Federation recognized for synagogue relations

The Jewish Federation of Princeton Mercer Bucks has been recognized for “meritorious cooperation and mutual support” in the furtherance of Outstanding Federation-Synagogue Partnerships by the Union for Reform Judaism.

PMB was one of 10 federations nationwide to be cited in December by the URJ’s Synagogue-Federation Relations Committee.

URJ’s biennial Shutafim (Cooperation) Award went to the UJA-Federation of New York, the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston, and the Jewish Federation of Western Massachusetts.

“All of us are extremely honored, and we bask in the federation’s accomplishments,” said Rabbi Stuart Pollack, religious leader of Har Sinai Temple in Pennington and president of the PMB Board of Rabbis. “The federation has been an amazing support system for programming throughout the area financially, as well as giving us their own staff and resources. The citation is well-deserved,” Pollack said in a Feb. 15 phone interview.

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Laurence Kaufman, committee chair during the award process, said in a statement, “These Jewish federations are being honored not for what the federation has done for the congregations, but for what these strong partnerships between the two most important institutions in American-Jewish life — the synagogue and the federation — have and will accomplish.”

Communities being considered for Shutafim recognition are selected through an open nominations process. The judges consider examples of real collaboration between the federation and its synagogue community, seeking evidence that the federation shares community resources with the synagogue community, which in turn supports federation projects and activities and ensure that communication between the synagogue community and the federation is ongoing and frequent.

“We are very proud to be recognized by the Union for Reform Judaism because we have been reaching out to form genuine partnerships with the synagogues in our community,” said Andrew Frank, executive director of the federation.

“It is a mutually reinforcing and symbiotic relationship that accrues to the benefit of us all,” Frank told NJ Jewish News. “We have an extraordinary group of community-minded rabbis and educators in our community. It has been a privilege to work with them.”