PHOTO: Jewish Federations of North America President and CEO Eric Fingerhut speaks at the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland's Cornerstone fundraiser Wednesday, Sept. 11. (Rockne Roll/The Jewish Review)

By ROCKNE ROLL
The Jewish Review
“You don’t build a fire department when the house is on fire,” Jewish Federations of North America President and CEO Eric Fingerhut told a group of donors at the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland’s Cornerstone fundraiser Wednesday, Sept. 11. “You must already have a functioning fire department.”
Fingerhut complimented the 90 assembled donors by explaining that the Jewish Federation they support is much like a fire department – not in the sense of the tasks it accomplishes, but as a mark of a community that is invested in the wellbeing of its members and the world around it. 
“A community coming together to do something as critical as building a fire service is a community that also comes together to educate its children and to care for its elderly and to care for its needy, and to do all of the important things that a community must do,” Fingerhut explained. “Because the fact that you have a fire department gives people confidence to live in community. It makes people want to be part of that community. That’s what you are all doing for this incredible Jewish community of Portland, because of the work of your federation, because of the contributions that each of you make, we’re able to function day to day as a flourishing community.”
A key function of a community – any community – is security. The gravity of those security needs became clear after the Tree of Life shooting in October of 2018. At that point, just a handful of North America’s 145 Jewish Federations had a professionally led security program through Secure Communities Network. Portland was one of the early adopters of that program – a program which, Fingerhut said, now encompasses every Jewish Federation on this continent. 
“You didn’t do it just to respond to a threat. You did it so that people would know that because you have it, it’s safe to take your child to the JCC and drop them off at the preschool. It’s safe to take them to the synagogue and drop them off for their bar and bat mitzvah lessons. It’s safe to participate in communal activities in public,” he said. “You could not have Jewish life if you hadn’t done what you did to build the communal security infrastructure. That’s the purpose of the fire department-- not just to put out a fire, it’s to make sure that people know that it’s safe to be here.”
While the success of community security efforts has been incredible, the next challenge lies ahead, Fingerhut explained. 
“I believe Oct. 7 is going to be to the world of civic engagement for the Jewish community what the Tree of Life shooting was to security, meaning we’ve woken up to realize that even though we have great relationships in the community,” he continued, “despite that good work, it’s not enough.”
Fingerhut, who has previously been a Member of Congress from Ohio, the Chancellor of Ohio’s public university system, and the president of Hillel International, can speak with experience on the topic. But this effort will take more than contributions, he said, and more than the advocacy taking place in front of school boards, city governments and even in the halls of Congress where he used to work. The engagement Fingerhut spoke of is granular, personal. 
“We’re going to have to realize that we have to talk to our business associates and community associates about what’s happening. We’re going to have to ensure that antisemitism does not become normalized, that people that hold these positions are not allowed into positions of responsibility in our civic life,” he said. 
And just as the Jewish community must engage outward, he said, it must be present for its own. The months following Oct. 7 have seen record increases in Jews engaging with their own communities – people who didn’t feel the need for connection to Jewish life are having second thoughts. 
“We don’t live on Walden Pond. We don’t live on mountain tops. We don’t go out off by ourselves into the woods,” Fingerhut said of the Jewish people. “We live in community. We celebrate in a community; it takes 10 people, in Jewish tradition, to get married. We mourn as a community; it takes 10 people, by Jewish tradition, to bury someone. We support each other as a community. We work together. We are a community. It’s the essential building block.”
Fingerhut took a moment to compliment Portland’s community leadership. 
“By the way, do you know how respected [JFGP President and CEO Marc Blattner] is not just in here in Portland, but also in the entire Federation system?” Fingerhut asked “He is known across the Jewish world for his leadership and his skill and his judgment and his positive approach to life and energy and working collaboratively with everybody.”
JFGP Chief Community Relations and Public Affairs Officer Bob Horenstein, Fingerhut said, “is one of the best known and respected anywhere in the country.”
He also talked about how Jewish Federations, through JFNA, support the Jewish community outside North America. He recalled a trip with the committee allocating JFNA’s Israel Emergency Fund to Israel, including a visit to one of the kibbutzim that Hamas attacked. The terrorists’ work went far beyond killing.
“They burnt the shed with all the tractors and all the seeding machines,” he recalled. “They went into the fields, and they cut the irrigation. They put poison in the fields.”
It had been calculated that it would take the equivalent of $25 million to get everything repaired, replaced and ready for the next crop planting. The Israeli government was contributing half. At stake was Israel’s ability to feed itself. Fingerhut said the committee voted on the bus back to the hotel to cover the other half. 
“Our connection to Israel isn’t just the people, it’s also the land. It’s the land of Israel. It’s Eretz Israel,” he said. “I want you to know that every one of you, your hands are literally in the soil of the State of Israel right now as part of this year’s planting on these kibbutzim, because of what you did as part of The Israel Emergency Campaign.”
A good fire department can respond to multiple emergencies at once – as have Jewish Federations. Fingerhut explained since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Federations have provided over $100 million to support Ukrainian Jewish communities. 
“There are nights when the Jewish institutions in Ukraine are the only place where there’s electricity, because of the support of the Jewish community,” he said.
Sixteen miles from Ukraine is the Polish town of Chelm, the origin place of the famous stories of the “Wise Men of Chelm.” Fingerhut told one of these “wise men” stories to his audience, explaining that as two of these men were walking down a road, it began to rain. One was carrying an umbrella but didn’t open it – he told his companion that the umbrella had holes in it, and he only brought it because it wasn’t supposed to rain. 
“Friends, we can’t afford to have umbrellas with holes in them,” he said.
And while Portlanders famously have little use for umbrellas of any kind, the community’s metaphorical umbrella is up for its task. 
“We will succeed because our umbrellas don’t hold have holes in them,” he said. “We will succeed because we stand together as a community.”