Current Jewish Community Partners Chair Charles Jalenak lends his professional financial expertise to this episode. Hear why Charles says the Jewish Foundation of Memphis has the "best Jewish advisory platform in the country" and how the Foundation helps donors invest their money through innovative strategies with a bent toward Israel support and investing Jewishly. 

Ken Steinberg is much more than a "pesky board member," as he describes himself. Not only has the lifelong Memphian served as past Chair of Jewish Community Partners, the Memphis Jewish Federation and the Jewish Foundation of Memphis, in this episode, Ken also discusses co-chairing the Maccabi Games and leading the Overton Park Shell. He and his family have made music and Jewish community a core part of their lives — including his young grandchildren, who are sixth-generation Memphians. 

Few people know that the Foundation's origin story partly began with a poolside conversation between Ron Belz and Paula Jacobson at the JCC. The founding Executive Director of the Foundation discusses the organization's earliest days in this episode (and gets nostalgic for working on the office floor while waiting for furniture to arrive), plus working with seniors at the Trezevant Foundation, her time as past Temple Israel president and the many strong women leading the Memphis Jewish community today.

Michael D. Kaplan went to law school with no intention of becoming a lawyer. Yet, his life journey led him to become the longtime legal counsel to Jewish Community Partners, Memphis Jewish Federation, and the Jewish Foundation of Memphis. As Donor Advised Fund holders, he and his wife Mary Anna and have made their charitable focus feeding the hungry and vulnerable - their family mantra being "you can't just pass through life." He discusses this and more in the latest episode. 

In this episode, Susie Thorp shares the incredible story of her parents' escape from Europe in the 1930s. After arriving in Memphis, the couple built an impressive collection of judaica, with some pieces dating back to the 13th century - all now residing in the Temple Israel Museum. She also discuses donating a gift of Tiffany glass through the Foundation, and how giving tzedakah is doing "God's unfinished business."

Charity is not a nice-to-have for Sandy Blockman, but an obligation. In this episode, he shares his family legacy of upholding Memphis Jewish institutions, beginning in the early 1900s when the "Blockman shul" was the mainstay of the Orthodox community downtown, and explains why Margolin Hebrew Academy is his priority as the only Torah-centered school in the city. Listen until the end to hear the "three treasures" of Blockman family.

Steve Wishnia was in the room when it happened: the launch of the Jewish Foundation of Memphis in 1995. In this episode, he discusses the origin story of the Foundation, the importance of supporting local Jewish organizations such as the Memphis Jewish Home ("People tend to forget the elderly - let's not forget our mothers and fathers"), and his still-recognizable Brooklyn accent. 

As former President of both Beth Sholom and the Memphis Jewish Home & Rehab, Nat Landau knows better than most how deeply Memphis Jewish agencies rely on having a strong local Jewish Foundation. In this week's episode, he discusses this, his "wasted time" in the Air Force, his wife's adjustment from New York to the Jim Crow-era South, and how to attract more young Jewish people to Memphis.

Joe Roberts has frank advice for the Memphis Jewish community when it comes to charity: "A lot of us have more money than we think we do." He and wife Jennifer Roberts discuss this and their recent, generous gift to the Bornblum Jewish Community School in this week's episode. 

In this episode, Cindy and Mark Finestone talk Girl Scouts, Southern hospitality and how their daughter is keeping up the family tradition of philanthropically supporting Meals on Wheels.