You Should Know…Sarah Solomon

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Sarah Solomon is a wearing a denim dress and standing in front on an old, white stone building.
Sarah Solomon | Courtesy of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia

While only 36 years old, Sarah Solomon has spent more than a third of her life working at the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia.

Promoted to chief development officer from annual campaign director at the end of September, Solomon oversees how the Jewish Federation raises money to support its programs.

“Each year, we raise money to support the most vulnerable members of our Jewish community and enrich Jewish lives. So we have programs that we support to feed, clothe and shelter Jews that are in need here in Greater Philadelphia, as well as in Israel and around the world. And then also to ensure that our community is thriving for generations to come,” Solomon said. “We support identity- and continuity-building programs that create a deep sense of Jewish community and identity in many different ways.”

Today, living in Center City with her husband and two children, preparing to join Congregation Rodeph Shalom so her oldest son can begin his Hebrew school education, Solomon knows firsthand the importance of wanting to secure the future of Jewish institutions for the next generation.

Young donors want to secure the physical safety of Jewish institutions and engage in challenging conversations about antisemitism, she said. For a generation that doesn’t flock to synagogues the same way its parents did, engaging them in Jewish community requires relationship building.

“Twenty-first century Jewry requires inspired thinking and an awareness of the elements that make Jewish living fun and joyful, rather than obligatory, and strengthening connections to the Jewish community,” Solomon said.

Since Solomon became involved at the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia 14 years ago, she’s noticed development approaches go from “transactional to transformational.” Instead of approaching Jews for donations on an annual basis, the organization has learned to connect with donors on a program that is personal to them. Young donors want to be sure their money is going to projects that come to fruition and reflect their Jewish identity.

When Solomon became a volunteer with Next Gen, a Jewish Federation affinity group for 20- and 30-somethings, she had the same hope in mind.

A Lower Merion native, Solomon grew up attending Main Line Reform Temple and attending URJ Camp Harlam. But after getting a communications degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and joining the corporate ranks at Live Nation Entertainment, she lost connections to her Jewish roots.

Solomon spent a year as a volunteer at Next Gen before becoming a Jewish Federation donor and took a job as development associate at Next Gen before taking positions within Women’s Philanthropy, Major Gifts and the Sharon and Joseph Kestenbaum’s Legacy Philanthropy Program. Not only did she make friends within the Jewish Federation, but she reconnected with the same community that she fell in love with as a child.

As chief development officer, Solomon has ensured other kids get the same summer camp experience she did by growing the Jewish Federation’s summer camp scholarship funds.

“My summers at Camp Harlam were, by far, the most impactful on my life to develop a sense of identity and Jewish values,” she said. “And I think if we can make this possible for all families who want to do the same, that is certainly our goal.”

Solomon also organized last year’s Legacy Philanthropy Program, where 35 donors and their families, spanning four generations, gathered to discuss the Jewish Federation’s philanthropic goals.

“I really don’t know if anything like this has ever taken place anywhere, in terms of having all generations together to talk about the importance of meeting each other and the future of our philanthropy,” Solomon said.

“It was inspiring to have four generations together in one room who have the shared commitment to change the world through their philanthropy,” she said.

On a recent Jewish Federation mission trip to Israel, Solomon saw the impact of the organization’s fundraising work. She met with a mother from Ukraine, who, within hours of war breaking out, was extracted with her son by the Jewish Federation using emergency funds raised by the community. The woman now has a job in Israel, and her son goes to school there.

“The light we have provided to those during their darkest days is certainly something I am most proud of,” she said.

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American Jewish Committee Board Member Accepts Proclamation for Jewish American Heritage Month

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Courtesy of Hilary Levine

American Jewish Committee Philadelphia/Southern New Jersey board member Tammy Hertzbach accepted a proclamation celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month from the City of Chester at a city council meeting on May 10.

Kohelet Yeshiva Educator Receives Award

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Photo by Nachi Troodler

Diane Weintraub, the science department chair and STEM coordinator at Kohelet Yeshiva High School in Lower Merion, received the Citadel Heart of Learning Award on May 2.

