Michele Rosen

Okay. Okay. Yeah. Um, so tell me about your background. Where are you from?

I'm from. I was born in Los Angeles. I'm a boomer. Um. Let's see, I lived with my dad died when I was five, so my mom and I moved in with my grandparents, who were first generation and talked with an accent, and everyone spoke Yiddish, and I sort of remember it, but I. And they played, uh, canasta a lot. And I had, as I like to say, I was the beneficiary of the very best educational system. I went all through public school in LA, and then I went to UC Berkeley, Cal, during the golden years. And then I came up here and went to graduate school.

Wow. And where were your grandparents from?

They were. My grandpa was from Latvia, Riga, which was, you know, the FSU. And my grandma, who was not my biological grandma, was from somewhere in the Pale of Settlement.

Aha.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. My family was from Kishinev.

I know Kishinev. Yeah. In the Ukraine?

Uh, no. Is it.

Is it in.

Russia? Moldova. Now?

Oh, it's in Moldova. Yeah.

It's in Russia.

It's the pale.

Yeah. Romania. Oh. So it's.

Wasn't there? There was a pogrom there or something in 1903.

Yeah. The very famous pogrom. Yeah. 1903? Yeah. That was written about by Isaac Babel in the short story, "The Story of My Dovecote".

But-And also I think there was a scholar at the UW, and I forget his name, who studied the pogroms and the and the libel or whatever they call it, the blood libel. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

So you were a history major.

I was. I was.

So hence your interest in history?

Yeah.

What in particular?

The progressive era, the '30s and. And the war. World War II? Yeah.

And, um.

It was fun.

What inspired you to study history back then?

Oh, I just loved it. It was so interesting. It's a story.

Yeah. Um.

Difficult.

Yeah.

Because we don't learn.

Yeah.

Maybe we learn a little, but not much. But we can get into that. You don't want to hear my views.

I'm sure I do.

But maybe.

Not on-

Maybe you don't.

-Don't share them on camera. Um, was your family observant growing up?

My grandparents. I grew up in a kosher home. But, you know, I drank milk with meat because they thought it was good for me. And, you know, we. Not really.

Did you feel like you were taught Jewish values?

100%. I grew up in a in a in a neighborhood that was completely Jewish. Lots of-

-Fairfax?

No, West Beverly Wood, which was. I went to Hamilton High School and, uh, our sister school was Fairfax.

And I went to Sunday school. I went to Jewish camps. And I also had a great time. Yeah.

And is that, uh, did those values, um, anything in particular from there resonate?

Yeah. I'll tell you what resonated when I, um. Well, I mean, aside from the fact that we have collective responsibility, one for the other is that, um, a big day in my house, and, you know, I live with my grandparents who came from a place where they couldn't exercise a lot of freedom. A big day in our house were voting days because election days because our house was always the center of election day. You know, people came to vote in the old days. So it was something that I think they cherished and was really important. And the whole conversation around public affairs was important. And that was a big deal in my house.

Mhm. So they were very political.

Yes and no. But there they felt their rights as new Americans. And my mom too.

Mhm. Yeah. That's interesting.

Yeah. My grandfather read the-in Yiddish- the socialist papers. But, you know, I didn't know what it was. Yeah.

And you?

Uh well I, I grew up in Santa Monica actually.

Oh. So you went to Santa Monica High School?

I did indeed.

So, you know Hamilton High School?

I do, yes. Yeah. And I know that that whole area very well. I had an uncle who lived, uh, just north of Wilshire and in between La Cienega and Fairfax.

Yeah. So I lived on Robertson and Monte Mar Drive. Yeah. Yeah.

So, yes.

It was the ghetto. The golden ghetto.

Well, it was a very nice ghetto, comparatively speaking.

The golden ghetto.

The ghettos that our grandparents. Yeah, yeah yeah yeah, yeah. Um, I miss that, uh, area in those days.

I know, and I miss the fact that I would come home from school and just get on my bike and go to the playground in the library, and my friends and I don't think our children, I mean, my children didn't even do that. And certainly my grandchildren don't do that. I mean, we were free. They didn't even know where we were.

Yeah. Free range kids.

