JCCs of Greater Philadelphia

JCCs Announces Steve Waxman as Interim President

On September 24, Chairman Ben Goldman appointed long-time board member Steve Waxman as the agency's Interim President. Steve will lead the staff and board through its comprehensive Strategic Planning Initiative, scheduled to launch in December. A lawyer by profession, Steve retired in 2004 when he dedicated himself to the many causes he cares about, including: child advocacy, civil liberty, the arts and community building. He has been active on dozens of boards both within and outside of the Jewish community and has held numerous leadership positions. Most recently, Steve served as Interim Executive Director for The Parkinson Counsel, Greater Delaware Valley Chapter of the National Parkinson Foundation from 2006 to 2007. Please join us in welcoming Steve in this exciting new role!

Read for the Record

The JCCs Kaiserman Branch is joining a national effort to create awareness about the education gap that exists between socioeconomic levels in the U.S. while raising money to fund early education for underserved youth. Jumpstart’s Read for the Record is a national campaign to engage hundreds of thousands of children and adults in an effort to break the world record for the most children reading the same book on the same day. As part of this campaign, Rachelle Kaiserman will read to the kindergarten and 4 year classes at the JCCs Kaiserman Branch on September 20. “Early learning experiences are crucial to the growth and development of young children,” said Marcia Bronstein, JCCs Vice President for Development. “Jumpstart’s Read for the Record provides an opportunity for everyone in the United States to make early education a national priority.”

Gershman Y Opens 2007/2008 Season

On Sunday, September 16, the Gershman Y opens its new season with an exhibition of sculpture and photographs by Helene Aylon titled: My Body, My Self: Under the canopy; On top of the land; Out of the texts. The exhibition addresses issues of the role of women in traditional Judaism. There will be an opening reception on September 16 from 3 – 5:30 p.m. The event will open with a roundtable discussion about the work.

Rosenbach Museum Publishes Anthology of Stiffel Poets: For the past seven years, a poetry fellow from the Rosenbach Museum and Library has been leading a poetry class at the JCCs Stiffel Senior Center. The work of our Stiffel poets is now being published in an anthology, titled Word in Bloom which was released on July 31 at a reading at the Museum.

The JCCs 2007 Krancer Gala Committee is hard at work in planning this year’s fundraiser honoring Ros and Don Waldman. The event will be held December 1, 2007 at the JCCs Kaiserman Branch. Committee members include: Don and Ros Waldman, Phil Sheikman, Dick and Connie Berman, Judie and Ray Shapiro.

JCCs Kaiserman Branch Serves Special Needs Campers: 25 special needs children are attending camp at Kaiserman this summer. These campers are mainstreamed into Kaiserman’s regular bunks, each with their own “shadow” to support them in participating in the day’s activities.