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JEWISH NEWS JEWISHJACKSONVILLE.ORG | VOL. 31 NO. 11 | AUGUST 2018
New faces of Federation
Lauren Rickoff
Kellie Kelleher-Smith
Faye Hedrick
By Jewish Federation of Jacksonville
30 years of the JCA By Jewish Community Alliance
August 28, 2018 marks thirty years since the JCA opened its doors to the Jacksonville community and became the cornerstone of Jewish Life in Jacksonville. The JCA serves as the common meeting ground for the entire Jewish community to experience exceptional programming that changes lives and truly makes a difference in Jacksonville. Each day, hundreds of people from diverse backgrounds walk through the doors of the JCA to enhance mind, body and spirit in the tradition of our heritage while they improve the quality of their lives. For many people, the support and connections to the JCA are lifelines. When you donate to the JCA, you make all of this possible. The JCA relies on your support and generosity to ensure that its important work continues. What do you do at the JCA that is meaningful? Is there a program, project or event at the JCA that has captured your heart and imagination? Make a difference and preserve the Jewish community for the future; secure the JCA for the next 30 years and beyond.
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Jewish Federation of Jacksonville
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See JCA, p. 22
As most of you know, the past few months have been a season of change here at the Federation. One of our biggest changes is the addition of four staff members. Fourteen months ago, we began working on the merger with the Jewish Community Foundation. We knew we would need to hire a Director of Planned Giving to run the department and direct our planned giving, estate planning and endowment work. As the merger process came to a close, we began our search for the best fit for the job. The search was quite the undertaking, and, after an extensive process, we found the perfect fit with Kellie Kelleher. Kellie started mid-May and brings with her 15 years of solid fundraising and development experience most recently serving as a National Campaign Director developing a major and planned giving program in the southeast United States with the American Cancer Society. During her time there, she launched and managed a two-year $20 million campaign to build and operate a no-cost lodging facility for cancer patients on the Mayo Clinic Jacksonville campus. From 2016-18, she was honored with the Nationwide Highest Achiever Award. Since she walked into our office, we have seen amazing things. Kellie brings invaluable knowledge and charisma to our staff and the community, and we can’t wait to see all she does for our Jewish community. Two weeks after we started the process of searching for a Director of Planned Giving, we found out that our beloved Women’s Division Director, Erin Cohen, would be leaving us to relocate for her husband’s job. Amid much change, we began the quest of finding
Rotem Gabay
someone who could not only continue what Erin had built but also grow our Annual Campaign, Women’s Division, and Society of Healers Division. After interviewing several qualified candidates, we hired Lauren Rickoff as our Director of Campaign and Women’s Division. With her, she brings 14 years of experience working at the Jewish Federation of Broward County. From 2004-14, she served as Vice President, Women’s Philanthropy Director. During her tenure, she managed a $1.7 million women’s campaign. She also co-managed the annual campaign, served as Young Leadership Director and staffed missions to Israel. Since her move to Jacksonville, she has sat on the Girlfriend Connection Committee, co-chaired our most recent Cham-
See FEDERATION, p. 22
Temple welcomes new senior rabbi By The Temple
On July 1, 2018, Rabbi Elizabeth Bahar officially took the spiritual reins of Congregation Ahavath Chesed. She comes to Jacksonville after serving as rabbi of Temple B’nai Sholom in Huntsville, Alabama for nine years. During her tenure there, she won wide recognition for promoting the congregation’s inclusiveness, innovative programming and welcoming all who entered its doors. Rabbi Bahar was ordained in 2009 by Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion, where she also earned her Master of Arts in Hebrew Letters. Before that, she was a rabbinic intern at Adath Is-
rael Congregation in Cincinnati, a student rabbi at Anshe Emeth in Pine Bluff, Arkansas and Temple Shalom in Winnipeg, Canada. She earned a BA in philosophy at Brandeis University. Rabbi Bahar is president of the South East Central Conference of American Rabbis. She was listed by The Forward as one of “America’s 33 Most Inspirational Rabbis” in 2015. Introducing herself to her new congregants, Rabbi Bahar said central to her new role at Congregation Ahavath Chesed are the values and traditions she cherishes and her commitment to fostering the closest relationship possible between congrega-
See RABBI, p. 28
Rabbi Bahar
Inside: Read about the merger of the Federation and Foundation LIFE and on our new Federation Planned Giving page. LEGACY Page 5 Planting the Seeds for Jewish Tomorrows A division of the Jewish Federation of Jacksonville