Ah...Thanksgiving!

I grew up in Canada and Canadian Thanksgiving was celebrated in October (OK-no more Canadian jokes).

No turkey, no pilgrims,to us it was another day off from school.And it always seemed to correspond to Sukkot and we always felt ripped off if Thanksgiving fell on Sukkot or vice versa since the 2 days off from school became 1.

What a difference when we moved to the States in the mid 80's.
Thanksgiving truly is a MAJOR holiday for everyone and it is indeed one that took no getting used to.

Lets all enjoy a restful peaceful holiday with family and friends before the hectic December holiday period begins.

Back from DC and the GA.
What a great line up of programs.
A who's who of Israeli politicians including PM Netanyahu and opposition leader Tzipi Livni who spoke to us at a lunch meeting for presidents and execs of Federations.
Rahm Emanuel pinch hit for President Obama who was at the Memorial Ceremony at Fort Hood,
A moving tribute to the Jewish men and women in the US military and inspiring stories from Israel...real stories about the remarkable achievements: New olim, start up companies, progress on economic development on the West Bank...so much to take in in 48 hours.

In the exhibit area, a myriad of new Jewish internet companies seeking to connect Jews in new and innovative ways...

The national Federation system unveiled its new name-Jewish Federations of North America- and logo, which we will probably migrate to in the next few months.

Next year in Orlando...Hope you can join us there.

UJC, the United Jewish Communities, is changing its name to the Jewish Federations of North America. About 10 years ago, UJA (the United Jewish Appeal) and CJF (Council of Jewish Federations) merged to create one unified national agency that would meet the planning, fundraising, leadership and advocacy support needs required by federations across the continent. Our federation is part of that system. When the 2 organizations merged, which was a feat unto itself,the issue of a proper name refecting the enhanced nature of this new organization was debated. At the time 4 names were suggested and federations across the continent were asked to weigh in on their preference....
Name recognition and branding is a key element in giving identity to any organization. Many at the time wanted to retain the UJA name since it was a well established recognizable name to so many...you know the joke...if you are stranded on a deserted island, don't worry, UJA will find you.
No one was really happy with the UJC name and it never really reflected who we were.
Well, we now have a new name for our national organization...The Jewish Federations of North America- the key element of the change was to ensure that the word "federation" appears in the name.The goal for JFNA now is to ensure that Federations across the country adopt the name the Jewish Federation of________________, if they are not so identified as such now. A great example of that is Boston's Federation which is known as CJP....What are the chances of CJP changing their name to The Jewish Federation of Greater Boston? Time will tell
The goal is to have every federation have the word federation in its name and now that the national organization will have federation in its name..it should make it easier for a very mobile national community to find the federation in its area.

The new name will be officially rolled out at this week's national conference-the GA- being held in Washington DC from Nov 8-10.
The Federation system will be honored to host President Obama on Tuesday morning of the conference This will be the president's first appearance before a national Jewish group since becoming president. He will be preceded on Monday morning by an appearance from Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.