Reflections from Federation’s President & CEO
A Note from Solly Kane
Reflections from Federation’s President & CEO
Only have one minute?
Three things to know from this letter:
Only have one minute?
Three things to know from this email:
February 27, 2026
Dear Seattle Community,
I invite you to join me on Tuesday, March 10, at the University of Washington, for an in-depth conversation with Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt.
An American historian and diplomat, Ambassador Lipstadt previously served as the United States Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Antisemitism and is well known for having been sued for libel by David Irving, one of the world’s leading Holocaust deniers.
But before she became a diplomat, she started her distinguished academic career at the University of Washington as the first full-time UW Jewish Studies faculty member. In two weeks, she returns to the UW campus to reflect on the state of antisemitism and the critical need for moral clarity. We are honored to host this event in partnership with the UW Alumni Association and UW Undergraduate Academic Affairs. The event is free to attend – I hope you will join us. Register here.
Speaking of campus life, last week, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) and Hillel International released new data showing an alarming number (four in 10) of Jewish college students experienced antisemitism while on campus, both inside and outside the classroom. One-third of Jewish students avoided displaying their Jewish identity out of fear. For these young adults, what should be a time of exploration and growth became a time of hiding their Jewish identities, self-censoring their views on Israel, and feeling unsafe due to antisemitism.
Yet, despite this discouraging news, there is a thriving Jewish life at the University of Washington.
Last week, I spent time with the leaders of Hillel UW and Chabad UW and heard about the many joyful Jewish experiences students are having. The leadership of both organizations shared that they are seeing increased engagement and strong participation. Both organizations strive to create warm home-away-from-home spaces for Jewish students where they can deepen their Jewish identities and connect to the broader Jewish community. And both organizations shared this year that more students are participating.
How can both of these realities be true?
As Jews, we are used to holding two things at once. There are many Jewish students having negative experiences on campus, and there are many Jewish students who are not. We can lift up joyful experiences and celebrate that more young people are engaging while also striving to support those who are affected by antisemitism. Both things can be true, and that has been the complexity of our experience as Jewish people in the world for millennia.
If you would like to explore more of this complexity, I also invite you to join us for another extraordinary conversation with a leading global Jewish thinker. Rabbi Donniel Hartman, President of the Shalom Hartman Institute, will be in Seattle on March 12 to speak about the profound challenges our global Jewish community has been facing in the last two years. Despite fear and polarization, our collective moral imagination can help guide ethical judgments, sustain responsibility, and remain committed to a shared Jewish future.
Rabbi Hartman is the award-winning author of Boundaries of Judaism and Putting God Second: How to Save Religion from Itself and Who are the Jews and Who Can We Become, and his podcast For Heaven’s Sake ranks as one of the top Judaism podcasts in the world. I hope you join us for this insightful and timely conversation – register here.
Shabbat shalom and Chag Purim Sameach,
Solly Kane
President & CEO
Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle
Solly Kane
President & CEO
Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle
