World Jewish Relief is an organization that does just what its name says: helps vulnerable people across the world who are impoverished, under attack or threatened by natural disaster, guided in this work by Jewish values.
And as of this month, the British organization’s new executive director of its United States branch is a Jewish Philadelphian. David Weisberg was named to the position in mid-January, and he said that he is excited to make a tangible change in the lives of others.
“I learned about World Jewish Relief for the first time just a few years ago. I’ve spent most of my 35-year career in Jewish communal service, running Jewish federations and other national Jewish organizations, but really first became aware of World Jewish Relief when it decided to open an arm in the United States just a few years ago, and really felt that World Jewish Relief offered something unique in the philanthropic landscape in the United States for Jews who are looking to make an impact,” Weisberg said.
When Weisberg learned recently that the organization had an opening, he decided that it was something he wanted to pursue.
“I feel honored and privileged that I was chosen to build this organization here in the U.S.,” he said.
Prior to this role, Weisberg served as chief development officer at the Mazzoni Center, an LGBTQ+ nonprofit health care provider, and CEO of the Federation for Jewish Philanthropy of Upper Fairfield County.
“I started out in local government as a town manager,” Weisberg said. “When I was 29, I went back to my hometown of Harrisburg and became the director of the Jewish federation in Harrisburg, and it was such a profound opportunity to be able to go back to the community that had such a formative effect on me and lead [it] and make sure that it could have the same formative effect on others.”
That kick-started Weisberg’s life in Jewish professional work, which has been his focus for the last two and a half decades. Weisberg said that World Jewish Relief USA is a particularly good landing spot for him because the organization’s values are closely aligned with his own. He cited the three questions asked by Hillel the Elder as an example of something that both he and the organization value: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, when?”
“The CEO has those questions placed on his wall. I think it’s really easy to become insular when we see our own community being targeted — when we see a growth in antisemitism — [but] World Jewish Relief has a very firm commitment, not only to help Jews, but to help all people in crisis with an equal sense of urgency,” Weisberg said.
He added that he appreciates that World Jewish Relief is committed to apolitical humanitarianism.
“Even though I’m a person who has strong political beliefs, if my urge to express my own political positions turns away one donor who would have helped to put food on someone’s table or a roof over someone’s head, I’ve undermined the job that I’m trying to do,” Weisberg said. “And so, to work with an organization that’s committed to being apolitical in its humanitarian approach very much aligns with my values.”
Another quality that attracted Weisberg was the organization’s structure. World Jewish Relief is primarily concerned with helping as many people as possible with the funds it has available.
“When I went to visit the World Jewish Relief offices for the first time in November in England and saw that they were in a building in a residential neighborhood and not in a sparkling high-rise on the banks of the Thames, I knew that this is the kind of organization that I want to be a part of: one that really lovingly and thoughtfully stewards the generosity of our donors to make sure that we’re making the greatest impact,” Weisberg said.
As of now, Weisberg described the World Jewish Relief USA team as consisting of people “sitting in the chair that I’m sitting in right now,” which is to say, just him. He said that the support system of 60 to 80 people in the United Kingdom will offer as much assistance as it can, and that the organization has more than enough manpower and resources as a whole to make an impact in the United States.
Weisberg is a Philadelphian through and through, and said it gives him a lot of pride knowing that the United States headquarters of the organization will be in the City of Brotherly Love.
“I think it makes sense, not only geographically, [but because] Philadelphia is within two or three hours of travel distance from a third of the Jewish population of the entire United States,” he said.
It makes sense logistically, but it also makes sense culturally, according to Weisberg.
“I think that World Jewish Relief and its values are values that very much align with the values of the city of Philadelphia. Our country was born here based on principles of representation and equality of opportunity and pursuit of happiness. These are the kind of values that World Jewish Relief is helping to support around the world. And so it just makes such great sense that we’re going to start building our community of support here in Philadelphia,” he said.