by Abigail Pickus In the four years since Scott Shay made headlines with his controversial book, Getting Our Groove Back: How to Energize American Jewry (Devora Publishing), this New York banker and Jewish activist remains as committed as ever to building a flourishing Jewish future. With a day job as Chairman of the Board of Signature Bank, his Jewish commitments include chairing the Lapid Israel Advisory Board, sitting on the UJA - Jewish Federation of New York board, of which he was a former chair of the Commission on Jewish Identity and Renewal and serving as a member of the Birthright Israel Steering Committee. Looking back on the ten “planks” he proposed in his book that run the gamut from calling for mandatory funding for Jewish day schools and boosting the Birthright Israel … Continue Reading
Future Leaders Program: Israel Leg
The Ministry of Information and the Diaspora, in conjunction with World ORT and Stephen Muss, launched a new project this year aimed at inspiring and nurturing the next generation of leadership for local Jewish communities across Europe and the Former Soviet Union. An initial cohort of 32 students, representing 18 countries and between 15 and 18 years old, was selected based on the quality of their applications and the dedication that they had already demonstrated to their schools and in their Jewish communities. The programs' aim is to nurture their leadership potential and to help them to become fully involved in their communities, dedicating their energy, enthusiasm, and skills towards building long-term, sustainable change - helping to revitalize Jewish life and to actively contribute to the … Continue Reading
Continuing a Peoplehood Debate
by Dr. Misha Galperin I am delighted that my op-ed has spurred a conversation about an issue that is critical to modern Jewish life. What is the nature of Jewish peoplehood? If it is about connection among Jews, but has no additional substance, then we have failed our history and our values. If peoplehood is only a way to raise money, then we haven’t gone deep enough. If it is to serve “the stranger ” without caring for our own first, then we have missed the mark. Peoplehood is such a new word that it comes up every time you spell check it. The newness of it has collapsed into vague discussions and definitions. I offer mine again: Jewish peoplehood is the bond that exists among Jews that transcends time and geography and involves mutual care and responsibility; it’s about meaningful … Continue Reading
Lapid Youth Festival: Fun and Protest Blend Together
Over 4000 high school students from around the world attended this year's Lapid Youth Festival held Sunday evening in Modiin. Walking through the crowded park, and taking in the colorful tee shirts worn by most, one could see the diversity of programs represented, from NFTY to AMHSI to the Peretz School in São Paulo, Brazil to World Bnei Akiva, among many others. In addition to the expected speeches, the festival included a performance by the popular Israeli band Hadag Nahash. During the evening, Israel's largest flashmob turned into a protest demonstration against the government with participants holding up signs saying "Don't put out our torch/flame" - a reaction to the lack of government funding for high school programs. The festival program capped off Lapid's 2nd Annual World Jewish … Continue Reading
Schusterman Foundation is Not Alone
Response to Stephen Muss’ article Needed: a Three-Legged Stool of Israel Experiences, June 14, 2011 by Deborah Coltin Leading the way in teen travel to Israel is the Robert I. Lappin Charitable Foundation, whose mission is helping to keep our children Jewish. Robert Israel Lappin, pioneer of the fully subsidized teen Israel experience, created the Robert I. Lappin Youth to Israel Adventure (Y2I) in 1971, as a way to build Jewish pride in teens, connect them to Israel, and imbue in them a love of and responsibility for our Jewish Family. There is no better bang-for-the-buck than the teen Israel experience. The Foundation has repeatedly called upon and challenged Jewish philanthropists to fund the fully subsidized teen Israel experience as arguably the most successful approach to Jewish … Continue Reading
Needed: a Three-Legged Stool of Israel Experiences
by Stephen Muss I am responding to the article that appeared June 3, 2011, in eJewish Philanthropy entitled “The Importance of Teen Years.” The study was released by the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation. Lynn Schusterman is one of the mega-philanthropists in the United States of America and her support for Birthright/Taglit and BBYO and many other Jewish institutions is historic and deserving of praise. Every educator in the world knows that the earlier in a child’s education, the more the child will learn and absorb. According to countless studies that have been carried out, we know that the most important stage for influencing Jewish identity and Israel engagement is the high school age. Therefore, bringing teens to Israel en masse on educational high school age programs will … Continue Reading
Herzliya Conference Looks at Israel Experience Programs
At the recent Herzliya Conference, one of the very few panels that digressed from discussing Israel's security needs, turned to another area of concern, engaging the next generation as it relates to Israel. The panel, entitled, Binding the Ties: Leveraging the Israel Experience Programs among the World Jewish Young Generations, examined the distancing among Jewish youth in the Diaspora from Israel. While some panelists relied to heavily on outdated studies, the general consensus was that hands-on experiences develop strong bonds that can be leveraged for the benefit of both Israel and Diaspora communities. Some key points from the panel: The Jewish world lacks a master plan for the critical field of teenage/young adult Israel travel. While there was general agreement on the need to … Continue Reading
An Entirely (Surprising?) Other Side of Birthright Rights
by Marc Belzberg I warmly applaud Stephen Muss for his well-argued and, in my view, eminently justified plea on behalf of the birth-rights of Diaspora high school age Jewish teens to a meaningful Israel learning experience at least in equal measure with their college and post-college age counterparts (in his February 7, 2011 opinion piece: “The Other Right of Birthright”). I wholeheartedly wish every success to Lapid, the new Coalition for High School Age Programs in Israel and have every hope that it will be adopted by Birthright’s visionary funders as part and parcel of their program, equally worthy of their support. As a Diaspora public school kid myself some decades ago from Vancouver, Canada, my high school and college age Israel experiences were powerfully formative in terms of the … Continue Reading
The Other Right of Birthright
by Stephen Muss I recently read in eJewish Philanthropy about the wonderful, exciting announcement of extraordinary support for Birthright by the Israel Government. I congratulate those who were responsible for this recognition of what Birthright has done - 300,000 college age students to spend 10 days in Israel for free, all included, with a concentrated exposure to Israelis and Israeli life. It’s important to bring to light the fine print for Birthright eligibility: the formula of discrimination, exclusion and 'penalty' against the Jewish teens whose parents, God-forbid, felt it was important to send them on a high school age experience in Israel. Why should parents be faced with this decision to either fork out money for high school age trips to Israel or wait until "Birthright" age, … Continue Reading
Boosting Teen Trips to Israel
by Dan Zeller Call it revolutionary or call it idealistic, the aims are very practical and the facts are plain to see: every year, about 12,000 Diaspora Jewish teens come to Israel on a range of Lapid high school-age programs. Close to 30 organizations that run high-school age programs and encompass among them the majority of teens coming to Israel annually have already joined the Lapid coalition. For these young participants, the journey represents a life changing experience. Over the past 35 years, high-school programs are estimated to have brought over 500,000 teens to Israel, a milestone celebrated recently at the annual Lapid World Jewish Youth Festival, which took place in Herzliya, coinciding with celebrations of 150 years of Herzl’s Zionism and attracting a turn-out of over 4,000 … Continue Reading
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