Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia President and CEO Michael Balaban fights fires for the Penn Wynne-Overbrook Hills Fire Co. in his spare time. There are “multiple Jewish agencies and synagogues in our district,” Balaban said.
The department probably gets 350 calls a year, according to Balaban. The Jewish Federation president is on at least 50% of those.
He appreciates the “concrete” nature of putting fires out, he said.
“You put wet stuff on red stuff. You know when the fire’s out,” Balaban explained.
In that way, it’s different from his day job.
“With the work of fighting antisemitism, you wish you could say you fight it and it’s done,” said Balaban, who lives in Wynnewood.
But that work, unfortunately, is never done.
Balaban understands that well. He has spent 20 years working for Jewish federations in Columbus, Ohio; Rhode Island; Atlanta; Florida; and now Philadelphia. He has served as president and CEO at his last two stops in Florida and Philadelphia.
But he understands it better since Oct. 7. Israel is at war with Hamas and international sentiment. In the United States, antisemitism has risen exponentially.
Balaban is a member of Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel in Center City, where his wife, Lynne, is executive director, talked about the work Jewish Federation has done since he arrived in 2021. He also discussed how it could still improve.
You have been here almost three years. What do you feel are your biggest accomplishments?
I think it boils down to a couple different areas.
The primary one is living our mission: caring for the needs of the Jewish people and working to build a more vibrant Jewish future.
Our response to COVID. The work we’ve done in Ethiopia. Helping Ethiopian Jews make aliyah and the work we did in Ethiopia with the opening of a medical clinic. The work we did on the ground in Ukraine. Our ability to leap into action on Oct. 7.
And when I entered the organization, we were carrying quite the heavy accumulated deficit. We’ve done a tremendous amount of work to reduce that. It was over $34 million when I started. By the end of this calendar year, we should be able to knock that down to $14 million.
A lot of these issues started around real estate. Due to the hard work of our real estate committee, we’ve been able to come to some really innovative approaches. We’ve worked with existing agencies to begin optimizing their usage. (Jack M.) Barrack (Hebrew Academy) is buying theirs. Some tenants will begin extending their leases longer with us.
How many Ethiopian Jews have you helped make aliyah?
A little more than two-and-a-half-years ago, several of us went on a mission to Ethiopia. We had a realization that there were still around 9,000 Ethiopian Jews. In that year, there were approximately 2,500 Ethiopians cleared to make aliyah. The Ethiopian government said they were approved. The Israeli government said they’re clear.
We also realized that there’s going to be community in Gondar, Ethiopia. (Jewish Federation Board Chair) Michael (Markman) came back with the idea of building a medical clinic and very quickly raised the funding and connected to organizations on the ground. With Michael (Markman)’s leadership, the Jewish Federation raised just over $200,000.
In what areas do you feel the Federation can still improve?
I always look at organizations from the perspective of two sides of the coin. One side being preservation and the other side being innovation. Communication and transparency is something you continually need to work on.
We need to raise more dollars. There are a lot of different needs and issues that pull on us, so we constantly have to look to how do we remain focused.
I think the biggest area we can improve on is helping to break down the silos in this community. Whether it’s the nature of Greater Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as a commonwealth, sort of a city-state, we are as a community geographically dispersed.
How would you describe the Philadelphia Jewish community’s response to the Oct. 7 attack and ensuing war?
It’s been amazing, unprecedented. I think it does speak to a community coming together.
Every month, we have a team of Israel and education-focused organizations that gather to take a look at what do we need to do next. And who’s best positioned to do that.
What else does Michael Balaban, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, do when he has a minute to focus on something else?
We try to travel a little as a family.
We have three kids plus one. My son’s married. When we can see them, it’s great. Sometimes, they are here. Sometimes, we visit them.
We spend quite a bit of time back and forth to Israel whether it’s work related or personal. I have two homes: Philly and Israel.
