Let me begin this week’s column by congratulating each and every one of us for making it to the end of the latest election cycle. After today, at least for several months before the 2028 Presidential campaign begins, our mailbox will no longer be inundated with postcards and flyers, promoting specific candidates and/or propositions. And I hope that every eligible person in our community has either already voted or has plans to vote tonight before the polls close at 8 PM.

On the Jewish front, lost amongst all of the election coverage of the last couple of months, you may not have seen coverage of the latest study by Jewish Federations of North America that what they are calling “the surge” in Jewish engagement following the October 7 attack has continued. According to the survey, nearly four in 10 American Jews say they have found new ways to engage with Jewish life. But what has astonished the organized Jewish world is that much of the increased engagement took place outside traditional religious or communal institutions, through social gatherings and connections with other Jews.

And yet, I am not surprised by this at all. For the last almost 20 years, I feel like Jews have been seeking new and different ways to engage Jewishly. In fact, the results of the 2021 Pew Research Center’s Jewish Americans in 2020 survey illustrated this, and our Jewish Federation has embraced it for a long time.  

Jews have been looking at new ways to connect and engage with the Jewish community. In my opinion, this is why we have seen an increase in Jewish affiliation, as many Jews feel connected to the Jewish community by eating Jewish food, watching Jewish-themed TV shows/series and movies, and reading Jewish-themed books. And following October 7, we have also seen a proliferation of even more ways people are engaging Jewishly. Whether it is listening to a Jewish-themed podcast like Being Jewish with Jonah Platt or Call Me Back with Dan Senor, or celebrating Shabbat each week with the Jewish Broadway Alliance, there has never been an easier time to connect Jewishly.

That is why our Jewish Federation continues to evolve to better meet our community where they engage. And as a Jewish leader, I completely embrace this, and it is up to the organized Jewish world to figure out how to navigate and operate in this new culture of engagement.

On to a different topic, and something I wanted to highlight and close this week’s column…

Last month, during United Against Hate Week, I was asked to give the invocation at a local city council meeting. I have done this before, and each time I offer the prayer below, taken directly from one of our prayer books. The prayer asks for blessings for our country and its elected leaders, and asks G-d to help guide them to work towards justice and opportunity for everyone.

As I conclude this week’s message, I share it below.

Our G-d and G-d of our ancestors: We ask Your Blessings for our country, for its government, for its leaders and advisors, and for all who exercise just and rightful authority. Teach them insights of Your Torah, that they may administer all affairs of state fairly, that peace and security, happiness and prosperity, justice and freedom may forever abide in our midst.

Creator of all flesh, bless all the inhabitants of our country with Your spirit. May citizens of all races and creeds forge a common bond in true harmony to banish all hatred and bigotry and to safeguard the ideals and free institutions which are the pride and glory of our country.

I am hopeful that those elected in today’s elections will keep the ideals in this prayer in mind and work to make our community, state, and country the best they can be for ALL people.