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Can meaningful conversations bridge the divide in a polarized world? In today's episode, we explore the transformative power of radical curiosity with Shira Hoffer, a senior at Harvard University and founder of the Institute for Multipartisan Education. Join host John Tomasi, as they delve into the potential of dialogue in reducing societal hate and fostering understanding.Shira Hoffer shares her inspirational journey from idealistic student to social entrepreneur, recounting the pivotal experiences that led to the creation of the Hotline for Israel-Palestine. This initiative connects individuals with diverse perspectives in response to the tense climate at Harvard following the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel. Shira emphasizes the role of curiosity in addressing complex conflicts and outlines her efforts to encourage open, non-judgmental discourse across contentious societal issues. In This Episode:Curiosity as a tool against polarizationCreating dialogue to reduce misunderstandingsStudent-led initiatives on curiosity in educationReligious influence on open-mindedness in students About Shira:Shira Hoffer is a senior at Harvard College studying Social Studies and Religion, and the founder and Executive Director of the Institute for Multipartisan Education. She served on Harvard's Intellectual Vitality Committee for two years, is a former fellow and research assistant at the Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Ethics' Intercollegiate Civil Disagreement Program, and is a practicing mediator in Massachusetts courts. Her senior thesis explores the contemporary relationship between religious identity and speech behaviors on US college campuses.Follow Shira on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shira-hoffer/ Follow Heterodox Academy on:Twitter: https://bit.ly/3Fax5DyFacebook: https://bit.ly/3PMYxfwLinkedIn: https://bit.ly/48IYeuJInstagram: https://bit.ly/46HKfUgSubstack: https://bit.ly/48IhjNF

“To be a Jew is to know that because of who we are, because of our historical experience, we care for the other. This is really one of the great tensions of our moment. Of how to be eyes wide open to Israel's need for self-defense, and at the same time recognize the real suffering that's going on in Gaza and to know that we need to find a way to hold both of those together.” Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, spiritual leader of Park Avenue Synagogue in New York, explores the complexities of Jewish identity in a post-October 7th world in his new book, For Such a Time As This: On Being Jewish Today. In this conversation, he unpacks the tension between Israel's need for self-defense and the suffering experienced by Gazans and Israelis and the challenge of balancing empathy with vigilance. He also shares his personal journey to the rabbinate and what it means to live as a Jew in this pivotal moment. *The views and opinions expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views or position of AJC.  Sign up for AJC Global Forum: Register at AJC.org/GlobalForum2025 for the premier global Jewish advocacy conference of the year, in New York City, April 27-29 2025 Listen – AJC Podcasts: The Forgotten Exodus: with Hen Mazzig, Einat Admony, and more. People of the Pod:  The Oldest Holocaust Survivor Siblings: A Tale of Family, Survival, and Hope Israeli Hostages Freed: Inside the Emotional Reunions, High-Stakes Negotiations, and What's Next Bring Them Home: Understanding the Israel-Hamas Hostage Deal and Its Impact Pack One Bag: Stanley Tucci and David Modigliani Uncover His Jewish Family's Escape from Fascism and Antisemitism in 1930s Italy Follow People of the Pod on your favorite podcast app, and learn more at AJC.org/PeopleofthePod You can reach us at: peopleofthepod@ajc.org If you've appreciated this episode, please be sure to tell your friends, and rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. __ Transcript of Conversation with Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove:  Josh Kramer: AJC Global Forum is returning to New York City, April 27 to 29th 2025. I'm Josh Kramer. AJC New York Regional Director, and I hope to see you there. You won't want to miss this opportunity to join with more than 2000 other activists and engage in thought provoking discussions on the future of the Jewish people, Israel, America, and the world.  Our program will feature large plenary sessions with headline speakers, smaller breakout sessions designed to explore the key political, strategic and social concerns affecting the global Jewish community, and exclusive opportunities to engage with diplomats, decision makers, interfaith partners, community leaders and more.  Will you be in the room? Register today at AJC.org/GlobalForum2025 to take part in the premier global Jewish advocacy conference of the year. Now is the time to join AJC in shaping a new future. Head to AJC.org/GlobalForum2025. Manya Brachear Pashman:   I've done quite a bit of soul searching in the 15 months since October 7. How do I grapple with the tragedy in Israel and Gaza and the hatred Jews face on American soil without scaring my children away from Judaism?  