Last week, more than 100 Los Angeles Lions of Judah ventured to New York City for the 20th Annual International Lion of Judah Conference (ILOJC), making our community the largest one represented at the Conference! Among many highlights, we’re delighted that Roz Goldstine and Sandra Kussin of our Federation’s Sylvia Weisz Women’s Campaign and Valley Alliance Women’s Campaign, respectively, were both recognized for their leadership by their peers – each being honored with the Kipnis-Wilson/Friedland Award.
Lions of Judah are generous philanthropists who make gifts in their own name of $5,000 or more to women’s campaigns of Federations from across North America. At the conference, the women enjoyed the camaraderie of other Lions – bonding, networking and motivating each other to even greater levels of women’s philanthropy in 2013 and the years to come. We are pleased to share that in New York our L.A. Lions generously committed gifts totaling $1.4 million for our Federation’s 2013 Annual Campaign.
The three-day conference coincided with the Lion of Judah’s 40th anniversary and was the first-ever ILOJC held in New York City. Conference organizers described the 1,700 attendees as pioneering, dedicated Jewish women leaders who were committed to changing the world.
Sheri Rapaport, a long-time Lion, enjoyed this, her first ILOJC, and said, “It was perfect. Right up my alley. I loved every minute of it.” Susan Kane said, “The Conference gave me hope for placing the future of Judaism in the hands of young adults, with the realization that their Jewish world will look very different from ours. I’m energized and can’t wait to roll up my sleeves and get involved in some of the great new projects we learned about.”
Featured speakers included Cory A. Booker, Mayor of Newark, and Dr. Einat Wilf, a member of Israel’s Knesset. We are proud that several of our own Los Angeles Lions were presenters and panelists including Cece Feiler, Bettina Kurowski, Julie Platt, Orna Wolens and Lesley Wolman.
To commemorate the anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy, Conference attendees participated in community service activities and our L.A. Lions made a visit to the World Trade Center site and its 9/11 Memorial.
To learn more about getting involved in Women’s Philanthropy with The Jewish Federation, please contact Amy Popkin of the Sylvia Weisz Women’s Campaign or Leah Kitz of the Valley Alliance Women’s Campaign.
