Today is International Women’s Day, a time when the social, economic, cultural, political and other achievements of women are celebrated all over the world. We want to take this occasion to salute the contributions women make every day in every aspect of the human experience, and to thank all of the amazing women helping Global Jewry pursue its vital mission. Kol hakavod to all of you!

It has been a big week at Global Jewry, starting with the most recent update of our website.

I want to thank David Sebo of ubisepdesign and Julian Ayzman of the Ayzman Creative Group for their diligence and expertise, and I encourage you to see for yourself the taxonomy they created under our new “Jewish Resources” tab. They are also hard at work on other updates, changes we will share with you as they roll out.

Thanks to Andrew Gilbert, a member of our international executive committee, we have added quite a few new leaders from the UK to our advisory board, as well as many new partner organizations. Every addition to our team expands our reach and takes us one step closer to achieving our mission.

Not surprisingly, one of the questions I receive the most from people I contact about Global Jewry is “What does success look like?” That inquiry is both reasonable and not so easy to answer. How does one explain what stronger bonds and Jewish unity “look like?” As in other aspects of life, it is hard to use words to capture the fullness of a feeling or a mindset.

Anyone who had the privilege to attend the recent BBYO International Convention in Orlando, Florida, saw one potential vision of success for Global Jewry. Kudos to Matt Grossman, Ian Kandel and the entire BBYO family – especially the teens themselves – for creating what BBYO is justifiably calling “an unparalleled convening offering a powerful, strategic, and inspiring platform from which the best and brightest teen and adult leaders from across the Jewish world (and beyond) unite to celebrate, dream, and take action to continue strengthening the future.” For all of us who attended, the joy and spirit at the conference was palpable and energizing.

We are thrilled BBYO is one of the more than 165 partners from which we are learning so much every day, including various ways we can help others visualize what our success will look like. In fact, what BBYO accomplished in Orlando in person over a long weekend for 5,000 people from more than 60 countries is a great example of many of the things we want to achieve in cyberspace every day for every member of the global Jewish community:

• To bring the Jewish people together in the same way BBYO connects Jewish teens from all over the world;
• To model the respect for diversity within the Jewish family that we witnessed at IC;
• To help people discover the full range of opportunities to travel, to study, to reflect, to daven, and to pursue tikkun olam that BBYO shares with its teens in person and online; and
• Just like we witnessed in Orlando, to constantly remind every member of the Jewish community that they are a valued part of something much bigger than themselves: a people who for millenia have contributed to each other and to the world at large in unprecedented ways, and who have a responsibility to continue making the world a better place for future generations.

The 2024 BBYO IC is a wonderful maquette of much of what we hope to achieve at Global Jewry on a grander scale. And, with your help, that’s what our success will look like.

Shabbat shalom and may this be the week the hostages return home safely,