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Dispatches from the network and updates from the Foundation.
Apr 2015
These last few days, I have been thinking of Elisha crying after Eliyahu, “My father, my father! Chariot of Israel!” as the prophet is seized from his pupil in a whirlwind. To me, and to thousands of his students and followers around the globe, Rav Aharon Lichtenstein, zt”l, was the gadol hador – the greatest rabbinic personality in the world, and his departure from us Monday morning is an upheaving
Apr 2015
“Once in a while you get shown the light In the strangest of places if you look at it right.” Jerry Garcia/ Robert Hunter I remember well my Bar Mitzvah. It took place May 22, 1965 and was one of the happiest weekends of my life. My parents, humble people from modest backgrounds, were so proud of the event and equally proud that they had just completed, in time for
Apr 2015
Reprinted with thanks to Abby’s blog “Shameless Judaism/Adventures in Spiritual Refinement.” Ask any one of my students, past or present: discipline has never been my strong suit. I tend to laugh more than yell, compliment more than critique and, to my embarrassment, give many more A’s than B’s. So today, the 9th day of the Omer, is a spiritually challenging day. The second week of the Omer mystically focuses on
“This is not the religious school you dreaded as a child,” proclaims the website of Adventure Rabbi Kids, a Boulder, CO Jewish educational program for children. “A unique weekday Hebrew school that works for your busy family” is how Atlanta-based Jewish Kids Groups Afterschool Community describes itself. “We partner with children in long-term, project-based Jewish exploration, in a warm, Hebrew- and text-rich environment,” says the publicity for the Chicago-area Jewish
Wilderness Torah led 150 people into the desert to experience the Passover Story. With thanks to NPR, All Things Considered, who broadcast our adventure. Click here to listen or read. Zelig Golden is a current Wexner Graduate Fellow in Class 27 and the Founding Director of Wilderness Torah. A community Maggid, wilderness guide, youth mentor, environmental educator and attorney, Zelig has helped develop and guide programs such as the Jewish Vision
The dishes I planned for Seder would have gone well with rice, were it not Pesach and were I not Ashkenazi. Little potatoes would be okay, too. But upon learning that quinoa is not chametz, I thought, “Perfect. So healthy, so organic, so trendy, and so pretty with its red curls, it could symbolize the Red Sea.” Standing in the pasta aisle of my currently-being-renovated Key Food Store, where they
Apr 2015
Photograph of Judith Trijtel, 1943 by Annemie Wolff (Copyright: Monica Kaltenschnee, Haarlem Holland) This is the time of year we tell stories. At Passover, we are commanded to tell the story of our ancestors’ exodus from Egypt. We recall the story as if we ourselves came out of Egypt, from slavery to freedom. For the generation of Holocaust survivors and their immediate descendents, this story of oppression and liberation goes
Mar 2015
On the Seder night, we have many textual and culinary contradictions that force us to hold opposing sentiments together in complex relationship to each other. We eat a peculiar sandwich of matza – the bread of our freedom – and maror with a small amount of haroset. The bitter and sweet, the slave and free human being, collapse into each other. We celebrate the release of our people from bondage
We asked our members, fellows, and alumni from all over the world to weigh in on the Israeli elections. Please feel free to add your responses and best visions for the future below. Mike Blass, WIFA (Class 14), Israel Now that the election campaign is over, and we know who will be the Prime Minister, it is a time to remind the new government that it will be the government
“Ladies and Gentlemen, the Prime Minister of Israel” and thunderous applause erupted. And thus Bibi Netanyahu entered the chamber of Congress directly beneath my gaze. It was a spine-tingling, tear-inducing moment for many of us in the gallery. Not because we were ardent Bibi supporters, kvelling over his reception. Goodness no. And yes, we chose to be present, unaffected by the regrettable Speechgate kafuffle which attended his visit. The pomp