By Gail Ball, NCJW Vice President

My life is happily full: very fast paced and requiring a great deal of flexibility to work, volunteer, care for my family, and eat. (To balance things out, I have sacrificed exercise time.) Nonetheless, on Mother’s Day, when our NCJW President called to ask if I would represent NCJW at the White House reception to celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month on May 17, I said “Yes!” in a flash. Funny how calm I was when I asked my secretary to just clear my calendar that day … I was certain there was nothing in the normal requests for my time that could trump this honor.

Amy Cotton, a legislative associate in our Washington office, and I met early at the office and headed over to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building for a morning briefing. We took particularly copious notes on Dan Shapiro’s remarks. Dan is currently the Senior Director, Middle East and North Africa, for the National Security Council, and has just been confirmed as US Ambassador to Israel. He spoke clearly about this country’s relationship with its friends in the Middle East, including King Abdullah of Jordan, with whom the President was meeting that morning, as well as America’s unwavering commitment to Israel’s right to exist and protect its borders. The other speakers shared with us the Administration’s work and progress on domestic issues such as health care and the economy. When addressing the budget, they used messages and wording in line with NCJW’s positions, including a commitment to advancing a budget that does not hit the most vulnerable the hardest, working for a family friendly budget that is “consistent with our values.” He also charged each of us, as representatives of public service organizations, to encourage a high level of engagement among our fellow Americans, whenever and wherever we could.

The afternoon reception at the White House was remarkable at every turn. Waiting in line to enter the White House, Amy and I connected with all kinds of people, from across the country, who were familiar with the work of NCJW, Inc. The time was well spent. We rekindled interest in more than a few lapsed members, met a few individuals who were active fundraisers in their communities, and spoke with several extraordinary supporters of NCJW! We had a chance to thank Senator Frank Lautenberg for his advocacy and congratulate Debbie Wasserman Schultz on her election as chair of the Democratic National Committee. We heard President Obama address the invaluable contributions that the Jewish community has made throughout our nation’s history, noting that “Jewish Americans have always stood up for freedom and democracy around the world… [and inspire] us to pursue peace.” We shook hands with Elie Wiesel and toured the beautiful State Rooms of the East Wing. We were even sought out by other attendees, as our own NCJW board directors, Debbie Hoffmann (Treasurer) and Susan Levine, had told their Cleveland community participants to find us … and they did! We saw friends who had joined us at our recent National Convention, Hannah Rosenthal, Special Envoy for Monitoring Anti-Semitism, and Reva Price from House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi’s office, who recognized us and stopped to share our enthusiasm for the occasion.

What an incredible day and an incredible opportunity — to bring attention to our work and our unique voice of progressive Jewish women, while basking in the collective strength and breadth of our community.

Photos courtesy of Amy Cotton.