A New Year's Message
L'Shanah Tova

As the Jewish New Year is upon us, we wanted to wish those who celebrate a happy, peaceful and most prosperous New Year. Jewish tradition teaches us that the fall holidays represent a season of renewal. The New Year provides us with an opportunity to start fresh, to develop both a personal and communal plan for new commitments and finally to ask for forgiveness for any transgressions made during the past year.

As you all know, we at the Network of Jewish Human Service Agencies are very much going through a period of renewal. Building upon the legacies established by both the Association of Jewish Family and Children's Agencies (AJFCA) and the International Association of Jewish Vocational Service Agencies (IAJVS), our newly established Network (NJHSA) has established a bold, fresh and much needed vision; to become the go-to resource for the Jewish human service sector, driving and guiding our field to ensure the delivery of best practices, quality services, advocacy and innovation.

This is also the time to seek forgiveness for our actions which caused offense. The pace of change has been swift and we apologize if we've offended or confused anyone with our efforts. We hope you will agree that since our launch in May, we've truly hit the ground running.  A few highlights include:

While there are more accomplishments to note and much more work to be done, the past few weeks have truly put our Network to the test.  We are proud to say that together we rose to the occasion. Within minutes of circulating our initial request for social work volunteers to staff a Network established Emergency Support Line for those impacted by Hurricane Harvey, we already had several days covered with a team prepared to provide an immediate response. Fast forward a few days, our team grew to include social workers from JFS Dallas and JFS Austin who are now sending social workers to JFS Houston to provide on-site services. We have also been in dialogue with member agencies who suffered through Hurricane Irma, working with them to ensure they have the resources to support their communities.

The ongoing work of our sector is complex and ever changing. As a Network of Human Service providers, we operate in an industry that can at times be complex. Governments can issue policies that challenge our work, clients can present situations that can stretch the capacity of one agency alone.  But, as a Network, as a strong, responsive and creative team, we can meet these challenges. We look forward to working with each of you in the coming year to continue our efforts to build and strengthen our Jewish Human Service sector.

Wishing us all only the very best for the coming New Year,

June Gutterman and Jim Kahn, Co-Chairs

Reuben D. Rotman, President & CEO