Public Judaism

Non-Zero Sum: Helping Others And Ourselves by Rabbi Jill Jacobs Should Jews first take care of our own, or first serve the needs of society as a whole? In the course of a meandering and much-discussed article in the latest issue of Commentary magazine, historian Jack Wertheimer of the Jewish Theological Seminary castigates the Jewish social justice world for prioritizing support for non-Jews over the internal concerns of the Jewish community. Into this latter category, he collapses social services for low-income Jews, day school scholarships and the affordability of institutions ranging from synagogues to Jewish community centers. With Jewish groups slashing their budgets, day school students transferring to public schools and Holocaust survivors struggling to make ends meet, he complains, how can... Continue Reading

Putting Jewish Women on the Map

From Emma Lazarus’ poem engraved on the Statue of Liberty, to the site of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, to Barbra Streisand’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame – Jewish women’s history is written on the streets of North America. Just in time for Women’s History Month, the Jewish Women’s Archive (JWA) has created On the Map, a new way to collect and explore Jewish women’s history using the powerful combination of crowdsourcing and Google Maps. There is a human impulse to connect with history in a physical way, one that compels us to build monuments that mark the place of historically significant stories. Traditionally, these have been the stories of “great men.” Many important stories – women’s stories – go unheralded. The Jewish Women’s Archive... Continue Reading

Will We Let This School Fail?

Rarely a day passes without hearing from one of my friends in the Jewish world about a new project in which they have become engaged or an organization for which they are fundraising. The conversation that ensues is often one about shared interests and common concerns. Sometimes the conversations result in my renewed optimism and other times they cause me to have sobering realizations; but never have they made me sick to my stomach. Until last week. An unexpected call from a former colleague who left Atlanta to move to Asheville, North Carolina started out with the usual pleasantries – work, family, memories of old times. But quickly the conversation turned to the matter that was obviously on my friend’s mind – the state of affairs of the nascent community Jewish Day School in Asheville... Continue Reading

Silent Role Models No More

They Too are Recognized During Women’s History Month by H. Glenn Rosenkrantz Atlanta: Over at the Marcus Jewish Community Center here, visitors might be forgiven for thinking they’ve walked into some sort of fashion show. There are, after all, dresses hanging on the walls. But upon closer look – and these dresses are getting plenty – it’s more apparent what’s going on. They are one-of-a-kind originals for sure, not in a fashionable way, but in a decidedly personal and historical sense. This is Women’s History Month and in honor of that, the JCC has seen fit to display the latest creations of students of the nearby Weber Jewish Community High School, who have designed dresses reflecting the long and splendid lives of Jewish senior women they’ve come to know, admire, and even... Continue Reading

Supply-Side Judaism

by Elie Kaunfer The Jewish community is expert at anticipating failure, even disaster. Declining affiliation rates, rampant intermarriage, collapsing schools and synagogues – these are the problems that top the communal agenda. Judaism, it is said, is a product that no one wants to buy anymore. The question is then posed: How can we convince people that Judaism is still relevant? But amid all the hand-wringing about failure, we forgot to plan for success. For in truth, our problem now is not one of a shortage of demand, but of supply. Desire to engage with Jewish life is at an all-time high. But we have not begun to produce the leaders, programs or institutions that can satisfy this demand. Taking a look at two hallmark achievements of the last decade – Birthright Israel and the independent... Continue Reading

Expanded Survey of New Jewish Initiatives Launched

2010 Survey of New Jewish Initiatives Focuses on Startup Leaders, Expands to Europe Jumpstart, The Natan Fund, and The Samuel Bronfman Foundation announced the launch of the 2010 Survey of New Jewish Initiatives. The survey builds on the successes of the ground-breaking partnership that produced the 2008 Survey of New Jewish Organizations and The Innovation Ecosystem: Emergence of a New Jewish Landscape. This year, it will include a special focus on the leaders of Jewish startups. Also, for the first time, the survey will be conducted in Canada and Europe as well as the United States. “New initiatives, whether they are independent startups or intrepreneurial ventures at established institutions, are the building blocks for 21st-century Judaism,” said Shawn Landres, co-founder and CEO... Continue Reading

Operation Shalom: A Call to Unify the Jewish Community

Operation Shalom . . . A Call to Unify the Jewish Community As Jews, we often claim to want to make a commitment to building community. There is no doubt in our minds that we are at a crossroads where so many people around the nation and the world, and especially in our very own communities, need connections with other Jews. The devastating earthquake in Haiti has brought such a strong wave of attention and charitable support across the globe, and has highlighted the importance of unifying for an important cause. Having worked with over 350 non-profit organizations, with a major emphasis in the Jewish community, we see wonderful acts of kindness every day; however, there seems to be a strong sense of division among our community. While we commend all participation within the Jewish community, we believe... Continue Reading

The Priority of Affordability

The recession has hastened an affordability crisis and highlighted the perverse refusal of the American Jewish community to look after its own first. Jack Wertheimer writing in Commentary Magazine: The High Cost of Jewish Living The nexus between Jews and money, a topic of perennial curiosity for philo-Semites and anti-Semites alike, has drawn renewed interest during the economic downturn. With most attention riveted on the celebrities – investment titans and philanthropists brought low, con artists jailed, and economic wizards appointed to oversee the recovery – other aspects of the American Jewish economy have receded into the background. … the affordability of Jewish living is not on the vital agenda of the federations and most other institutions. When the Jewish Federations... Continue Reading

Jewlicious Cool

Jewlicious: Celebration of Jewish Cool Letter From Long Beach, CA by Gordon Haber I’ve just spent my entire weekend at the sixth annual Jewlicious Festival in Long Beach, Calif., and I’m exhausted. Between sundown Friday and Sunday afternoon, I have eaten Jewish food, exercised with a Jewish boxer, laughed at Jewish comics and listened to Jewish music. I have talked about the Jewish past and argued about the Jewish future. I have met Conservative Jews, Orthodox Jews, Persian Jews, African-American Jews, Sephardim, Hasidim and people who converted to Judaism. All weekend, every single conversation was in some way related to Jews, Judaism or Jewishness. I feel like an over-stimulated child, or maybe like I’ve spent 48 hours in a mikveh. Which is exactly how the festival’s organizers wanted me... Continue Reading

Four Jewish Musketeers

Nearly a hundred Russian-speaking Jewish young adults from across the US gathered outside San Francisco over President’s Day weekend for the fourth bi-annual “Mitbachon,” a retreat which focuses on learning, networking and community building. Participants were Jewish young adults, ages 25-35, who were born in the former Soviet Union and immigrated to the US in the 1990s as children or teens participated; the retreat was organized by emissaries of Jewish Agency for Israel who work with FSU Émigré community in North America, in partnership with local Federations. This year’s theme, Jewish Peoplehood, explored the subject in ways familiar to the audience, including sessions such as: Immigrant Jews and the Burden of Memory, Cultural Schizophrenia, and Reclaiming Creative Space: Russian Artists... Continue Reading

Next Page »