Letter from the CEO: Choosing Hope
September 5, 2025
Share your voice and build a safer community in Washington State.
Read the latest messages from Solly Kane, President & CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle.
Share your voice and build a safer community in Washington State.
Keeping our Jewish community safe is a top priority at the Federation, and we know that physical security is just one piece of what Jewish parents worry about at the start of the school year. Many Jewish parents are also thinking about their child’s well-being and inclusion in the classroom amid the rising antisemitism.
This week marks one year in the Hebrew calendar since Hersh Goldberg-Polin was murdered after 328 days of brutal captivity in the Gaza tunnels.
We are pleased to announce today that we are investing in a significant expansion of the SAFE Washington program, committing $2.25 million over the next three years to the safety and security of our Washington State Jewish community.
As we head into Shabbat, may we seek out ways to create ahavat chinam — the extending of unconditional love to one another — lest we find ourselves on a trajectory toward an even more difficult future.
Join tomorrow’s JFNA briefing and see highlights from this week’s Federation programs.
Updates on our next generation of Jewish leaders, Israel partnerships, and advocacy efforts.
Updates on new leadership, camp scholarships, advocacy in schools, and more.
I hope you will join us this coming year to find connection, hope, and meaning during these turbulent times.
We are coming together to call on our government leaders to safeguard Jewish communities from hatred and violence.
The violence in Boulder on Sunday, at a peaceful walk to remember the remaining hostages in Gaza, is unthinkable.
Join us for our Annual Meeting on June 26 as we recognize community changemakers.
Today, we mourn the young couple, Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky, who were murdered last night in Washington D.C., outside the Capital Jewish Museum, after attending an American Jewish Committee (AJC) event.
After careful deliberation, the Federation’s JCRC voted to sign a national statement addressing the relationship between Jewish safety and democracy.
That feeling of being trapped that our ancestors experienced during the Exodus feels similar to the experience of North American Jews right now.
We can have an impact in Israel by voting in the upcoming World Zionist Congress elections, and I want to strongly urge our Seattle Jewish community to participate.
There were two words that kept coming up over and over again during my trip: trauma and resilience.
In moments such as these, our communities rely on one another to come together, embrace each other, and provide strength. I hope we will continue to do so.
This program is designed to prepare and empower the next generation of Jewish leaders in the Seattle area.
Today, 467 days after October 7 — the single worst attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust — there is meaningful progress for the safe and swift return of all hostages.
