The Researchers Collaborative brings together researchers, evaluators, and impact and data professionals from Jewish Federations, communal organizations, and foundations across our sector to compare notes, share findings, build relationships and shape future research together. Over lunch, we’ll hear short spotlights on major studies that were recently completed or are underway, then talk at our tables about how the findings apply to our own work. After that, we’ll split into small breakout groups on shared challenges, such as measuring belonging and connection, increasing our understanding of smaller segments of our community, and measuring and learning from antisemitism messaging and other efforts to combat antisemitism.
This convening is by invitation only. If you’d like to be invited, please contact researchers@jewishfederations.org.
What does it take to turn the scope and diversity of how communities are investing in Rebuild Israel into a powerful Federation story? Explore how different Federations are creating pathways to help power Israel’s recovery through real-world examples and an interactive Idea Lab. Discover where your community fits in the story, what’s possible when we work across the Federation system, and how to bring that story home.
A meet and greet opportunity for leaders from our Network Communities including a General Assembly orientation
This is a gathering for professional and lay leaders from Small Federations
Members of the Women’s Philanthropy Cohort (WPCC) are invited to join this pre-GA convening. This cohort is designed to create a meaningful space for connection, peer learning, and shared leadership development among Women’s Philanthropy Chairs throughout the Jewish Federation system. Pre-registration required. By invitation only.
Post-GA Leadership Advocacy Day Program and Training (by invitation only)
COOs and Chiefs of Staff from Federations, join your peers for a quick in-person hello before the GA kicks off. We’ll use this opportunity to connect, compare notes on making the most of the GA, discuss where everyone is heading, and then walk over to the Opening Plenary together.
We are navigating a defining moment for the Jewish people, shaped by rising antisemitism, a changing political landscape, and the ongoing challenges facing Israel. Yet we also have tremendous opportunities to strengthen Jewish life, deepen our connections to one another and to Israel, and build a stronger, more resilient future for the next generation. As we gather for this year’s General Assembly, leading voices from across public life will help us take stock of where we are, confront the most consequential issues facing our communities, and explore the possibilities before us. The opening plenary will set the stage for the conversations, challenges, and opportunities that lie ahead, and help frame the work we must do together to meet this moment and shape the future of Jewish life in North America and Israel.
Speakers
Join us for a special reception celebrating the launch of Frontline, a bold, system-wide initiative strengthening the capacity of Jewish communities to confront antisemitism, deepen civic engagement, and build the relationships and partnerships essential to the safety and security of Jewish life in North America. This reception will bring together Frontline professionals, community relations professionals, CEOs of participating communities, and the investors who have made this initiative possible, to recognize the collective commitment behind this effort.
Join Hillel leadership, student leaders, and key partners for an informal dessert reception. Connect, network, and celebrate Hillel’s Leadership Passport program, which elevates and expands Jewish student experiences by bringing outstanding college leaders directly to meaningful national gatherings like the General Assembly.
Join us for an inspiring evening celebrating the field of Jewish communal belonging and recognizing the outstanding leadership shaping our shared future. This special reception will feature the National Jewish Belonging Awards, honoring the exceptional contributions of two belonging champions. Open to all GA participants.
This reception will bring together Jewish Federations’ lay leadership affinity groups, including Changemakers, Cabinet, Cabinet Alumni, and National Women's Philanthropy for an evening of connection across generations of leaders. This reception is intended for current participants and alumni of these programs, along with invited guests.
Get ready for an evening with internationally acclaimed comedian Modi, whose sharp wit, hilarious observations, and irreverent take on Jewish life have made him one of the most sought-after voices in comedy. The evening will feature a live comedy performance, followed by an engaging conversation with Modi, offering a closer look at the stories, experiences, and perspectives behind the laughter. Join us for a night of humor, insight, and shared Jewish joy.
Featuring
Remarks
Artificial intelligence is already transforming how we work, learn, communicate, and relate to one another. Over the next decade, it will reshape Jewish education, philanthropy, leadership, and community life in ways we are only beginning to imagine, opening possibilities that were out of reach just a few years ago.
