More than 70 leaders and delegates from Federation agencies engaged with a wide spectrum of topics at the joint meeting of JUF’s Jewish Community Relations Council and Government Affairs Committee last week. From analyzing the first presidential debate to welcoming the newest Israeli diplomat in Chicago to honoring the memory of those slain at Babi Yar 75 years ago, the meeting touched on issues that affect Jews in Chicago, the U.S. and globally.

Led by JCRC Chair David T. Brown and Government Affairs Chair David Golder, the community welcomed Israeli Consul General Aviv Ezra.

“Maintaining a close working relationship with Israel’s representatives in the Midwest is a very important face of the work of our JCRC,” Brown said. “Supporting a strong, vibrant Israel is one of the cornerstones of this community’s efforts locally and globally.”

Ezra, whose territory covers nine Midwest states, previously served as Counselor for Congressional Affairs at the Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C. and as a policy advisor to the Director General of the Ministry of Affairs in Jerusalem. He also has represented Israel in Egypt and in Atlanta, Georgia.

“I am proud to represent Israel in Chicago,” he said. “I know how important an involved community is to our work in promoting Israel. We [at the Israeli Consulate] do not take for granted the special relationship with the Chicago Jewish community and the neshama [soul] it has.”

Ezra hopes to not only promote Israel in the Midwest, but also to promote Midwest in Israel because Chicago and other cities in the Midwest remain unknown to many Israelis, he said.

Even as the community celebrated the vibrancy of the global Jewish community and the strong connection with the modern State of Israel, attendees took a moment to remember the victims of the massacre of Jews at the Babi Yar ravine in Kiev, Ukraine, 75 years ago.

Michael Bauer of the Illinois Holocaust and Genocide Commission, who is a member of the Government Affairs Committee, recalled the events of Sept. 29-30, 1941, and read a moving poem by the Russian writer Yevgeni Yevtushenko. Bauer informed attendees that members of Chicago’s Jewish community, including JUF Judaic Scholar Rabbi Yehiel Poupko, would be traveling to Kiev to mark the anniversary at the memorial there .

From honoring the past the meeting progressed to looking toward the future. Held on National Voter Registration Day and exactly six weeks prior to Election Day, the meeting’s main presentation focused on the race for the White House. Chicago Sun-Times Washington, D.C., Bureau Chief Lynn Sweet detailed some of the top issues in the upcoming presidential election.

“We have to remember that in politics, many things can be true at the same time,” she said. “A debate win may not change the trajectory of the election.”

Sweet said that supporters of either candidate may believe that their choice had the upper hand at the debate. She also fielded a variety of questions from attendees, including on voter turnout, the potential effects of the election of either Clinton or Trump on Illinois as well as the outlook for some of the most contested elections in the state, particularly for the Senate seat between Sen. Mark Kirk and Rep. Tammy Duckworth as well as for the 10th District House seat between Rep. Bob Dold and Brad Schneider.

“JCRC and Government Affairs are non-partisan, but we cannot deny that the Jewish community’s strong sense of civic engagement and keen interest in politics plays out every national election cycle,” Golder said. “Surveys indicate that more than 90 percent of Jews who are registered to vote make it to the polls, compared to 74 percent of all Americans. It’s highly likely that history is going to repeat itself in terms of our community showing up at the polls during this election cycle.”