Picture of the new needy emerging from federation social workers; ‘never seen so much fear.’
Job seekers line up in Midtown outside a job fair. Middle- and upper-middle-class Jewish men appear to be among the hardest hit by the recession. Getty Images
by Stewart Ain Staff Writer
Bob S., a 50-year-old computer specialist from Scarsdale, was laid off from his $175,000-a-year job in March after years of steady employment. He, his wife and their two children began living off the family’s savings, canceled their vacation plans and began eating all their meals at home. - Read Story -
Young Jewish singles and families are flocking to Astoria, Long Island City and Jackson Heights — but can the existing synagogues draw them in?
Young Jews in Long Island City celebrate Sukkot on a condo rooftop. Rabbi Zev Wineberg
by Sharon Udasin Staff Writer
When Cara Bernstein walked down the aisle a month ago to meet her fiancé under the chupah, she knew her wedding day was a crossroads not only in her life, but in the life of her Queens synagogue, which had not hosted a bride and groom for 22 years. Nearly the entire congregation at Astoria Center of Israel celebrated her marriage that day, whether or not they knew the couple personally.
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This has been a good year for Jewish Farm School, an environmental education organization that aims to reconnect Jews with the joys of working the land and growing their own food.
Last summer, JFS was one of two start-ups selected to join Bikkurim, the New York-based incubator that provides its resident groups with office space and computers in downtown Manhattan, as well as a stipends and organizational consulting.- Read Story -
The latest skirmish in the halls of Jewish academia has, surprisingly, nothing to do with Israel. But the new discord over academic grants made by the Posen Foundation concerns a charged topic just the same — the growing trend of teaching about Jewish culture through an exclusively secular lens.- Read Story -
One of the fascinating dynamics in American Jewish life today involves the complex and evolving relationship among three key groups: the Establishment organizations, symbolized by the federations, the primary engine that drives the organized Jewish community; the family foundations, which have generated great sums of philanthropic money in recent years; and the hundreds of emerging start-ups, or small, independent and youth-driven nonprofit ventures that have become increasingly popular in the last decade, especially among Generations X and Y.- Read Story -