Jewish tradition charges us le’ovdah ul’shomrah: to cultivate the world and protect it. As we step into the AI era, what should Jewish leaders boldly embrace, what must we protect, and how do we chart a future that is arriving faster than most of us expect?
Featuring brief provocations, expert conversation, and table discussion, this interactive session will explore AI’s implications for the future of Jewish life. Participants will leave with new perspectives, practical questions, and a sharper sense of what’s possible to bring back to their organizations.
Speakers
Planning, campaign, and marketing are three of the most interconnected functions in any Federation, yet they don't always work in sync. Different priorities, competing pressures, unclear expectations, and competing definitions of success can create friction, even when everyone is working toward the same mission.
What would be possible if we got this right?
This candid, interactive session brings Federation professionals across planning, campaign, and marketing together to tackle one of our system's most persistent organizational challenges: how to turn three interconnected functions into one coordinated force for community impact.
Through real Federation case studies, honest discussion, and practical examples, we'll unpack where collaboration breaks down, what successful alignment actually looks like, and how teams can navigate the tensions between community needs, donor priorities, and compelling storytelling.
Participants will gain fresh perspectives on the pressures their colleagues face, learn from Federations that are finding new ways to work together, and leave with practical ideas for breaking down silos, building trust, and strengthening results across their organizations.
Because our success relies on planning, campaign, and marketing working better together.
A note: the program will begin promptly at 7:30. Please grab breakfast in the hallways and bring it to the room.
Calling everyone who works in Israel educational travel: Federation professionals, program providers, tour educators, and partners. Join the Israel Educational Travel Alliance for breakfast and connect with colleagues from across the field (look for our signs in the main breakfast hall)!
Come together with your Jewish Belonging Coalition peers to discuss the important work happening in the field of Jewish communal belonging. Over breakfast, you will have the opportunity to share ideas and resources while getting to know fellow belonging champions. Open to all GA participants.
The Iran war may have entered a new phase, but the strategic questions it created are far from settled. What has the war changed about Israel's security environment? What happens next inside Iran and across the region? And how will the United States define its role in the Middle East now
This conversation will look beyond the immediate headlines to examine the emerging post-war landscape—from Iran's military and nuclear capabilities to Israel's regional position and America's evolving role in the Middle East. The discussion will also consider what these shifts mean for the U.S.-Israel relationship and for Jewish communities in North America.
Speakers
Civic participation — voting, advocacy, grassroots organizing — is one of the most direct ways Jewish communities can counter marginalization and ensure their voices shape public life. Robust engagement in civic life strengthens both Jewish communities and the larger communities in which we live. This session highlights several Federation-driven programs that train members of the Jewish community to step up and become active voices in their cities and states. In a post-October 7th world, where many Jews feel pressured to retreat from public spaces, this work is more important than ever.
Speakers
People’s lives don’t always follow a predictable path anymore. Marriage, parenthood, careers, caregiving, geography and financial circumstances can change—sometimes many times over the course of a lifetime. Yet many of our pathways into Jewish community are still organized around traditional life stages.
This conversation will explore what happens when Jewish organizations start with the lives people are actually living. Where are the gaps in our current pathways? What are communities doing to create new ways for people to connect, participate and find belonging? And how the North American Jewish community can make those opportunities part of the fabric of community—not simply another program?
Speakers
What does federal and state law say about antisemitism, and how can we use it to protect and bolster our communities? This featured session will go beyond the IHRA definition to include Title VI protections, discrimination law, hate crimes, and the ramifications of how the law understands antisemitism when it comes to protecting Jewish communities from the university quad to the town square, and everywhere in between.