Yeah.

Yeah. It's a very different world now.

Mhm. Mhm.

When you were, uh, coming up, did uh this, this program is called Agents of Change. And I'm wondering what, what you saw in the world that you thought needed to change and what you hoped to change?

Well, you know, remember where I went to school? Yeah. Okay. So I went to Hamilton High School at in the 60s at a and I had was lucky enough to have incredible teachers. And one of those teachers was a woman named Blanche Bennington who taught us American history and government. And she's very celebrated at Hamilton. And to this-I mean she passed away at a very old age-but people loved Blanche Bennington. And one of the things she did, she had her own bungalow. They had bungalows then and she would celebrate-remember Abe Fortas, the guy that was nominated for Supreme Court? That didn't quite make it? Yeah, a Jewish guy. And we would celebrate his birthday, you know, because he was a symbol of what was right with America. And I also had friends at that time that were very involved with the Young Democrats. So then especially when I was a junior and senior, I was involved with the Young Democrats and we would-we'd doorbell for a guy named Alan Cranston who became my congressperson was Henry Waxman, who just retired. And my really close friend's brother was a guy named Howard Berman, who also recently retired. Yeah, they were all representatives. So I was really involved in that political deal. Then my mother sent me to the- What was the... The Conference of Christians and Jews camp. And so it was the time of of just the beginning of. Well, I mean, there were the Freedom Riders in the south, but they were beginning to talk about desegregating LA schools. So, you know, that was a really big moment. And and so I was exposed to a lot of, of the headlines of the 60s.

Mhm. What about I imagine the women's movement-

-No. That was later.

When you were-

-No, no no no. The women's movement, I'm going to tell you, the women's-I remember-so I went to Cali and I lived with a... Social SWP kind of person. And we were, we were we walked, we marched, we had gas masks on our porch. I mean, we were really in the heart of it. I mean, I kind of knew and I didn't know. I we, I did it because I thought it was right. I probably didn't know the full scope of it, but I, I did it because it was the right thing to do. It was right after Mario. It was probably two years after Mario Savio. So I was I went there in '66 to '70. So I had the, the experience of the of, of many different movements, you know, especially anti-war stuff. So but I had a friend and her name was Lenny Zeiger and her boyfriend was a guy named Rennie Davis. Do you know Rennie Davis was one of the Chicago seven? And she-her sister was Suzy Creamcheese from the Frank Zappa. She was a wild one. And she told me about the women's movement. I had no idea. And I really wasn't involved with the women's movement then because it was just birthing itself. And a guy named, you know, Robert Scheer, I think that was the name. He had a magazine. I can't remember the name, but they were just exploring that, and they were just starting these women's groups but I was not a part of that.

Mhm. Did it, uh, did it seem like something that was necessary at that time?

I- no. I didn't get it, to be honest. I mean, because I was raised to be an independent, free thinking person who could... who probably could do anything they wanted to do. I didn't understand the barriers, to be honest.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think, you know, that's great. That says a lot for your upbringing. Um, what were your goals when you were getting your education?

Hell if I know. Trying to figure out what I wanted to do, and I, you know, I thought I could teach school and I did. A little bit. But I was a substitute. It was very hard to get a job. And so I then I met my husband and, and I-oh, I came to Seattle and I didn't know anybody. I thought, oh, I'll just-and no one was Jewish! I had been with Jews all my life, both in LA, and I got to tell you, there were a lot of Jews at Berkeley, especially the ones I hung out with. So I didn't-I felt like, oh my God, I don't have a community. So I went, I knocked on the door of temple de Hirsch. I don't even think it was temple-maybe it was temple de Hirsch Sinai there-I can't even remember. And a woman named Bobby Bridge, not my contemporary, but Bob's wife, Bobby Bridge, not Bobby of CCYJ.

Right.