Then came our Temple's Purim spiel last spring. That story of Queen Esther's bravery, in some ways, helped. It was about that same time that Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, the spiritual leader at Park Avenue Synagogue in New York, picked up his pen and began to write his latest book, named for a line in Queen Esther's tale – For Such a Time As This: On Being Jewish Today. Rabbi Cosgrove is with us now. Rabbi, welcome to People of the Pod. Elliot Cosgrove:   Thank you. It's great to be here.  Manya Brachear Pashman:   So I have to tell you, rehearsals began for this year's Purim spiel as I was reading this book, which made it all the more powerful. What inspired you to write this? Elliot Cosgrove:   Well, for me, I draw wisdom from text, and I was trying to think of what would be an analogous moment for what we were going through as American Jews from the ancient text.  And for me, as you say, this is now on the cusp of Purim 2025, it was the story of Esther that we read. And in many of our synagogues, we have Purim spiels, where we act out the story, which is basically the story of a Jewish community of ancient Shushan who believed themselves to have it good, that they were comfortable in the diaspora. And the wicked decree of Haman came down and Esther, whose name actually means to hide, she hid herself, her Jewish identity in the king's palace, and believed that she was comfortable there.  When the decree came down, Mordechai, her uncle, by way of an emissary, sent a message to her. “Don't think yourself to be safe from Haman's decree. Who knows, if it was not for such a time as this that you've arrived at your station.” And I saw this as really the calling card of our moment that we all felt ourselves in the wake of October 7, Esther-like called to action. The trauma of October 7, but also the call to action, to step up to the moment, the needs of our people. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Tell us about your writing process. Elliot Cosgrove:   I buried myself in my writing from before dawn until mid-morning, and then I would hit a wall. And I didn't take a sabbatical. I actually went into my day job as a congregational rabbi. It was a very intense writing process and then in the course of about three to four months sent the manuscript off to the publisher. Manya, the thing about the book is it was very disorienting to write as the events were playing out, both in Israel and in the States. And one of the worries that I had that I spoke to the publisher about was, well, what if this becomes dated? You know, it was not journalism, but I was writing as the news was happening, and the good news and the bad news is that the themes that I pick up on: the trauma of Israel, the blurred line between anti-Zionism and antisemitism, how we balance empathy and vigilance, the question of the hostages, of thinking about a day after for Israel and the Palestinians, these questions are not only still relevant, but they're actually more pressing than ever. So unfortunately, the themes that I hit on in the book, very much present right now. Manya Brachear Pashman:   How did that writing process help you personally process what you were witnessing and experiencing as a Jew in America? Elliot Cosgrove:   I'll say this, that as a rabbi, I often see my job–someone calls, they've just gotten bad news in the hospital, a loved one has passed away. Or a happy thing, that their child has just gotten engaged, or they themselves have just become new parents. And people turn to clergy to get the first line of constructing the narrative of what it is they are experiencing.  And for me, there is something deeply personal and deeply pastoral about this book, because I feel like it's seeking, hopefully, to give the language to American Jews as to how to construct this new reality of a post October 7 existence, the jumble of emotions, of trauma, but also the emergence of Jewish identity, the likes of which we've never seen before, the argument for continued defense of Israel's right to self determination, as well as an assurance that the traumas of October 7 never happen again. And in the same breath to think actively about what does the day after look like. I think we're all searching for language for these and other tensions of our moment, and I'm hoping that the book is sort of a vocabulary builder for our time. Manya Brachear Pashman:   One word that you used many times in the book, and it stuck with me, just because maybe it's one of my favorite words, and that is empathy. And you used it in different chapters, different contexts. And I'm curious if you could share with the audience the role of empathy and how it is a guiding force, how it has been a guiding force since October 7. Elliot Cosgrove:   Empathy, both its presence and its absence, has been a subplot of this moment, because I think empathy is ingrained into the Jewish DNA. You open up the Passover Haggadah, and on the one hand, we know that we are vigilant against every generation a pharaoh arises to destroy us. We are guards up. We are a people who knows the importance of ancient hatreds, of being vigilant against them, and also the ring of fire that Israel sits in by way of Iran and its proxies.  