNITY RELATIONS COMMITTEE of the Jewish Federation of Collier County of the Jewish Federation of Collier County
CATHOLIC JEWISH DIALOGUE OF COLLIER COUNTY CATHOLIC JEWISH DIALOGUE OF COLLIER COUNTY CENTER FOR JUDAIC, HOLOCAUST AND HUMAN RIGHTS STUDIES CENTER FOR JUDAIC, HOLOCAUST AND HUMAN RIGHTS STUDIES at Florida Gulf Coast University at Florida Gulf Coast University
HOLOCAUST MUSEUM AND EDUCATION CENTER OF SOUTHWEST FLORIDA HOLOCAUST MUSEUM AND EDUCATION CENTER OF SOUTHWEST FLORIDA
PROUDLY PRESENT PRESENT PROUDLY A SPECIAL SPECIAL COMMUNITY-WIDE COMMUNITY-WIDE EVENT EVENT A
THIS IS IS THE THE ONLY ONLY FLORIDA FLORIDA APPEARANCE APPEARANCE THIS
FATHER PATRICK DESBOIS AUTHOR OF OF AUTHOR “HOLOCAUST BY BY BULLETS: BULLETS: “HOLOCAUST A PRIEST’S PRIEST’S JOURNEY JOURNEY to to UNCOVER UNCOVER A the TRUTH TRUTH behind behind the the MURDER MURDER the of 1.5 1.5 million million JEWS” JEWS” of Father Patrick Desbois, president of Yahad‐In Unum, Father Patrick Desbois, president of Yahad‐In Unum, has devoted his life to confronting anti‐Semitism has devoted his life to confronting anti‐Semitism and furthering Catholic‐Jewish understanding. Since 2001, he has led a truly historic undertaking and furthering Catholic‐Jewish understanding. Since 2001, he has led a truly historic undertaking of identifying and locating undiscovered mass graves of Jews killed during the Holocaust in of identifying and locating undiscovered mass graves of Jews killed during the Holocaust in Eastern Europe. Eastern Europe.
THURSDAY, MARCH 22 at 7:00PM HOSTED BY HOSTED BY ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST CATHOLIC CHURCH – PARISH LIFE CENTER ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST CATHOLIC CHURCH – PARISH LIFE CENTER TH AVENUE – NAPLES 625 111TH AVENUE – NAPLES 625 111 DESSERT RECEPTION TO FOLLOW DESSERT RECEPTION TO FOLLOW
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