Um, hired me to work in the in their Sunday school. I didn't know that much about what I was doing, but I found a community and I really liked it. And then, um, you know, I, I sort of did a, a year or two of my master's and I went, I wasn't, didn't know what I wanted to do. So I went to Europe and then I came back to New York, and I worked in New York for a year, and I worked in Boston for a year, and then I decided to come back and finish my MA just because I thought I should finish it. And then I worked at the JCC for a woman named Eunice Port of blessed Memory, who is unbelievable. And, uh, I did after school program, I worked, taught, eventually taught preschool. And I met my husband and... we got married. And then I worked at-during that-I worked at Nordstrom's and I sold lingerie. [laughs]

Was that fun?

You know, I kind of liked it. I liked commission sales. It was fun. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Then I had kids and I worked in and out of preschools.

Mhm. Um, and now you are a professional volunteer.

I am a volunteer. Yeah. Yeah. And I'll tell you, you know, I always, I always liked organizations and I obviously-being in doing what I did in high school-and I was attracted to that kind of thing. And, and I was involved with the JCC because my kids went there in preschool. And, you know, you do-that's the natural order of things. And I like that. I found it fulfilling, especially in that time. Not many of us were back in the work world. Very few, I would say there were some, but I was home with my kids, and then my father in law was really involved in the Jewish community. I kind of liked that, and he kind of encouraged me to do this. And then somebody from the Fed, a guy named Mel Libman, who was, are you going to edit this?

Sure.

Nuts. But a great leader, um, said, why don't you come on over and do something at the Federation? I said, well, this is where my women's stuff came in. I said, I don't want to do it if it means cutting fruit and planting parties. He said, "No, we won't be cutting fruit." And then he and this other person named Marilee Leitner, do you know, did anybody has anybody spoken to you about Marilee Leitner? She was- she's passed away. She became a really close friend. She was in charge of the women's campaign at the Federation. And she kind of took me under her wing. And they taught me how to solicit for money. They don't do that much anymore. And they said to me, both of them, "You have this responsibility. It's not just about cutting fruit. It's about securing resources to make sure the community runs the way it needs to run. And we take care of people who otherwise won't be taken care of." And so she got me involved with Mel at the Young Leadership Cabinet-what was the old United Jewish Appeal Young Leadership Cabinet. And that was really a changing point in my life.

How so?

Well, the cabinet at that time was the brainchild of a person named Rabbi Herb Friedman. And that was about it was about 20 years old or maybe a little older. And Herb Friedman had was a Rabbi in the camps during the second World War. And he came back and he I think he either was in charge of the UJA or he was very involved and he looked around the landscape and saw people like my in-laws doing this work, but no one younger. And he said, "We have to capture the imagination of people who are, you know, the boomers, who are the recipients of peace and prosperity and really don't understand what they need to do and the responsibility to their community." It was a very Jewish centric at that time. And so I went to my first retreat. They have these retreats, and I went to this first retreat and I was blown away. There were women like me from all over the country who spoke beautifully and were completely committed to the well-being of their Jewish communities around the country. And it was small. It was like 200 people. And I developed some of my longest and dearest friendships from that organization, and I learned-and felt-learned how to solicit at a higher level. And I, moreover, it gave me the confidence to do the work that I've gone on to do and the education, I mean, I traveled all over with them. Um, I went to Poland just as La Fuerza was coming in, and we met with him. Can you imagine? Yeah. And, um, I was, I introduced-[phone rings] I'm going to let that-should I turn it off?

Okay.

Okay. And I, uh. Let's see. We went. We met Shamir. I introduced-I sat with Perez on my own and had a conversation. No, Rabin. It was Rabin.

Wow.

Yeah. And Paris. So I was really exposed because, you know, all those big people were always with-Israel is a pretty informal country and you have access to a lot of the leaders. So I was at the table with all of them and I and, and I later went on to chair the cabinet, which was really fun. And, and uh, we went to we opened up the former Soviet Union. We brought the first mission there and uh, we took, in my term, we took a thousand people to Israel from around the country, about a hundred from Seattle. Um, so I felt like I was really fortunate, and I felt that that experience gave me more than, you know, I can give anybody. And I also felt a tremendous debt that I had to come back and do the work at home.

That's a microphone.

Oh, sorry.

That's okay. Yeah. Um, that's amazing that you got to meet people.

Fantastic. It was fantastic.

Oh, I bet.

Yeah.

So tell me about the organizations that have, uh, that you're currently working with. Um, the Jewish Women's Archive?

