Reflections from Federation’s President & CEO
August 29, 2025
Dear Seattle Community,
In the coming weeks, many of our children are starting school.
Whether attending a public school, a Jewish day school, or another school, the beginning of the school year brings many emotions – excitement, joy, worry, and anticipation. Sadly, this week, the start of the school year at the Annunciation Church and School in Minneapolis became a horrific scene as a gunman killed two children and injured many others in a senseless act of violence. The exact motive of the shooter is still not fully known, but we know their motive was driven by extreme hate – the video manifesto and their diary were filled with antisemitic and racist rants. For me, this tragedy hits close to home, not just as a parent, but as someone who grew up in Minneapolis and as a young kid lived just a few blocks from the site of this tragedy.
My colleague, Jim Cohen, CEO of the Minneapolis Jewish Federation, shared the following earlier today in his Shabbat letter to his community:
“Like many of you, I have struggled over the past few days to find the words. Sitting at the vigil at The Academy of Holy Angels on Wednesday night, seeing the tears of those directly impacted by true evil, I realized the children murdered and injured could have been anyone’s kids. I know we wish we could take away the pain being felt by so many families in Minneapolis today. If only we could.
[…] For now, as a community and as individuals, we should extend the most heartfelt hand of healing and sympathy to our neighbors and think of them as we bless the children at our Shabbat tables.”
I know you join me in extending our hearts out to the families of the victims, the Catholic community, and the Minneapolis community, affected by this week’s tragedy.
For many parents, sending children to school, especially after this attack, brings fears for their safety. Sadly, for Jewish families, this is a fear that is known to us every day. We frequently walk into synagogues, preschools, and day schools past armed guards, security checks, and other physical security measures. It shouldn’t be dangerous in the United States to attend a faith-based school, and yet we carry that fear with us and saw the worst manifestation of it this week in Minneapolis.
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.
Last week, our Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) team sent a letter to the education leadership across Washington State, advocating for safe and supportive environments for Jewish students. 313 public school districts, tribal schools, and charter school networks, as well as private schools and the Superintendent of Public Instruction, received this communication. We encourage you to forward this letter to your school principal and use our toolkit as a resource when talking to educators about their obligation to ensure schools are welcoming spaces for Jewish students.
As we begin the school year, I want to wish our community members who are teachers and educators, our students and their families, and our Jewish day schools and early childhood centers, a year of blessing and joy. Below my signature, you’ll find a beautiful blessing for the start of the school year from Rabbi Menachem Creditor, the Pearl and Ira Meyer Scholar-in-Residence at UJA Federation in New York.
Wishing all in our community a meaningful school year ahead.
Shabbat Shalom,
Solly Kane
President & CEO
Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle
Blessing for all our Children
Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Dear, Precious Ones, Our Children,
May you be blessed in your goings and comings, in your ongoing journeys through an uncertain world.
May God protect you from evil and from carelessness.
May your hearts grow in awareness and sensitivity.
May your minds deepen in appreciation and curiosity.
May you learn life’s lessons and be strengthened.
May whatever successes you achieve find you humble and ready to share, graciously and generously.
May whatever challenges you face find you brave and ready to ask for help.
May you be blessed with good neighbors, good teachers, and good friends.
May this world invite your hearts’ gifts and the gift of your hearts.
May your soul be resilient and heal fully and quickly whenever it needs to.
May we, your teachers and families, be blessed to witness your amazing paths forward, inward, and upward.
May you never doubt the overflowing love and gratitude we feel for you.
May the Source of Life pour through you and surround you as you choose your next steps.
May you know and share kindness, deep and true.
Thank you for being ours, and for being your own, glorious selves.
We love you more than we can say.
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