Atlantic Jewish Council searching for next executive director

The Atlantic Jewish Council in Halifax is searching for its next executive director.

A recent announcement from the community and advocacy group says its top official since 2016, Naomi Rosenfeld, told the organization’s board of directors this summer she would be leaving.

“Naomi and her husband Jeff are expecting their first baby in November,” the notice says. “Naomi will not be returning after her maternity leave ends.”

When Rosenfeld replaced the former longtime executive director at the council, Jon Goldberg, five years ago she was 24 years old. She’s a Torontonian and granddaughter of Holocaust survivors.

“Choosing to leave the AJC and Atlantic Canada is a difficult and heartbreaking decision,” Rosenfeld says in the notice. “But Jeff and I feel that we must raise our future child surrounded by our families.”

In the announcement, from AJC board president, Arik Drucker, the board expresses its gratitude to Rosenfeld and wishes her well. The council’s board has set up a search committee and hired an executive search firm to help recruit a new executive director.

The Jewish community in the Atlantic region has 4,000 to 5,000 people, many of whom live in Nova Scotia.

Community programming organized by the Atlantic Jewish Council includes providing social services and hosting educational events.

The nonprofit council’s annual Holocaust Education Week, now in its 18th year, is to run from Nov. 1 to 7.

Michael Lightstone is a freelance reporter living in Dartmouth