I mean, Israel's in a very tight spot, and American Jewry is in a very tight spot. And at the same time, empathy is who we are. You were once a stranger in a strange land. Therefore you should know the heart of a stranger. To be a Jew is to know that because of who we are, because of our historical experience, we care for the other. And I think that this is really one of the great tensions of our moment of how to, you know, be eyes wide open to Israel's need to self defense, and at the same time recognize the real suffering that's going on in Gaza and and to know that we need to find a way to hold both of those together. That Israel needs to fight this war as if there's no tomorrow, and Israel has to fight this war with an eye to tomorrow, with the same ferocity that it prosecutes this war, it has to pursue a day after plan. And I think that somewhere along the way, it's the voices on the extremes who are speaking with the loudest megaphones. And the goal of this moment is to realize that we need to find a way to embrace both.  I think it was Fitzgerald who said the test of a great mind is the ability to hold two opposing ideas and retain the ability to function. I think the test of the Jewish community right now is the ability to hold both vigilance and empathy at the same time and retain the ability to move forward with hope. Manya Brachear Pashman:   And how can empathy help here on American soil, where we're facing protesters, we're facing all kinds of opposition and questions and hatred because of what's happening overseas. How do we use empathy here on American soil? Elliot Cosgrove:   First of all, it's hard. It's hard. When you are under attack, the last thing anyone wants to do is feel someone else's pain. When someone is calling me a colonialist oppressor, when someone is calling for the destruction of the Jewish state, something which is part and parcel to my identity, core to my very being – my initial instinct is not to inquire into how they feel and have empathy. My initial instinct is to have shields of self-defense, prioritize the needs of my people over anyone else's. I think that's a human thing to do.  And as long as the hostages are hostages, as long as Israel stands in a vulnerable position, I think we need to be eyes wide open to that, and then we need to breathe, and we need to remember what it means to be a Jew.  And we need to remember that it takes two to tango, and that if we are going to create a future whereby Jews and Palestinians can live side by side in safety and self determination, then we need to realize that there are two peoples worthy of realizing that dream, and that requires empathy, Manya. Manya Brachear Pashman:   You were not always that religious or observant of your religious tradition. Can you tell our audience how you became a rabbi? Elliot Cosgrove:   How long do we have? This is a big question, but, look as with any way we construct our realities and tell our origin stories, there are a million ways to tell it. The truth of the matter is, I am the grandson of a congregational rabbi, an orthodox rabbi. So to say that I had somehow strayed from the path is a little bit of an overstatement. But I will say that I grew up in a traditional Jewish background. I'm very proud of the home I grew up in, but when I went off to college, it was very much something I did, Judaism was something I did at home. And I can't say that my first few years at my alma mater at University of Michigan were known by way of my religious affiliations and commitments. And then I got a phone call my junior year of college, that a figure from my youth, a grandfather figure I never really knew. My grandparents had passed away, and he was a guy who used to sit next to us in synagogue and slip me up peppermint candy as the rabbi was about to start the sermon or come over for Passover Seders or Shabbat dinner, Mr. Gendun, and he had passed away. And I got the phone call. I said, What would Mr. Gendun want me to do? And I thought, maybe I'll say Kaddish.  So I called one of my Jewishy friends. I had never been inside the Hillel building up until that moment. And I called up one of my Jewishy friends and I said, What's, where's the Hillel? And they said, you're an idiot, Elliot. It's this huge building right on campus at Michigan. And I went in and I said my Kaddish, and I was getting up like it was the end of an airplane ride just to run back out to whatever my evening plans were.  And a man stood between me and the door, boxing me out, and I was trying to shimmy one way and the other. And he said, I notice you've never been here before. And he said, Well, I'm wondering if you'd like to come to Shabbat dinner. And I lied, truth be told, because I figure he didn't want to know about dollar pitcher night. And I said, I already have Shabbat plans. And he said, Well, do you have Shabbat plans next week? And I was caught in my tracks, and I said, No, and before I could say another word, he said, Good, then you'll come over for Shabbat dinner.  