From the Borsch Belt to Broadway, Mel Brooks has spent a career spotting ‘the insane in the commonplace.’
The printer and photographer’s masterful light captures a bygone New York.
Learn the "Top 18" Kosher white, red and Israeli Wines, Read about the American kosher wine scene, Israeli wines and much more
Tourism booming in the Negev, that first teen roots journey, driving in Israel (really!), and more.
IF YOU'RE TALKIN' SPARKS...Y'ALL COM DOWN AND SEE THE EMOTIONAL SPARKS FLY AS WE SOUTHERN JEWS ADMIRE , ADORE, SAVOR, AND APPRECIATE OUR OWN CAREFULLY CHOSEN JUDAICA ART COLLECTION!
WE ARE MIGHTY PROUD TO BE THE CUSTODIANS OF THIS ART .
WHY...WE EVEN VISIT (OFTEN) THE BIG OLE JEWISH MUSEUM IN THE BIG APPLE AND AND ARE CONSTANTLY AMAZED THAT LITTLE OLD WE HAVE ACQUIRED, PUCHASED SUCH COMPARABLE TREASURES.
FORGIVE THE REPETITION, BUT Y'ALL COME DOWN AND SEE FOR YOURSELVE!
. AND KEEP THE FAITH.
Thank you for opening my eyes.
What an amazingly uneducated view of the Jews of North Carolina and the South. The NC Museum of Art Judaica Collection has for many years 'sparked' the interest of Jews and non-Jews alike who appreciate the history as well as the educational value of Jewish ceremonial art. Obviously the writer has no appreciation of the collection nor of the vitality of Jews in the South!
Condescending and offensive comments like the one posted by the anonymous writer on 22 April should not be left unanswered. But how is one to respond to the opinion that it is “tragic for such a beautiful collection of historic Judaica to reside in North Carolina”? Presumably, the writer would have preferred the collection somewhere less culturally benighted or more Jewish. That the North Carolina Museum of Art—the state’s art museum—has seen fit to develop a special gallery devoted to Jewish ceremonial art; that the Judaic collection has been acquired largely through the generosity of hundreds of Friends of the Judaic Art Gallery; and that the Judaic Art Gallery is a great source of inspiration and pride for many thousands of North Carolinians, Jews and non-Jews; all of that is no matter.
I would invite the writer to come visit the Judaic Art Gallery and the Museum. We have more than menorahs. (Or will the writer also despair that North Carolinians are equally undeserving of our Monets, Rodins and Motherwells?) Let the writer stay long enough to attend services at one or more of the Triangle’s temples and synagogues, sit in lectures at the Carolina Center for Jewish Studies in Chapel Hill (http://www.unc.edu/ccjs) or the Center for Jewish Studies at Duke (http://jewishstudies.aas.duke.edu), or participate in the monthly Triangle Seminar for Jewish Studies at the National Humanities Center. At the North Carolina Museum of History in downtown Raleigh there is the exhibition “Down Home: Jewish Life in North Carolina,” organized by the Jewish Heritage Foundation of North Carolina (http://www.jhfnc.org). Then there is the annual Triangle Jewish Film Festival (http://www.trianglejewishfilmfestival.org). Perhaps then the writer will put aside prejudice and find cause to celebrate the special triumph of the Judaic Art Gallery at the North Carolina Museum of Art.
Chaim Botwinick is correct in asserting that summer is the time for school leaders to prepare compelling Israel education material ("New Urgency to How We Teach About Israel”). Summer is also the time that Jewish summer camps, both day and residential, provide many educational experiences connecting campers to Israel. One such program is the Goodman Family Foundation Institute: Yisrael Sheli (My Israel) developed by the JCC Association. Yisrael Sheli offers teens at JCC residential camps a three-year program addressing issues in Israeli history and contemporary Israeli life.
Not all Jewish children are enrolled in Jewish schools, and summer camps provide an ideal setting for robust activity-based learning. The question is not which institution is more important—they are each essential—the question is how to ensure the most effective Israel programs in every educational environment we have.
