Steve Rakitt is the executive vice president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington. He came to D.C. in February 2011, after working with Jewish federations in Atlanta, Rochester, N.Y., and Providence, R.I. After studying history at Rutgers University, Rakitt decided against becoming a rabbi, instead choosing to spend his life in nonprofit work in the Jewish community. He has graduate degrees in social work, business and Jewish studies. Rakitt lives in Potomac with his family.
Do you consider yourself to be of a specific faith?
I’m Jewish. I’m very proud of my religion and my heritage. I consider myself a conservative Jew. I was raised as a reform Jew and over time became more traditional in my own personal practice.
What is a Jewish federation?
There are 155 around the country. Any community with a significant Jewish population has one. There are 21 large city federations. Federations have a long history in the American Jewish community; many are 100 years old. And many are an amalgamation of the conditions in eastern Europe, with the Jewish community taking care of their own and the American spirit of volunteerism.
Our federation here is a central address for the Washington-area Jewish community, in which we provide funding, planning and a common table for the community to come together around issues that are important to us. And we do that through resource development and working with donors and agencies to improve the quality of Jewish life in the region.
How did Judaism become so important to you? Did you expect this would be your career?
I didn’t have to look too far. My father was a professional in the Jewish federation in New Jersey. He worked there for 45 years. I had him as a role model, and I saw the impact of the work he was doing in the community and made the decision that I wanted to have a similar kind of impact. Faith is very important in the federation business, but we’re also dealing with a critical aspect of engagement, of creating a portal for people to become and remain involved in Jewish community. And that may be through the synagogue, that may be through the agencies, it may be through education. There are many different ways of doing it. And we’re also putting an emphasis on inclusiveness — to interfaith families, to people with disabilities, to people who are new to the community. About 75 percent of the Washington Jewish community was not born in Washington. Many of us are relative newcomers.
You’ve focused on bringing people into the Jewish community who might feel disengaged — single young professionals, gays and lesbians, etc. Why do you think these groups feel disconnected? How can they be included?
I don’t know that they feel disconnected to Jewish faith; I think they might be disconnected to the Jewish community, and there’s a difference. It’s not enough to say “welcome.” I think each of us in our own way must extend a hand and blend people into the community in a variety of different ways that speaks to them. I speak a lot to the fact that our community needs to be more relevant, more welcoming and more meaningful. The definition of each of those terms is different for each of us, so we need to work hard to listen to the needs of people and find ways to improve.
A primary focus of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington is philanthropy. Why is giving so important to your faith?
Philanthropy is a critical aspect of Jewish communal life. Tzedakah — which translates not as “charity” but as “righteousness” — is a commandment in Jewish tradition, that each of us is responsible for giving tzedakah to help those who are less fortunate. That’s built into Jewish community life. And there’s a recognition that we can build a stronger Jewish community with a strong philanthropic tradition and culture of giving.
At your core, what is one of your defining beliefs?
The power of the idea. Ideas are extraordinarily powerful, and we need to create a climate in the Jewish community in our country for an exchange of ideas, for the encouragement of creative ideas, and then finally to put in practice ideas, to make possible the very best ideas to improve our community.
– Liz Essley