And that man was Michael Brooks, who was the Hillel Director of the Michigan Hillel. I went over to Shabbat dinner. I got involved in the Israel group. I was an editor of the student journal. I sat on the Hillel governing board. One thing led to the other, and I became a rabbi. But important [as] that story is obviously in my own religious formation and choice of vocation, is how it informs my own life and my own rabbinate. It's that ability to look around the room when you're in a class, a Jewish event, a service, and who's the person who looks a little out of place like they might have been there for the very first time, and just do that small human act of reaching out to them, and whether you're going to invite them to Shabbat dinner or not, but just to acknowledge their humanity, that has been the north star of my rabbinate ever since. We're all just human beings looking for a place to hang our hats. Manya Brachear Pashman:   You talk about empathy. I think empathy caught my attention every time you mentioned it in the book, because I think it's so key to journalism. It's such an important component of it. And then I think hospitality is such an important component to Judaism and to congregational life, Elliot Cosgrove:   Absolutely. Hospitality is something that is key to our text at the beginning of the Passover Seder. But hospitality is also a spiritual demeanor that we welcome people into our souls, into our presence, into our life. Hachnasat Orchim in Hebrew, this idea that there's always space within our souls, within our hearts.  Manya Brachear Pashman:   Having had such an important turning point on a university campus, how did you interact with, council, university students during this time, as they were facing such pressures and such opposition, crushing opposition during this past year and a half? Elliot Cosgrove:   So there's a chapter about that in the book. It's really the part of the book that I think has struck a nerve, and appropriately so, because I'm the father of four college age or thereabouts children.  And that story I tell about Maya, and Maya is a young woman who, I joke, shares half a brain with my own college age daughter. She's grown up in my household, and she is what you or I might identify as a non Zionist Gen zer, and she approached me and perhaps reproached me for having a Israeli flag on the pulpit, for doing the prayer for the State of Israel in the midst of the service, and said, you know, and she grew up in the Jewish Day School. She grew up going to Jewish summer camp. She did gap year programs in Israel.  Not a small amount of money has been invested in the Mayas of the world, and she herself is asking whether or not her liberal, American Jewish self can be simpatico with the policies of this or that Israeli government, because they don't speak for her sensibility. And to this question of empathy, I think the first move one makes in any such situation is to try to understand where the other person is coming from.  And I think a 21, 22, 23 year old is coming of age in a moment of time where the only Prime Minister they know of is Bibi Netanyahu, who either is or is beholden to the most right-wing elements of Israeli society. The only policies they know of the Israeli government are an expansionist policy in the West Bank, which has precluded the possibility of a two state solution. The only paradigm they have is an Israel which is a Goliath to the Palestinian David, this is their reality.  You can't blame someone for the time into which they are born. I can pick apart and engage in a dialog on what's true and what's not true. But to tell someone that their reality is not, their reality is is not, you know, a move that one can make. And by the way, if they're during the time of the judicial reform, and to this day, there are 1000s of Israelis marching on the streets on a Saturday night protesting the Israeli government as an expression of their love of country.  To tell the Mayas of the world, a college age student today, that they are treif, they are beyond the bounds of Jewish discourse, for doing the exact same thing is just an argument that doesn't hold water anymore. And so the the the goal here, Manya, is to engage with their questions, to listen intently, to prompt that young mind to come up with their own answers for the defense and the well being of the Jewish people, given the harsh realities that Israel faces, and also to make room for their very real question. So I look long on the Maya generation. It's actually a controversial moment within the organized Jewish community –do we write them off, do we not write them off? I think they're our future, and I think we do terrible damage to ourselves if we write them off. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Because it is such a time as this. We have to pay attention to the context, right, and to where we are in history, without losing sight of history. Elliot Cosgrove:   Look, it's very easy to take pot shots from the left and from the right. You know where this brave space is. The brave space is standing in the middle and dignifying the claims and counterclaims of both sides, and knowing that real leadership is trying to keep our people together. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Your book does such a beautiful job of inspiring that sense, sparking those, those right emotions in my head. So thank you so much for writing it. And I encourage all of our listeners to pick up a copy of Rabbi Cosgrove's book–For Such a Time as This: On Being Jewish Today. It is full of challenges, and I think that the challenge is worth facing and taking on. Thank you. Elliot Cosgrove:   Thank you so much, Manya.

