Among the many emails and calls of thanks to JEWISHcolorado after the 2025 Signature Event, this single line may have best summed up many people’s sentiments: “It was an important event at an important time.”
The important event on January 28 filled the expansive Bluebird Ballroom at the Colorado Convention Center with nearly 800 people.

Ben Lusher and Renée Rockford
The important time that was acknowledged throughout the evening in multiple impactful ways was the need to stand united and support JEWISHcolorado now more than ever during a time of increasing antisemitism and anti-Israel attacks.
At the center of the evening stood role models for civic and JEWISHcolorado leadership Arlene and Barry Hirschfeld, recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award. Throughout the night, tributes to their many successes played on large screens.
“Thank you for leading by example.” Michael Staenberg & The Staenberg Family Foundation
“You have been an inspiration to me and so many others on our philanthropic journeys.” Joanne Posner Mayer
“Your dedication and unwavering commitment make a profound difference.” The Demby Family

Tiffany Glucksman Appel
From the first moments of the evening with video of recently released hostages to the final minutes with a conversation with Debra Messing, Emmy Award-winning actress, producer, and human rights activist best known for her role as Grace Adler on “Will and Grace,” this was “an important event at an important time,” filling hearts and minds with purpose and strength for the future.
‘We work to create leaders’
JEWISHcolorado President & CEO Renée Rockford and JEWISHcolorado Board Chair Ben Lusher began the evening with a prayer for the hostages.
That prayer was followed by a “Prayer for our Country” led by Marisa Porter, recipient of the Charlotte B. Tucker Young Leadership Award. Atid participants, including Nicole Isenberg, Dorit Fischer, Lisa Walko, and Jonathan Alpert led prayers for Israel and for peace.

Neil Oberfeld and Robyn Loup
JEWISHcolorado Campaign Chair Neil Oberfeld and Robyn Loup, a former Campaign Chair and wife of Robert E. Loup z”l, who was the first honoree of the Lifetime Achievement Award, led Ha’Motzi.
In her remarks, Rockford quoted Rabbi Jonathan Sacks z”l: “To be a leader, you do not need a crown or robes of office. All you need to do is to write your chapter in the story.”
“JEWISHcolorado is about helping those in our community write their own chapters,” Rockford said. “We work to create leaders.”
With that, she introduced two leaders from JEWISHcolorado’s Jewish Student Connection high school program.
“Antisemitism right now is much like a horseshoe with hatred coming from both sides of the political spectrum,” said Benjamin Hesse, a history teacher in the Boulder Valley School District. “Thankfully, over the past year and a half, Jewish Student Connection has provided a space where we can celebrate and support each other.”