Philly Friendship Circle Hosts Gala

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Courtesy of Philly Friendship Circle

On April 30, the Philly Friendship Circle hosted its annual gala at the Hilton Hotel in Philadelphia.

Abrams Hebrew Academy Students Meet with PA Governor Josh Shapiro

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Courtesy of the Abrams Hebrew Academy

Abrams Hebrew Academy students met with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro to advocate for increased funding for security, scholarships and STEM education.

Federation Housing Residents Enjoy Knitting Group

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Courtesy of Debbie Zlotnick

Federation Housing residents enjoyed their knitting group.

Main Line Reform Temple Hosts Concert

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Courtesy of Davida Chornock

Main Line Reform Temple-Beth Elohim hosted the Heart and Music Reunion Concert featuring Cantor Faryn Rudnick and her 2013 Debbie Friedman Sacred School of Music Cantorial Class.

Congregation Temple Beth’El Continues Original Rabbi’s Legacy

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Rabbis Earl and Debra Bowen (Photo by Rachel Kurland)

Debra Bowen was not originally a rabbi. As her profile on Congregation Temple Beth’El’s website explains, she earned her degree in accounting from Temple University, worked for the Internal Revenue Service and General Electric and helped her mother start a day care center for underprivileged children in North Philadelphia.

But after years of study under her mother, Rabbi L.E. Dailey, Bowen “received her ordination,” according to the site. In 2001, when Dailey died, Bowen was chosen to take over leadership of the synagogue that her mother shepherded for 50 years: Congregation Temple Beth’El.

Today, the synagogue on Lowber Avenue in West Oak Lane still fills up for Shabbat services with members who are ready to submit themselves to prayer. Bowen leads the community with her husband, Earl Bowen, also a rabbi after spending his career in another field, academia. Earl Bowen was ordained in 2011.

Their community consists primarily of Black congregants, but also Puerto Ricans, Native Americans and Ashkenazi Jews. Congregation Temple Beth’El was founded on one of Dailey’s guiding beliefs: that African Americans were descendants of Abraham, though they made no exclusive claim to that heritage.

“We were Israelites. The Jewish faith originated as an Afro-Asian orientation. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were of Afro-Asian heritage,” Debra Bowen said. “We understand that this is our heritage. However, we do not claim it as uniquely ours because Judaism has spread all over the world.”

“People say, ‘How could you be a Jew? I say, ‘How could we not?’” she added.

According to a section about her on Beth’El’s website, Dailey grew up in a Baptist home where her father, a minister, gathered “the men of the community” for Saturday Bible study. The future rabbi’s family salted its meats before cooking them, covered mirrors and sat in dark rooms for seven days after deaths in the family and refrained from work and play on their Sabbath, which was Sunday.

As an adult, Dailey moved from Annapolis to Philadelphia to work as “a domestic in a Jewish home,” according to that same website section. She noticed that the family was observing the Sabbath and keeping kosher. It reminded her of her childhood. Dailey felt a connection, started praying and began to practice those same rituals.

As a 2017 Jewish Exponent article on Beth’El explained, Dailey did not believe the connections were coincidental. In her father’s era, “many were rejecting Christianity as a slave religion.” When Dailey’s father died and was buried in a family plot, Bowen noticed that many of the surrounding tombstones had Stars of David on them.

It was this connection that motivated Dailey to start a Jewish prayer group in her living room, according to Beth’El’s website. It grew into Congregation Temple Beth’El. Dailey traveled to nearly every state to spread her message, according to her daughter.

“Eventually many of them moved to Philly and became members of our community,” Debra Bowen said. “As a result of slavery, every Black person that came to this country were converted to Christianity. It sort of begs the question, what was our faith before we were converted? We were all indoctrinated in Christianity. Slaves cannot make choices.”

Rabbi L.E. Dailey was the founder of Congregation Temple Beth’El on Lowber Avenue. (Photo by Rachel Kurland)

That belief may have drawn people in, but it was the spirituality and community that kept them coming back. Hope Pleasant, who lives around the corner from the synagogue, remains a member even though it was her mother, at age 16, who originally joined.

“I love the worship. I love the energy,” she said.

