Posted on Sunday, July 07, 2019 by Michael Emerson
After three years running the Wexner Service Corps (WSC) program and seven years of participating in our annual week-long service trips, I am stepping down as I make Aliyah with my family later this month. This moment of transition has given me time to reflect on the program and the significance of our approach to community service and Jewish education. Recently, I had the opportunity to meet our newest cohort of teens at their orientation event in May. We hosted 45 teens and their parents for t…
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Posted on Tuesday, July 02, 2019 by Cheryl Moore
Albert Einstein said, “I am neither clever nor especially gifted. I am only very, very curious.” He was, no doubt, being self-deprecating, but his intent was clearly to illustrate the crucial role of curiosity. Indeed, a curious, interested and engaged person is driven to learn, problem-solve and discover. Curiosity demands that one has an open mind and the ability to tolerate experimenting with and delving into the unknown and even the disagreeable. Sometimes curiosity leads to the …
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Posted on Monday, July 01, 2019 by Zev Eleff and Ethan Fabes
In the spring of 2013, Pew Research Center staff interviewed thousands of American Jews on a variety of issues. Many of the questions repeated the oft-queried variety found in earlier Jewish population studies in the United States. There is value, of course, in comparing snapshots of Jewish political party alignment and the percentages of Jews participating in a Passover seder. Other questions sought to introduce new data. For example, one prompt polled participants about the importance of &ldqu…
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Posted on Sunday, June 30, 2019 by Aaron Henne
A poem for the morning, freely adapted: “I am thankful for the restoration of my soul. Blessed is the one who gave me a body. For all the time that this soul is within this body, I am grateful. For I have been restored from death to life.” And another reflection on awakening: "I have had a dream—past the wit of man to say what dream it was. Man is but an ass if he go about to expound this dream…The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen, man’s han…
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Posted on Wednesday, June 12, 2019 by Larry Greenfield
Both the U.S. military and the American business community regularly face crises. It is both part of the nature of combat, “the fog of war” and the dynamics of the free market to face risks implied in military or economic activity. Military leaders prepare for crises, seeking to improve the quality of their reaction function through repetitive, intense training and educational and experiential events. While some men and women may indeed be “born leaders,” the milita…
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Posted on Tuesday, June 11, 2019 by David Knoll
“.....Set these over them as chiefs of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens.” Exodus 18:21 Picture the scene: The Jews are about to receive the Torah at Mount Sinai. After having endured much hardship, Moses finally reunites with his wife, children and father-in-law Yitro (Jethro). He captivates them with the story of God rescuing the Israelites from the world's greatest superpower, Egypt and how he, Moses, assisted in leading millions from prolonged slavery to unbounded fre…
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Posted on Friday, June 07, 2019 by Rachel Timoner
When innocent children are separated from their parents and held in camps, we are in a crisis. When two synagogues experience Antisemitic murders within six months, we are in a crisis. When hate and scapegoating are whipped up by the leader of the country, we are in a crisis. When the president vilifies the press and threatens the freedom of the press, we are in a crisis. When the president defies and delegitimizes Constitutionally-mandated oversight by Congress, we are i…
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Posted on Wednesday, June 05, 2019 by Ra’anan Avital
Some years ago, I was leading a non-profit organization at a time of acute crisis. The organization was on the brink of financial collapse, which would mean the loss of more than 30 jobs and the termination of an important and valued service to 150 families. While I continued working hard to secure the organization’s future, the question of transparency weighed heavily on my partners and me. Looking back, I can now see how danger drove me into conflict with my own inclination toward an ope…
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Posted on Monday, June 03, 2019 by Jeffrey Scheck
Before our two-week JFNA Mission to India, my wife Adrienne and I kept getting the same question – WHY? Why are you going to India? So dirty, so poor, so depressing. While India may be all of those things, I can now answer the question – India is one of the most uplifting, beautiful, colorful, spiritual and hopeful places I’ve ever been, with a Jewish connection dating back to the time of King Solomon! Our trip started in Cochin, a port city where Jews began to trade a…
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Posted on Thursday, May 30, 2019 by Orit Hotovely
It is eight o'clock in the evening; Passover has ended a few minutes ago, and at my grandparents' house the preparations for the traditional family Mimuna have begun. I am five-years old, dressed in white, sneaking into the kitchen where my grandmother has prepared the dough for the Muflettas and my mother has started frying them. The oil is bubbling and its smell is spreading quickly around the house. The Moroccan cookies are loaded on trays on top of the white and golden tables, waiting for th…
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