Rise to the moment with courage, generosity, and heart

With the arrival of Super Tzedakah Week on June 1, Jewish Federation of the Berkshires is proud to launch its 2025 Community Campaign. This annual fundraising campaign fuels the vital programs, services, and community-building initiatives that sustain and strengthen Jewish life across the Berkshires and around the world.

“Jewish Federation of the Berkshires is being called upon like never before — to lead, respond, and act.” says Federation President Arlene D. Schiff. “Your support is critical to helping us care for the most vulnerable, defend against hate, and keep our Jewish values and traditions alive for the next generation.”

As part of the campaign kickoff, Federation will host Jewish Community Day on Sunday, June 1, at High Lawn Farms in Lee starting at 1 p.m. Last year’s event drew nearly 500 attendees for an afternoon of fun, food, and celebration. Bring your family, bring your friends, and bring your ruach (spirit)! This is an afternoon not to be missed, and a beautiful expression of what makes our community strong — connection, celebration, and shared purpose. See the article below with all the details.  

As part of the campaign launch, Federation is working to address the growing food crisis in the Berkshires through a Pasta and Rice Collection, running throughout the month of May. Donated packages of pasta and rice will be distributed to local food pantries — a simple yet powerful act of tzedakah that reflects our collective commitment to justice and care for all.

Drop off packaged pasta and rice for distribution to local food pantries at: The Berkshire Food Co-op, Great Barrington; Hevreh of Southern Berkshire, Great Barrington; Jewish Federation of the Berkshires, Pittsfield; and Congregation Beth Israel, North Adams.

PLEASE DONATE TO THE 2025 ANNUAL CAMPAIGN! 

This year’s campaign comes at a time of heightened urgency. As antisemitism rises both globally and locally, and Israel faces ongoing threats, the need to invest in a secure, resilient, and joyful Jewish future has never been more pressing. This year the Federation’s annual campaign calls on every member of the community to stretch beyond the usual and invest in a Jewish future filled with joy, hope, and resilience:

Federation’s 2025 campaign goal is $1.3 million. Through your gift to the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires:

• YOU combat antisemitism through advocacy and response, victim support, awareness campaigns, and anti-bias education for local students and faculty to help them address and respond to antisemitic events and bias in their schools.
• YOU empower Jewish identity for young people through PJ Library books, family programming, Jewish education grants, volunteer opportunities, and Jewish camp and Israel scholarships.
• YOU bring hope and dignity to the elderly with warm meals, holiday care packages, companionship, and the support of our community social worker.  
• YOU create a safer community through community security grants, training, and engagement with local and regional law enforcement
• YOU care for the fragile and vulnerable by providing much-needed food, medicine, medical care, and social services.
• YOU unite community in Jewish learning and celebration through educational, holiday, and cultural programs.
• YOU strengthen our relationship with Israel through our partnership with the Afula-Gilboa region.
• And in this time of crises in Israel and Ukraine, YOU save lives through Federation’s immediate SOS response, including emergency fundraising and ongoing Israel education and advocacy.

Your support of Jewish Federation of the Berkshires ensures all this — and so much more

"This Federation has always stood at the forefront in guiding our community through every challenge—and there have been many in recent years," says Executive Director Dara Kaufman. "To ensure a secure, compassionate, and vibrant Jewish future for the Berkshires, we must all rise to the moment and show up with courage, generosity, and heart."

Every program. Every life touched. Every step forward — it all begins with you. To learn more about how you can make a difference and support the 2025 Community Campaign, please see the campaign flyer inside this issue of the Berkshire Jewish Voice.

A Time to Stretch – Super Tzedakah Week Co-Chairs Leslie and Roy Kozupsky

Leslie and Roy Kozupsky of Stockbridge have stepped up as co-chairs for the Super Tzedakah Week annual campaign kickoff in part to share a message about how Federation and this Jewish community might prepare institutionally and financially for the future, but also to share their deep concern for the challenges facing us in this time of crisis.

“This is not the time to be complacent,” says Roy, emphasizing the urgency of the moment. "It’s a time we all need to stretch ourselves however we can – whether financially or through volunteering. Whatever it is, do something more, because this is not an ordinary time in history.”

Since October 7, 2023, Roy has volunteered with the IDF through Sar-El, a program that places volunteers in service roles across Israel. His experience on a remote military base left him reflecting on the impact of seemingly small contributions, like his volunteering on the base. One day, he shared his doubts with an older soldier who turned out to be a high-ranking officer. He assured Roy that volunteers and their amazing work was valuable to the country. That every action, no matter how small, is of great value. "Small efforts matter in life," Roy reflects. "They become cumulative, somewhat contagious, and have a wider impact."