Tangela McClam, who lives in South Jersey, has been a member for more than 30 years. She said that when you miss a Shabbat or two, someone always calls to say they missed you. If you’ve had a baby, another member is going to come to your house to help you out.

“It goes from small, mundane, everyday things to bigger events, life events, birth of children, things like that,” McClam said.

Margaret Sunners, a white woman from Framingham, Massachusetts, belongs to Congregation Temple Beth’El even though she’s also a member at a synagogue near her home. Sunners and her husband, James, met some Beth’El congregants when they attended a service at a Black synagogue during a trip to Chicago.

They had started talking during the Oneg Shabbat, and it made Sunners realize that she was tired of going to synagogues where people “don’t even nod to each other.” The couple took a trip to Philly, attended a service and enjoyed the music and singing.

“I never saw such a spiritual community in my life,” she said. “We kept coming back.”

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Rebecca Rhynhart’s Election Night Party That Never Quite Materialized

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Rebecca Rhynhart shares an embrace with former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter at her election night watch party in Northern Liberties. (Photo by Jarrad Saffren)

Rebecca Rhynhart started the Philadelphia mayoral race as a former city controller trying to make a name for herself by criticizing the police department. She was neither a wealthy businessman, like Jeff Brown or Allan Domb, nor a city council member with a local following, like Helen Gym.

But then, the Jewish woman surprised everybody. The 48-year-old earned endorsements from three former mayors in Ed Rendell, Michael Nutter and John Street and the city’s newspaper of record, The Philadelphia Inquirer. Less than a month before the May 16 Democratic Primary, she held a small lead over Councilwoman Cherelle Parker in a much-hyped poll.

So, as she walked into her election night party at Craft Hall in Northern Liberties, Rhynhart was smiling, embracing her daughter and chatting with the friends, volunteers and donors in attendance. “Let’s hear it for the mayor!” shouted Street, who was standing by a table near the entrance. The crowd started cheering and clapping.

It was just after 8 p.m. The polls were closed throughout Philadelphia County. Just like in that pre-election survey, Rhynhart held a small lead, less than 1,000 votes, over Parker with 23% of the tally counted. Refresh after refresh of the webpages of outlets like the Inquirer and 6abc showed the Jewish candidate’s grinning profile picture at the top. Giant TVs all around the beer hall, tuned into CBS Philadelphia, showed the same scoreboard.

But within an hour, the race turned. Successive vote dumps, from 23% to 38% to 46% to 63%, gave Parker the top spot. And her advantage kept growing, from around 9,000 votes to 11,000 to 17,000 to more than 20,000. Rhynhart disappeared from the bar area to go to a private room upstairs to consult with her team. The people downstairs sipped their beers with long faces. Some filed out the front door and into the warm spring night.

Rebecca Rhynhart talks to a supporter. (Photo by Jarrad Saffren)

Sometime after 11 p.m., CBS Philadelphia showed a check mark next to Parker’s name. It was over. Parker, not Rhynhart, had won the Democratic Primary, making her the heavy favorite to become Philadelphia’s 100th mayor in the 80% blue city. She will face Republican David Oh in the November general election. If she wins, she will become Philadelphia’s first female mayor.

Shortly after the result came down, Rhynhart did, too. The people who remained at Craft Hall, a large enough group to fill tables, cheered loudly. The candidate put on a smile and walked to a podium set up at the front of the room with her campaign’s decal on it.

With her husband, David McDuff, standing next to her, and her campaign leaders on the other side, Rhynhart tried to pull off the most emotionally difficult task in politics: the concession speech. She took a second to try to find the words as the clapping continued. Then it died down and the floor was hers.

“I just want to say thank you to everyone. Obviously, this isn’t the outcome that I wanted or that we wanted. But I want to say that I am really proud of…the campaign and the way that all of us here came together to fight for a better Philadelphia,” Rhynhart said.

The crowd clapped and hollered.

“Our campaign was about fighting against the Democratic machine and the status quo of how things are done in Philly,” she said. “Change doesn’t happen always the way you want it to. But that’s OK, because we’ll keep fighting.”

The people clapped and hollered again.

“I’m proud of the campaign that we ran,” Rhynhart continued later to more applause. “I just want to say thank you. Thank you for being there for me. Thank you for putting yourselves out there. Thank you for standing with me.”

