A 21st Century Pushke

Tamar Snyder writing in The Jewish Week: The pushke, or charity box, may well be a relic of the past to many members of the younger generation of Jews. In fact, promotional materials for eCharityBox paint the small tin can as a PC in a world of Macs – not only old school, but also a barrier to giving for those who want to give on the go, with just a click of their BlackBerry or iPhone. Launched in November, eCharityBox “adds an interactive experience to the act of giving,” says Getzy Fellig, the company’s CEO. Modeled on an actual charity box, eCharityBox is an application that can be downloaded onto an iPhone, BlackBerry or computer desktop. Users can then drop virtual coins – be it a penny, a dollar or $100 – into the eCharityBox whenever they’re in a particularly generous... Continue Reading

The Case for Change: A Challenge to the Jewish Agency

by Gil Troy Change is easy to endorse and hard to implement – if it’s easy, it means it’s not being done right. If it’s not systematic, it’s sloppy; if it’s cosmetic, it’s fleeting. Today, new directions must be forged, tough choices must be made, and new ways of doing business must be developed. Let’s be frank, most North American Jews that I know do not know what the Jewish Agency is or does. And a surprising number of Israelis I know say – with anger in their voices – that the Jewish Agency should become extinct like the dinosaur it is. Moreover, while most Jewish Agency employees I meet are extraordinary – idealistic, passionate – they work for a bureaucracy with a terrible reputation, with what seems to be a toxic corporate culture. When many people pass... Continue Reading

Hadassah or Esther? Hospital Governance Needs Transparency

by Mayer Brezis and Sara Singer Hadassah’s Board of Directors will not renew the contract of hospital CEO, professor Mor-Yosef. No one knows why. As owner, Hadassah Women’s Zionist Organization of America (HWZOA) can do what it sees as right, and confidentiality in sensitive discussions can be necessary. Meanwhile, however, a sense of unfairness and bewilderment raise mistrust among hospital staff. Hadassah is not a private company with trade secrets like Coca Cola: as a public hospital serving over a half-million patients every year, largely through taxpayer funds, it bears greater accountability for transparency. Transparent governance is especially important in healthcare organizations from which the public demands accountability for quality and safety. People expect openness from nurses... Continue Reading

Israel’s Field Hospital in Haiti: Ethical Dilemmas

The Israeli Field Hospital in Haiti – Ethical Dilemmas in Early Disaster Response by Ofer Merin, M.D., Nachman Ash, M.D., Gad Levy, M.D., Mitchell J. Schwaber, M.D., and Yitshak Kreiss, M.D., M.H.A., M.P.A. Within 48 hours after the massive earthquake that struck Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on January 12, the government of Israel dispatched a military task force consisting of 230 people: 109 support and rescue personnel from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Home Front Command and 121 medical personnel from the IDF Medical Corps Field Hospital. The force’s primary mission was to establish a field hospital in Haiti. We landed in Port-au-Prince 15 hours after leaving Tel Aviv and began to deploy immediately. The first patients arrived at our gates and were admitted even before the hospital was fully... Continue Reading

The New Jewish Agency Approach: Peoplehood for Survival

A new emphasis on ‘Peoplehood’ reflects both the economic reality and Russian roots of The Jewish Agency. by Gal Beckerman Natan Sharansky knows he’s disturbing the status quo. Days before the most recent meeting of the Board of Governors, the body that oversees the Jewish Agency for Israel, Sharansky, its relatively new chairman, declared that the agency’s traditional mission had outlived its usefulness. “It’s not enough to speak about aliyah,” Sharansky said, talking in front of a delegation of American Jewish leaders. “It’s almost prohibited for the head of the Jewish Agency to say so, but it can’t be our goal [just] to bring more Jewish people [to Israel].” With these words – and the recent appointment to key positions of people who share his views – Sharansky has... Continue Reading

Dateline: Santiago de Chile

On-the-ground reports from Chile: from Masorti-Olami: How about damage ? In Concepcion, close to the epicenter of the earthquake, Rabbi Angel Kreiman told us that he went to the Synagogue, and “it was like the hurban habayit (destruction of the temple), the walls were all cracked and the roof had fallen down. I couldn’t stay there, so I got the sifrei Torah and left.” Rabbi Shmuel Szteinhendler in Santiago told us, “we have some damage to our home, but its not too severe … . we will try and replace things and try to go on, while also assisting our kehillah members and at the same time supporting the local community at large who have suffered so much.” The Rabbis, along with leaders of the Jewish community have come together to form a Crisis Committee. They are the... Continue Reading

L.A. Community Foundation Announces Relief Grants

The Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles has awarded relief grants totaling $100,000 to five general community organizations that directly serve those most in need. In the past five years, The Foundation, through its General Community Grants initiative, has dispensed nearly $750,000 to 60 L.A. based community organizations to facilitate the betterment and address a broad swath of societal needs in Los Angeles. [Translate] Bookmark:  Read More →

Chile: Report from the Field

Marcelo Lewkow is the National Director of ORT Chile. This is his update: At 3:40 am on the last Shabbat of our summer holiday, just a few short days away from the first day of classes in schools throughout Chile, the earth moved. I was home asleep and my bed moved so violently that it took me seconds to get down the stairs and outside my house in an open and safe space. I was working for ORT Mexico in 1985, and vividly remember that catastrophic earthquake. Based on my memory and perception, this latest earthquake was both stronger and longer. The communication system was very fragile – cell phones were off and sending MSM messages was the only way people could be in contact. I was able to communicate with my family and friends in Chile to make sure everyone was okay, as well as contact my... Continue Reading

Building Jewish Literacy Book by Book

from The Boston Globe: 1 quiet donor, 2 million books Harold Grinspoon, a lanky 80-year-old who made a fortune in real estate, starts every morning with pilates, dance aerobics, and a brisk walk. Then he charges into his office by 10, where he drops his parka on the floor near a bookcase crammed with binders. Each one is stamped with a place name – Iowa City, Silicon Valley, Hoboken, Gainesville – but the binders have nothing to do with Grinspoon’s real estate portfolio. Instead, they are guides to the 125 communities where each month he sends Jewish-themed children’s books to Jewish families, at no cost to the recipients. In four years, he has given away 2 million books. The PJ Library, as he calls it, is the signature effort in a flurry of charitable giving by Grinspoon and his wife... Continue Reading

Hadassah in Israel: 7 on the Richter Scale

Hadassah’s problems here in Israel keep getting worse by the day. Now, in addition to board resignations, comes public acknowledgment of the women’s organization refusal to allow the hospital to set-up an additional, and independent, fund-raising arm. from The Jerusalem Post: Most Israelis on Hadassah board resign All but one of the Israeli members of the Hadassah Medical Organization board of directors have resigned over its decision last month not to renew the contract of HMO director-general Prof. Shlomo Mor-Yosef beyond the end of 2010. This decision is being maintained at the insistence of its owner, the Hadassah Women’s Zionist Organization of America and its national president Nancy Falchuk, despite Mor-Yosef’s formal statement earlier this week that he would be willing... Continue Reading

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