Deborah Fishman sits with Smadar Bar-Akiva. This interview is part of the Network-Weaver Series. [Smadar Bar-Akiva is the Executive Director of the World Confederation of Jewish Community Centers (WCJCC) and an occasional contributor to eJewish Philanthropy.] Tell me about your network. I direct an umbrella organization that represents more than 1,100 Jewish Community Centers around the world - we’re a network of networks. We have a 70-member board with representation from all the JCC networks and sponsor organizations. The purpose of our organization is to enrich Jewish lives and strengthen Jewish communities by connecting JCCs as institutions that open their doors to large number of Jews on a regular basis. What role does network-weaving play in your work? Though I sit in … Continue Reading
Was 2011 the Tipping Point for “Public Space Judaism”?
by Rabbi Kerry Olitzky Ten years ago, the Jewish Outreach Institute (JOI) released a landmark survey of participants in engagement programs, which clarified many of the best practices that are still of paramount relevancy today to any Jewish communal professional interested in reaching less-engaged Jews and unaffiliated intermarried households. One of those findings now seems obvious, but was not at the time: that Jewish programs held in secular venues attract a less-affiliated crowd than the same programs held inside the four walls of Jewish institutions. We believe this past year was a tipping point for the key outreach method of taking Jewish life out to where people are rather than waiting for them to come to us. In that 2001 study, JOI coined the term “Public Space Judaism” to … Continue Reading
Engaging Jewish Teens
by Leonard Saxe Over the last two decades a host of commissions and task forces have assessed how the Jewish community can reach out to post-bnai mitzvah teens. The Reform movement, in their just concluded Biennial meeting, declared “Youth Engagement” as their number one priority. They, along with other non-Orthodox movements, recognize that the bar and bat mitzvah ceremony is an inflection point in the lives of American Jews. The question that has bedeviled adults has been how to engage teens once they step off the bimah at age 12 or 13. In a new report, commissioned by UJA-Federation of New York and The Jewish Education Project, Amy Sales and colleagues at Brandeis University’s Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies studied New York-area parents, teenagers, and youth workers. They … Continue Reading
Fishka Celebrates New Home with Chanukah Candle-lighting
For those working in, or with Israel's Russian-speaking young adult community, the new place to be seen is the Fishka House in South Tel Aviv. Here, on the 3rd night of Chanukah, an overflowing group of participants, funder representatives and other supporters, were on hand for a candle-lighting and dedication of their new home, complete with good conversation, good food, and musical and theatrical entertainment. Fishka, a community-based organization, programs to a Russian-speaking young adult population through cultural programs, including cinema, music and theater projects, poetry workshops, volunteer initiatives working with south Tel Aviv senior citizens and more. They have recently launched a number of new projects including Laboratoria - a place to pilot projects which impact … Continue Reading
Hanukkah Lights Illuminate A Submerged Jewish Identity
by H. Glenn Rosenkrantz Boston, December 23, 2011 - In some respects, it’s just amazing that this Hanukkah party took place at all. On a recent afternoon in a daycare center in suburban Chestnut Hill, just west of here, preschoolers gathered with parents and grandparents to watch Hanukkah skits, don Maccabee-like costumes, sing holiday songs, and indulge in hot latkes and sticky jelly donuts. Ordinary, but only up to a point. A thick Russian accent here. Tales of anti-Semitism there. A tentative step toward Judaism by one. A full embrace by another. Boston or Newton or Chestnut Hill vs. Kiev or Moscow or Baku. “For many in the older generations, being Jewish was something to hide,” said Larisa Bankovsky, owner of the daycare where the holiday festivities unfolded. “My family … Continue Reading
Limmud FSU Leaders Gather for Global Summit
More than 40 Russian-speaking leaders of Limmud FSU coming from Russia, Ukraine, the U.S., Belarus, Moldova and Israel participated in an intensive four-day conference here in Jerusalem this past week. The international Limmud movement, founded in Great Britain 32 years ago, has become one of the most successful and important educational enterprises in the Jewish world. Pluralistic, egalitarian, non-political and volunteer-based, Limmud events take place in more than 60 countries across the globe. Limmud FSU for Russian speakers was founded six years ago and thousands of young people have taken part in its conferences and festivals. Speaking to eJewish Philanthropy, Sandra Cahn (who co-founded Limmud FSU along with Chaim Chesler) said, "This Summit represents a very important juncture in … Continue Reading
UJAFed NY Donors Targeted in ID Theft
from New York Post: High-profile donors were victims of $2M ID theft ring involving Jewish charity Fifty-five gang members and others have been busted for running a $2 million identity theft ring that targeted high-profile donors who'd given to a Jewish charity, prosecutors announced today. The donors who were victimized included billionaire investor Ira Rennert and his wife and former AIG CEO Maurice "Hank" Greenberg. "This is an organized identity theft and financial crime ring that relied on insiders" who had jobs that involved handling checks at places ranging from a luxury auto dealership to the UJA-Federation of New York, a prominent Jewish charity, Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Beth Potashnick said. ------------------------- eJewish Philanthropy has learned that the … Continue Reading
Limmud FSU Leadership Summit Opens Today
Fifty Limmud FSU leaders from Russia, Ukraine, Israel, USA, Belarus and Moldova will gather in Jerusalem today for a four day Leadership Summit that includes professional training, team building and learning. They will be joined by staff, the Limmud FSU co-chairs and guests including Israeli author Etgar Keret, MK Yuli Edelstein (Minister of Public Affairs and the Diaspora, Julius Berman (Claims Conference), Natan Sharansky and Carolyn Bogush and Clive Lawton from Limmud International. In describing the Summit program, Chaim Chesler - the high energy founder and co-chair of Limmud FSU, told eJP, " The four day program provides an intensive series of lectures, presentations, excursions, workshops and discussions, all incorporated in the framework of the Summit. The participants will have a unique … Continue Reading
The Many Faces of BAMA
Today, one of the most important Jewish community institutions in Argentina is BAMA - an institution providing educational training, consultation and support services to all Jewish schools, youth movements and informal education sites throughout the country. Founded in May 2001 with generous support from UJA Federation NY and the Jewish Agency, BAMA served as the central address in rehabilitating the educational system following the financial shock-waves cascading through the country. From the onset, BAMA has been the core organization that prepares and applies programs focused on the sustainability of Jewish identity and connection to the State of Israel. Today, BAMA receives support from other organizations including the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims … Continue Reading
A Study of New York Teens, Parents and Practitioners
The Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies has released a new study, Engaging Jewish Teens, A Study of New York Teens, Parents and Practitioners. Designed to inform planning for The Experiments in Teen Engagement Task Force of UJA-Federation of New York, Engaging Jewish Teens describes teens, their everyday reality, and the factors that contribute to or detract from their engagement in Jewish life. The study employed multiple surveys in order to view Jewish teens and their relationship to Jewish life from three perspectives: that of the teens, their parents, and communal professionals involved in the work of teen engagement. The survey of teens and their parents looks most closely at four areas in the life of teens: school and friends, extracurricular activities, Jewish engagement and identity … Continue Reading
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