Chairman of the Boards Annual Meeting Speech
Elise Feldman

Hello Everyone, thank you for joining us for our 2010 Annual Meeting. This is my last speech as the President of Jewish Federation of Greater Monmouth County. It has been a pleasure to have this position at the forefront of my life.

I would like to pay tribute to Rabbi Yaffee and Rabbi Goldstein, spiritual leaders who have been so supportive of Federation.

My profuse thank you’s to my Board of Directors, to our professional staff, and to my staff. Members of our board took on responsibilities these past two years building their influence and leadership skills. Our staff, Howard, Linda, Evan, Symcha, Jill, Miriam, Sharon, and Mary Jo have done double time/double duty to have all our bases covered. My staff, represented tonight by my Vice President, Sharon Birnbaum, who many of you have met, know that Jewish Federation is part of their job as well, and they have always given their support to our organization. Finally, to my husband, Allen, who has always felt the Jewish Federation, was my full time job. Now he will expect me to go back to cooking!

Being President is a very different role then the lay leader I was “BP” (“Before President”). In the past, I was an innovator of programs and events. One example is our annual “Main Event”, another the annual campaign leadership programs we did for several years (The Campaign Fair, and the Monmouth Derby), and now our reactivated Business Network.

My active responsibilities as president, however, included: Being the:
The “Emissary” for our Federation Liaison to our agencies & affiliated organizations Arbitrator
Mediator
Mentor
Coordinator
Overseer of our mission to help those in needs for our J brethren in the US and overseas
Facilitator
Encourager
Followupper

Perhaps the most challenging task was our work to meet our allocation promises in difficult economic times. We kept those promises by reducing our overhead, which reduced staff, cut certain comp and benefits to staff, and reduced our office space.

We have a special program to look forward to, however. I am very excited about the Birthright Israel bus we will sponsor for an October trip for students ages 22 to 26. I am pleased to present my contribution of $1,000.

In my opportunity to share more opinions and recommendations, I believe these cuts cannot continue indefinitely. We cannot build our community, reach out to the 4 corners of our county, offer support, do the new projects, and properly reward staff unless we increase our operational expenses. This means, of course, increasing our campaign. Our upcoming leadership will begin to do just that.

I support the new strategic plan to increase our leadership, to involve more leaders in the decision-making process. Thank you Stu and Joe. It will take all of us to support the initiatives.

We have been fortunate to not have had to meet a major crisis during my term, and I have no intention of giving us a "conunahara.” We must build our campaign, however, to build the Jewish community.

A few final thoughts; Part of what we, as Jewish Federation must address, is the advent of “anti-Semitism,” by a different name. It doesn’t look like the anti-Semitism of my youth. No one is asking me if “Jews die in trees,” or if I have horns. It is more insidious, and just as dangerous. The misinformation of the recent flotilla incident is an example of the danger of the media. We, individually, and collectively, are responsible for positive “PR” - sharing appropriate and correct information, even within our Jewish community.

As Chairman of the Board, I will continue to work to be a positive influence in Monmouth County, Let’s together harness our assertive energy to keep the US favorably inclined to Israel. Our futures depend on it, and I depend on you!