Speakers
Antisemitism has become increasingly visible in political life on both the left and the right. It can take different forms—from conspiracy theories and accusations of Jewish or Israeli control, to attacks on Jewish candidates, hostility toward Zionism that crosses into anti-Jewish animus, and the normalization of extremist rhetoric. Recent elections and political debates in both the United States and Canada have brought these challenges into sharper focus. But what happens when antisemitism becomes embedded in political movements, campaigns, or public discourse? How do we distinguish legitimate political disagreement from antisemitism? When should Jewish organizations speak out—and what should we ask of political leaders, parties, and our allies when antisemitism appears within their own ranks? This session will examine how antisemitism is showing up across the political spectrum, the different forms it can take, and the political environments that allow it to gain traction. It will also explore how the Jewish community can navigate an increasingly polarized political landscape while remaining consistent in confronting antisemitism wherever it comes from.
Speakers
Everyone wants to build Jewish communities where people feel they belong. Over the past several years, we have invested in new ways of creating connection, welcoming people with different identities and experiences, and designing Jewish life around the needs of a changing community. But what have we learned—and are we seeing the results we hoped for?
This conversation will take an honest look at where we are today in fostering belonging. What is working, what is not, and what the next chapter of belonging in Jewish life should look like.
Speakers
Israel’s North faces a complex set of realities where security challenges, displacement, economic vulnerability, and the need for long-term regional resilience intersect. As Israel moves past the immediate crisis, the challenge is to go beyond restoring what was lost, and build a strong, vibrant and sustainable region where residents imagine a thriving future. This session will explore what that will take and how local communities, government, and philanthropy are working together to meet needs at scale and turn investment into lasting impact.
Speakers
Jewish communities around the world are facing a sharp escalation in antisemitism on campuses, and in the streets, institutions, workplaces and digital spaces – outpacing communal preparedness, sometimes with tragic consequences. Hear from global Jewish leaders about their rapid learning curve and how this is playing out in different parts of the world. As our global Jewish family is under attack in ways not seen since before the Holocaust, this session moves beyond the abstract to examine how Jewish communities are sustaining Jewish life under pressure.
Speakers
This featured session will explore how local and state-level advocacy can deliver tangible, lifesaving outcomes for the Jewish community. Participants will engage with concrete policy ideas to enhance Jewish safety, ranging from buffer zones outside of houses of worship, state and local security grant programs and direct engagement with law enforcement to address emerging threats. In addition, the session will examine effective advocacy strategies, such as coalition-building, legislative engagement, and grassroots mobilization, that can turn these ideas into actionable policy objectives. Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of how to navigate local and state systems to drive meaningful, protective change and save Jewish lives.
Speakers
Caring for our community's most vulnerable, particularly seniors and people with disabilities, has always been central to Jewish communal life. But the systems meant to support them are under strain: the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) is reshaping Medicaid and SNAP financing and rules, waitlists for home and community-based services keep growing, low wages are driving a direct care workforce shortage, and programs like SSI remain trapped with outdated rules. Philanthropy alone cannot fill these gaps; the scale of federal programs dwarfs what any charitable network can replace. This session unpacks what's changing, why it matters to the Jewish community specifically, and which policies, from Medicaid and SNAP to SSI and workforce investment, will matter most as we look toward a new Congress. Major changes made August 2025. Changes begin to take effect next year. Learn more about it, what it means for communities, advocacy strategy.
Speakers
Less than a week after the US midterm elections, this featured session will examine the election results and what they mean for the future of American politics and policymaking. We will begin by assessing the outcome of the elections, including key races, voter turnout and demographics, regional and political trends, and the factors that shaped the results. The discussion will explore what the election tells us about the current political landscape and the priorities of the American electorate. We will then turn to Capitol Hill, examining how the election results are likely to shape the composition, priorities, and dynamics of Congress. Speakers will discuss the implications for congressional leadership, legislative agendas, bipartisan cooperation, and the prospects for major policy initiatives in the months ahead.
