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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Posted on Friday, May 17, 2019 by Dan Gottfried
During our Wexner Heritage Institute in Utah (June 2016), Yitz Moss and I were engaged in a guided brainstorming session to create a program to benefit the community. We felt it would be important to help Jews develop self-confidence, self-reliance, and G-d forbid, the ability to defend themselves in the event of an emergency. If this could all be done in a community where denominations and other labels would not create barriers, all the better. The vision involved creating a next generation of …
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Posted on Monday, May 13, 2019 by Lior Bruker
The scene from kibbutz Nir-Etzion's resort hotel is magnificently beautiful, overlooking the slopes of Mount Carmel as they descend gently towards the Mediterranean coast. The ambiance is somewhat similar of another guest house that stood at the heart of kibbutz Kfar-Etzion until 1948. It was the pride of the kibbutz established in 1943 at the summit of the Judean ridge, 30 kilometers south of Jerusalem. In the following years, three other kibbutzim would join forming "Gush Etzion." &nbs…
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Posted on Sunday, May 12, 2019 by Ron Beller
Here is a first person narrative I wrote that was published on the Tikkun site yesterday. I’m still trying to process what happened and have heard all manner of “explanations,” but I remain sad and baffled. I hope people can sit for a bit with the thoughts and feelings that this narrative might evoke and see where that leads. Read the article here. Wexner Heritage Alum Ron Beller is a member of the San Francisco 14 cohort. He can be reached here. …
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Posted on Thursday, May 09, 2019 by Michal Shalem
Know where you came from and where you are going. Words that penetrate the heart. Recently these words got a special meaning in my Mum and Dad’s home. One moment before it’s too late, thanks to my Or’s wonderful initiation, we held a living room memorial, or to be precise – in the garden. My father, Danny Labanovsky and his “trouble club mate” Danny Chanoch, shared their personal story and the story of 131 children from Kovno, Lithuania. These children were a…
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Posted on Thursday, May 09, 2019 by Andrew K. Mandel
I have to remind myself every now and then that we’re growing a Chinese bamboo tree. When you water a bamboo tree during its first year, nothing happens. Neither in the second year, nor the third, nor the fourth. You may not be sure that anything is happening underground, and one would understand if you gave up on it after that. Yet in the fifth year, within a span of six weeks, the tree can shoot up 80 feet, having built a vast network of roots to sustain such dramatic growth. Las…
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