By Andrew Adler
Community Editor
Marcia Roth and Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg at the 2024 JCL Annual Meeting on June 25, 2024.
It was entirely fitting that Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg introduced Marcia Roth – the recipient of this year’s Blanche B. Ottenheimer Award – at the Jewish Community of Louisville’s Annual Meeting this past June 25.
“In 1987, one morning after a wonderful sleepover at your house, I was telling you about this new book I’d just read, with all this advice,” His Honor recounted during last month’s event hosted by the Trager Family JCC.
“I was an impressionable 14-year-old, and you advised me that maybe I shouldn’t follow everything I’d just read,” Greenberg told the audience gathered at the Shapira Foundation Auditorium. “It was a New York Times bestselling book some of you may recall – ‘The Art of the Deal.’”
Donald Trump may have winced at resulting wave of laughter. Yet even he’d have to acknowledge that for decades, Roth has been a tireless force for good in the Louisville community – Jewish and otherwise.
Whether as founding director of Jefferson County’s first official office devoted to advocating on behalf of area women, co-creator of the Victim Notification and Information Everyday (VINE) program, and most significantly, founder and longtime executive director of the Mary Byron Project combatting domestic violence – Roth’s defining imperative is identifying solutions to challenges others might view as unsolvable.
“My parents raised my brother and me to care about people who needed help, as well to care about our own people,” she emphasized as told of growing up in the small upstate New York town of Herkimer. “Philanthropy was always a a priority in our home – UJA were initials I knew as well as PB&J.”
At the behest of the late (and decidedly great) Minx Auerbach, Roth found an additional calling via service with the National Council of Jewish Women, Louisville Section. “NCJW was and is a feminist Jewish organization,” Roth said (reminding listeners that “you don’t have to be Jewish or a woman to be a member”).
“I learned more by watching the leaders in that organization, both locally and nationally, than I can say. I learned about the inequalities of race , ethnicity and gender. I learned about the need for better childcare, more juvenile justice, and I learned about the unfair treatment of women.”
Roth invoked a declaration found on an NCJW Yearbook cover: “ ‘One person makes a difference, but 1,000 people make an impact.’” I wanted to make an impact,” she said, “and I knew I couldn’t do that alone.”
Determination pushed her forward, starting with a fundamental, foundational question: “How does anything change in this world?”
Roth provided her own answer: “It changes by changing minds, changing laws, changing policies,” she said. “It requires getting the attention of people who are in power and helping put people in power who will use their power for good.”
Along the way Roth drew vital support from her family, particularly her husband, Bruce Roth, who was in the audience on this celebratory occasion, along with several of their adult children. Their collective contributions are evident in the Roth Family Education Center at the Trager Family JCC, and by funding the Wall of Honor in the main lobby.
Handoffs from generation to generation have scarcely been more powerful. Greenberg recalled that in when the Office for Women was established in 1991, “the first intern was me.”
“I had an amazing summer learning so much that still serves me in my current role,” he said. “So it was my great pleasure 30 years later to be appointed as co-chair of the Domestic Violence Prevention Council. So many. People have benefitted – and are truly alive – because of the work you and your colleagues have done.”
“For all these reasons – and because I checked that today is one of only three days on the entire calendar that does not already have a Jewish holiday – today, June 25, 2024 is Marcia Roth Day.”
Applause poured forth, a plaque was bestowed, and photos were taken. But Roth wasn’t content simply to make the evening all about her. Not a chance.
Acknowledging the JCL Young Leadership Award recipients, she once more looked beyond her own exceedingly full career.
“I throw the gauntlet to you,” she said, challenging that successor generation to “use your voice!”
“Stand up for what you know is right and stand up for people who do not have the privilege to risk using theirs,” Roth urged. “And to everyone of any age in this room, now is the moment to act. To speak out. To donate. To write emails, letters, postcards, to vote.”
Marcia Roth, Ottenheimer honoree for 2024, closed with an unmistakable declaration:
“Indifference is not an option. It never was,” she said. “In this year, at this time, no one has the luxury of ignoring what is happening in this world.”