Spotlight on Women’s Philanthropy: Judi Gottschalk


Judi Gottschalk is a native San Diegan and the daughter of two Holocaust survivors. An active member of the Phoenix Jewish community for 42 years, Judi recently moved back to San Diego. She serves on the Regional Taskforce for the United States Holocaust Museum, is a board member of The Butterfly Project, project coordinator for the Pauline Foster Women’s Leadership Institute, and incoming co-chairperson of the Women’s Philanthropy Board. In Phoenix, she served as a member of the board of the Valley of the Sun Jewish Community Center and Valley Beit Midrash, a pluralistic Jewish learning center, and the Ballet Program for School Children.

We asked Judi to tell us more about her background and her hopes for the future. Here is what she shared:

I feel an obligation to honor and preserve the legacy of Jewish values that were taught to us by my parents; including giving tzedakah and loving your neighbor as yourself. I feel it is so important to help sustain the future of the San Diego Jewish community; it is a privilege to honor the legacy of my parents and teach philanthropy to my children, so they can teach it to their children.

My parents were Holocaust survivors and were supported greatly by the generosity and caring of the San Diego Jewish community when they arrived in December of 1949. This very real example of tzedakah enabled my family to flourish and live the legacy of those who perished in the Holocaust. It is an honor to continue my support to ensure the continuity of Jewish life in this land, in Israel, and throughout the world, I look forward to all that the Federation can accomplish to build a sustainable Jewish community.

I often reflect upon the quote of Hillel in Pirkei Avot, “If I am not for myself, who will be? If I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, when?”

To learn more about Women’s Philanthropy please contact Jodie Graber.

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