Champaign-Urbana Jewish Federation

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Welcome to the Champaign-Urbana Jewish Federation

Fostering a vibrant Jewish future at home and abroad and assisting broader humanitarian activities since 1929.

Jewish Life and Learning

CUJF engages our dynamic and diverse community with educational resources and community events to appeal to different interests, backgrounds, and ages throughout the life span.

Support for Our Most Vulnerable

As Jews, we have a responsibility to care for the needy in our community, as well as to support our members during their most vulnerable times. CUJF is there with information, referrals, and financial assistance when needed.

Community Giving

Together, we are stronger. CUJF serves as a central mechanism for raising and allocating funds to local organizations as well as supporting Jewish organizations and initiatives in Israel and throughout the world.

  • Education

    From PJ Library at 6 months of age, to Gift of Israel for young adults, CUJF sponsors a wide range of educational resources for Jewish youth. For the greater CU community, we support local teachers with resources and training to teach about the holocaust, as well community outreach projects on Jewish culture and history.

  • Humanitarian Aid

    Supporting our members during their most vulnerable times is perhaps our most important contribution to the community. Financial assistance to get through a difficult period, educational and advocacy support for new Americans, or bereavement support and respectful burial for the indigent, CUJF is there in times of the greatest need.

  • Engagement

    Movies for teens? Israeli Folkdancing? Film Festival? Senior programs? CUJF strives to offer our community a range of opportunities to engage with others who share their interests or offer different perspectives. Events are always open to everyone in the community, across all affiliations and backgrounds.

  • World Connections

    No matter where we live, we are all part of one global Jewish family. Through our community contributions to the Jewish Federation of North America, we support global Jewry in 70 countries around the world. CUJF also provides direct support to eight specific educational and humanitarian programs in Israel.

NEWS & UPCOMING EVENTS

 

Champaign-Urbana Jewish Federation CHAI Seniors Program invites you to ​Klezmer Music: A Living Tradition presented by Frances Harris


Tuesday, September 17
11:30 am
Sinai Temple, 3104 West Windsor Road, Champaign


Klezmer music is the traditional simcha music of the Ashkenazi Jewish communities of Eastern Europe. It is rooted in a Yiddish culture that spanned modern-day Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, Hungary, Russia, Moldava, Ukraine, Turkey, and more. Today the klezmer music scene is more vibrant than ever, blossoming in Europe as well as on this side of the Atlantic—and even as far away as Japan! Frances will give an overview of this rich and varied tradition, illustrating with sound clips and video. She may even bring her fiddle.


Frances Harris and her husband, Yiddish dancer Mitchell Harris, are long-time regular attendees at Yiddish culture camps. They’ve just returned from the 24th annual KlezKanada, held north of Montreal in the Laurentian mountains. Frances’s band is Papashoy (“corn”), members of which can often be seen playing at the Red Herring on Tuesdays at noon.  She can be reached at franceyfidl@gmail.com.


Cost of this event is $5.00. Please RSVP by contacting the CUJF office 367-9872 or emailing cujf@cujf.org. Transportation available upon request.

 

 

Relive the Historical Evening with Marthe Cohn


World War II spy Marthe Cohn, the author of Behind Enemy Lines: The True Story of a French Jewish Spy in Nazi Germany, is sharing her story of joining the French intelligence service, posing as a nurse, crossing enemy lines and relaying information about the Nazis back to the French.


Click here to see full event recording.

INTERESTED IN CUJF?

 

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CUJF Publication Deadline

The deadline for CUJF’s weekly email blast is Wednesdays at 3:00 pm for publication on Fridays at noon. Tell us about your services, your events, and your good news! Email us at communications@cujf.org.

 

 

Call for Volunteers

Champaign-Urbana Jewish Federation relies on the time, talent and hard work of volunteers to help with all aspects of the organization’s important work, from stuffing envelopes to planning parties. 


A number of our committees are in need of more members, including: 

  • CHAI Seniors

  • Nominations

  • Film Festival

  • Events

  • Outreach


For more information on committee members or other ways you can help strengthen our small but mighty Federation, please contact Rebekah Noven, board President, at novenfamily@gmail.com or (312) 286-7134.

Download September Calendar

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