Speakers
What does it mean to be Jewish today, and what will it take to ensure Jewish life remains vibrant, connected and confident in the years ahead? At a moment of rising antisemitism, shifting attitudes toward Israel, and growing questions about Jewish identity and belonging, this plenary will explore the challenges and opportunities shaping Jewish life today. Selma Blair will join a conversation about Jewish identity, education and connection in a changing world, followed by a candid discussion with Douglas Murray and Melissa Lantsman on a defining question of our time: Can Jews survive and thrive in the West after October 7? Together, these conversations will challenge us to confront the realities of this moment while considering what it will take to strengthen Jewish identity, deepen connection and build a flourishing Jewish future.
Speakers
By Invitation Only. This is a rare opportunity for the Jewish Agency CEO to share the organization's direction and strategy for 2027 and engage in an open conversation with our key partners.
The Jewish community has changed over the last three years, and leaders are weighing how best to meet the needs of the people they serve. Research can help with these decisions, but how do you learn the right things to help you act?
Join us to discuss how to research in a way that gets you the information you need. That means building on what is already known, choosing the right research approach, and conducting research well so it yields the answers you need. It also means analyzing, studying, and activating the findings so that they lead to action that makes a positive difference.
Speakers
What does it mean to have a great Jewish experience in college today? Across campuses, Jewish students are finding new ways to build community, deepen their identities, form friendships, celebrate Jewish life, and connect to Israel and one another.
This conversation will put college students at the center, inviting them to share what makes Jewish life meaningful to them and what they want from their Jewish community during these formative years. Together with experts and communal leaders, they will explore the opportunities to create vibrant, welcoming Jewish experiences on campus and beyond, and how Federations, Hillels, families, and other partners can help more students discover connection, purpose, friendship, and joy in Jewish life.
Speakers
At a moment when Israel is being debated, challenged and condemned in courtrooms, classrooms, legislatures and communities around the world, how do we separate fact from fiction—and how do we make the case for Israel with confidence, credibility and intellectual rigor? In his new bestselling book, Israel on Trial: Examining the History, the Evidence, and the Law, U.S. District Judge Roy K. Altman brings the methodology of the courtroom to the most contentious questions surrounding Israel. Drawing on history, international law, archaeological and genetic evidence, and the principles of burden of proof and corroboration, Judge Altman examines the claims most frequently leveled against Israel and asks a fundamental question: What does the evidence actually show? The conversation will explore not only how we defend the facts about Israel, but how we build the confidence, relationships and moral clarity necessary to stand up for Israel in an increasingly complicated public discourse.
Speakers
Antisemitism no longer spreads only through people and institutions—it spreads through technology and systems. Algorithms can amplify hateful content, AI can make it easier to create and distribute convincing manipulated content, and social media platforms make consequential decisions about what users see, what gets removed, and what remains online. As antisemitism, extremism, and foreign influence operations increasingly exploit these systems, policymakers and advocates are pressing technology companies for greater transparency and accountability. But where should the lines be drawn—between platform responsibility and free expression, between effective regulation and government overreach, and between what technology companies should do and what the Jewish community can do itself?
Speakers
In a moment when Jewish communities face growing challenges, strong relationships with trusted interfaith partners can be a powerful source of strength and protection. This featured session will explore how Jewish communities can build meaningful, sustained partnerships with Latino, Catholic, and Evangelical communities—and turn those relationships into a network of allies who will stand with us when it matters most. What does it take to build relationships that lead to real partnership and action? And how do we measure whether these relationships are actually strengthening the safety, security, and resilience of Jewish communities?
Speakers
As antisemitism continues to spread in K-12 schools, Jewish students and families face fear and uncertainty – and Jewish community engagement and advocacy is an imperative. This session is designed to clearly portray the current state of K-12 education for Jewish students, innovative ways that Jewish communities are stepping up and engaging, and what the future looks like for Jewish students in public and independent schools. What does it look like to ensure Jewish student safety, wellbeing and thriving, what does success look like in the best scenarios, and what happens when schools do not respond. Topics will range from combating K-12 antisemitism, student safety and implementing Jewish inclusive materials into K-12 schools to conversations around the potential movement of Jewish students into Jewish schools – and implications of such moves for our communities. Overall, this session will underscore the big picture around ensuring Jewish safety, pride and family engagement across a range of K-12 scenarios, and the key roles Jewish communities play.
