What They Got Right: Lessons From the Tree of Life Gala
Downtown Cincinnati was buzzing on Wednesday night. Babysitters were booked solid, dinner reservations were impossible to get and Music Hall became the center of gravity. Some people were dressed up for the Nas concert; others — myself included — were headed to the Jewish National Fund’s (JNF) Tree of Life Gala.
This year’s gala honored Shelly Gerson, Dr. Jeffrey Zipkin and Dr. William L. Barrett, and it felt like a reunion of half the Cincinnati Jewish community. I spent nearly twenty minutes trying to reach the bar, pulled into one conversation after another with people from Hebrew school pickup, Federation programs, or even the Kroger kosher aisle.
But what stood out wasn’t just the full room. It was who stood on stage.
The honorees did not appear alone. Alana Gerson-Levi and Mollie Newman, the daughters of Gerson and Dr. Zipkin, were there not as supporting characters but as active, committed JNF leaders in their own right. In a world where Jewish organizations spend endless hours worrying about how to engage Millennials and Gen Z, here were two young Jewish women — already giving, already involved — standing beside their parents as extensions of their legacy.
This is the question so many Jewish organizations quietly worry about: What did Gerson and Dr. Zipkin get right? What creates not just Jewish adults, but Jewish donors? Not just supporters, but future leaders?
No one I spoke with could point to a single answer. It was more of a mosaic — small choices, consistent values, countless moments layered over time. But I have a theory, and part of it lies in the initiative they helped bring to life here in Cincinnati: Friday Night Shabbat.
On paper it’s simple — a free community dinner. But its real strength is that it genuinely wants young families. Not the usual “we welcome families” line, but an evening built around the reality that kids are part of Jewish life. There are weekly activities. Everyone laughs when a toddler melts down because “the corn juice touched their chicken.” It’s a Shabbat dinner for real families with real kids — and that’s why people show up.
Gerson’s daughter, Alana Gerson-Levi, didn’t offer a neat or formulaic explanation for why she and her sister, Rachel, became committed Jewish leaders. Instead, she talked about something simpler: authenticity. She grew up watching her parents give, show up, and take responsibility for the community — not as a performance, but as a family norm. What left the deepest mark, she said, was her grandfather, S. David Shor, whose name stood over the entrance to the old JCC Camp in Roselawn. “Every day I walked under that arch,” she told me. “You don’t forget seeing your family’s name attached to something bigger than you.” That sense of belonging — of being rooted in a Jewish story larger than any one generation — is what she believes ultimately shaped her.
Zipkin’s daughter, Mollie Newman, described her upbringing in similarly straightforward terms. Jewish life wasn’t theoretical in the Zipkin home; it was lived. She talked about day school, synagogue, and a household where giving back wasn’t a slogan but an expectation. “We grew up knowing our parents gave back whenever they could,” Newman said. “That’s part of being in a Jewish community — when you can help, you do.” That commitment showed up everywhere — in family trips to Israel, in the values woven into daily life, and in the Rockwern Curiosity Center named for her mother, reflecting her father’s determination to strengthen Jewish institutions for the next generation. These weren’t isolated gestures. They formed a worldview: community, responsibility and Israel aren’t extras. They are the core of Jewish life.
Jewish institutions often tie themselves in knots trying to “engage the next generation.” Panels, task forces, consultants, new programs every season — all of it chasing an elusive formula. The Gerson–Zipkin model is simpler and far more durable: let your kids see you live your Judaism. Let them see you build something real.
Because raising the next generation is not a slogan; it’s a lifetime of choices. It is hard work — especially in 2025, when standing up for Israel comes with real social cost. Shelly Gerson and Dr. Jeff Zipkin didn’t produce two confident young Zionist leaders by accident. They did it the old-fashioned way: by showing up, again and again, until the values stuck.
And on Wednesday night at Music Hall, you could see the results standing right beside them. That’s not just a legacy. That’s a blueprint worth following.
