Something fundamental has shifted in North America since Hamas terrorists attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Through a war that continues to reverberate across Israel and Jewish communities worldwide, fueling a crisis of antisemitism, the ground beneath us has moved. 

People have shown up. 

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They have filled synagogues — not only in mourning, but in solidarity. They have gathered at emergency briefings, spoken out at school board and city council meetings and stepped into difficult conversations in workplaces and on campuses. Many have found themselves defending their Jewish identity and their connection to Israel in spaces where they never anticipated. 

Longtime volunteers have leaned in more deeply. New voices have stepped forward for the first time. Parents, alumni, professionals and students have been asking the same question in different ways: What can I do? 

The surge of engagement across Jewish communities has been powerful. It has also revealed something essential: the challenges of this moment are too complex and too constant for any one group to carry alone. 

For decades, Jewish Federations of North America have anchored communal life by bringing lay leaders and professionals together to respond to crises and build enduring institutions. But they have often worked in parallel: lay leaders brought time, treasure and commitment, while professionals brought expertise and continuity. That model worked well in the past, but today’s environment demands more.

In this moment of rising antisemitism and growing polarization, the old division between “professional leadership” and “volunteer leadership” no longer holds. Jewish communities are being challenged in real time — in schools, workplaces, hospitals, on campuses and across social media — requiring responses that are faster, broader and more coordinated than any institution can manage alone.  

What has emerged instead is a new model of communal responsibility: one where lay leaders and professionals operate not in parallel, but in partnership, combining lived experience, strategic expertise and collective action to strengthen Jewish life and defend it when necessary. 

In communities across North America, we are seeing what this kind of partnership looks like. 

In one city, a lay leader stood before a local school board to speak about antisemitism in public schools. He was met not with agreement, but with hostility: booed in the room and later targeted online. And yet he continued to work in coordination with community professionals who helped shape the strategy and response so the work could move forward responsibly. 

In another case, a lay leader, an alumnus of a major university, refused to accept the normalization of antisemitism on his campus. Drawing on his relationships and working in partnership with communal organizations, university leadership and legal experts, he helped push for accountability and ultimately contributed to meaningful institutional change.

And in the healthcare space, a small group of lay leaders began raising concerns about troubling patterns affecting Jewish professionals. What began as a handful of conversations quickly evolved into something far more significant: engaging media attention, partnering closely with public affairs professionals and helping elevate the issue at the national level, including testimony before congressional bodies. At every stage, their efforts were grounded not only in conviction, but in coordination and partnership.

The Center for Creative Leadership, a trusted leadership development institution, has long emphasized that leadership is not simply a position, but a social process, one that depends on trust, shared understanding and the ability to act collectively in complex environments. 

Lay leaders are no longer confined to formal roles. Titles have been removed. Instead, they are leading as parents, alumni and advocates—often with support and coordination from federations and their partners, recognizing that leadership must be cultivated, not assumed. Shared responsibility requires structure, with professionals who equip lay leaders with context and strategy and lay leaders who engage in ways that are informed, coordinated and sustainable. 

This is where federations are uniquely positioned, not only as funders, but as conveners and connectors. By aligning local and national strategy, sharing best practices and creating pathways for engagement, federations help ensure that individual acts of leadership add up to collective impact. When that alignment is strong, trust deepens and impact grows. When it is not, even well-intentioned efforts can create confusion or fragmentation. 

The opportunity before us is not simply to absorb this wave of engagement into existing structures. It is to evolve how leadership is cultivated so that responsibility is shared, learning is continuous and partnership is the default. Jewish tradition reminds us that moments of awakening must be anchored in systems if they are to endure.  Our communities have always been strongest when leadership is understood as a collective endeavor. 

The current moment is looking less like the exception and more like our new normal. The question then becomes whether we are meeting it as separate actors or as true partners committed to a Jewish future that is resilient, coordinated and strong enough to carry what comes next. That means building leadership as a system: creating clear pathways into leadership and equipping people with the context and support to act responsibly and connecting local efforts so they add up to collective impact.

Federations are where this work happens at scale, with the depth, coordination and effectiveness this moment requires. 

Shayna Kreisler is the vice president of lay leadership for Jewish Federations of North America.

Robin Stein is the chair of lay leadership development for Jewish Federations of North America.