Sam Allen
Hesse was followed by Sam Allen, a senior at Cherry Creek High School, and a leader of high school aged Jewish students throughout Colorado. Allen introduced a video with testimonials to different stages of JEWISHcolorado leadership—starting with his experience on the Joyce Zeff Israel Study Tour (IST), and continuing through JSC, Young Adult Division (YAD), Cabinet, and Atid.
Barry and Arlene Hirschfeld
Rockford reminded attendees that JEWISHcolorado’s work extends beyond JSC and IST.
“For decades, we have built community through our Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC), we are keeping our community safe through our Safety and Security Initiative, we are here to funnel emergency funds to victims of the Los Angeles fires, we are creating deep and lasting connections to the people of Israel,” Rockford said. “Two people who have been on that decades-long journey with us are Arlene and Barry Hirschfeld.”
Arlene’s father and Barry’s father and grandfather each served as Board Chairs of the Allied Jewish Federation of Colorado, the precursor organization to JEWISHcolorado. Barry also served on the Jco board.
He currently serves on the Boards of National Jewish Health, Boy Scouts of America, and Visit Denver. He has also served on the board of the Denver Art Museum, Boettcher Foundation, and was one of the founders of the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD).
Arlene Hirschfeld has been involved with the Jewish Federation for decades, serving as Women’s Campaign Chair and in 1999 as only the third woman to be Chair of the Board. She was the President of the Junior League of Denver and was the first woman Board Chair of the Rose Community Foundation. She has been recognized with the prestigious Golda Award and has been a Lion of Judah for four decades.
In a video tribute, Senator John Hickenlooper and Robyn Pringle Hickenlooper, Walter and Christy Isenberg, and Larry A. Mizel and Carol Mizel paid tribute to the Hirschfelds.
Rabbi Joe Black, Senior Rabbi of Temple Emanuel, praised the Hirschfelds for wearing the “crown of a good name.”
“I have always looked to Barry, Arlene, their children, and grandchildren as exemplars of caring and concern,” Rabbi Black said. “They understand what it means to lead with humility, passion, and dignity. And just as important as their actions in the community, they are among the nicest people you will ever meet.”
In their own words, Barry and Arlene talked about their commitment to each other, to family, to the community, and to JEWISHcolorado.
As they accepted the award, they emphasized with characteristic humility that they hoped their words would inspire more people to support JEWISHcolorado.
Debra Messing
Debra Messing brought the evening to a close with a wide-ranging conversation moderated by Ben Lusher. She talked about growing up in Rhode Island where, she said, she learned after early antisemitic experiences that “being Jewish was dangerous and the best thing I could do was hide.”
At Brandeis University—or “Jew U” as she affectionately called it—she found a home where she learned the power of community, “especially Jewish community.”
“I didn’t have to explain Shabbat or the High Holidays,” she said. “Everyone understood me and for the first time I felt safe.”
She studied acting at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, fulfilling a dream that had its roots in the first Broadway show she saw—“Annie.”
“I levitated out of my chair,” she said. “I knew that is what I wanted to do.”
Originally, the character of Grace Adler was not envisioned as Jewish. It was Messing who persuaded the creators of “Will and Grace” to give her a Jewish background because, she said, “representation matters.”
“I wanted to make her a fully flawed and wonderful person who happens to be Jewish,” Messing said. “Not a caricature, but someone to root for.”
Lusher asked Messing what prompted her to increase and elevate her public activism. She pointed to two events—the Charlottesville white supremacist rally in 2017 and the October 7th attack.
“I felt like this was not supposed to be happening in my lifetime,” she said. “After the massacre, it became clear that education is the key to combatting antisemitism. We have to confront the hate, the gaslighting, the lies with facts in a very calm manner.”
Messing traveled to Israel in December 2023, just weeks after October 7th to combat denialism that was already cropping up in reports about the attack by Hamas. She also spoke to 300,000 people who gathered for the March for Israel in Washington, D.C., calling it “one of the greatest days of my life.” She is also one of the creators of “October H8TE,” a newly-released documentary that examines the increase in antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment in the United States in the days, weeks, and months after October 7th.
“It does not relitigate the war,” Messing said. “It paints a picture of the explosion of extremism. This is not a Jewish crisis. This is a humanity crisis. And yet, I am so hopeful because of unbelievable young Jewish leaders. They are committed and they are not afraid. We just have to lift them up and fully believe that they will be the ones to turn this around.”
Thank you to our event sponsors (as of 1.14.25)
Anonymous | Mizel Family Foundations | Staenberg Family Foundation
Sunny & Norm Brownstein
Fay & Steve Demby | Ernest S. Madison Family Foundation
Debbie & Michael Feiner and the Fiener Family Foundation
Martin & Gloria Totsky Family Foundation | Meghan & Evan Zucker
Marsha, Ted, Jonathan, Amanda & Gregg Alpert | Bender West Foundation
Diane & Bob Hochstadt | Independent Financial | Jay’s Valet | Susan Karsh
Debbie & Jimmy Lustig | Joanne Posner-Mayer
Martha & Dick Robinson and Susan and Eddie Robinson
Litamae Sher | Iris & Michael Smith | Zeff Kesher Foundation
Debbie & Lee Alpert | Dennis Blum | The Feuer and Friedman Family
Louann & Miky Miller and Wendy & Jimmy Miller | Nancy & Skip Miller
Nancy Reichman & Charlie Gwirtzman
Thank you to our Table Sponsors (as of 1.14.25)
Alan Brandt | Seth Elken | Cindy Farber | Fosther Graham Milstein &. Calisher, LLP | Avery & Joey Friedman | GadellNet | Graland Country Day School | Jaime Miller Altman | Lauren Miller Apple | Lisa Miller Rogoff | Moody Insurance | NAI Shames Makovsky | Ricki & David Rest | Rabbi Rick Rheins and Temple Siani | Rose Community Foundation | Shelly & Rick Sapkin | Sewald Hanfling Public Affairs