BUFFALO, NY (WKBW) — For the first time in the 120-year history of the Jewish Federation of Buffalo a woman will be leading the organization.
7 News Senior Reporter Eileen Buckley met with Miriam Abramovich to learn about her vision for a community facing difficult challenges.
“I am the first woman to lead the agency professionally,” declared Abramovich.
Abramovich confidently tells me she is “the right person” to lead the Buffalo Jewish Federation as the new CEO.
“One of the things that women bring to professional leadership is depth in relationships, so, you know, empathy, the ability to really take time, to get to know people, to be engaged in back-and-forth conversation,” reflected Abramovich.
But Abramovich is not new to the organization. She has been working at the federation for 11 years since she moved to Buffalo with her family.
“I’ve lived and worked as a Jewish professional in cities up and down the eastern seaboard, large and small, so I have a good authority to say that the Jewish community in Buffalo is very special. It's exceptional, and it's exceptional in ways that Buffalo is as well,” stated Abramovich.
Abramovich has spent her career as a Jewish professional and tells me she's ready to lead the local Jewish community during such a challenging time.
“Here in Buffalo, we have a lot that we're wrestling with shrinking demographics. we used to be a community of 24,000 today, Jewish Buffalo includes about 10,000 individuals, so that's a real challenge that we're trying to navigate,” described Abramovich.
One of the biggest challenges is racism. She says antisemitism has been “skyrocketing”, making Jews feel unsafe right here in Buffalo.
“It's horrifying that you face this?” Buckley asked. “I think that's a question we all wrestle with,” replied Abramovich. "We wonder why hate exists. We wonder why it's not easier for us to understand one another, but I guess if you boil down our word to its core functions that's certainly a core function ours to help people understand who Jews are.”
It is hatred that escalated 11 months ago when Hamas terrorists attacked Israeli citizens at a music festival.
“In just a few short weeks, we will reach the one-year anniversary of that very dark day, and there are still 101 people who are being held hostage by Hamas terrorists. that day was a turning point for modern American Jewry, both because of the tragic depth of what happened on October 7, but also because of the monumental shifts that have happened since that day, including this dramatic surge of antisemitism that has left Jewish people all over the world feeling unsafe and questioning their place in society,” remarked Abramovich.
Abramovich explained how the federation works to be “Contributors to the richness of the fabric of Buffalo” and work to create important partnerships to help enrich the lives of Jews.
“And just as we have done throughout history, we would arrive in a place or a city or a town, and we would build the infrastructure we needed to live so we would build welfare agencies. We'd arrange for cemeteries. We built Jewish community centers to care for sort of health and wellness, all the social needs of our community. Much of that historic infrastructure that was built long ago still exists today, including the Buffalo Jewish Federation. Our role in that ecosystem has always been to raise dollars to support communal needs here on the ground, and to support our global Jewish family, including family in Israel,” described Abramovich.
The new leader also explained how the federation has an “expanded portfolio of core functions” that include the oversight of community safety and security and work to engage civic faith and legislative partners in Buffalo.
The new federation leader says Buffalo's Jewish community remains “very engaged” and faithful in their religion.
