In the heart of Washington, D.C., Jewish communities from around the world came together to make their voices heard at the 2024 Jewish Federations of North America General Assembly. The three-day event, which began on Sunday, brought together over 2,500 Jews from across North America and beyond to discuss today’s most pressing issues.
The event unfolded in the shadow of a series of antisemitic attacks.
“Antisemitism is not a Jewish problem,” said JTA Washington Bureau Chief Ron Kampeas. “It's a non-Jewish problem. It's a problem of the Christian community. It's a problem of certain Muslim communities. For sure, it's a problem of the left. It's a problem of the right.”
JFNA 2024
The conference also served as an opportunity to shape the Jewish future, amplifying local voices, deepening connections to shared culture and heritage, and creating lasting change for future generations.
“One thing we have learned since October 7 is that on the days after October 7, when we look to our left and our right to see our friends who we thought were there—the friends who we had marched with, the friends that we had advocated for—we found that so many of them were not there,” said William Daroff, CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
“One thing that has crystallized is that we as a Jewish community need to count on and can really count on each other, and we're only as strong as we are unified,” he continued. “I think that that's an area that is focused here, and I think it's the direction that we as a community need to continue to go in order to ensure that we will survive and thrive as we have for thousands of years.”