Leona Krasne

I was born in Port Jervis, New York. I was raised Ashkenazi, and, growing up, attended first Jewish Sunday school classes, then Jewish teen group classes. The older I got, the more I wished to become involved with Judaism. I was a student of several different Jewish semester-long learning groups as a student at New York University, and once I got to Washington and Lee University School of Law, I hosted monthly Shabbat dinners and one memorable Passover seder (where one main topic of conversation was to which church the non-Jewish guests would go for Easter services). Upon graduating from law school and returning to New York, I wanted to cultivate my Jewish roots, so I reached out to several Jewish organizations to learn how I could become involved. JICNY welcomed me with open arms. I first became involved with JICNY when I took part in Steve Eisenberg's lunch and learn series in the summer of 2010. Steve's words of wisdom and humor made me look forward to his classes more so than I looked forward to each weekend. I reconnected with JICNY shortly after I graduated in May of 2012. No other organization made me feel as much a part of the family from day one as JICNY did. I dove in to help volunteer to update the JICNY's list serve. Soon, I was looking for additional ways in which I could get involved with JICNY, and learned about the annual Gala Dinner. I knew right away that I wanted to help.