I was, and I stopped for for a couple of reasons. One, I don't want to go into. I do think, uh, that it's important to tell the stories of women. Let's let's leave it at that.

Okay.

For empowerment, modeling all the reasons that we tell the stories of women. And I'm certainly a feminist.

Yeah. Okay. Um, The Jewish Family Services of Seattle.

Yep, that's my latest. Don't you want to hear about Hillel first?

Sure. Tell me about-

- Well, let me just tell you. So after I finished the cabinet, I really was involved with the Federation. And it was in, in really the peak, I think, of Federation life. We had just we were in the process of bringing Russians out of the refuseniks and others out of the former Soviet Union to Israel. And, and we also brought 15,000 Ethiopians to Israel during that time. And, um, it underscored that experience, underscored my feeling that it's not just we don't just have a responsibility for Jews in-that live in Seattle. We have a responsibility for Jews all over the world because we are the lucky ones, and we could have just as easily turned and left and gone to one of those camps you don't want to go to. As you know, my grandfather was able to leave Riga and smuggle himself into to the United States-

-yeah.

So I really feel that deeply. So then when I finished the Federation, I didn't know what I was going to do. And I was a little nervous because I had always been involved with Jewish communal life. And it really was-well, it wasn't a job because I could come and go. I felt very obligated to do it. And it did take up a lot of my time. And my children were getting older. So I'm looking at myself. And then my friend, the great Danny Bridge, said to me, "Why don't you come over and work at Hillel?" So I went over and did a few things. And then Hillel at that time was a teeny little fish in a little house in the U district. And we were trying to grow the campaign and and, um, Edgar Bronfman came in and we sponsored and we had this dinner, and it was a very successful dinner. And people really responded because Edgar Bronfman was a big supporter of Hillel, the Hillel movement. And I thought that college children-having college children at that time needed to be supported and exposed to Jewish life. And, uh, so the students-Hillel is very granola and, you know, the kids are really involved with it. And so they they were responsible for serving. They didn't cook. They're serving and cleaning. And it took them three days to clean up and do the dishes after Bronfman was there, because they didn't have the proper dishwashing equipment. So I said, "Well, let's go buy a new dishwasher." And they said, "Well, we can't. Why don't we just remodel the kitchen?" This is an old-this is folklore and but it's true. And, uh, they remodeled. And so we thought about we did some plans remodeling in the kitchen. They say, "This isn't going to work. Why don't we just buy a new building or do a new building?" So we sort of did this campaign. No real study, no feasibility, no nothing. Just very Hillel, just Wild West, let's do this campaign. And we-our goal then was- ten years ago, even more, I think was to do a 12 to $15 million campaign. And we did it and it practically killed us all but we did it. And we acquired, through the help of my husband, Stan Rosen, and another Stan, Stan Peha, we acquired two extra parcels, we built this fabulous building, we created a small endowment. And more importantly, we asked people who hadn't given major gifts like Karen Cameron and Judy and Jeff Greenstein, to consider really doing a larger gift. And they did. And the rest is history. We have this beautiful Hillel building and a thriving organization because, you know, it is true. If they build it, if we build it, they will come. And they have been coming and it's and their grads-I think they're 20 to 30 post-graduate to 32 program is thriving. It's one of the models in the country as well as their undergraduate. So then again I didn't know what to do. So my friend Merrill Lee from old Federation days was advising Ken Weinberg, and I think it was Judy Newman at the time. I'm not sure, uh, they were going out on a capital campaign. She said, come over, help us with the campaign. So I went over and helped him with what has become the Family Matters campaign, which was also we like capital campaigns in my family because my husband's in real estate and we like to build things. So we worked on that campaign. The first year there were three chairs Judy Newman, Howard Bihar and Jean Butler. And then it evolved. I was doing major gifts and we all made major commitments. And we really- it was during '08, we really kind of- I think it was '07 and '08. We kind of raised a lot of money because Seattle, while feeling the results of the recession, was not in the heart of the recession. So we were able to do this. And I always thought it, JFS is a good idea because it does help people who are vulnerable, and that's really the core of our Jewish responsibility. And so we did that and I got more and more involved. And Ken left and a guy named Rabbi Will Berkowitz, who was once the head of Hillel here and who went on to another organization called Repair the World, which was a national organizations teaching Jewish Responsibility to younger people, he was recruited as the person that would follow Ken, who had worked there for 30 some years, and it was a very daunting job. And Howard Bihar and I did the search and we did hire Will. So then I went on my way. I was involved with the JDC. Do you know what the JDC is?