Listen to an in-depth conversation on all the latest in the 2024 U.S. presidential election, from the vice presidential picks –Tim Walz and JD Vance – to Israel and antisemitism. Julie Fishman Rayman, AJC's Managing Director of Policy and Political Affairs, speaks with Ron Kampeas, the Washington, D.C. Bureau Chief at the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Kampeas also discussed the importance of accuracy and empathy in reporting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, highlighting the need for journalists to avoid biases and misrepresentations. *The views and opinions expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views or position of AJC. Episode Lineup:  (0:40) Ron Kampeas Learn: AJC's Call to Action Against Antisemitism U.S. Party Platforms Must Take a Stand Against Antisemitism Here are 5 Jewish Issues Republicans and Democrats Must Address at their Conventions Listen: What the Unprecedented Assassinations of Terror Leaders Means for Israel and the Middle East Aviva Klompas is Fighting the Normalization of Antisemitism on Social Media On the Ground at the Republican National Convention: What's at Stake for Israel and the Middle East? Follow People of the Pod on your favorite podcast app, and learn more at AJC.org/PeopleofthePod You can reach us at: peopleofthepod@ajc.org If you've appreciated this episode, please be sure to tell your friends, and rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. Transcript of Interview with Ron Kampeas: Manya Brachear Pashman:   This week, my colleague Julie Fishman Rayman, AJC Managing Director of Policy and Political Affairs, spoke to Ron Kampeas, the Washington DC Bureau Chief of JTA, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. They broke down the latest in the 2024 US presidential election. Julie, the mic is yours. Julie Fishman Rayman: Ron, thank you so much for joining us. I'm so pleased to have this conversation with you, because we get to flip the tables and someone who's really a beloved and renowned journalist in the Jewish space, and finally, I get to ask you questions. So thank you for making this opportunity available to us. Ron Kampeas:  Thank you. Julie Fishman Rayman: I want to start by talking a little bit about the conventions. You were in Milwaukee covering AJC's event, alongside a number of other things. Thank you for being there with us. What were your biggest takeaways from the Republican Convention, particularly as they related to the issues of Israel and antisemitism? Ron Kampeas:  I think Israel was front and center, and they made it front and center because it's an obvious advantage that they have over the Democrats right now. So, you know, I think the representative moment was, in a way, when Matt Brooks, the CEO of the Republican Jewish Coalition, he was invited for the first time to address the Republican Convention, and the first thing he said was, let's hear it for Israel, or something like that, or let's hear it for the hostages. And there were cheers, and then he says that couldn't happen in a month at the Democratic Convention. He might be right. And so that was a big plus for them. On antisemitism it's a little more opaque, but it's problematic, I think, because after Matt spoke, he called us Jewish media reporters together for a little gaggle, and we asked him, naturally, about the isolationism that the vice presidential or the running mate pick JD Vance represents. And it's interesting, the way that Matt put it. He said, yeah, it is a problem. He was candid. He said, it's a problem in the party, and we plan to fight it. And, you know, nobody prompted him, but he said, we plan to take on the Tucker Carlson wing of the party. The interesting thing about that is that he said, prevent Tucker Carlson wing from getting a foothold. And Tucker Carlson had very much a foothold at the convention. He spoke on the last night, setting up Donald Trump's speech. He was up in the balcony with Donald Trump. And of course, you know, Matt's point is that Tucker Carlson is very much an isolationist, particularly as far as Ukraine goes, but he's given hints as far as Israel goes. But it's more than that. He's platformed antisemites, and he's kind of ventured into that territory himself – antisemites like Candace Owens, Kanye West – and I think that that is something that Jewish Republicans are going to have to grapple with. Julie Fishman Rayman: One of the things that was discussed at AJC's event alongside the Republican National Convention was the policy positions of not just JD Vance, but others who sort of align with that faction of the Republican Party – I guess, the Tucker Carlson faction – and sort of reading the tea leaves on Ukraine and saying, you know, at what point does the hesitancy around support for Ukraine translate into hesitancy for support for Israel? And does it? What would you say to that question? Ron Kampeas:  You know, it's interesting that at least as far as I could track, that played out an explicit sense only at your event, at the AJC event. There were people who were asking hard questions of the panelists, and two of the panelists were very much not stumping for Trump, they were defending Trump and the Trump policies. Kirsten Fontenrose, not so much. She was more critical, and even though she was part of the Trump NSC. And so the defense that they were saying is that simply, you know, whatever you may think of Trump's position, this is Rich Goldberg has particularly said this, but I think Ken Weinstein also said it, whatever you may think of Trump's positions on Ukraine, the strength he will project in the world. And this was right after the assassination, and Rich Goldberg kept on bringing up that Associated Press photo of Trump looking very defiant after being shot, that strength is going to deter the kind of actions that Putin has taken in Ukraine.  