The crowd at Rebecca Rhynhart’s election night party (Photo by Jarrad Saffren)

The candidate pledged that “the momentum that we have built is not going away.”

“It’s not,” she reassured her audience as they continued to cheer. “We will continue to work together and to fight for Philly because we have a great city, and there is a way forward that we’ve all charted.”

The Democrat did not elaborate. It will not be her job to do so. That task belongs to Parker, who at 11:41 p.m. tweeted the following:

“I’m so incredibly honored to have earned the Democratic nomination tonight. It’s been a long road, and to see the tireless work of my campaign team, supporters, and family pay off is humbling. I’m looking forward to November and bringing our city together as its 100th mayor.”

Back at Craft Hall, Rhynhart exited stage left and enjoyed a long embrace with Nutter, who had arrived earlier in the evening. Rhynhart served in the Nutter administration as treasurer and budget director. The former mayor endorsed her in March.

“My advice to Rebecca was always, ‘Give it everything you have.’ And if you know that you did the best you could, then you did the best you could,” Nutter said. “And that’s all a candidate can ever do. Ultimately, it’s up to the voters and what they want. Candidates don’t control the outcome.”

“I do believe that Rebecca gave every possible thing she could to this campaign,” he added. “Campaigns are a function of the sign of the times and the many, many things on voters’ minds.”

Rebecca Rhynhart addresses her supporters after her defeat in the Philadelphia mayor’s race on election night. (Photo by Jarrad Saffren)

Nutter lost his first race for city council in 1987 but won the seat, representing Philadelphia’s fourth district, four years later and held it for 14 years. Then he ran for mayor and won twice. As he put it, he knows what it feels like to win and to lose.

“There’s a certain sense of disappointment,” he said of defeat. “A feeling that maybe you let a lot of people down. That’s not the feeling here in the room. You heard people chanting, ‘Rebecca.’”

Black residents make up the biggest racial demographic in Philadelphia, and Parker’s victory, according to several analyses, was powered by Black and Latino neighborhoods. She differentiated herself from other candidates on the crime issue by making specific proposals for putting more cops on the streets, like 300 additional foot and bike officers, and by advocating for a “constitutional version” of stop-and-frisk policies.

Rhynhart won the white neighborhoods but had to share the vote with Gym and Domb. An Inquirer breakdown showed Rhynhart winning more than 38% and more than 33% in “strong-majority-white” (75% plus) and “majority-white” (50-75%) precincts. Gym reached 24.9% and 30.6%, respectively, in those areas while Domb scored in the teens. Parker won at least 40% in every “majority” or “strong-majority” Black or Latino precinct, including 58.4% in “strong-majority” Black precincts.

Rhynhart said in November, after announcing her run, that her crime-fighting strategy did not begin with putting more cops on the streets. Instead, it started with “intervention strategies” like job training and therapy. Rhynhart, who grew up in a Reform Jewish household, had a bat mitzvah at Congregation Rodeph Shalom, sent her daughter to preschool at Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel and still celebrates Jewish holidays, said her approach was motivated by her Jewish values of empathy and fairness.

But in a city where homicides and car jackings impacted lives and dominated the news over the past two years, crime felt like a crisis, not a long-term issue to solve over time. Rhynhart’s argument convinced three former mayors, the newspaper of record and the more than 56,000 Philadelphians who voted for her. But with almost 99% of the vote counted, Parker’s victory margin is more than 24,000 votes and close to 10%.

The result forced even Rhynhart supporters to look ahead.

“I am going to be excited to work with whoever the next mayor is to advance veterans’ issues,” said Jack Inacker, a Philadelphia resident, Rhynhart supporter and the head of the local Veterans Caucus.

“I feel like Cherelle will stabilize the city,” said Colleen Puckett, a Jewish Rhynhart supporter and Philadelphia resident. “But if Rebecca doesn’t win, I feel like it’s a missed opportunity to bring the city forward.”

