){kind=link}
Samantha Holzer, 27, grew up in Pittsburgh’s well-known Squirrel Hill Jewish community. It was a connected area, with Jewish businesses, a JCC and synagogues along and around Forbes Avenue. (It still is.)
Upon moving to Philadelphia’s Graduate Hospital neighborhood a year after graduating from Ohio University, Holzer quickly realized that the Greater Philadelphia Jewish community is a little different. It’s spread out, in pockets; vibrant, active pockets, to be sure; but pockets nonetheless.
There’s Center City, Old York Road and Northeast Philly, to name a few. Actually, those are the three that Holzer, now a community engagement manager for the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, is working to connect.
The Federation has tasked Holzer with overseeing the respective kehillot in those three areas, as part of a wider network of eight kehillot across the region. In the Federation’s system, two managers, including Holzer, oversee three areas. Two others handle the remaining two.
Holzer said it’s “a lot of ground to cover,” but it’s worth her time.
“I just want to give back to the community that shaped me. I think it’s important for my generation to be committed in the way our parents were,” she said.
Holzer grew up in a Conservative Jewish household, attending Congregation Beth Shalom in Squirrel Hill. Her family kept a kosher-style kitchen, though they did bring in non-kosher food. She also attended religious school and Jewish summer camp, and she kept a close circle of Jewish friends.
By her teen years, the Pittsburgh native started going to the Friendship Circle for mitzvah classes before her bat mitzvah. After that, she got involved with the nonprofit organization that partners teenage volunteers with individuals with special needs for social, recreational and educational programs.
When she got to Ohio University, Holzer noticed that there were few Jews around, but a friend from Pittsburgh told her about Ohio University Chabad. It had a presence on campus that offered Shabbat dinners, Jewish classes and social events, according to jewishbobcats.com.
Holzer turned the Chabad house into her home on campus, bringing non-Jewish friends for Shabbat dinners and babysitting for the couple, Rabbi Levi and Chanee Raichik, who ran it.
“We all kind of just hung out there,” she said.
Holzer got her degree in child and family studies, and when she graduated, she reached back out to the Friendship Circle in Pittsburgh. One of its founders told her there was an opening in Philly, and made the connection. Holzer applied for the role of program coordinator, got the job and spent the first four years of her career organizing the same programming that she once participated in as a teenager.
A September blog post on jewishphilly.org, announcing her new role at the Federation, relayed that Holzer had led about 100 programs a year for the Philly Friendship Circle, including the Sunday Circle program, “a two-hour, weekly activity-based program for children with special needs and their neurotypical peers.”
She applied for the role at the Federation to expand her “mission-based work,” as she described it.
“I am super excited about this next chapter, to grow, challenge myself and make meaningful connections in the Kehillot I’ll be working with,” Holzer said in the blog post. “These past few years have been especially challenging for Jewish people. Being a part of something bigger, that inspires leadership, connection and a sense of belonging here in Philadelphia, is what really excites me.”
But it is a challenge. The Federation only brought back its kehillot system four years ago, so there’s not much collaboration between institutions in Old York Road and the Northeast. (Center City has more.) Holzer and the Federation are encouraging more collaboration.
That’s why she’s spending her first year on the job just talking to people. Her goals are to identify potential lay leaders in the communities and to help the institutions fulfill their needs, like security.
“Identifying individuals who want to take on roles and providing them with the resources to strengthen the leadership pipeline from within, so our Jewish communities can have these really strong leaders,” she explained.
She is also working to identify specific characteristics within each kehillah.
Old York Road has an aging population, but synagogues want to make sure their congregations are still engaged.
“How can we make sure Jewish life is still a constant in their lives?” Holzer asked.
Center City has a young adult population that wants to engage, but not necessarily at synagogues.
“There are so many other opportunities to be Jewish, socially, and in whatever way speaks to you,” she said.
The Northeast has growing Orthodox and immigrant populations. Holzer has also quickly figured out that KleinLife, led by CEO Andre Krug, is in many ways the heartbeat of the community.
“KleinLife is doing amazing work out there,” she said.
Long term, Holzer wants the leaders in these communities to call her when they need something, so she can connect them with the people and resources that can help. She also hopes to build connections between the institutions within each kehillah and between the kehillot.
“How do we interconnect them?” she asked.