Renewing our commitments

Here’s some news I’m happy to share. Last month, with the support of my board, I renewed my term as Executive Director of the Federation for another three years.

I’ve learned a great deal during the past three years. And I can’t wait to create the future and to see what we can accomplish together in the next three years.

Since my arrival in 2020, we’ve focused on revitalizing the Federation and strengthening our commitment to you. To accomplish this goal, it has required reconditioning the core muscular strength of the Federation. We all know that exercise promotes health and that building up the core strengthens the body and improves overall balance and stability. The same is true to an even greater degree for organizations. Through the board’s work, the Fed is also using core development to strengthen our commitment to you. Collectively, we can call them our core commitments.

Our Four Core Commitments (that align with the 2015 Strategic Plan):

• Expand and strengthen an engaged, vibrant, and flourishing Michiana Jewish community

• Secure the well-being and safety of individuals within the Jewish community

• Develop the financial, human resources and infrastructure needed by our community 

• Strengthen our Partnership2Gether connection to Israel and to the Jewish people worldwide

These core areas focus our attention, guide our work, and bring greater clarity to our mission. 

Our Core Commitments connect with Jewish values and strategic priorities that build on the successes of the past and strive for a better future. These commitments form the basis for continuous needs assessment, planning and evaluation to inform how we build connectivity and inform funding priorities.  

In the last Minute with Moshe, I said, “good connectivity stimulates community dialogue and belonging to the place we call home.” But how do we create connectivity? Here at the Fed, we do this by defining a vision for our future through community input and conversations. 

Mark your calendar for Sunday, June 4 at 10:30 am for our next FED Talk, a program designed to promote conversations, foster unity without uniformity, and elevate our sense of community. The theme for FED Talk 3 is A NEW VISION FOR ENDURING VALUES. 

In looking to stimulate a vision for our future and begin the process of renewal, we’ll be best served by coming to it not with what we think are the correct answers but with the right questions: What would we see in a vibrant and growing Michiana Jewish community three years from now? In five years? In ten? Where and how would Jewish life be unfolding? Who would be here, and what will attract, engage, and retain the participants in that Jewish future?

If asked and responded to effectively, these questions will provide us with a strategic framework, a kind of roadmap, for the realization of our vision for a strong, growing, and flourishing Michiana Jewish community where individuals live with meaning, dignity, and purpose, with a sense of belonging to the Jewish people. 

Looking forward to seeing you at FED Talk 3 on June 4. And while your calendars are out, please save the date for Wednesday, June 28 for Federation’s 78th Annual Meeting.

Moshe Kruger
Executive Director
574-233-1164 x1802
MKruger@TheJewishFed.org