Why They Do It
Paul Shapiro
Paul Shapiro’s relationship to the JCC is very much the same as many JCC members - it’s his second home. However, for Paul, the feeling of home goes much deeper. Paul’s father, Murry Shapiro, was the Executive Director of the Hartford Jewish Community Center from 1956-1984. So the JCC was Paul’s second home, but really, his first.
Paul was born in Cleveland, OH where his dad worked at the Jewish Community Centers of Cleveland. Their family then moved to New Jersey where his father became the Associate Executive Director of the Newark Y, which is what many JCCs used to be called (Young Men’s & Women’s Hebrew Association). Paul and his younger brother Aaron grew up there until 1956 when Murry moved his family to Hartford to become the Executive Director of the Hartford JCC. At that time, it was located on Asylum Avenue.
In the fall of 1962, the JCC moved from Hartford to its current home on Bloomfield Avenue in West Hartford. Paul has vivid memories of the JCC and what it used to look and feel like. “It feels like walking into a different building today. I try and visualize exactly where Murry’s office was - it doesn’t really exist any longer. It’s different. It’s a different gym, it’s a different pool. Obviously the bones of the structure are the same and the friezes, of course, on the side of the building are still there. So I’m going into the same place but there are more differences than similarities.”
One constant for Paul is David Jacobs. David has been at the helm of the Mandell JCC as the President and CEO for the past 20 years but was actually hired by Murry Shapiro in 1978 as the Teen Director, then went on to be the Director of Camp Shalom and Associate Executive Director before moving on to other JCCs in California and Rochester, NY. But the relationship between Murry and David was special - and Paul remembers that. “David was among the last group of people who were hired by my dad. It was not a question of establishing a connection with him when my parents died. I knew David from the day that Murry hired him, so David was always connected with my family.”
The other constant was the Gilman Theater. Paul never really hung out at the JCC. He grew up on Parsons Drive, went to King Philip Elementary and King Philip Junior High and later, Conard High School. He knew so many Jewish kids and families, because of his dad’s involvement in the JCC and their family’s involvement at Beth El Temple, where his mother Bobby taught Kindergarten (she also grew up on the same street as Rabbi Kessler in Philadelphia!). He didn’t really see why he needed to hang out with Jewish kids at the JCC.
That changed when one of his friends persuaded him to help on the stage crew for the production of Bye Bye Birdie when he was in 10th grade. That led to a small role in the Pajama Game in 11th grade and then, in 1967, when he was in 12th grade, he got one of the lead roles in How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. This was his own, personal way he connected to the JCC - aside from his dad, knowing all the staff and their families. This is where he made his own mark. Walking through the Center today, “what really looks and feels the same, is the theater.”
And in 2015, on the occasion of the JCC’s 100th Anniversary, Paul’s son Sam, accepted the Gerald Steinberg Leadership Award on behalf of his grandfather, Murry Shapiro zl, in the exact same spot on the Gilman’s theater stage, as his father sat for one of the scenes in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying back in January of 1967.
Murray’s values of kindness, respect, warmth, and Jewish community, along with his vision of a JCC that was central to Jewish life, have all been passed on to his and have been integrated into David’s own vision for the JCC. “Murry had a unique way of connecting with people, and he did not pass it on to people by explaining how he operated. Rather, for David and for other JCC staff he mentored, Murry set an example, and it was up to the staff to understand how he operated. He was kind to everyone, from the pre-school kids to the major donors, regardless of anyone’s station in life. His goal was to make the JCC a place where everyone is welcome and the way to do it was for the person at the top to lead by example. Murry talked about his work, not to just talk for the sake of talking. He did it because every day was exciting to him. Everything about the JCC was exciting. And while we didn’t completely appreciate it at the time, I appreciate it now. He looked at the Center in terms of what it can be, now and in the future, and where it fits into the larger Jewish community. David took it all in. I see so much of Murry in David, in the way he interacts with the staff and the community.”
For Murry, his life was all about the JCC. For Paul, his life is all about his family. Paul took an early retirement incentive in 2003 so he could spend more time with his wife Annette and their son Sam, after 29 years in the Connecticut Attorney General’s Office, 21 of those years as senior legal counsel at UCONN. Passing the torch of Jewish community from generation to generation has always been a focus in Paul’s family and it was taken on by his son when he became the President of the Connecticut Valley Region BBYO in his senior year of high school.
The connection to the JCC of the past runs deep for Paul and Annette, but their connection to the JCC of the future does as well. After moving back to West Hartford in 2021, after many years of living in Storrs, they joined the JCC and enjoy attending many JCC cultural arts programs and films. They are proud to make an annual gift to the Community Donor Circle that helps to carry on Murry’s vision, and now, David’s vision, and makes a positive impact on the entire JCC community. Their gift is very personal and carries many memories of meaning, connecting the past with the present, and creating a strong and vibrant JCC for generations to come.