Dr. David Ackerman
Director, Mandel Center for Jewish Education
JCC Association
My "Big But" concern is when you thank someone for doing something for you and they respond, "NOT A PROBLEM." What is that supposed to mean? It certainly doesn't come across as, "My pleasure!"
LGG: Great point about how do you constructively criticize without negating the positives. I suggest to managers, colleagues, partners, parents, etc. that you make positive feedback a regular part of your daily interpersonal "diet" so that when the inevitable negative feedback comes, it has a cushioned landing. I use the Relationship Bank Account model -- if you have lots and lots of deposits into your relationship bank account (praise, saying thank you, trusting the other person), making occasional withdrawals (such as negative feedback) shouldn't greatly upset the balance.
Hope this helps!
Deborah
David was a good friend of me during his life in Israel, and beside Sdemot he also edited the newspaper of the young gaurds of the Labour party Ramzor.He was a man who believed and lived by the values of social justice keeping human rights and peace.We will remember him always as wonderful presentor of the good and justice side of Israel.
Mully Dor
"There are a lot of scary aspects to Arizona's Draconian new immigration law"
Like what specifically? Just one example of something "draconian" in the "actual" Law?
....or is it perhaps possible, that the writer of this piece hasn't actually read the Law either......just like so many others who feel the need to comment negatively about something that they really don't understand or have read....you know....like the Attorney General of The United States, Eric Holder.
BTW, here is a link to the actual law:
http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/files/sb1070s.pdf
Your essay is beautiful!
Our family has pictures but when I tried to get my mother to identify relatives in the ones taken well before I was born, she would cry because they were gone.
Now my Dad and I have boxes of photos of nameless people from my mother's past. And since my mother is gone, we can not ask her.
Your essay has prompted me to put "organize photos" on my to-do list, since I too have my own collection--undated and unidentified.
Great article. Well written and humorous; love the personal stories. Great point too. (Notice no "BUT" here) What's the flip side? How do you constructively criticize without negating the positives?
My mother shared her mother's wisdom with me: Your teeth are like a little fence...words that stay inside belong only to you. Words that get out belong to the world. Your column gives me 'stuff' to think about and makes me smile.
I love reading what you write! Your commentary is right on the mark. I'm going to think more carefully about how I give feedback to my students now. I work with elementary education students at UNF who are doing their intern-ship (formerly known as student teaching.) I observe them in the classroom and tell them things they have done well. I also give them ideas for how they can improve their instruction. I try to give them suggestions they can actually use, or ask them questions so they can come up with ideas. I'll be thinking more about how I can improve my feedback so they don't get the "good news, bad news" approach.
Great writing! keep up the good work hope to see many more articles from this insightful reader way to go
Thanks so much! This is just what I needed to hear this morning. "But," what I am also thinking is that silences can also hurt...
i am sorry, but this is a ridiculous article, and completely pointless.
i read the article and the responses. And I feel that there are certain understandings that you people are not focusing on. I myself am a Ba'al Teshuva, which means I am a person that was not observant and became observant later. The word "Teshuva" means to return. what does that mean? Return to what? I was born Jewish, so what am I returning too? It means to return to Hashem, return to your creator, and understand that he is infact "THE KING" of the universe. Whenever I read or hear about people trying make observing judaism to "fit" into their life style it saddens me, because if you understand that Judaism is a not just a religion, but a way of life. The world looks at jews as being different, and we are, but not in a bad way. If you ask anybody about an orthodox jew, they would tell you that they expect them to be G-D fearing, and why is that? Because that is what a jew is, we fear g-d and love him, just as a child does his own parents. So many times I hear people say all the things an observant jew can not do, as if he is being forced, but in reality there is so much we can do. I guess what i'm trying to say is, we need to stop trying "re-fashion" judaism and just try and follow the laws the way the Rabbis have taught it for over 2,000 years. Our beatiful Torah has not changed since the first copy, and that has been the strenght of the jewish people from the beginning. As I always say " If aint broke, don't fix it."
I happen to agree with Glenn. To put God first is to put God first. The common good may not have an interest in God. What is the common good. Is it determined by the scriptures or by man. Man has a tendancy to do many sinful things. What if enough people think that serving Satan is the common good. That would be rejecting God. That is what Hitler did. Killed the Jews for the common good. Man can have many irrational ideas that are suppose to be for the common good but are against God and the Scriptures. Social justise can be misused. There is individual justice. We are reponsible for our own actions. We are should be held accountable for actions that are not in com;piance with God's word.
