Cheryl Kagan has been to more than two dozen countries over the years, but she says that none was quite like Egypt.

It was quite a contrast coming after a week in Israel, said the Rockville resident, where "everything is so open and warm and welcoming and you felt like you were with family.

In Egypt, "everyone was proclaiming they loved Jews, how there was no anti-Semitism ever in Egypt, how happy they were to have us," but "while their words were welcoming ... their actions were quite different."

"We had a phalanx of armed guards with us everywhere we went," said Kagan, noting that she was not sure if the guards were "trying to protect us, trying to monitor us, or both."
Then there were the warnings to "assume our hotel rooms were bugged ...to assume that our luggage would be [searched] when we were out of our hotel room."
"I've never been to [that] sort of a police state, never experienced that level of oppression," she said.

The recent trip to the Middle East, where the group met with government officials and opinion leaders in Israel and Egypt, highlighted Kagan's experience as an American Jewish Committee Comay Fellow, a program cultivating younger leaders for AJCommittee.

The 43-year-old was one of nine people from around the country selected for the program, which has included a Florida retreat this winter, attendance at two AJCommittee board meetings and a trip to the organization's national conference next month.

"It was a pretty heady opportunity for all of us to be in the Middle East at such a momentous time," said Kagan, adding that she felt "cautious optimism" in Israel that a resolution to "the problems that have been intractable so long" may be in the offing.

Kagan arrived in Israel before the rest of the group in order to visit the Mevasseret Zion absorption center, a Jewish education center being built by Aish Hatorah and Yemin Orde, a home for immigrant and at-risk youth. The three sites are all beneficiaries of the Carl M. Freeman Foundation, where she has served as executive director for the past two years.

The nonprofit foundation donates more than $1 million a year to projects primarily in Montgomery County and in Sussex County, Del., where most of the late real estate developer's properties -- such as Cabin John Shopping Center and Sea Colony -- are located. That includes donations to a number of Jewish organizations, topped by $100,000 a year to the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington.

A cousin of Josh Freeman's, Carl's son and the current head of Freeman Companies, Kagan said one of the most exciting aspects of the foundation is a program she suggested three years before she took the helm.

F.A.C.E.S. -- Freeman Foundation Assists Community With Extra Support -- provides what she sometimes calls "get-to-know you" grants of between $500-$2,000 "targeted toward smaller nonprofits that are often overlooked."

For example, she points to the purchase of CPR dummies for Central Familia, an organization that trains Hispanic day-care providers.

"For a small amount of money, it totally makes a difference in their ability to do a better job in their community," said Kagan.

Many in Montgomery County may recognize Kagan's name from her eight-year stint in Annapolis, where she served as a delegate in the State House representing Maryland's 17th District. She chose not to run for re-election in 2002 for several reasons.

"I left because I think some people stay in office too long," she said. "I think fresh blood and new insights are always valuable in representative government."

She also was frustrated by the "good old boy network" that governs the legislature, and "wasn't sure a Jewish feminist woman from Montgomery County was going to make very much progress very quickly."

For example, she remembers when Holy Cross Hospital was working with Montgomery College to set up a clinic for low-income women. Kagan found it difficult to get an agreement that the Silver Spring hospital would provide, or at least offer referrals for, women's services such as pap smears and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases.

Opponents falsely accused her of trying to force the Catholic hospital to perform abortions, and she succeeded only after some state senators saw an article in the media about Kagan's struggle.

"It was an uphill battle on some issues that seemed so logical ... and too often seemed to fall on deaf ears," she said. "I thought I could make more of a difference [working] in the community."

But Kagan -- who with her husband, David Spitzer, is an avid folk music fan -- notes that she "never got out of politics, I got out of elective office."
She was an early co-chair of John Kerry's presidential campaign in Montgomery County, does political analysis and commentary for local television and radio outlets, and worked as a consultant on Rep. Chris Van Hollen's (D-Md.) successful 2002 House campaign.

She also is pondering another attempt at elective office, considering a primary challenge to Md. Sen. Jennie Forehand (D-Dist. 17) -- whose 28 years in the General Assembly has led some to look for new leadership.

"I have learned so much in this job with the foundation that could only make me a better elected official," said Kagan, adding that there is "so much I could do in the State Senate that could benefit the nonprofit community."

In fact, Kagan says politics seem to follow her everywhere. A member of Potomac's Congregation Har Shalom, she was in Jerusalem during the Comay trip, having Shabbat dinner at her rabbi's sister's house, when she checked a Blackberry she had borrowed and was greeted by a stream of e-mails.

Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D-Md.) had announced his retirement, and she was receiving not only announcements from those considering a run, but press inquiries about whether she would be interested in running for something.

"I thought I was going to get away from everything for two weeks," said Kagan. "Instead, I was completely immersed."

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