Uh, not off the top.

Okay, I'll tell you. You probably don't know it by another name. The JDC is called-is the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Some people call it the joint, and the JDC has been around for well over 100 years. It started in response to the first World War to help starving Jews in the form-what is Russia. Um, with poverty. And it has been working in Jewish communities around the world for, for over-since then. And so JDC was responsible for the camps, you know, the resettlement camps after the war.

My mother was in one of those camps in West Germany, and my uncle was actually born in the camp.

Well, I guarantee you that the JDC was there, as was Rabbi Herb Friedman from a young Jewish- my young leadership days. So, um, they were responsible for the care and feeding of Jews. They don't they didn't help the Jews make Aliyah. That was the Jewish Agency. But JDC did the work on the ground in those countries and continues to work in those countries. So I was really involved with that organization and still am and very, very involved. And I'm going to tell you an aspect of my work, but let me talk to you about JFS. So then, Eric, God bless him, Eric Levine, who is married to Suzi LeVine, who you are going to interview. Love that. Okay. And Suzi was just recruited to become the ambassador to Switzerland, and Eric was in his first year as president was flipping out because while he had somebody to succeed him, he didn't have anybody to succeed her. And so he and Will got on the phone with me and said, "We're dying here. You got to become president." And I didn't want to do it. And then I figured, oh, what the heck, I should do it. It's my responsibility. And my husband looked at me and said, "Are you nuts?" And I said, maybe, but I think I have to do that because Eric was very convincing and he's a good man, and he would have done it for me. And I've known Suzi and Eric since Hillel days because they were one of the first people we talked to about the campaign, and they made their first ever big gift to that Hillel campaign, which I'm very pleased at. And so, um, so then I sort of got involved with JFS and man, did I come in at a time. Yeah. Yeah. This is the end of my second year and my last year, and I'm very sad to see it go. I have to say, because during my tenure there we were faced-can I talk politics on this?

Absolutely.

Okay. We were faced with the boogeyman of Trump and how he has threatened all the people that we serve, both Jews and non-Jews. And so we were dealing-one of our core missions is refugee resettlement, because we have been in that business for a very-over 100 years as well. First, dealing with the Jewish community, then the Haitians, then back to the Russians, and now with people from very bad neighborhoods around the world. And we feel- our board feels that it is a it's one of our responsibilities, and our main task is to stand up for these refugees, not only because it's the right thing to do, but because we might be in that situation one day, and I can think of two places we might be in it. Namely Venezuela and the Ukraine. So we have been fighting that fight for over a year. I don't know if you know, but with the- and I'm not going to say too much about it because I don't know what I can say. But we sued the Trump administration with the help of HIAs, Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, and a couple of other organizations. So we were the lead agency because they wanted to file in the ninth District Court, because there we thought we'd get in front of Judge Robert, and I think we did. So there was- we put us as somebody-Avi Lipman, our board member and chief legal advisor, said, "We put a spoke in the wheel. We don't know if we've stopped anything, but we've put a spoke in the wheel." So that has taken a lot of our energy. We also bought-we're expanding and trying to build our revenue base because we used to rely on institutional funders like United Way. That funding has gone down and the Jewish Federation, there's no more funding, really, except here and there a little. I mean, to be honest, but nothing. We used to get a half $1 million from the Fed. Get, if we're lucky, maybe 30 or 40. And so we had to beef up our revenue stream. So our building, which we just paid off the JFS in February, um, we own that free and clear. We decided we needed to do some other income generating things. So we were offered to buy a piece of property across the street so that-we did that during. My year at JFS. So that's we're trying to develop it and sell it and make some money. So it's an asset. It's a good asset to have, especially with building in Seattle. Although I'm not sure I just read in today, the building has curtailed in Seattle. Did you read that?

