Twenty-five years after first being offered the executive directorship of the N.J. State Association of Jewish Federations, though times have changed, for Jacob Toporek the time is right.

"Certainly, the issues have changed a lot over the years," Toporek said. "When I was initially involved, I dealt a lot with legislation and policy issues, now a lot of the issues revolve around securing resources for federation services."

Back then, he was fresh off of seven years of experience in Governor Brendan Byrne's office, serving in part as a sort of liaison to the Jewish community and building up valuable experience and making important connections.

"Knowing all the players was very vital and important," Toporek said. "And so, over the years, between serving on his staff and working on political campaigns, I had direct lines of communication to the Jewish community."

Toporek was offered the first directorship of the organization, but he opted to take another appointment at the state level from Byrne. It still signaled the beginning, however, of his work with the state association.

For the association's first decade, Toporek was a participating member of its governmental affairs committee; he later served as its vice president, and was in line to become the president when Governor Christine Whitman was elected.

"So I have many years of involvement in the association," Toporek.

The State Association of Jewish Federations represents the 12 Jewish federations in New Jersey to local, state, and federal government agencies, and helps streamline the federations' common advocacy and grant work.

Toporek has lived in Edison since 1983, though his journey to New Jersey began in Kazakhstan in 1945, where his parents ended up after the war.

"After fleeing Poland and being shipped off to Siberia, they were fortunate enough to end up in the Kazakhstan area," he said.

He was born there, but after about half a year, his parents headed back to Poland to find any relatives that might have survived the war there. None of those that stayed survived, he said, but his father's three brothers made it to Germany, and Toporek and his parents met up with them there.

After that, his family moved to Montreal, and then to Newark and eventually Edison.

Toporek said his first order of business, which he began after taking office last month, is to meet with all the N.J. federations' executive directors. After that, he said, he will tackle learning the specifics of all the issues, and then he plans to form or strengthen coalitions with organizations like the Center for Non-Profits and the N.J. Catholic Conference.

"So, depending on the issues, we will set up these coalitions," Toporek said. "But one of my jobs is, in fact, to find out what other organizations are similarly situated in their governmental affairs personnel, to meet with them and to talk to them."

Some issues, he said, are still at the top of the federations' list of priorities, as they were 25 years ago. Those, he said, his already prepared to take on.

"I don't think it's really changed that much in terms of those types of issues," he said. "For example, right now, the important thing we have on our agenda is to ensure the enactment of an Iran divestiture bill that's now before the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee. We sent out a national alert to try to get that bill out of committee and enacted before the end of the current legislative session. And the governor's supporting it; I think it has overall support."

Toporek is also one of the founding members of the N.J. Israel Commission, and he coordinated a pro-Israel political action committee known as Garden State PAC. Along those lines, another priority of his is focusing on Israel's 60th anniversary this year.

Toporek said he plans to make it "a year of festivals and acknowledgments and proclamations and trying to emphasize the strong relationship between Israel, the United States, and New Jersey."

And a main concern of the Jewish federation system is senior programs, such as transportation for seniors, meals-on-wheels, and Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities (NORC) programs.

"I think it's a pretty heavy agenda if we can get some recognition and some success in those areas," Toporek said.

Toporek began working with Byrne when the governor took office in 1974. From 1982 until this past August he was with the N.J. Victims of Crime Compensation Ward as a full-time commissioner.

He remains involved with the Jewish Federation of Middlesex County's Jewish Community Relations Council, and he and his wife Vivian have always shared a special bond with the federation.