Stronger After Z3

For me and my wife, being far from our home in Israel the past two months has been excruciating—many of our closest family and friends serve in the IDF. But we, Jews outside of Israel, have a critical role to play as well, beyond material support. Beyond political support. We are here to remind the world that Jews are here to stay.

Against this backdrop, we planned our 9th annual Z3 Conference. In early November, just shy of four weeks after the unthinkable horror of October 7, our community came together. We gathered to cry, remember, learn, heal and persevere.

To achieve this, the day began by marking October 7 and ended on a higher note by singing “Hatikvah” together at the closing plenary.

See the 2023 conference recap here.

While we are still processing the results of the survey, early findings and testimonials demonstrate that we were successful in creating the much-needed environment and setting for our community in this moment of pain:

1. Two-thirds of the participants reported feeling a moment of hope and an increased sense of peoplehood during the conference, arising from factors like “community,” “a sense of belonging,” “inspirational speakers” and “ability to network.” This shows the gathering is achieving its goals.
2. Our Net Promoter Score has jumped from 28% in 2021 to 37% in 2022 to 58% this year. Our community appreciated the event and will highly recommend it to others. Over 90% of attendees said the event was excellent.
3. There were 64 participants who detailed in writing the actions they plan to take because of their Z3 inspiration, including volunteering, expanding awareness and programming at their home organizations. With guests coming from all around North America and beyond, we welcomed:
   • Leadership Lab: Four cohorts, 96 people—including both teens and adults.
   • Ancillary Events: Five events in synagogues, day schools and the community.
4. In addition, impressions of our new social media channels and unique content grew 20-fold, expanding our reach and engagement exponentially.

I’m incredibly proud of the team for coming together and pulling off this important event even under the most emotionally challenging of circumstances. And I’m thankful to you, our supporters, for believing in this work—it’s needed now more than ever.

Am Yisrael Chai.

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