Speakers
Here in North America, Israel is already all around us — through news, social media, politics, culture, relationships, and the conversations unfolding in our communities. American Jews increasingly encounter Israel early and often in their lives, though often in settings not shaped by Jewish community.
What would it take for Israel to be just as deeply woven into Jewish communal life? How do we create experiences that begin early, repeat, deepen, and evolve over time? This session explores how we move beyond standalone programs and one-time interventions toward an approach in which education, relationships, travel, and community reinforce one another across a lifetime.
Speakers
At a moment of profound challenge and change, what does it mean to be Jewish in Hollywood and the Entertainment industries? This session will bring together Jewish leaders, creators, producers, and other professionals working across the creative landscape to explore the challenges and opportunities facing Jews in the entertainment and other arts industries. The session will also highlight how Federations and the organized Jewish community can address this growing challenge.
Speakers
Jewish day schools and camps have long been among the most powerful environments for building Jewish identity, belonging, relationships, and lifelong engagement. Today, there is a remarkable opportunity to bring those experiences to many more children and families. But doing so will require more than growing existing programs. It will require new ways of thinking about access, affordability, and what Jewish educational experiences can look like.
Speakers
Jewish life is changing. People are moving, communities are emerging in new places, and more Jews are living beyond the traditional centers of Jewish population. At the same time, the resources and infrastructure available to reach them are not evenly distributed. How do we maximize our collective impact across geographies, build meaningful Jewish life where populations are dispersed, and make sure geography doesn’t determine access to community?
This session will explore innovative approaches to reaching more people across the geographic periphery. Smaller and emerging communities are often laboratories for doing more with less, but the lessons are relevant across the Federation system. The question is not simply how to strengthen small communities, it is how we build a more connected, accessible and effective Jewish life for everyone, wherever they live.
Speakers
Rebuilding Israel takes more than reconstruction. It takes new thinking. From revolutionary AI models built into Israel’s digital social service systems, to community-driven planning at scale, to a first-ever national approach to emergency preparedness in Arab Israeli towns, discover the bold ideas your communities are supporting that will shape Israel’s future.
Speakers
How is the Jewish community being portrayed in today’s media and what happens when our stories are misunderstood, oversimplified or left out? This session will explore how mainstream media covers Jewish life, Israel, and antisemitism. What do journalists get right, where do blind spots persist, and what can the Jewish community do to improve the quality and depth of coverage? From there, we’ll turn to the other side of the equation: How we tell our own story. What messaging strategies can break through? How do we communicate with greater clarity and credibility in an increasingly fragmented media environment? And how can we move from reacting to narratives about the Jewish community to shaping the conversation ourselves?
Speakers
The threat landscape facing Jewish communities has evolved dramatically, with domestic extremism, lone actor violence, organized hate networks, and foreign terrorist inspiration creating a more complex and unpredictable environment. Antisemitic incidents and targeted threats have increased in both frequency and intensity, forcing communities to confront risks that are no longer isolated, but persistent and rapidly changing.
Synagogues, schools, JCCs, camps, and public Jewish events remain recurring targets, requiring constant vigilance, enhanced preparedness, and stronger coordination with law enforcement and government partners. Community leaders are now tasked not only with responding to threats, but with sustaining open and vibrant Jewish life in the face of them.
This session will examine how threats have changed, why Jewish institutions remain at risk, and what leaders at every level must do now to keep communities safe, resilient, and prepared for the future.
