Wow! What a Fabulous Biennial! All the months of planning and preparation paid off. The 2004 JCCs of North America Biennial in Montreal was overwhelmingly voted the best ever. Delegates raved about the seminars, the speakers, the sense of unity, the enthusiasm, the learning, and everything else about the conference. Check out some of the highlights below.
Hagshama: Realizing the Future of JCCs Allan Finkelstein presented Hagshama, the new strategic plan for the JCC Movement at the JCC Association Recognition Plenary on Sunday, urging JCCs to recognize that they inspire Jewish journeys every day. Sharing the personal stories of individuals whose lives were transformed through their memberships in JCCs, Finkelstein explained that Hagshama was a blueprint for the repositioning of JCCs. To read Allan Finkelstein’s speech, click here. To read the Hagshama report, click here.   JWB Jewish Chaplains Council Salutes Air Force General “It’s the Jewish notion of service that has driven me,” said Lieutenant General Norton A. Schwartz when he accepted the JWB Jewish Chaplains Council Jewish Military Leadership Award. Schwartz is the director of operations, joint staff, in Washington, D.C., and serves as the principal assistant to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. To learn more about JWB Jewish Chaplains Council, click here.		Mort Mandel Honored for Fifty Years of Service to JCC Association An emotional video highlighted the tribute to Morton L. Mandel at the Jewish Education Plenary, where JCC Association Chair Edward H. Kaplan announced that the Center for Jewish Education would be renamed the Mandel Center for Jewish Education at JCC Association. To learn more about the MCJE, click here.   Israel Victorious Against Terrorist Pressure At the Israel Plenary, Dr. Daniel Gordis insisted that Israelis have not been cowed by the terrorist onslaught on the Jewish State, but instead have continued to live their lives fully. Only 65 years after the greatest catastrophe in Jewish history, Jews have both sovereignty and power, Gordis, the director of the Jerusalem Fellows program, said. Vice-president of the Mandel Foundation Sector on Jewish Education and Continuity, Gordis urged JCCs to educate people about the aspects of Israeli life that don’t make it onto the front page. To read JCC Association’s Israel Task Force report, click here. click here.
Best Biennial Ever, Delegates Proclaim! To find out what attendees thought about this Biennial, click here.
Pictures, Pictures, Pictures! To spot yourself or someone you know, click here.
More Biennial Stuff to Come We know that you’re eager to begin implementing all the wonderful initiatives and programs you learned about at the Biennial. And we’re working hard to get you the materials you need. Executive directors have already received Allan’s Finkelstein’s speech, and will soon have the full Hagshama and Israel Task Force reports. The guidelines for the new brand along with the tool kit for the new look and feel will be coming in mid-June. Templates for press releases have gone out to JCCs that won Merit & Innovation Awards, and more press release templates are on the way. Those wonderful Biennial videos will be coming soon too. Even though the meeting in Montreal is over, you can keep experiencing the impact of the Biennial for a long time to come. We are currently in the process of reveiwing the 2004 Biennial evaluation forms and we appreciate all of your feedback. There is always room for improvement, so please do not hesitate and send your questions and comments to info@jcca.org.

JCC Association is the continental umbrella organization for the Jewish Community Center Movement, which includes more than 350 JCCs, YM-YWHAs, and camp sites in the U.S. and Canada. JCC Association offers a wide range of services and resources to help its affiliates to provide educational, cultural, social, Jewish identity-building, and recreational programs for people of all ages and backgrounds. JCC Association supports the largest network of Jewish early childhood centers and Jewish summer camps in North America, and is also the only U.S. government accredited agency for serving the religious and social needs of Jewish military personnel through JWB Jewish Chaplains Council.

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