Member Spotlight on Stacy Kamisar

BY ELISE MEYER

Who is that smiling face welcoming you to an exciting community happening? Who is the pretty lady who always says “Shabbat Shalom” when you meet at Shabbat on the Beach? The answer is Stacy Kamisar, an active and engaged member of the TCS community since 1999. How active? Since joining the synagogue Stacy has chaired the Membership Committee, The Religious School Committee, the Adult Education Committee, and served on the Executive Committee for four years. For Stacy, TCS is her home, and the reason she believes that she will never leave the community. Most of her friends are from TCS, and she and her husband Jon are part of a dynamic Shabbat Club of four couples that meet monthly for convivial Shabbat Dinners in each others’ homes. The synagogue is a central location of her life.

Giving her time and talent to the community is primary to Stacy. She strongly believes that members like herself who dedicate their energy and efforts are equal in importance to those that “give with their wallets.” In fact, she was particularly proud to see the strong TCS volunteer effort to deliver kosher groceries during the pandemic for thirty straight months to neighbors in need. “TCS is clearly a warm, caring community,” she said. For Stacy this all comes fairly naturally, as she has felt a deep connection to her Jewish Community since her early Jewish education, and especially as a teenager in her local Hebrew High School program. As a journalism major at Northwestern University in Chicago she met her husband Jon, and took on the responsibility of PR director for the UJA (United Jewish Appeal) on campus. After college, Stacy moved to New York City while Jon played a year of professional tennis, and then went to law school. During this time she started her career in corporate communications at a money center bank, and then at an investment bank. But, as “my Judaism spoke to me,” she pivoted to a job with the American Friends of Tel Aviv University, and has stayed in the Jewish professional world ever since.

The Kamisars left cramped New York City apartment life when Ben was born. After seven years in Stamford, the Kamisars found their way to Weston, looking for a small town environment. They happily settled in, loved raising the family in Weston, and love it to this day. Today, Stacy holds the job of Director of Programs and Partnerships for the Federation. She loves that her job is all about building Jewish community and creating educational and entertaining programs that bring the Jews of our community together around issues, arts, culture, and of course, Israel. She strives to meet people wherever they are on their Jewish journey. Stacy has been in the position at the Federation for “thirteen years, three CEOs, and three names.” In Stacy’s words, “I want to nurture a vibrant Jewish community so that when a young couple on the Upper West Side is looking for a home, they look here and say, ‘wow, this is a great place to raise a Jewish family.’”

She loves creating programs like the highly successful Food Festivals that brought hundreds of people together, and has organized scores of fantastic programs with authors, speakers, religious leaders, Israeli politicians, artists, and musicians. She loves to instigate and promote Jewish conversations around many diverse topics.

Of all the programs, though there are two that resonate the most with her. One is the Israeli Emissary Program, which has brought young and vibrant Israelis into our community for over 20 years. In fact, the Kamisars hosted one of the Emissaries in 2005, even before she started at Federation. It is a point of pride that the program actually started here in our community, and now, the program proved so successful that now there are hundreds of shlichim (emissaries) all over the world. “To think it started right here!” Stacy loves to hear about the lifelong connections our community has made, how people stay connected, and how many people really grow from this project.

Her other favorite program is Dignity Grows, a project so transformative that people stop her on the street to thank her for the endeavor that provides monthly personal hygiene products to individuals assigned female at birth who cannot afford them. Walking out of her office loaded with products to help organize a packing group, a woman thanked her saying:

“I can’t tell you how meaningful this is for someone to receive a bag with stuff like this, to see that somebody cares enough to know that I need this.”

Meanwhile Stacy and Jon are enjoying their empty nest now that their two adult children are successfully out on their own. Ben, 31, is married to Shelby Lopez Kamisar, and lives in Washington DC. He is a political journalist with NBC, and she is White House Liaison to the National Endowment for the Humanities. Mia, 28, is a graphic designer, art director, and producer for corporate events in NYC.

In her spare time? Stacy is an avid reader. If you ever want a recommendation on what to read next, just ask her. Currently she is loving Emily St John Mandel’s Sea of Tranquility, and thinks everyone should read “Cloud Cuckoo Land” by Anthony Doerr.