Rabbi Adam Rubin, Beth Jacob Congregation
I believe that it is vitally important to support our local Jewish community in the Twin Cities and the St. Paul Jewish Federation generally. Having spent most of my life in the Los Angeles area, with a population of about 600,000 Jews, I've been astonished by the vitality, diversity, and sheer energy of the comparatively smaller Jewish community here. To use a boxing metaphor, the Jews of the Twin Cities definitely "punch above their weight class!"
My wife Judith and I, along with our children Elior (11) and Na'amah (7) moved to Mendota Heights about a year and a half ago when I accepted the position of senior rabbi at Beth Jacob Congregation. Since arriving, I've become aware of how deeply connected our shul is to Jewish life in the Twin Cities, especially St. Paul. Our congregants are involved in countless charitable, social, cultural, and political organizations in the area, and often see that involvement as inextricably tied to their Jewish identities.