Housekeeping

Hey y’all. I apparently suck at keeping a blog. That’s why I became a Twitterer.

That said:

• Here’s my latest op-ed on the difficulties of doing a Jewish social entrepreneur fellowship if you’re lower or middle class. It sparked a mighty interesting conversation throughout the Jewish community, eliciting responses from the Joshua Venture’s Lisa Lepson, the Jim Josephs Foundation’s Adene Sacks, PresenTense’s Ariel Beery, Upstart’s Maya Bernstein and Jewschool’s newest contributor Donald Cohen-Cutler. I’m interested to hear your thoughts…
• I recently had a rather fascinating open dialogue with UJA Federation of NY’s John Ruskay at the B’nai Jeshurun Men’s Havurah. You can check out the coverage in The Forward and The Jewish Week.
• It’s worth noting that I also got engaged recently, which I have yet to remark upon here, so here it is. I’ll be getting hitched in August to the sweetest sack o’ sugar to dance upon this earth.
• And finally, check out my latest endeavor: 31 Days, 31 Ideas, wherein I’ll be braindumping all my ideas to change the Jewish future over the course of 31 days, beginning January 1st.

Happy New Year!

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UJC: We speak for you whether you like it or not

The following is a conversation between me and William Daroff, Vice President of Public Policy at the United Jewish Communities (the umbrella organization of America’s Jewish federations), which took place the morning of Monday, September 14 via Twitter.

The discussion began after I challenged some strong remarks Daroff had made condemning J Street’s position on the diplomatic engagement of Iran. What ensued was an immensely revealing dialogue that exposes the chutzpah of our so-called national Jewish leadership, who operate as self-appointed arbiters and representatives of Jewish public opinion.

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Alien nation

Shkoyach to J Street’s campaign director, Isaac Goldstein Luria, on his cogent op-ed in today’s Forward, “In Machers vs. Obama, the Youth Have Voted.”

Jewish communal leaders should consider that the more aggressively they criticize this president’s sensible pro-Israel policies, the more they will alienate us from their aging institutions.

Amen, amen.

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Back to the garden

I had the pleasure of spending the day yesterday at Eden Village Camp, the new Jewish environmental summer camp in Putnam Valley, NY, run by Yoni Stadlin and Vivian Lehrer. Based at the site of a former UJA Federation camp, the new camp, which will teach children environmental stewardship, sustainable agriculture, and Jewish agricultural values, was founded with an innovation grant from the Foundation for Jewish Camp.

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Re: Commentary on Jewish hipsters

D.G. Myers is out of touch. Out of touch with American Jews, out of touch with the Jewish innovation sector, out of touch with the Jewish tradition. And who can blame him? Have you ever met a “Jewish hipster” who went to Texas A&M?

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Na Nach Nachma Nachman M'Havelock, NC

The bulletin board in Trinity Presbyterian Church in Havelock, NC

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EV slams Dror over Forward op-ed

My friend, Dr. Uri Gordon, and I started writing a lengthy rebuttal to Yehezkiel Dror’s anger-inducing op-ed in The Forward calling for the shuttling of morality out the window in the face of threats real and imagined against the Jewish people. And perhaps we will finish it soon. In the meantime, Eli Valley [...]

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Woe unto Israel

I joked for days about what I’d do, given the opportunity. I joked seriously, half-seriously, “I’d be willing to martyr myself for this cause.” I’d throw tomatoes, a pie, drop a banner, talk trash to his face, strangle him with my bare hands. Something, anything.
I considered the pie my best option. [...]

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Jewish identity not an either-or proposition

You can view more photos from this panel, as well as from the rest of the President’s Conference, here.
I just sat through an hour and a half of infuriating dialogue on Jewish identity that has only further concretized my belief that Jewish leadership is completely out of touch with the greater Jewish public.
Jews and Judaism [...]

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More RI Photos

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

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