Speakers
New research finds Israeli and American Jews claiming one another as family in growing numbers. Majorities on both sides reject the idea that diaspora life is a problem to be solved, and both agree that Israel’s actions have real consequences for American Jews. Asked on which issues Israel should take American Jewish perspectives into account, the two communities land on different issues. Americans point to peace and security; Israelis point to the Jewish character of the state. This is not a conflict between us. It is what isolation from one another produces. This session premieres the findings, asks what shapes each vantage point, and invites us to think big about building a stronger peoplehood in this fertile void.
Speakers
At a time when many people are searching for meaning, connection, and a deeper sense of identity, Jewish learning is becoming a powerful pathway in. But the ways people want to learn—and the places they encounter Jewish learning—are changing.
This featured session will explore the growing desire for Jewish knowledge and meaning, particularly among people who may not see themselves as “learners” or engage through traditional institutions. What draws people into Jewish learning today? What kinds of experiences create connection and deepen Jewish identity? And how can communities and organizations create more pathways for people to encounter learning, ideas, and Jewish wisdom in ways that meet them where they are?
In partnership with the Simcha Torah Challenge, this session will look at the emerging landscape of Jewish learning—from accessible, low-barrier experiences to new models that connect learning with community, purpose, and everyday life—and ask what this means for the future of Jewish engagement.
Speakers
We’re painting the Networking Lounge blue and white on Monday afternoon! Grab a coffee and connect with Israelis working together with Jewish Federations to Rebuild Israel. Drop in any time; all are welcome!
Drop in for an interactive, hands-on service experience with Repair the World. Learn about economic need in the Jewish community with Together Ending Need (TEN), then pack care kits for parents whose children are hospitalized with serious medical conditions. The kits go to families supported by Imadi, a Maryland-based organization that surrounds families facing a child’s life-changing diagnosis with case management, advocacy, and community. Show up for families here, and take home ideas for supporting families in your own community.
Israel Educational Travel Alliance Advisory Committee Meeting (by invitation only)
“Tzomet” means crossroads in Hebrew. The Tzomet Game is a strategic foresight experience; a rigorous method used well beyond our community for thinking clearly about futures no one can predict. Your table will be handed one of four fully imagined 2050 futures, written by award-winning author Dara Horn, and will work backward to the present: what would have had to happen, what we could not control, and where our choices still decide the outcome.
Better Together: Harold Grinspoon Foundation Breakfast Honoring the 2026 Grinspoon Amber Award Winners and Outstanding Jewish Professionals
The Harold Grinspoon Foundation invites you to join us for breakfast on celebrating the outstanding professionals who work to create vibrant Jewish communities worldwide. We’ll recognize the 2026 Grinspoon Amber Awards winners, spotlighting excellence, creativity, and commitment across the field. We will applaud family engagement professionals, advancement and endowment professionals, leaders in the field of Jewish camping, lay-partner champions, and executives making an impact every day.
Enjoy meaningful networking, brief remarks at 7:45 am by Harold Grinspoon Foundation President Winnie Sandler Grinspoon and Jewish Federations of North America Chair Gary Torgow, and a joyful recognition of colleagues whose work strengthens Jewish life and community.
All GA attendees are welcome.
Start the day with fellow Federation CEOs and Executive Directors. This is a special opportunity to connect with colleagues from communities of every size, share ideas, and connect with your peers. For Federation CEOs and Executive Directors only.
Federation Chairs (including Incoming Chairs) are invited to join us to connect, exchange ideas, and hear from peers navigating similar leadership challenges. Breakfast, conversation, and community await.
Across the Jewish world, extraordinary acts of courage are unfolding every day.
In Ukraine, Jewish communities persevere through war. In Israel, wounded soldiers and reservists reclaim their futures. Across Europe, Jewish life endures despite rising antisemitism.
Come and meet the people behind these stories. Join JDC for a special breakfast and hear, in their own words, about the hardest moments, the determination to keep going, and the people who make the next step possible.
