Shalom dear friends and members of the Atlantic Jewish community. All of us at the AJC hope you have had a sweet celebration of Rosh Hashana, an easy fast and meaningful Yom Kippur, and enjoyed eating together under the sukkah.
The work of the Atlantic Jewish Council has never been more important than it is today, and we are tremendously optimistic about all we can accomplish together in 5782.
However, it will not be business as usual.
It is with truly mixed emotions that I share with you that we will soon be undergoing a transition in leadership at the AJC. This summer, our indefatigable Executive Director, Naomi Rosenfeld, formally gave her notice to the AJC's Board of Directors of her intent to leave her position. Naomi and her husband Jeff are expecting their first baby in November, and of course we all wish them much naches and mazel tov on this beautiful singular life event. Naomi will not be returning after her maternity leave ends.
In Naomi's own words: "Having the opportunity to act as the Atlantic Jewish Council's Executive Director for the last five and a half years has truly been one of the great privileges of my life. It has been an absolute pleasure getting to know each and every one of you reading this email, and serving this Jewish community to the best of my abilities. I have learned and grown so much since I began working here in the summer of 2016, and I will be forever grateful to this community: for taking a chance on me all those years ago, for welcoming and embracing Jeff and me into this community and your families with such classic maritime hospitality, and for the support you showed both me and the AJC as I endeavoured to move this organization and community forward. Choosing to leave the AJC and Atlantic Canada is a difficult and heartbreaking decision, but Jeff and I feel that we must raise our future child surrounded by our families. Atlantic Canada has been my second home since I set foot on the shores of Lake William at the age of 9 years old, and that is not changing just because I am moving away. I look forward to keeping in touch with all of you, and to many future visits to this beautiful coast. Thank you once again for everything."
All of us are extraordinarily grateful to Naomi for her tireless work, unending energy, and dedication on behalf of the AJC and the broader Jewish community during the last five and a half years.
The AJC's Board of Directors has established a search committee to find our next executive director, and we have hired Kerry Seigel at Siegel Executive Search Solutions to assist us professionally in this critically important endeavour. With Kerry's combination of extensive experience in non-profit executive searches across Canada (including several successful searches for equivalent positions in the London, ON, Windsor, ON, and Calgary, AB Jewish communities), as well as her family's maritime roots, we are confident that she will help us find the right person to lead the AJC into an exciting new chapter.
The job posting for the AJC Executive Director position is now live on several Jewish and secular job search websites, and can be seen by clicking here. We ask all those reading this email to please help us in our search by circulating this posting widely, and we highly encourage all those interested to apply.
I want to offer my sincere appreciation for your ongoing support of Atlantic Jewish Council, especially in this time of transition. Your help and loyalty is invaluable, and we could not do what we do without you.
With gratitude,
Arik Drucker
President, The Atlantic Jewish Council's Board of Directors