I look forward to benefiting from the experience of all 41 students in CLIP. Our community is in safe hands and will prove strong with students like this one.
May you go from strength to strength!
Actually, he did interview two such people in this article.
Igor and Natalia who are mentioned at the end of the story.
Or maybe you didn't notice that?
www.jewishdailyreport.wordpress.com
Jonathan did not only not do his homework about the Brandeis resolution, he was also misleading when he wrote, referring to Ambassador Oren speaking at this yera's graduation, "while many young Jews at Brandeis did want to distance themselves from Israel." There were not many young Jews who did that. In fact, there were many young Jews who strongly supported Amb. Oren; there were a much smaller number opposed. But why be accurate when you can make a point (albeit misleading) slamming a liberal institution.
Except the thing is that Israel does de facto say that many of us who are Jews are, in fact, non-Jews, because they don't recognize the conversions involved, even if said conversions more than meet the Halachic standards for conversion.
Lari, well said indeed. To cite just one example: the Reform movement has long advocated individual "informed choice" regarding the keeping of what it has deemed to be "ritual" commandments (thus splitting halakha into false categories). Unfortunately, "informed" went by the wayside among many Jews generations ago. In the 19th century, which saw the beginnings of the Reform movement, such standards of Jewish life as kashrut and the use of Hebrew during prayer services were labeled ritualistic and were cast off by the reformers. Within a generation or two many Jews were ignorant of those things deemed outmoded, especially those that stood out as being alien to Christians.
Case in point: my own grandparents, first generation Jews in the U.S., became totally secularized and assimilated. They were proud of being modern, early 20th-century Jewish-Americans. They gathered the family on Passover and Rosh Hashanah, but for meals only; and although ham wasn't served at these holiday dinners, kashrut was never observed. One Pesach evening, when I was about seven or eight years old, I turned to my grandfather after the meal and asked what Passover was and why we celebrated it (yes, small children will ask this question even without the haggadah). My grandfather began, "Well, you know the story of Moses..." I shook my head no. Grandpa, startled, turned to my mother and demanded to know whether she had not taught me the story of Moses. My mother shrugged and said, "I never knew it. You never told it to me." (Grandpa proceeded to tell me a quick version, ending with "But, of course, it's just a story" -- lest I take the tradition seriously!)
If I recall correctly, the sages do not admit ignorance as an excuse, but neither are Jews to leave one another behind. It is incumbent upon every Jew to educate him- or herself as fully as possible, and it is incumbent upon knowledgeable Jews to teach those who were not blessed with early Jewish education. My own investigation of religion has been long and tortuous, and I understand the questions Lewittes and Brodie are trying to address. I applaud their efforts. But Lari has it right: education is key. My own experience is that a good teacher who can make the tradition come alive will feed the spiritual hunger, too.
To quote an acquaintance, also raised without a Jewish education: "I went looking for Jews who talked about God. I couldn't find any. So I started meditating with nuns. Then one day I found Jews who talked about God -- in an Orthodox synagogue."
I am an Orthodox Israeli who opposes the bill. However, I object to Rabbi Skolnik's characterization that the bill means Israel is saying that non-Orthodox Jews are not really Jews. It's clear that Rabbi Skolnik has an understanding of the raucous religious/political reality in Israel. Therefore, he should understand better than most, that the bill is the result of political machinations and power struggles. I fear that his readers will remember "Israel says we're not Jews" long after they forget the actual details of the bill, and the debate. This is also damaging to Jewish unity.
A disturbing trend in Iowa?
“It might seem superfluous to state that Jewish criminals belong in jail, however much good they might otherwise do and however religious they might otherwise be. That said, recent events in Iowa raise the possible spectre of a state that does not realize that accused or even convicted criminals who are Jewish do not deserve to be treated unfairly under the law, however much bad they might otherwise do...”
See full story:
http://ijn.com/editorial/1802-a-disturbing-trend-in-iowa