By Steve Hunegs
Executive Director

May 29, 2026

Our work would not be possible without the leadership, service, and dedication of our board and staff.

We are especially grateful to our indefatigable Board President, Jacy Grais, who has agreed to serve a third year; to Bob Aronson, who has stepped forward to succeed Jacy; to Jon Parritz, our immediate past president; and to our Executive Committee and Board. Your commitment to JCRC and the community strengthens every aspect of our work.

For twenty years, I have had the great privilege of leading a staff of talented and devoted professionals. Because in so many ways we have become a family, staff transitions are always bittersweet.

This past April, Sami Rahamim made aliyah, aligning himself directly with the destiny of the Jewish people and bringing full circle his father’s family journey from Iran to Israel in 1948. Sami’s deep understanding of Zionism, combined with his extraordinary writing ability, made him a powerful advocate. From his years as a student leader at the University of Minnesota to nearly a decade on our staff, Sami has led with thoughtfulness, integrity, and passion. We know these qualities will serve him well as he builds his new life in Israel.

We also extend our deep gratitude to Lisa Ferrier, who has led our annual event team for the past decade and served as Director of Business Operations since 2023. Lisa’s warmth, professionalism, organization, and steady leadership have contributed enormously to JCRC’s success. She created a welcoming environment for new friends and longtime partners alike, and her dependability and attention to detail strengthened our work in countless ways. JCRC is better because of Lisa Ferrier.

Though Sami and Lisa will be greatly missed, we are excited that Julia Fromstein joined our team last December, that Johnna Parks joined us in May, and grateful that Pat King succeeded Lisa as our Director of Business Operations.

To all our generous donors: thank you. Your support enables us to meet this moment together.

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As I reflect on the past year, I recognize that my gratitude extends far beyond those marking leadership transitions within our staff and lay leadership.  I find myself returning to 2020, when legendary StarTribune sports columnist Sid Hartman died. To mark his passing, I wrote a piece for TC Jewfolk noting that Sid’s pointillism came in black and white — through the boldfaced names of sports personalities he referenced. I will follow Sid’s motif in my own recognition—far from exhaustive—of additional friends with whom the JCRC has worked closely with this year, and of those who have impacted the work we do. Bear with me. 

I want to start by offering a mazel tov to former JCRC board member Allen Saeks and Linda Saeks on the 10th anniversary of the creation of the Saeks Public Interest Residency Program which was celebrated in May. High achieving 3L students at the University of Minnesota Law School receive an “immersive, full-time experience with leading nonprofit and government organizations.” There have been more than 70 Saeks Fellows, each of whom have had tremendous impact in their communities. 

So much of the work we do at JCRC centers around supporting K-12 districts in educating students about Judaism, Jewish peoplehood, Israel, the Holocaust, and supporting districts in addressing issues of antisemitism that arise in their schools. We are grateful to retiring Wayzata School Superintendent Chace Anderson, who has been an ever-available advisor, sharing his wise counsel about Twin Cities suburban schools and public education throughout Minnesota. We also want to recognize retiring Blake Head of School—Anne Stavney—with whom we worked closely to provide presentations for faculty and administration in the months after 10/7. We recognized Anne during the 2024 Annual Event and know that the Blake community continues to benefit from her leadership. 

In addition to working directly with educators across our region, we also provide our young people with the tools to lead, teach, and advocate for themselves. The JCRC Youth Fellowship for Jewish Identity and Leadership empowers Jewish high school Juniors and seniors to explore and embrace their history, develop leadership skills, and cultivate a deep sense of pride, meaning and joy in their Jewish identity. Mazel Tov to its 2025-2026 graduates. 

The Ko’ach Political Advocacy Fellowship extends this educational impulse to campus. This goal of the fellowship is to assist college students with building skills; relationships; and strength to advocate effectively for an improved campus climate. Fellows met with 13 stakeholders including elected officials, University Presidents, members of the Board of Regents, faculty members, and leaders in various University departments and centers. Mazel tov to all the fellows who participated! 

