While you are supposed to be reading Jeff's bio, he wanted to start by explaining why the JCC is so important to him, especially now. He wants to encourage you to donate as much as you feel comfortable (and maybe a little more!) to help the JCC continue to do the work we are here to do. The long and self-indulging bio follows:

October 7th was a day that changed Jeff's life. He sent a personal note to the JCC board three days after the massacre articulating his thoughts. Amongst those words, he said the following:

Is it possible that we are at the precipice of an epochal shift where Jews seek out the Jewish community and experience and have a desire for it in ways we haven't seen in decades?

Is it possible that we will discover that American Jews now want more connection with Israel, want to learn more of Israeli culture, and want to feel more part of the Israeli experience they have had in decades?

Is it possible that everything we've wanted to bring through our programs at the JCC is exactly what we hunger for right now?

What does this all mean?

This means that the JCC is more important for the Manhattan Jewish community today than it was a week ago.

This means that all of your work to help this institution thrive is more important than it was a week ago.

It means that we have a lot more work to do for the future of Jewish peoplehood than we did a week ago.

Am I embellishing or exaggerating? Maybe, but I don't think so. And if you think I am, please don't tell me that because this thought is the one thing that is helping me get through this horrible period.

Jeffrey Ori Feig grew up in Toronto with his brother Paul, sons of Arthur and Fay, holocaust survivors who arrived in Toronto in 1962, separately from Romania and Israel. Arthur was born into a Hasidic family in Romania, Fay into an Orthodox Jewish family in Belgium. Jeff grew up in a conservative Jewish household. He attended Associated Hebrew Day School, where he loved playing floor hockey and basketball at the JCC. From those days, he remains close friends with Bruce, Gid, Ari, Alon, Howie, Dani, David, and Jeff.

After graduating from business school at the University of Western Ontario, Jeff began his career at Citibank Toronto. He moved to New York with Citibank in 1993 and then, in 2001, to London for three years, where he ran the Foreign Exchange business in Europe before becoming the global head of the foreign exchange sales and trading business in 2004. Jeff ran that business for 10 years, restoring Citi to the #1 tier position in the industry with the help of his boss and friend Anil Prasad and partnering with his friend at Citibank Israel, Neil Corney, to build an innovation center there that today employs over 300 people. He was a member of the board of EBS before it was sold to ICAP and sat on the FX committees of the Bank of England, Bank of Canada, European Central Bank, and the New York Federal Reserve, which he chaired.

In 2014, Jeff left Citi to join Fortress Investment Group, where he was the co-president of Liquid Markets and co-head of the macro-fund with Mike Novogratz until he and Mike blew up the fund (in a bad way). Jeff left Fortress in 2015 and, unlike Mike, didn't make >$1 Billion in crypto. After surviving a cardiac arrest in 2016, Jeff decided to devote his time to his young kids and the Jewish people.

Jeff joined the JCC board in 2007 after experiencing the incredible Tikkun Leil Shavuot, now named in memory of his brother Paul, who passed away at age 29 in April 1998. Jeff and his friend Moshe Horn help program the Tikkun every year, where Jeff battles to keep Moshe's Shalom Achshav tendencies a little more reasonable, and the staff does their best to seem interested in their suggestions while making sure the bulk of the programming is done by the professionals who know what they are doing. He and Moshe also teach a 4.00 AM class at the Tikkun every year where subjects have included The Stories From The Bible They Didn't Teach You In Hebrew Day School, the Genius of Shababnikikm, and The Challenges of Being Jewish on Campus (before October 7). This year's will be on the light topic of Belief in God…. Jeff was treasurer of the JCC from 2015, vice chair from 2018, and led the search committee for the new CEO before becoming board chair in 2021.

For Jeff, being the Chair of the Board of the JCC has been a highlight of his life. The challenges and fun of rebuilding after COVID, reinfusing the J into the JCC, and further developing relationships with the incredible staff and smart and talented board members have been immensely rewarding. For Jeff, working so closely with and having the opportunity to advise two giants of Jewish thought and innovation in community building, Rabbis Joy Levitt and Joanna Samuels, has been a true privilege even as they kindly indulged his constant and annoying comparisons of running a Jewish non-profit in Manhattan to running a global sales and trading business for Citibank.

