The news today has pivoted from horror in the face of terror on three continents to the historic Supreme Court decision upholding marriage equality. That’s just one day.

But it’s been that kind of year. And with just a few days until July 1, the day marking my first anniversary as CEO of UJA-Federation, it’s a time of reflection.

I don’t think any of us could have imagined 12 months ago what lay ahead in terms of Israel, Ukraine, and France. Or the challenges we would face much closer to home, with a few of our network agencies.

But in the most critical respects, the year was exactly as envisioned.

Last July, I expressed the belief that UJA-Federation is the closest thing we have today to a global kehillah, a sacred community, with unique resources and reach to identify and address the needs of the worldwide Jewish community in crisis and also every day. To ensure that no Jew — and no New Yorker — ever feels alone.

Everything I witnessed this year — from young teenagers in Sderot comforted by trauma counseling to displaced Ukrainian Holocaust survivors sheltered in Dnepropetrovsk, from impoverished New Yorkers in Far Rockaway nourished with kosher food to young Americans I met just this week in Tel Aviv experiencing Israel on our MASA program — only enhanced my conviction about the singular impact of our network.

We saw FEGS close its doors, but then experienced the power of our network, as other agencies — with our major support — stepped up to absorb FEGS’s programs and ensure the continuity of care for its clients.We also significantly deepened our investment supporting Jewish life on campus and strengthening European Jewry, recognizing the disturbing trends all around us.

Looking to the year ahead, we’re preparing to launch Live With Purpose, a groundbreaking communitywide volunteering initiative. We’re in the process of making the 14 Jewish day camps in our network the model for the future. We’re enhancing our pioneering employment initiative for people with disabilities. We’re working hard to deepen Jewish engagement in north and Brownstone Brooklyn. And we’re modeling unity and inclusiveness so that the totality of our community — right, left, center, every denomination, every affiliation, every age — will feel that UJA-Federation belongs to and serves us all.

This year has been a jumble of experiences — exhilarating, exhausting, challenging, and highly rewarding. But above all, I’ve been awed by our unparalleled collective ability to serve those in need, to create innovative models of service, and to withstand and address individual agency challenges.

In short, we are very much greater than the sum of our parts. That includes every agency, every volunteer, every lay leader, every professional, and every donor — all of you.

Shabbat shalom