News

Congratulations to Past Board Chair Dr. Michael Spektor who was just named President Elect of the Alpha Omega International Dental Fraternity, the oldest international dental organization in the world.

Founded in 1907, ΑΩ is committed to social justice, philanthropy and upholding Jewish values across the globe. Among its many achievements, ΑΩ is responsible for having helped to form Israel's two major dental schools. The Jewish Federation shares many of the values of ΑΩ, as Dr. Spektor noted in his acceptance speech:

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4.  Esther

"She lifts the shadows from my blackest griefs, and makes even my darkest days serene ones." -- Jean Racine, from Esther

The Biblical heroine of the book named for her, Esther was a young Jewish woman living in exile in the Persian diaspora, who through her youth and beauty became queen of the Persian Empire, and then by her wits and courage saved the Jewish people from destruction. The message of the Book of Esther, a work of historical fiction written in the diaspora in the late Persian—early Hellenistic period (fourth century b.c.e.), gives encouragement to the exiled Jews that they, although powerless in the Persian Empire, can, by their resourcefulness and talents, not only survive but prosper, as does Esther.