For more than 25 years, the JCRC has organized a day trip to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. This year’s participants included the following schools and universities: Centennial High School; Minnesota State University-Mankato; Milaca High School; Minnesota Hillel; Eagle Ridge Academy; St. Cloud State University; Minneapolis South High School and St. Cloud Technical Community College. Also participating was our 2026 Courage to Teach Award winner Monica David from Breck High School. The day trip also includes a police/first responder/military cohort: Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension; Mendota Heights Police Department; Minnesota National Guard; St. Louis Park Police Department; Minnetonka Fire Department and the Minneapolis Police Department. 

We provide a special docent-led tour for the police/first responder/military contingent of the trip. The docent focuses on the ways Nazi Germany suborned its military and police to consolidate its power in the Third Reich and operationalized these forces to perpetrate the Shoah. We are very proud and thankful for this year’s docent, Eli Rosenbaum. Eli has been the world’s longest-serving investigator and prosecutor of war criminals. He retired in January 2024 after a 38-year career at the Department of Justice. Under his leadership as the Director of the Justice Department’s Office of Special Investigation from 1995 to 2010, his office won more cases against World War ll Nazi war criminals then did the governments of the rest of the world combined. Eli was joined by his friend—Tom McIntyre, a former Justice Department colleague and volunteer docent at the USHMM. They were a remarkable team on behalf of the community on April 28.   

CW3 David Bendickson of the Minnesota National Guard commented on Eli and the USHMM experience: “It was powerful hearing him explain how he knew some of the people featured in the museum. I will use lessons learned here in the materials they will be sending in our state’s Warrant Officer Candidate School. People need to understand it can happen again and the only thing stopping this from reoccurring is eternal vigilance.” To extend the observation of CW3 Bendickson, we are living in a time of social media and AI accelerated destruction of the truth; moral inversion; the reduction of attention spans and capacity to analyze and think rationally—all of which elevates Jew-hatred and is a salient threat to American democracy. A free people will struggle to endure in an era of disinformation. More positively, we need to support and patronize institutions committed to telling the American story—honestly, factually and patriotically, keeping in mind both the glories and the struggles of American history. 

The Minnesota Military & Veterans Museum (“MM & VM”) will open its new facility in September 2026. Make the trip. Hopefully—some day—the museum will have an exhibit honoring Minnesota liberators of concentration camps. Mazel Tov to the MM & VM’s Executive Director Randal Dietrich for his indomitably leading the way to completion. From north central Minnesota you can travel to southwest Minnesota—Granite Falls—and tour the Fagen Fighters World War ll Museum. Proprietors and philanthropists Diane and Ron Fagen are committed to teaching about the Holocaust which includes among other things a multi-media exhibit about the life and art of Judy Baron, z’’l. Locally you can stay in-town and hear an author’s lecture at the Minnesota History Center multiple times a year from the Harold C Deutsch World War ll Roundtable. Few have advanced World War ll education in the Upper Midwest as Col. (Ret.) Don Patton—the incredible moving spirit of the Roundtable. Celebrate America’s 250th anniversary by supporting these remarkable educational institutions.  

Dedication comes in many forms. Endurance is often the key. Our entire community should express its thanks to the St. Paul Vigilists who lined Snelling Avenue south of I-94 to remind the east metro and beyond of the hostages taken by the genocidal-motivated mass terrorism of 10/7/23. For month after month on every Friday (down the block from often bellicose pro-Hamas demonstrators) our Vigilists stood proudly for the hostages; for the United States; for Israel; and for the United States-Israel relationship—through all weather conditions. They manned their stations until all of the hostages were released. Thank you to: Jim Strohm; Leslie Strohm; Alison Savin; Jessica Ostrov; Rick Hotchner; Ted Flaum; Tagore Pathak; Abby Heukendorf; Stephanie Clark; Beth Friend; Andy Fein; Dee Albert; Rebecca Povarchuk; Sheldon Berkowitz; Michael Lorman; Paul Applebaum; Elaine DuFresne and Michelle Shamash. There may be names missing from the list. Thank you to all who participated.  

Looking back, it is hard to believe just how many people have contributed to the success of JCRC this year. Thank you again to our staff, lay leaders, donors, supporters, partners, and allies. I look forward to continuing to work together with all of you to address the ongoing challenges of our time.  

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