Dear Friends and Colleagues Across the JCC Movement,
During the days following Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, I found myself doing something I rarely make enough time to do: stopping to reflect.
That has been especially true this year.
Since stepping into this role just over a year ago, I have been on trains, planes, and automobiles visiting more than 60 JCCs and JCC Camps across North America. I have met with professionals and lay leaders, listening, learning, asking a lot of questions, and occasionally trying to remember what city I’m in.
It has been a remarkable year. And for all the travel from place to place, the moments that mattered most came when I was able to slow down enough to really listen.
I have visited JCCs and JCC Camps that look different from one another, each shaped by its own geography, history, people, and challenges. And yet, for all their differences, I keep seeing the same thing: individuals who care deeply about creating places where others can belong.
I have spent more than 30 years in this field, but I have often understood our communities one at a time. What is different in this role is seeing them collectively: how distinct each one is, how much they share, and how much power there is on the whole.
We are living through a moment in which people are searching for connection, meaning, identity, and community. They are looking for places where they can show up as they are and find a reason to keep showing up. JCCs and JCC Camps are those places, and they have been for generations—infused by Jewish values, traditions, and culture, and deeply connected to Zionism.
Our task now is not simply to preserve that legacy, but to build on it.
Even in these first days of the Jewish New Year, we are already seeing a commitment across the movement to do exactly that. This High Holiday season, more than 55 JCCs joined us in sharing their own messages and hopes for the year ahead as part of our “Many Hopes. One Shared Vision.” campaign.
Together, these voices remind us of the individuality of each Jewish community and the strength of what we can accomplish together.
And we have already begun.
Across our three Centers of Excellence, Jewish Peoplehood, Talent Development, and Innovation and Impact, we are putting new and expanded resources behind the talent, programs, and partnerships in the field that animate our work every day. JCC Maccabi had an incredible summer and continues to grow, bringing together communities that include people of every background and generation. Our movement-wide convenings, including ProCon and JSummit, are back, along with many regional conferences, bringing with them the simple, irreplaceable experience of being together face-to-face with colleagues, peers, and friends.
Throughout my travels, I have listened to CEOs, executive directors, and staff across many different departments describe their communities’ needs. I have seen professionals carry enormous responsibility with creativity and optimism. I have heard from board chairs and many lay leaders asking how they can help, and from young people, families, camp professionals, early childhood directors, Jewish educators, chaplains, and countless others whose questions, ideas, and commitment remind me why this work matters.
It matters because, as our tradition teaches, Kol Yisrael arevim zeh bazeh—All of Israel are responsible for one another.
If one JCC or JCC Camp discovers something that works, how do we help others benefit from that learning? If one community faces a challenge, how do we bring the collective wisdom of our movement to bear? How do we create more opportunities to learn from one another, take risks together, and build what no single Jewish or JCC community can build on its own?
This is the work that lies ahead of us. And we have built a new leadership team to partner with our field and with like-minded organizations and individuals to take it on.
As 5787 begins, I am hopeful.
I am hopeful because I have seen the leaders of JCCs, and JCC Camps, and JWB Jewish Chaplains Council® adapt, innovate, take risks, care deeply, and keep going. I am confident because our movement has never been afraid to reinvent itself while holding onto what matters most.
And I am hopeful because I believe the best chapters of the JCC Movement are still ahead of us.
The High Holidays ask us to reflect, but they also ask us to imagine: to think about who we have been, who we are becoming, and who we want to be.
My commitment to this next year is simple: to keep showing up. To keep listening. To keep learning. To move quickly and boldly on what this moment asks of us. And to work alongside all of you to make the JCC Movement stronger, more connected, and more vibrant.
In the months ahead, you’ll hear from different leaders who will share reflections, ideas, and perspectives about the work we are doing together throughout the JCC Movement.
Shabbat shalom, and may 5787 be a year of connection, courage, and shared purpose.
Barak Hermann
President and CEO
JCC Association of North America