Yeah. Yeah.

But, you know, it's not the end of the story, I don't think. Right. Yeah. I mean, we do have these giant, ginormous industries here. And so then what else have we done? Oh, and also, we're currently exploring because we used to have the federation at our site. And, you know, I would ask you not to put all these negative things, but I'm just into a conversation. But so but you can say we are we are not sure we, we are serving all the Jews we need to serve in our local community. Now, with that said, I feel, and maybe I'm reading the end of your novel, I don't know, but I'm just going to say this my thinking has evolved over my years in in volunteer life, where I used to think our most important thing was to save the Jewish community, engage Jews. I still think it's important, don't get me wrong. But I do think that we are-we are tapped on the shoulder. We are the chosen people because it's our-it's our job to not just to help Jews, but non-Jews. And so my work over the last couple of years has reflected that, both at the JFS and the JDC. I was chair of a committee, which is a pretty big committee to do work with our non-Jewish, non-Jewish people. So we do a lot. JDC does a lot of disaster relief. So we worked in tsunami land, we worked in Haiti, we worked most recently in Mexico. And where there are Jews, we work in Jewish community to help everyone. We worked in Ecuador and Mexico with the Jewish communities and, um, but in places like Nepal and, um, Tsunami land, we didn't and we accessed help from USAID, Clinton, Bush and Tsunami land and other organizations. And our newest project is really cool because I still love Israel, even though I'm kind of left on Israel, but I still love it. Not such a fan of Bebe. You don't have to put that in. Um, but, uh, we are partnering with the Israeli government who wants a foothold in Africa in terms of trade and relationships and a better profile and some key philanthropists and the government of Ethiopia. Because don't forget, JDC was in Ethiopia sending out all those Jews to go to Israel and the United States. Some of them made it here. But, um, and we're doing something called Tikkun Olam ventures Tov. We call it. And we. I just got back from Ethiopia. It's really cool. So we, um, we use Israeli high tech, which is so flippin unbelievable in terms of, uh, irrigation drip. They're the kings of drip irrigation, hybrid seeds and fertilization. We've worked with some philanthropists who have given JDC a ton of cash and with Ethiopians, and we are setting up what we started with, seven farms. Because don't forget, Ethiopia, like other countries in Africa, are experience really horrible drought. But Ethiopia is lucky enough to have very fertile land. But a lot of these very primitive farmers only get one yield out of their soil. And hopefully with us they'll get 3 to 4, and they're growing tomatoes, onions and peppers, and we're going to help them bring them to market, not just to feed their communities, but to hopefully export. So they and they, they can tap into these banks, these Ethiopian, thess Ethiopian banks is giving loans to them so they can reinvest in their property. So it's micro-lending with the help of the Israeli government and the help of certain philanthropists. So that's my latest project.

That's fantastic.

Isn't that cool?

That's great. Yeah, yeah, yeah. My wife works for a company called Global Partnerships.

I know that. Yeah. Good for her. So what are they involved in?

They do microfinance.

Yeah. Yeah.

Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa.

Yeah. This is. Yeah, this is that. Yeah. But there's a lot, believe me. And gates is, you know, every. I just got back from my third trip to Addis. They're all. They all know Seattle because of gates. Gates. Gates. Gates. Gate. God bless them. Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah. Yeah.

Well. That's amazing. You have done phenomenal.

I went- [makes sound]

You're a dynamo.

But you've talked to Dynamos.

I have.

I mean, one Suzi LeVine.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

Yes.

Bobby. Bridge.

Absolutely.

Yeah. I sit on her board. By the way.

Yeah. That's an incredibly impressive woman.

Oh, she- Bobby is unbelievable.

Yes. She is.

Yeah.

Yeah. No, I mean, all all 20 women that we're honouring, of which you are one. It's an incredible group of women and from just a wide variety of places. So it's really-speaks amazingly well of you that you are one of the 20. So congratulations. Thank you. And thank you for coming.

Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Okay.

I'll let you talk to Lisa.

Okay.

Great.

I hope I did okay.

You did wonderful. Thank you.