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At the Weitzman, Jewish Content Creators Explain Their Jewish Brands

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Jewish rapper Kosha Dillz (Photo by Jarrad Saffren)

Kosha Dillz is a Jewish rapper whose videos have gotten hundreds of thousands of views. Karen Cinnamon is a Jewish influencer whose online persona, about choosing your Jewish journey, has galvanized more than a million followers.

Yet when they came from New York City and the United Kingdom, respectively, to appear at Philadelphia Jewish Film and Media’s Jewish New Media Festival on May 21, they spoke to crowds that were a fraction of the size. At the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History, Dillz had a conversation with Dan Drago, host of the Philadelphia music podcast 25 O’Clock, before an audience of fewer than 20 people. Later in the afternoon, Cinnamon spoke to a crowd of a little more than 20 residents, tourists and fans.

Online, these content creators can attract a mass audience. But in real life, they could not even come close to drawing the audience that PJFM’s annual film festival draws, a number in the thousands.

New media may be what the kids, and younger generations in general, even adult millennials, are consuming, but what is it? Is it real? Is it substantial? Will it stand the test of time? Is it art? Is it amusement?

These are still questions with no clear answers. But if there’s one thing that is clear after the Jewish New Media Festival, it’s this: Presenting as Jewish on the internet is an identity and brand that can gain you a following.

The crowd at the Weitzman for the appearance by rapper Kosha Dillz (Photo by Jarrad Saffren)

Dillz, real name Rami Matan Even-Esh, grew up in Edison, New Jersey, with Israeli immigrant parents, according to his Wikipedia page. After falling into the drug scene and spending time in jail, he reconnected with the Judaism of his youth and decided to make it his rap identity.

In addition to the name, he wears a big Star of David necklace. It’s true to his identity, Dillz explains. But it’s also a way to stand out. When he went on MTV’s “Wild ‘n Out,” he got to be the Jewish rapper. Online, it’s a territory he tries to own whenever and wherever he can. As Dillz told the Weitzman audience, his busiest work seasons are the weeks leading up to Jewish holidays like Chanukah.

In December 2021, the Israeli rapper and Nissim Black, another Jewish rapper, made a “Hanukkah Song 2.0” video, released on YouTube to more than 286,000 views, remixing Adam Sandler’s famous “Chanukah Song.” During Passover this year, Dillz appeared outside Katz’s Deli in NYC and rapped while dressed as Moses.

At one point after the rapper’s talk with Drago, a Jewish woman in the audience raised her hand and asked if he made a living doing this. Dillz explained that his income varied each year, and that he had to use most of what he made to create more content, but that yes, his efforts paid the bills.

“Rami is also a Palestinian name, Lebanese name, Egyptian, so people didn’t know,” Dillz said of his Jewish identity. “I was like, ‘Oh, if I get really big as Kosha Dillz, then I’ll attract all this Jewishness to me.’”

Jewish influencer Karen Cinnamon (Photo by Jarrad Saffren)

Cinnamon, a London-based designer, manifested her identity online when she was planning her wedding in 2013. She realized that there was no digital space for Jews to brainstorm wedding ideas together, so she created one: a blog called “Smashing the Glass.” It grew popular enough to be featured in The New York Times, BBC World News and other outlets. Cinnamon used that success to build a comprehensive brand labeled “Your Jewish Life,” which includes a podcast, Instagram account and weekly newsletter. According to smashingtheglass.com, the brand has more than 4 million followers.

At the Weitzman, Cinnamon explained the core belief that animates her content, including a few Instagram videos she showed on the projector on the stage. You can be Jewish any way you want to be. If you do not want to keep kosher or cook a big Shabbat dinner or even fast on Yom Kippur, that’s OK. The influencer encouraged the audience to start a “Jewish Joy Journal,” a product she sells, including in the Weitzman store, in which they record “small wins” each day.

The audience at the Weitzman for the talk by Jewish influencer Karen Cinnamon (Photo by Jarrad Saffren)

“My brand is actually about being Jewish,” she said. “What I felt when I started my Instagram account, originally Smashing the Glass and now Your Jewish Life, is that the audience, they want to be seen.”

Cinnamon is not wrong. One man in the crowd raised his hand and told her that her content had helped him.

“I like that it’s extremely positive. This is all about celebrating life,” said that man, Addison Davis, a Center City resident.

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