MARC BAKER: CJP PRESIDENT AND CEO

Mental Health During COVID-19 REMARKS

Hi I’m Marc Baker, President and CEO of Combined Jewish Philanthropies. And I am so glad that you’re here with us tonight.

Tonight is our third and final program focusing on mental health. You’re here tonight because you know that mental health and inclusion are critical issues in our community, and every community.

Social distancing, isolation, loss, the threats posed by an invisible virus and just the general stress of living through a pandemic has only increased the challenges we face.

We’ve explored these challenges and solutions over the past two weeks. And if you missed those programs, we’ll be emailing you a link later this week so you can watch or listen.

But tonight is a little different.

We’ll spend the next hour joining together in song. For those of us who have not heard, today the US hit the staggering number of 100,000 COVID-related deaths. I think we should just let that sink in for a minute.

At a time like this, it can feel like words alone can’t capture our emotions. However, there is a way that song seems to come from a deeper part of ourselves. A place beyond, a place beneath, the words. Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, the great 20th century rabbi and mystic, said that “our souls are always singing.”

It’s just that sometimes we don’t slow down enough or listen carefully enough to hear them.

Well song reminds us that the voice inside each of us is singing even when we can’t hear it. That spark in each of us burns bright even when we can’t see it. When we sing together, when we include every voice, our collective voices create a symphony of possibility and hope. Tonight is a night of song, and it’s a night of hope.

Which is what the Ruderman Synagogue Inclusion Project (RSIP) is all about. Lifting people up. Providing resources to ensure that everyone is included. Helping to ensure that our Jewish institutions live out their Jewish values by making sure that our spiritual community has a place for anyone looking for meaning and connection. RSIP has not only created a model for inclusivity in synagogues, it has brought this issue to the forefront of the conversation about what it means to be a Jewish community where everyone can find a sense of belonging in Jewish life.

And while we still have a long way to go, the project has been a powerful tool for destigmatizing mental health issues. None of this would be possible without the generosity, the leadership, and the reach of the Ruderman Family Foundation.

We owe enormous gratitude to my good friends, Jay Ruderman, Sharon Shapiro, and our next speaker, Shira Ruderman.

Shira is the Executive Director of the Ruderman Foundation. She is a tireless advocate for the inclusion of people with disabilities throughout society (and) for strengthening the relationship between and the American Jewish community and modeling the practice of strategic philanthropy worldwide.

In 2016, she was chosen as one of the 50 most influential Jews in the world. She has devoted her professional life to creating a fair and just society. Shira, you inspire us -- thank you for your leadership and your vision for inclusive Jewish communities here in Greater and around the world.