Sherri Pliskin joined Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford as Vice President of Development in 2023. For six years prior, she served as Director of Development for Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Hartford. Last July, Sherri traveled to Germany and Israel as part of a special delegation from the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA). The goal of this mission was to witness the impact Federation and its agency partners are having on the Jewish communities in these two countries. The following is a firsthand account, in which Sherri revisits the memories of her travels in light of recent events.
I admit to feeling some trepidation as our plane landed in Berlin. Although it’s been more than 80 years since the Holocaust ravaged Jewish life in Germany and beyond, the traumas remain vivid for Jews everywhere—and though I was determined to keep an open heart, history was close in mind. Fortunately, my daughter Maddy would soon meet me for a few days before my official trip, and I very much looked forward to her company. While it’s true that antisemitism in Germany has been alarmingly on the rise, I found the people we met and the experiences we had inspiring for the work yet ahead.
Development professionals always ask themselves how their efforts have a real-world impact; it’s our responsibility to those we serve, as well as to our generous donors. I found an answer at Shalom Ukraine, a Jewish organization providing psychological and social support to young people who have been affected by the war in Ukraine. This program, funded by Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) and the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI), brings teenagers who have fled war-torn Ukraine together so they can be with other young people with shared experiences. Although it’s a Jewish program, the young people they serve are not asked if they are Jewish; their shared loss is enough to make them eligible. Many have left their fathers behind to fight as they fled with their mother or other family members.
During our visit, the young participants planned a dance performance depicting the Russian invasion and their families' forced escape. They represented the Russian soldiers in gray cloaks with white masks, symbolically throwing young people offstage—and out of their homeland. As you might imagine, the performance was both haunting and poignant. However, what we learned following the performance made what we had seen even more moving: Just before we arrived, a children’s hospital in Ukraine had been bombed, and several of the performers knew young people who had died. They somehow collected themselves and held their grief at bay long enough to put on this moving performance for us.
We in the audience took comfort in this: amidst staggering trauma and loss, these young people had found camaraderie and emotional support. Thanks to Shalom Ukraine, they had found each other.
Two friends from West Hartford, Rabbi Ilana Garber and Rabbi Jim Rosen, connected Maddy and me with Rabbi Gesa Ederberg, the first female rabbi in Berlin since the Holocaust. Rabbi Ederberg led us in a moving Shabbat service at the Oranienburger Strasse Synagogue, featuring the same melodies I had learned as a young girl at Beth David Synagogue in West Hartford. And though Rabbi Ederberg’s congregation was small, the ruach was overwhelming. Here we were, fellow Jews celebrating Shabbat together in the very country where so many Jewish people suffered and perished.
I said goodbye to Maddy and our group traveled on to Israel. As we descended into Tel Aviv, I looked out over a beautiful city sprawled along the Mediterranean coastline. The wing of the plane was painted with the Israeli flag, and I found myself flooded with emotions. Though I hadn’t visited Israel in nearly 30 years, I felt I was coming home.
As Israelis try to return to a normal life, many struggle to put food on the table. Businesses everywhere are shuttered. The trauma is palpable; the need is everywhere. Following October 7, Israel has become a land of contrasts. To illustrate this, we drove past young people on the beach playing volleyball in Tel Aviv … as we traveled to Nir Oz, a ravaged kibbutz just one mile from the Gazan border.
At the ruins of Nir Oz, we were greeted by kibbutz member Nir Metzger, who wore a shirt with a picture of his father, who had been taken hostage on October 7. (Since then, we’ve learned that Nir’s father was among the hostages murdered in Gaza.) The rest of his family was displaced or killed in the attack. He walked our group through a ghost town. Not a person in sight.
We went from home to home, bearing witness to Hamas’s unthinkable savagery and destruction. I was about to enter a home that had laundry and children’s toys strewn across the yard, when I saw four pictures on the front door—it was the home of the Bibas family: a couple in their 30s with two sons, nine months and four years old at the time of their abduction. The Bibas’ baby boy, Kfir, was the youngest hostage taken on that horrific day and became one of the faces of October 7, his image replicated in posters, social-media posts, and news articles around the globe. And here I stood in front of the family’s torched home. Nine months later, Hamas returned the bodies of the two Bibas children and, eventually, their mother, Shiri. When I learned of this tragedy, I cried, thinking back to that moment in front of the Bibas’ home and what Shiri and her two babies must have gone through in captivity, as well as the unimaginable loss her husband faced upon his release.
Last July, as we toured the devastation of Nir Oz, our guide wept. I asked him how he has been surviving. He told us through his tears that in the days, weeks, and months following the attacks, the government of Israel was not there for him or his fellow survivors. However, Federation was. Coincidentally, JFNA President and CEO Eric Fingerhut happened to be in Israel on October 7. Within hours of the attack, he pulled out his JFNA checkbook to pay for aid — feeding the survivors, clothing them, housing them. They had fled with nothing and their needs were immediate, so Eric acted immediately. According to Nir, Federation, through its partner agencies like the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) and Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), was there for the survivors when the government was absent. In fact, at the time of our visit, they were still waiting for governmental support. Though this was hard to believe, I was hearing it directly from those who experienced it as their everyday reality. However, as a development professional, I walked away with a positive and actionable realization: The act of giving is holy and has a real impact. The more than $7 million dollars raised from Greater Hartford and over $800 million from JFNA speaks to that. We are coming to the aid of real people with real needs. I know this to be true because I witnessed it firsthand.
Many of you have asked me what we can do to support our brothers and sisters in Israel, and as I looked out over the Atlantic as we flew back to America, three actions came to mind:
Visit Israel: Many people in Israel depend on tourism for their livelihood, and their families and businesses have suffered financially in the wake of October 7. When we visit, we help support the Israeli economy and the many families struggling financially. Of course, be sure that you are visiting at a time when it is safe to do so. It is also important to bear witness, to meet those impacted, and to hear their stories.
Give what you can: When we donate to Federation, we support education and advocacy for Israel at home, support for our brothers and sisters in Israel, and help to combat rising antisemitism and address community security in the wake of the October 7 attacks. I’ve seen where our funding goes. I’ve met people in the most vulnerable time of their lives for whom our support continues to be a lifeline.
Pray: Pray for the safe return of the remaining hostages, as well as those physically, emotionally, and financially impacted by the war.
Returning from this trip, I have never felt more proud to be Jewish. We are part of a community where caring for one another, whether friend or stranger, is woven into the fabric of our Jewish values. Today, Jews around the world are facing hardships, and I have no doubt that we will continue to meet this moment of need, both here in Greater Hartford and around the world.