Jews and shoes

Mindy Wachtenheim, Susan Leach DeBlasio, Jane Weitzman, Maybeth Lichaa and Cheryl Greenfeld Teverow.PROVIDENCE – On the evening of May 27, Temple Beth-El was filled with color, conversation and contributions to the 2015 Jewish Alliance Annual Campaign. Elegantly dressed and impeccably coiffed women in gorgeous shoes gathered to hear a moving speech, socialize with friends and sample some delicious desserts. Many also looked forward to the opportunity to win a pair of Stuart Weitzman high heels donated by Mel & Me, Ltd.

Mitzi Berkelhammer, vice chair of Philanthropy, kicked off the evening by thanking everyone for supporting the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island and for strengthening the community. She shared that the 2015 campaign has raised more than $3 million, saying that there are as many ways to be Jewish as there are to be generous. Berkelhammer named some causes for which the annual campaign provides funding, including scholarships to campers, Shalom baby baskets, PJ Library books and help for vulnerable seniors. She said there are more than 300 program partners working together to achieve social justice and to experience Jewish life in the spirit of joy and generosity. To sum up, Berkelhammer stated, “Through the Alliance, we can be passionate about philanthropy.”

Sharon Gaines, board chair, introduced the featured speaker, Jane Weitzman. She explained that she met Weitzman at a Lion of Judah conference in September and invited her to talk on her two favorite topics – Jews and shoes. Weitzman was the executive vice president of Stuart Weitzman and the founding vice president of Stuart Weitzman retail. She led the company’s philanthropy by raising funds to support breast and ovarian cancer research and awareness. Weitzman serves on numerous boards, including the Trust Board of Boston Children’s Hospital, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the JTA.

Recently, she published “Art and Sole,” which features more than 150 fantasy art shoes from the Stuart Weitzman collection. One lucky attendee won the volume, which was also for sale during the event.

Weitzman opened her talk with an anecdote about a speaker who announced to the audience that the saying, “If you save one person, it’s as if you save the entire world,” was Chinese. She contemplated letting the woman know that it was a Jewish saying, but ultimately decided against it. Unfortunate fundraising speakers seem to plague Weitzman because the second anecdote she told involved a retired head of the Carnegie Foundation, who claimed that you can make a real difference with just $5 million.

That statement is the antithesis of Weitzman’s message to her audience – she believes that it takes very little to change someone’s life. To illustrate, Weitzman told about visiting an elderly Jewish lady who lived in a communal apartment in the former Soviet Union. Even though the JDC had supplied her with such essentials as a hot plate, medicine and meals, Weitzman wanted to do more. Noticing that the woman used her ancient television as a display for her tchotchke collection, she learned that the set was broken. Weitzman gave the social worker $150 to buy this senior a television. Two months later, she received a translated letter from the lady, letting her know that Weitzman had given her a life.

The crux of Weitzman’s message was the idea that we must take care of our own people before we help everybody else. She said that, when she was a child, 80 percent of funds Jewish people raised went to Jewish causes, while now, that figure is around 22 percent, according to the Pew Research Center. Weitzman suspects that, the number hovers somewhere between eight and 11 percent. Urging the audience to donate, she stated, “We are links in a chain that goes back thousands of years. We survive by helping each other.”

Weitzman showed some slides of people who received aid from the JDC. Among them was a man in India who “is living his life with dignity,” a woman in Cairo, Egypt, who lives in a community that benefits from donations of food and medicine, and a displaced family in Ukraine that survives gunfire on a regular basis. The audience also saw slides depicting the students in the Israeli school Weitzman sponsored. She spoke against segregation, saying that she insisted that one-third of the children be Ethiopian. Since the school is extremely successful now, she is proud of her achievement. “I did this as an experiment to show that this can be done. I am happy to say that it’s working. I have gotten more out of this than I have put into it.”

Toward the end of the evening, Weitzman answered questions and shared the tale of her window dressing career at the shoe store. According to her, 90 percent of store windows feature products; she chose to do Stuart Weitzman’s windows differently. She joked that she took the unusual path because she didn’t have a boss and could do as she pleased. Now you can see those displays of fantastical shoes on the pages of her book.

IRINA MISSIURO is a writer and editorial consultant for The Jewish Voice.