Jeff is fortunate to have many rabbis who have helped guide him on his journey, including Rabbi Roly Matalon and Cantor Ari Priven at Congregation B'nai Jeshurun where he is a member, his friends Rabbi David Hoffman, Rabbi Meir Soleveichik, Rabbi Michael Paley, Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove and, Neil Zuckerman of Park Avenue Synagogue where he attends services with his partner Emily, his cousin Rabbi Shmuel Mann Z'L and, of course, Joy and Joanna. On a sad week this past February, Jeff lost his cousin Uri Lahav, who very much kept him up on events in Israel, and his very close cousin Rabbi Akiva Mann, who taught him so much about life, love, and Judaism.

Jeff is a Wexner Heritage fellow and has sat on the boards of Congregation B'nai Jeshurun and The Jewish Week. He currently sits on the boards of UJA, the Shefa School, the Jewish Theological Seminary, the Jewish Parents Alliance Group at Grace Church, the podcast Israel Story, and 70 Faces of Media. In 2018, he started a weekly egalitarian Kabbalat Shabbat at the Kotel, working with current WZO Vice Chair Yizhar Hess and the Masorti organization. Although the idea hasn't yet caught on, he is not giving up.

Jeff loves spending every moment possible with his children:, Zachary, a freshman at the University of Michigan; Benny, a high school Junior at Grace Church High School; and Jacob, an 8th grader at Heschel. Even the moments spent watching Jacob play hockey in freezing cold areas, editing Benny's long and complex essays, and trying to steal extra seconds with Zachary on the phone when he's away at school. He is incredibly proud of his kids' ability to think independently, articulate their Judaism, connect to their cousins in Israel, and loudly project their Zionism. He is so appreciative of Michelle for being such an amazing mom.

Jeff is also incredibly proud of his not-legally adopted daughter, Maya, who legally belongs to his very close friend Paula, an incredible doctor who cares for the entire Upper West Side, much of the Ukraine, and parts of Israel. Maya's soaring intellect, challenging questions, and occasional condescension help the three of them deepen their understanding of and reaffirm their love for Israel.

Jeff's passion, inherited from his mother, is hosting Shabbat and Chag dinners with large groups of people. This is how he made all his New York friends, starting with David Umansky in 1993. The meals are so big that you should be offended if you haven't been invited.

Jeff inherited his spirited Judaism and passionate Zionism from his father, Arthur, whom he lost in 2019, and his mother, Fay, whom he lost last year. The true tragedy of his life has been the far too premature loss of his brother Paul at age 29. In what can only be considered a heart-warming silver lining, Jeff is extremely close to Paul's former wife, Paula Feig, and her current husband, Brahm. Zachary, Jacob, and Benny consider their children, Cai and Liana, family.

Jeff wants to congratulate his friend Natalie, who is being honored at Park Avenue Synagogue, his friends Cory and Ali, who are being honored by Heschel, his friend Mark who is being honored by the UJA Investment Management Division, and his friends Lynn and Elisha, who are being honored by the 92nd Street Y. He also hopes you all give to those wonderful causes, but donate more to the JCC!

To keep his heart ticking, Jeff enjoys bike riding with his friend Rodney, playing tennis, skiing with Steve and Raquel while bullying Steve on the chairlift for listening to podcasts instead of interacting, and being coached at skiing by Peter, who doesn't tire of pointing out that Emily is a better skier than he is.

Jeff visits Israel at every opportunity to spend time with friends and family there and led a very special mission exactly a month after the massacre on October 7th with an incredible group of courageous and committed Zionists organized and planned by the WZO. He is very proud of both the trip and the group. Please read the stories of the survivors and the people we met here and expect a montage during the concert at the edit that my friend Dan Rose doesn't know he's doing yet.

Finally, Jeff relishes every moment he spends with his love, Emily, who kindly did not force him to edit this bio, and, who, through her various endeavors on the boards of the Abraham Joshua Heschel School and UJA, and as a co-conspirator in hosting various events to raise money for good causes, breed understanding and build community is a partner in ensuring the continuity of our Jewish project..

The JCC has been a key part of Jeff's life work, especially for the last three years. If you've read to end, hopefully this was an an interesting enough narrative to convince you to please support this increasingly important institution as well as the the Tikkun named in memory of Jeff's brother Paul by donating generously here.