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Five years ago, when I became an American citizen, I was asked to share some thoughts in the Wexner newsletter. I wrote the following about my experience as a French Jew and antisemitism: "what upset me the most was the silence of the French non-Jewish majority. As Elie Wiesel once said 'to remain silent is the greatest sin of all'. I remember marching the streets of Paris and protesting with
Jan 2015
The UN Commission of Inquiry on Gaza is currently soliciting testimony, from “a wide range of victims of alleged violations“— which ostensibly also includes Israelis — in the context of the Gaza hostilities. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights has done much to publicize this call for information gathering amongst Gazans, while most Israelis aren’t aware of it and therefore, the evidence gathered will only tell the Palestinian side of
Jan 2015
New York Magazine has begun issuing its print magazine every other week, moving from 42 to 26 annual issues. Press coverage suggested that the magazine was losing ground by shrinking its product. A closer look reveals some complexity, that the magazine's digital platform has taken off and that resources once devoted to the print issue are now to be used to expand the magazine's on-line efforts. In other words, this
Dec 2014
Sifting through the end of year barrage of fundraising appeals, one can lose sight of why we give and to whom we are giving. As Jewish leaders, we take tsedakah seriously. The initiative we lead, Ask Big Questions, put together a guide to help us have some meaningful conversations about who we give to and why. There are other resources as well, including a clever video by American Jewish World
As “Boomers” approach the end of their midlife careers and seek new paths to meaning while facing unprecedented challenges, Jewish leaders and communities should figure out how to engage them and their skill sets, resources, idealism, time and energy. For the past few years, David Elcott -- of The Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at NYU -- and I have worked to change the conversation about aging
Dec 2014
Our first encounter with the Aberdeen Hebrew Congregation was iconic: on our way toshul for Erev Shabbat services, thinking we might have taken a wrong turn, I suddenly saw two men on the other side of the street, walking with particular urgency. Both wore long dark coats and fedoras. “This is the right way!” I declared with renewed confidence. Sure enough, when we arrived at the small, barely-marked synagogue —
Dec 2014
(Pictured) Szarvas fellows from different countries having a discussion about Jewish identity I always had a pretty clear understanding and point of reference to the varied summer and school programs that our four daughters participated in. Szarvas was the exception! I never expected each of my very different daughters to come home from their summers in Hungary and say it was 110% fun! The Szarvas Fellowships, directed by Rabbi Seth
Dec 2014
(Pictured) Rabbi Jill Jacobs (WGFA, Class 11), Rabbi Shai Held (WGFA, Class 7), and Rabbi David Rosenn (WGFA, Class 5) moments before arrest, sitting down on 96th Street and Broadway Thursday evening, December 4, 2014, Jewish leaders and organizations called for a protest on the Upper West Side of Manhattan “to rectify the structural injustices that give rise to the daily violations of the dignity of our fellow citizens of
(Pictured) Amitai Bardach-Goldstein in his Hand-in-hand Bi-lingual Jewish-Arab school t-shirt. Amitai is cute. He is cuddly. He is sweet – with a smile that can melt your soul. He just turned six on November 8th. He lives in Jerusalem. He is a first grader. Learning to read. Learning to write. Learning that life is complicated. I am Amitai's father. I am responsible for his well-being. I am responsible for his
Dec 2014
"The first thing we do is kill all the lawyers"- Shakespeare Why would we kill all the lawyers? Perhaps among the many reasons is that they make all those detailed rules. Rules that are hard for the rest of us to follow. Rules that complicate life, beyond the point of manageability for many other non-lawyers. In their defense, their actions may even have what they perceive to be our best