Some of the boldest ideas for Jewish life are taking shape on Friday night. Join OneTable for an exclusive conversation with some of the most influential and creative young adult Shabbat entrepreneurs. Hear how they’re using Friday night to build lasting communities, develop new leaders, and inspire Jewish experiences beyond the table. Stacie Cherner, Director of Research and Learning at the Jim Joseph Foundation, will ground the conversation in new findings from Project Prism, the foundation’s research on how Jewish young adults are engaging with Jewish life today. Together, we’ll explore what these entrepreneurs are trying, what they’re learning, and what their work opens up for the future of Jewish life.
From Israel to Ukraine to 35+ Countries around the world, we’re traveling the globe to bring you the best stories to share with your donors about their dollars at work. Join us for this unique and interactive breakfast to discover how the World ORT network:
- Connects the Jewish world
- Advances educational excellence
- Empowers the next generation of Jewish leaders
Jewish communities have more data, research, and insight than ever before. But data doesn’t change a community. Decisions do. What does it take to look at what the evidence is telling us, make bold choices, and rally people, organizations, and resources around a different future? This session goes inside several ambitious Jewish community bets, from new approaches to Jewish education and engagement to investments in security, leadership, and community infrastructure. The leaders behind these efforts will share what they saw, what they chose to do, and what they’re doing next to act and drive impact.
Speakers
As scrutiny of foreign funding in higher education grows, so do concerns about transparency, influence, and campus accountability. Deep dive into the scope and impact of foreign funding by Qatar in US education, both K-12 and campus, and what we can do about it. Features experts on the harms of foreign funding and actors who have been involved in laws exposing and restricting it. This session will look at how foreign money can shape campus environments and what policymakers and universities should do in response.
Speakers
In Brink, Brett McGurk takes readers inside the high-stakes diplomacy behind the effort to free the hostages taken on October 7. At the center of the negotiations were impossible choices, shifting alliances, and the urgent pursuit of a deal amid a war that reshaped the Middle East.
In this candid conversation, McGurk will draw on his firsthand experience at the heart of the negotiations to discuss what happened behind the scenes, the role of the United States and its regional partners, and the lessons of diplomacy under extraordinary pressure. He will also reflect on what the hostage negotiations, and their aftermath, will share insights on the future of Israel, Gaza, the region, and America’s role in the Middle East.
Speakers
For generations, deep emotional attachment to Israel has been a shared aspiration and investment for North American Jews. Today, our community is broadly connected to Israel. But what are we actually trying to achieve? Connection, love, belonging, responsibility, peoplehood? Meaningful relationships between North American Jews and Israelis? What matters, and what matters the most now? This session brings together senior thought leaders shaping the field to wrestle with a question rarely asked out loud: what is the goal?
Speakers
Following October 7th, city and county councils became ground zero for highly biased, anti-Israel ”ceasefire” resolutions that in many cases blamed Israel for October 7 and declared Israel’s actions war crimes and genocide. Now, local governments are being targeted with resolutions that would sever ties with Israel through investment policies or other restrictions on engagement. Sometimes these are couches as “ethical investing” or anti-war policies, but in other cases they more explicitly target Israel bonds, Israeli companies, and U.S. companies doing business in Israel. This session explores how Jewish communities and advocates have resisted these efforts to isolate Israel.
Speakers
Moderator
As Israel, rising antisemitism, security concerns, and growing community needs shape donor conversations, lay and professional leadership are called to lead with empathy, confidence, and purpose. This interactive workshop explores how to navigate sensitive issues, build trust across differing perspectives, and keep conversations focused on shared values and impact. Participants will gain practical tools, language, and strategies to strengthen donor relationships, make meaningful asks, and inspire generosity that helps build a vibrant, resilient Jewish future.
Participation in Making the Ask in Challenging Times is applicable for 1 point in Category 1.B -Education of the CFRE International application for initial certification and/or recertification.