Leslie sees this as a crucial time to prepare both institutionally and financially for the future. She believes that now more than ever, we must invest in the Jewish community's growth and resilience. “After moving here full-time and working at Federation, I became immersed in all the incredible programs it offers. Starting with PJ Library for children and families to scholarships for camps and Israel trips all the way through to programs and services for older adults, this Federation is ‘the Little Engine That Could.’ Federation is very proactive, it responds quickly, and there aren't a lot of layers. With the leadership Federation has, it can quickly ascertain what has to be done, whether there are needs within the community or abroad – things happen quickly and methodically and solutions always make the most of the resources we have available, despite the small size and budget of the community.”

For Leslie, philanthropy was inherited through her family’s history and the activism of parents in Jewish community affairs both here in America and in Israel. Leslie’s parents were Henry and Beate Voremberg, of blessed memory – long-time members of our community will remember their passionate support for local Jewish youth and education, as well as their involvement with Jewish Theological Seminary, the New Israel Fund, JCC, and many other worthy Jewish initiatives in America and in Israel. 

“I think the biggest influence in my life was my parents and their history,” she says. “And it was a very sad history in the sense that they were both survivors, German Jews. My father watched Kristallnacht from his family’s balcony in Frankfurt and spent many years of his life speaking about the dangers of antisemitism to students. When he arrived in this country, alone as a young man leaving his parents behind, he had little money. My mom was thrown out of school when she was 13 years old, left a little German town when she was roughly 15 by herself, went to England where she worked as a maid chopping wood, and then finally came to America.” She was never to see her parents again – they perished in the Shoah.

What the couple accomplished locally in the Berkshires was merely a continuation of the substantial contributions they made wherever they lived. Leslie characterizes her parents as self-effacing, and that it was only after their passing that she and her brother found out about the full impact of their philanthropic initiatives.

When the Vorembergs arrived in the Berkshires, they didn’t know anyone, Leslie recalls, adding that “through getting involved with the Federation they became active in the Jewish community here.”

Leslie herself worked as Federation’s development director after she and Roy moved full-time to the Berkshires from New York City. She has stayed deeply involved with Federation, serving on the board and development committee and now as Super Tzedakah Week co-chair with Roy.

Roy’s commitment to his Jewish identity and to his awareness of the importance of Jewish philanthropy came from a chance to live and work in Israel for two years beginning in 1978. He worked at the Israel Tennis Center as a coach in one of the most successful non-profit organizations in Israel focusing on children. It was there that he learned the importance of philanthropic initiatives and how they could be carried out sometimes against large obstacles. And of course, living in Israel, “changed my life and made me think about what it meant to be a Jew.”

A key part of his experience was seeing how spending money to establish a quality sports program for young people in Israel was another way of building a Jewish future – not as vital, perhaps, as building a school or hospital, but as a way of creating a richer Jewish community through non-traditional means. 

Ultimately, that tennis program was Roy’s entrée into working in the non-profit sector. After law school, his legal practice ultimately focused on family legacy planning and Jewish philanthropy. “I've been involved from small to major projects and witnessed how people think about their family’s personal legacy and giving away their (usually) hard earned capital,” he says. “What is the value of money? What is its purpose? And what type of legacy can families envision if they plan carefully with their philanthropic bucket of capital? I have deep respect for dreaming about ideas that, with a little work, can be actualized.”

Roy adds: “I believe there is a great opportunity now, nothing more important, then for us all to contribute to making this a stronger Jewish community with even more resources.”

Both Roy and Leslie feel that the future will not simply be to get Jewish people to come to the Berkshires, but to get Jewish people to think about coming to the Berkshires and to become active in Jewish life. Leslie stresses the importance of supporting the existing Jewish infrastructure as much as possible not only by participating in familiar Federation programs like Knosh & Knowledge, but also stretching oneself by perhaps attending an event like Newish & Jewish, which brings together full-time and seasonal residents who have just arrived in the Berkshires.

Roy noted: “This Federation punches above its weight. It does so much with what it has and provides so much of what Jews in the Berkshires need and want from a Jewish community. But I remain convinced we can even do more and have an even wider impact. But that requires that Federation receive even greater support, whether you live here full-time or only part of the year.” 

Summing up, Roy adds: “Like all exceptional organizations, Federation has a long history of outstanding board members and leadership. If we empower these leaders to do greater things, then there is little doubt in my mind that these dreams will come to fruition.”