Reflections from the Jewish Federation’s Outgoing President

At the Jewish Federation’s Annual Meeting at the end of May, outgoing Board President Marla Linderman Richelew shared these remarks.

When I joined this Board six years ago, I didn’t know we were about to live through some of the hardest years in recent Jewish memory. None of us did. COVID. The tragedy of October 7th. The rise of antisemitism.

But I’m not going to dwell there tonight, because that’s not the story of the Federation during these years. The story of this Federation is what we did while we weathered these storms.

We loved.

Ahavah — the kind of love our tradition asks of us. Not a feeling. A practice. V’ahavtah — and you shall love — is a commandment, not a sentiment. Love your neighbor. Love the stranger. Love our people. Love our community enough to do the work that needs to be done, even when it is hard, not motivated by ego, but motivated for our love and belief in this community.

That is what we did. We loved this Federation into something stronger than we found it.

During my time on the Board we rewrote our bylaws — the unglamorous, essential work of making sure this Federation is governed well today and in the future. We created our pillars, the foundation of our love: Engagement, Convening, and Philanthropy.  And during my presidency, we built a strategic plan with measurable metrics and specific timelines — not aspirational language on a page, but commitments we can be held to. We identified our values. We not only named our priorities but we worked to timely achieve our priorities.

And inside that work, we showed up for every generation of this community — because love does not skip a generation.

We showed up for our kids — helping schools learn how to respond to antisemitism, helping them celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month, making sure Jewish children are seen, are heard, and have a welcoming learning environment. We acted with love and support for our communities’ children.

We showed up for the parents of those kids — the parents who didn’t know where to turn when their children came home with stories that broke their hearts. We helped them create a support system to work together, help their children flourish, and positively work with the schools.

We showed up for our young adults and young professionals.  We supported them and Hillel to ensure that they could learn and live safely and that their universities could not ignore the antisemitism in their midst.  And we invested in the next generation of Jewish leadership in Ann Arbor, helping them connect to each other and grow roots here, so this community is theirs to inherit.

We showed up for those wiser than their years — advocating for the senior millage, helping to make sure they had food when government funding was cut, loving the people who built this community before us by caring for them in it.

Children, parents, young adults, seniors — every generation. L’dor v’dor. It is love across time.

And we showed up beyond our own community too. We convened political forums that brought both sides of the aisle into the same room to hear our community’s concerns.  We built relationships with our neighbors in other communities who face similar struggles — because when we lift each other up with love, we defeat hate together.

And we invested in our own security — so that our families can go to services, send their children to religious school, and walk into our Jewish community spaces without fear.  Our community needs to be able to gather safely because we will continue to celebrate our holidays and our religion, showing up no matter what happens.  That is love protecting its own.

And we helped bring our own Jewish community together, learning how to build stronger boards together and convening our Jewish leaders to find common ground, common goals and common paths to work together to address our common needs – together.  It does not make sense for everyone to make their own wheel, when together we can build a vehicle where everyone has their own place and space.

I need to thank CEO Eileen Freed and our amazing Federation staff.  Our community expects much of you and you continue to rise to the occasion.  Your accomplishment show your love and commitment to our community.  Thank you for all you do.

I need to say something about this board that I have had the honor of leading.

A Federation board can be a lot of things. Ours is a board that asks hard questions and gives generously of its time — and I cannot tell you how rare that combination is. You showed up. You questioned.  You learned.  You were not afraid to take paths not taken before. Each and every one of you should feel proud of your work on this board.  We have weathered the storm by working together, by lifting each other up, and never giving up.

That is love. That is what makes a Federation durable.  Thank you for serving our community and for all of your support as we rose above the storms.

So I’m not handing off a Federation that just survived hard years. I’m handing off a Federation with rewritten bylaws, pillars, a strategic plan, measurable goals, articulated values, stronger relationships across our community and beyond it, and a board that knows how to govern. We built it for every generation that was here, and every generation still to come.  While there will always be more work to do, I am proud to be able to say that we are leaving this Federation stronger than before.

The Talmud tells us the world stands on three things: on Torah, on service, and on acts of loving kindness. What we did these past years was service. What we built was structure. And the reason we built it — the only reason any of this work is worth doing — is love.

Thank you for the privilege of building it with all of you.