by Maya Bernstein, David Bryfman, Leora Isaacs, Aliza Kline, Bill Robinson, Toby Rubin and Jonathan Woocher The 2012 General Assembly is already a few weeks behind us, but many of the pressing issues raised in Baltimore continue to vex the Jewish community. Yet we believe we made an important start in understanding some of the questions that have the potential to drive significant change across the landscape of Jewish organizational life. Over … [Read more...] about The Mash Up: Moving Beyond the Legacy vs. Startup Bifurcation
GA2012
Things I Learned in Baltimore
by Andrés Spokoiny Until the JFNA General Assembly, earlier this month in Baltimore, I didn’t know that the famous Exodus ship, the one that brought the world’s attention to the plight of Jewish Holocaust Survivors trying to break the British blockade into the Land of Israel, was built in and fitted in the Baltimore shipyards. The crew was even partially composed of Baltimore Jews. But beyond that neat bit of trivia, I learned lots more in … [Read more...] about Things I Learned in Baltimore
Sharansky Urges Soviet Jewry Freedom Movement’s Inclusion in Jewish Education
In a Jewish Federation GA conversation with Elie Wiesel, arguably the world’s best-known Holocaust survivor, Natan Sharansky - perhaps the best-known “refusenik” - laments what he perceives as lack of educational material being conveyed to youths on the success stories of their parents in the movement to free Soviet Jewry. by Jacob Kamaras JNS.org Modern Jewish education, according to Natan Sharansky, ignores an event of historic … [Read more...] about Sharansky Urges Soviet Jewry Freedom Movement’s Inclusion in Jewish Education
The Federations’ GA: Through Israeli Eyes
by David Breakstone How many Jews does it take to change the world? At last count, somewhere in the vicinity of 3,000. That’s more or less the number of participants taking part in this year’s General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), the annual premier communal event of Diaspora Jewry which opened this week in Baltimore with a plenary dedicated to no less ambitious a theme than “Changing the World.” Keynote … [Read more...] about The Federations’ GA: Through Israeli Eyes
A Cheaper Judaism
by Daniel Libenson Wayne Gretzky, by most accounts the greatest hockey player who ever lived, famously explained his greatness by saying, "I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been." As delegates gather this weekend for the annual General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America, I hope they are asking what it would mean to take Gretzky's advice seriously with regard to the economics of the Jewish future. … [Read more...] about A Cheaper Judaism
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