a 2025 Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia blog post<\/a> that she had always been inspired by the Federation\u2019s work. Almost a year later, in an interview with Philadelphia Jewish Exponent, she explained that she\u2019s inspired by the Federation\u2019s work because it is \u201cbroadly connected to so many different Jewish organizations.\u201d<\/p>\nThat reach helps her, as a major gifts officer for the Federation, to impact a broad swath of Jewish life in the Philadelphia area. For a young woman who grew up in a house that was Orthodox, then Reform and often a mix of both traditions, that reach is important. Jewish life is diverse, and the Federation engages with every part of the community.<\/p>\n
The Center City resident started working for the Federation last summer.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt always feels better to know you\u2019re connected to something much broader,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
While her reach and impact might be broad, Fried\u2019s role is specific. As a major gifts officer, she primarily guides Federation donors about where to put their money. Her portfolio includes a group of households, and it\u2019s Fried\u2019s job to direct them toward \u201cphilanthropic priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yet, while she may help direct them, she tries to avoid being too direct. It\u2019s not Fried\u2019s job to tell donors what to do. It\u2019s her role to explain what the Federation does through its various agencies so they can make informed decisions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like to guide people in a direction that feels good to them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Fried starts with a series of questions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I would ask about your connection to the Jewish community and what it looks like right now,\u201d she said. \u201cI always like to ask people, what are they passionate about? But also, what do they struggle with?\u201d<\/p>\n
Fried tries to build a relationship with the person first, focusing on their upbringing, family and interests. She can\u2019t provide adequate guidance without knowing someone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think you get to know someone\u2019s philanthropic interest when you get to know them as a person,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Fried saw the Federation job posting on JewishJobs.com. She was looking to move up in her career after almost four years at BBYO, where she worked to raise money and attract new participants to programs.<\/p>\n
Fried moved to Philadelphia to work for BBYO after graduating from the University of Cincinnati in 2022. In college, she was active in the school\u2019s Hillel chapter. Before college, she found her Jewish path through NFTY, the youth movement for Reform Judaism.<\/p>\n
Fried\u2019s Orthodox father and Reform mother gave their 10 children an ultimatum: They had to do one Jewish activity, but they got to pick. Fried found NFTY.<\/p>\n
\u201cI fell in love with it. I felt like it was the first time I could explore my own Jewish identity,\u201d she said. \u201cI got to understand what it felt like to be my own Jewish young adult. Anything that was offered, I did it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Buffalo native called NFTY her social life, community and outlet for expressing her Jewish identity. She became a youth leader in the movement, including a role as communications vice president of the national organization\u2019s leadership board, which required her to travel to different states to help establish NFTY programs.<\/p>\n
Fried had grown up in a house that had an Orthodox kitchen when she was a young girl. Later, though, the family \u201cate pepperoni pizza,\u201d as Fried put it. She also had her bat mitzvah in Israel.<\/p>\n
The commitment to Judaism was always there, she said. It just took on different meanings as she grew older. The NFTY experience gave her the opportunity to define it for herself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got to see both sides,\u201d she said. \u201cI think what I appreciate the most about how our parents raised us was that it was never, \u2018We die by these laws,\u2019 but rather, \u2018You should know these laws.\u2019 We learned why Jewish customs were the way they were.\u201d<\/p>\n
NFTY leaders often told Fried and her contemporaries during their youth activities that they were the Jewish leaders of the next generation. She\u2019s been trying to help mold Jewish leaders ever since.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe mission of involving Jewish teens in their own Jewish experiences and building the next generation of Jewish leaders felt so important. It felt natural to step into that professionally,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
[email\u00a0protected]<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zenobia Fried (Courtesy of Zenobia Fried) Zenobia Fried, 26, said in a 2025 Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":219737,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[523,69,71,70,8402],"class_list":["post-219917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-people","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-you-should-know"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781562388_953_YSK-Zenobia-Fried.jpg\")
Zenobia Fried (Courtesy of Zenobia Fried)<\/p>\n