Vision & Practice: Don’t Lose the Trees for the Forest
The best leaders hold the long view and the present moment at the same time. Some organizations are caught in one. You’ve heard the saying: don’t lose the forest for the trees. Keep your eye on the big picture. Don’t get so caught up in the operational details that you lose sight of where you’re…
Don’t Lose the Trees for the Forest
A Jewish people in crisis needs both the long view and the present moment You’ve heard the saying: don’t lose…
We Teach Who We Are: A Practical Guide for Classroom Educators
Teaching About Israel in Times of Crisis Table of Contents Introduction: The Educator at the Center Chapter 1: Understanding the…
The Global Jewish-Israel Syntheses Imagine: We Are All Israeli
I was thinking, growing up, my world was a tapestry of hyphenated identities. There was my Russian-American friend, my Italian-American…
Colonization vs. Decolonization
Historical Patterns of Conquest and Return in the Middle East The narrative of colonization and decolonization has become central to…
Not quite. It turns out that many Jews regardless of their citizenship identify with the People of Israel/Jewish Peoplehood. For some the relationship is prompted by threats against Jews and the state of Israel generating a tremendous amount of talk-back and interest. The recent attack on Israeli tourists in Burgas, Bulgaria, the rise of anti-Semitism…
I’m afraid so. Are we the People/Nation of Israel or the Jewish People? This could explain some of the disconnect we witness taking place among Jews (People of Israel) around the world. If Judaism’s ancestry is the tribe of Judah, and Judah was the son of Israel (Jacob), then aren’t we all Israelis?
Exodus describes the Israelites as a “stiff necked people”; I prefer a “Resilient People”. Resilience is an individual’s tendency to cope with stress and adversity. This coping may result in the individual “bouncing back” to a previous state of normal functioning, or using the experience of exposure to adversity to function better than expected. Resilience…
Yitro, (Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law), a priest of Median “…heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel…” freeing them from slavery and guiding them through the Sinai wilderness (Ex. 18:1). This notion of hearing/knowing all that God has done is magnified here in Israel throughout the Jewish calendar. Since making Aliyah this…
Jacob was to be known as Isra-el.”…כי שרית עם אלוקים ועם אנשים, ותוכל…” (בראשית לב:כט) – ‘Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel; for thou hast struggled with God and with humanity, and hast prevailed.’ (Genesis 32:29). Isra-el struggles with God and with humanity. We, the People of Isra-el, maintain that struggle/interaction…