Speakers
Gen Alpha is coming of age and the way they encounter the world is fundamentally different from the generations before them. Today’s high school students, largely born between 2009 and 2013, have grown up with social media, short-form video, algorithms, AI, and an entirely different information ecosystem. They communicate differently, consume information differently, and are forming their identities in a world transformed by October 7, rising antisemitism, and a rapidly changing conversation about Israel and Zionism. What does this mean for how we engage them? What messages resonate and which ones fall flat? How do we have meaningful conversations about Jewish identity, Israel, Zionism, and antisemitism with a generation that may encounter these issues first through TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, or AI rather than through traditional Jewish institutions or educators? This session will explore what Gen Alpha is telling us about how young people think, learn, and form identity, and what parents, educators, communal leaders, and institutions need to do differently to meet them where they are.
Speakers
North America is aging, and the ways we care for older adults are changing rapidly. In the United States alone, the population over 85 is projected to nearly double—from 7 million today to 14 million by 2040. Longer lives, rising rates of dementia, geographic mobility, changing family structures, workforce shortages, and growing pressure on home- and community-based care are challenging the systems that families have long relied on. Across the U.S. and Canada, older adults and their families are navigating a new reality—and looking for more than care. They want connection, purpose, community, and meaningful Jewish life.
This session will explore the issues and how Jewish communities can respond to these changes and reimagine what it means to support older adults. What new models of care, community, and engagement are emerging? How can we better support families navigating aging and caregiving across generations and across borders? And how can we ensure that longer lives are also more connected, purposeful, and Jewish?
Speakers
The Jewish community has never been more focused on security, and never has the security landscape been more complex. From the unprecedented rise in antisemitic threats to the growing sophistication of lone actors, organized extremists, and online radicalization, Jewish communities across North America are confronting risks that extend far beyond the walls of individual institutions.
Over the past decade, Federations and their partners have built an unprecedented security infrastructure, investing in professionals, guards, training, intelligence, technology, and partnerships with law enforcement and government. But the question now is: What comes next?
This session will take stock of where Jewish security stands today and explore the next generation of community protection. What have we learned from the investments made since Pittsburgh and October 7? Where are the greatest gaps? How can communities move from preparedness and response toward prevention and early detection? And what role will technology, intelligence, artificial intelligence, coordinated command centers, and real-time information sharing play in creating a truly integrated Jewish security ecosystem?
Bringing together leading voices from the Jewish security community, law enforcement, technology, and philanthropy, the conversation will look beyond the immediate crisis to define what it will take to build safer, more resilient Jewish communities for the decade ahead.
Speakers
Since October 7, more and more people have stepped forward to engage in Jewish communal life, volunteer their time, and take on leadership roles. Nearly three years later, that energy and willingness to lead have not faded. The question is how we turn this extraordinary moment of engagement into lasting leadership that strengthens Jewish life for the long term. With the right strategies, we have an opportunity to expand and deepen our lay leadership pipeline across Jewish life, transforming initial engagement into sustained commitment and meaningful leadership. This featured session will explore the barriers and opportunities to maximizing lay leadership engagement and activation and what it takes to deepen and grow committed Jewish community members into effective leaders.
Speakers
Just two weeks ago, Israelis headed to the polls in what many view as one of the country’s most consequential elections in decades. Now, with the results in and the dust beginning to settle, what do they tell us about the Israel that emerges from this election? Join us for a timely conversation examining the forces that shaped the vote, from October 7 and the war to questions of security, leadership, democracy, the economy, and Israel’s changing political landscape. We’ll look beyond the headlines to understand what the results reveal about Israeli society and the priorities that will shape the country’s next chapter, including what this means for Israel-Diaspora relations and the broader Jewish world.
Speakers
Frontline Professionals Post-Conference Gathering (By Invitation Only)
Jewish Federations Lay Leadership Department is hosting a Capitol Hill Leadership Advocacy Day immediately following The General Assembly here in Washington to meet with members of Congress and staff on priorities including the Jewish American Security Act (JASA) and the Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP). Participation is open to National Young Leadership Cabinet and Cabinet Alumni, National Women's Philanthropy and Alumnae, and Jewish Changemakers who are attending the GA. Pre-Registration is required.