A Catholic at JTA: They need our support!

Hi, my name is David. I'm the guy who hits the "send" button on all these solicitations you receive from JTA.

People who know me sometimes ask, "You're Catholic, but you work for JTA! Why?"

The most obvious reason is that my wife is from Israel, and we are proudly raising our six-year old twins as Jews. Believe me, I'm the one who insists on going to shul every Friday.

There are less obvious reasons, though, why I work at JTA. Of course, it's an exciting challenge to be part of a team trying to figure out how a traditional news organization will survive and thrive in this digital age.

More importantly, though, it is what JTA represents: a group of people working on behalf of a scattered community to make sure that the community's stories are told, that dangers are anticipated, that devastation is acknowledged, that opportunity and triumph is celebrated.

This is about the most talented group of people I've ever worked with. They could be working anywhere (and probably for higher salaries!), but they choose to work for JTA in an effort to keep the Jewish community informed and connected.

Yes, it is a little odd being the only Catholic at JTA. But the cause transcends these kinds of differences: service and dedication to a greater good on behalf of your community, your colleagues, your family, your history. Who wouldn't want to be a part of that?

With your generous donation right now, you will help ensure that future generations will enjoy and be enlightened by JTA. I don't know what kind of device my kids will be reading the news on when they are old enough. But, I do know that I want them to be able to read JTA so they can better understand the community of which they are a part.

Thanks so much,

David Billotti
Director of Communications

P.S. Last year at this time, we had raised over $25,000. We're about $10,000 short of that milestone right now. If every one of the tens of thousands of people receiving this e-mail gave as much as they could afford, we would reach our goal for the first half of 2010 and then some. Can we count on your support?