Five years of progress as the Alliance forges ahead with ongoing goals

When I arrived at the Alliance five summers ago, the institution I inherited was a merged start-up organization, one that was trying to forge ahead by maintaining the best of the programs and operations of the former Jewish Federation, Jewish Community Center and Bureau of Jewish Education. Although I discovered that many community members were experiencing tremendous mourning for the loss of these three institutions, I encountered many more individuals who were excited about the opportunity to reshape and strengthen our Rhode Island Jewish community through a more modern, 21st-century lens. With few strategic blueprints to follow, and our continued obligation to meet the needs of our stakeholders, we dug in and began our work to create a new communal model of efficiency, collaboration, caring and targeted philanthropy.

I take great pride in several initiatives that we have embarked upon during the last five years, including but not limited to the tremendously successful Living on The Edge initiative that has provided financial and non-economic resources to well over 1,200 vulnerable Jewish community members; the world-class Holocaust Memorial in downtown Providence; and the soon-to-be-completed restoration of our beautiful home, the Dwares Jewish Community Center.  In addition, the David C. Isenberg Early Childhood Center, Summer J-Camp, and the Eides Family J-Space after-school programs are sterling and dynamic. The quality of our cultural and health/wellness programs, not to mention our marketing initiatives, is strong and engaging. 

Although life in Israel remains so very complex, our Israeli emissaries (Shlichim)  foster education and understanding between and among community members at the synagogues, schools and Hillels across our state. Relationships between and among the Alliance, our partner agencies, and our rabbis/synagogues are not only collegial and respectful, but indeed harmonious. And I have had the extreme pleasure of accompanying fellow community members to places such as  Moscow, Berlin, Budapest, and Afula, Israel, and I have been able to witness firsthand the impact that our community’s philanthropic dollars have had on our Jewish neighbors both in Rhode Island and across the world. 

I have been profoundly touched when witnessing the joy on the faces of vulnerable seniors being served lunches at meal sites, experienced pride when providing families with scholarships so their children are able to attend local community day schools and summer camps, and felt admiration for our intrepid Rhode Island teens who have journeyed on the March of the Living Program to Poland and Israel.

But, let me hold off on the kinehoras, because, as they say in the cliché trade, Rome was not built in a day. We have a long way to go before any of us should be satisfied. To quote someone near and dear to me, “we are a very complex ecosystem.” With limited financial and human resources, a stagnant local economy, a level annual campaign that is unable to meet all the needs of our beneficiaries, there is a frustration in achieving results and effecting change as quickly as many (including myself) would prefer. We are battling a continued inability to attract our next generation of both donors and leaders, an incivility and disrespect that only grows more heated and strident across too many pockets of our community, and the senseless vandalism and violence that occurs all too often in our state, across the country and worldwide. The job of a Jewish professional is not exactly an easy one.  But to steal the words of lyricist Jerry Herman, “I am what I am, I don’t seek praise I don’t seek pity.”

I remain steadfastly honored and privileged to lead the Alliance in serving the greater Rhode Island  Jewish community. No one ever said it would be easy. And as such, the challenges of leading our communal ship through sometimes choppy waters only makes the triumphs that much sweeter.  Onward and upward my friends, and fasten your seat belts.

JEFFREY SAVIT is the president and  CEO of the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island.