How many of us can't sleep at night because we are worried about the future of our Jewish community? I met someone this week, who told me in all sincerity, that his concern for his community’s collective future gives him no rest. So it was fitting that he, together with another two dozen participants of the Jewish Agency's Global Emerging Leaders Forum, were given open access, and serious time, to engage with the highest ranking lay leaders and professionals of JAFI, and those affiliated with it, in order to effect change in the Jewish world's most global organization. When I was invited as a member of the KolDor Global Executive to participate in the forum, I assumed that we would be cast in the role of many “Young Leadership” or “NextGen” forums, who are gathered to form merely … Continue Reading
Innovation and Tradition – A Perfect Match?
What is Jewish innovation? Do we really need it? Isn’t Judaism really about Tradition, like the song from Fiddler on the Roof?” Innovation is actually a basic tenet of Jewish thought, especially in the area of Jewish education. Jews around the world read thrice daily the command to be innovative in how they relate to and understand the Torah they are learning, as hinted in the third verse of the “Sh’ma Israel” prayer (Deuteronomy 6) “And these words which I command you today shall be upon your heart.” The Midrash explains that the extraneous word “today”, teaches that each day we should learn the Torah as if we had just received it just that day. Expanding on this Midrashic idea, the Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 61:2) declares that we are commanded to be innovative “that … Continue Reading
Who’s Afraid of ‘Tikun Olam’?
Why does the phrase tikun olam, repairing the world, stir up such negative reactions from some of our most committed Jews? Growing numbers of Jewish organizations, both mainstream and start-ups, are investing in crisis relief, international development, environmental protection and other forms of social action termed tikun olam by their supporters. The UJC General Assembly devoted a session to this trend, explaining that "a recent study of American Jews found that making the world a better place ranked as their personally most meaningful activity." At the same time, many others in the Jewish world are crying out that charity begins at home. What about Israel's security situation, child poverty, Holocaust survivors, terror victims, youth-at-risk? … Continue Reading
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