By Matt Rissien “I am a sophomore, a member of the debate team, a player on my lacrosse team, and a survivor of the Valentine’s Day Massacre.” These words echoed through the sanctuary at Congregation Beth Shalom in Northbrook, Illinois on Friday, May 4th. Three hundred congregants and community members listened in awe as Sari Kaufman and Bela Urbina, two students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, came to speak to our community. The … [Read more...] about “Two Marjory Stoneman Douglas Students Spoke to our Jewish Community”
Readers Forum
Pursue Distinction: A Philanthropist’s Call to Action to Jewish Day Schools
By Manette Mayberg BS”D Distinction. It’s in the Jewish community’s DNA, and it has enabled our survival throughout the ages. We are a people scattered over all four corners of the Earth, and distinction is the unifier that has made our survival possible. Our pursuit of distinction has biblical roots - easily seen throughout the Torah including the narrative documenting our journey to freedom beginning with the one bold act that became the … [Read more...] about Pursue Distinction: A Philanthropist’s Call to Action to Jewish Day Schools
UsToo! Preventing #MeToo in the Jewish Community
By Penina Horowitz Sexual abuse allegations against figures such as Rabbi Shmuel Krawatsky and Rabbi Mendel Levine, exposed in a series of recent investigative articles, have disturbed, rallied and split the Orthodox community across the globe. Since these stories came to the forefront, numerous articles, blogs and social media posts were written addressing the cases. The Jewish community, agitated and unable to deny the situation any … [Read more...] about UsToo! Preventing #MeToo in the Jewish Community
Jewish Organizations as Covenant
By Rabbi Daniel R. Allen The recent pieces in this publication penned respectively by Doctors Windmueller and Hyfler both help us understand Jewish organizational structures and the taxonomy of the Jewish community as we know it in the latter half of the 20th and early part of the 21st-century. Windmueller focuses on what kind of changes might take place based on changes in the sociology and demography of our community. Hyfler provides us … [Read more...] about Jewish Organizations as Covenant
Jewish Communities of Meaning: Ideas Matter
By Rabbi Sid Schwarz I recently was invited to make a presentation to deans from eight different rabbinical seminaries. The topic was how to better equip their students with some tools so that they can be more successful at driving innovation in the institutions that they will serve in the future. I observed that when I founded a synagogue (Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation in Bethesda, MD), and a national educational foundation … [Read more...] about Jewish Communities of Meaning: Ideas Matter
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