Jewish – Excerpted

18 April 2019

Tagged higher education, Modern Orthodoxy, Yeshiva University

“as the culture of the mid-twentieth century was replaced…, the notion of students grappling with their yeshiva and college educations…, producing a grand synthesis called ‘Modern Orthodoxy’, seemed increasingly quaint”

Yeshiva College has also changed along with the broader landscape of higher education. We still have impressively bright, industrious, passionate students. But […]

Jewish Community

5 April 2019

Tagged Jewish American Philanthropy, Jewish philanthropy

“I don’t see an end in sight to the massive private foundations dominating the Jewish philanthropic landscape, but there are definitely better ways forward”

…what has to change in the world of Jewish philanthropy and fundraising to make the system less beholden to deformed power structures. […]

Jewish Community / Jews in America

5 April 2019

Tagged Birthright Israel, Charles Bronfman, Jewish philanthropy, Michael Steinhardt, Sheldon Adelson

“Birthright Israel manifests the interlacing power of identity and endowment in American Jewish life”

Birthright Israel, the nonprofit organization that Steinhardt started in 1999 with his billionaire friend Charles Bronfman to fund free trips to Israel […]

Jewish Community / Jews in America

4 April 2019

Tagged American Jewish Community, continuity crisis, Jewish continuity crisis, Jewish Demographics, Michael Steinhardt

“Cohen’s analysis focused simply on biological continuity and avoided the substantive questions inherent in any discussion of the how of the Jewish future”

Until he was brought down by revelations of decades of sexual harassment, sociologist Steven M. Cohen made a career linking intermarriage with […]

Homosexuality / Jewish Community / Orthodoxy

3 April 2019

Tagged Halakhah, Homosexuality, Judaism, LGBTQ, Orthodoxy

“…halakha is currently paying a steep price for Orthodoxy’s exclusion of the queer community”

…halakha is currently paying a steep price for Orthodoxy’s exclusion of the queer community. Halakha’s *discriminatory attitude toward the gay community alienates […]

Modern Orthodoxy

22 March 2019

Tagged Modern Orthodoxy, Orthodoxy

“…in recent years, two issues have risen to the forefront of our communal consciousness that have proven to be stressors of” Modern Orthodoxy

Modern Orthodoxy is hard to understand and harder to live. Orthodoxy is a set of views and behaviors that is governed by […]

Jewish Community / Jewish Organizations

11 March 2019

Tagged American Jewish Community, Jewish communal field, Jewish Non-Profit, Jewish non-profits

“For far too long, we have…[been] underinvesting in the ongoing professional development of the individuals that work in the field full time”

For far too long, we have overly praised volunteers for bringing outside expertise to our organizations, while underinvesting in the ongoing professional […]

Jewish Community / Jewish Organizations

7 March 2019

Tagged American Jewish Community, American Jewish Life

“One of the greatest paradoxes of ‘the American Jewish establishment’ is that it is only believed to really exist by those who fear or despise it”

One of the greatest paradoxes of “the American Jewish establishment” is that it is only believed to really exist by those who […]

Jewish Community / Jews in America

28 February 2019

Tagged American Jewish Community, American Jewish Discourse

“Community is messy; be wary of those trying so hard to make it clean”

…while Jewish organizations should be allowed to exercise caution about their overt structural partnerships with those protesting them outside, the quick mapping […]

Jewish Community / Jewish Organizations / Jews in America

27 February 2019

Tagged American Jewish Community, American Jewish Discourse, Jewish community, Yehuda Kurtzer

There is a “political phenomenon in the Jewish community…on the disincentivizing of all forms of ‘courageous leadership’ by relatively small numbers of individuals who can drive a community agenda”

…a larger political phenomenon in the Jewish community…on the disincentivizing of all forms of “courageous leadership” by relatively small numbers of individuals […]