But the flip side of that actually came up a couple of weeks later at a Christians United for Israel conference here in DC, where isolationism was very much on the mind, and what they were articulating and what might have been articulated in an AIPAC conference, if AIPAC still had conferences – it doesn't – but what they were articulating is that it's holistic, that you can't just say, like, JD Vance says, ‘Oh, I'm all for assisting Israel, but we don't need to assist Ukraine, because Russia's bad actions in Ukraine are being supported by Iran. Iran is supplying arms to Russia in Ukraine that it then can, you know, see how those arms work in Ukraine, and they can use them theoretically against Israel.'  We're seeing now, as tensions build up in the Middle East, that Russia has Iran's back. And then, you know, there's also China, which is also problematic and is buying Iranian oil and helping to prop up the Iranian economy that way. So it's not simply a matter of whether one side projects strength better than the other side, and this is the argument coming out of the Christians United for Israel thing. It's a matter of constant engagement and awareness of how all these things can interlock. Julie Fishman Rayman: I think that's a really great point, and I'm glad you made that connection. I know one of the other issues that was present or discussed at the Christians United for Israel conference was the issue of the hostages, and what you said before about the sort of rallying result of Matt Brooks' comments about, you know, let's hear it for Israel, let's hear it for the hostage families. And a similar cry might solicit or elicit at the DNC. What do you think we could expect? You know, would you expect that a hostage family will take to the stage as Orna and Ronen Neutra did at the DNC, and if so, what might the result be? Ron Kampeas:  So that's a good question. I know that they've asked. I know that the hostage families have asked to appear at the DNC. I know that there are people who have told me that the DNC, especially like with Kamala Harris, who has spoken out for the hostages. I don't see how Kamala Harris could not have the hostages or some sort of representation of the hostages at the conference. On the other hand, the Democrats are going to have to worry about, I don't think they're going to be booed, but I think that they're not going to get the same sort of enthusiastic reception that maybe that they got at the Republican conference, and simultaneously the uncommitted movement. The movement was founded in Michigan and spread to some other states that when Biden was the nominee, particularly, they were upset that Biden wasn't doing enough to stop the war in Gaza, wasn't doing enough to force Israel into a ceasefire, and they wanted to show that they didn't necessarily have to vote for him in November, so they didn't vote for him in the primaries.  And they had different effects in different states, but certainly in states like Michigan and Minnesota, I think that they had a pretty good turnout as far as that goes. And they want a doctor from Gaza to speak at the DNC. So you know which might be fine. It might be a legitimate enterprise in their part, but you know that the Democrats are going to be accused of “both sides-ing” it, that the Republicans wouldn't have somebody like that. So because of the Democrats of different constituencies, as much as the Republicans are now, at least the Trump campaign is now trying to reach out to Arab Americans. It's much more a constituency for the Democrats, as are the Jews. It's going to be like a tightrope for them to walk. And so I don't know how that's going to be a play out, but it's certainly something we're going to be tracking. Julie Fishman Rayman: Talking about that, that tightrope, and also, because you mentioned Michigan and Minnesota, let's talk for a moment about the selection of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz for the vice presidential nominee. He has both spoken at AIPAC's conferences, stood by Israel after the October 7 attacks, talked about Jewish students on campus dealing with encampments and anti-Israel protests and has really been outspoken about rising antisemitism in this country. On the flip side, he also speaks to the more progressive flank of the Democratic Party, and has urged the party to do more intentional kind of outreach to anti-Israel voters who aren't committed to voting the Harris-Walz ticket. What do you make of him in this moment, as both a campaigner and then presumably, if elected, what would you make of him as a vice president? Ron Kampeas:  It's hard to say right now. Nobody was really aware of Tim Walz a lot outside of Minnesota until last week, but it's so funny because, you know, there was this whole push back against Shapiro from the far left because he was perceived as being – I'm talking about Josh Shapiro, the Pennsylvania Governor who was a front runner – because he was perceived as being too pro-Israel.  But Yair Rosenberg did a really good job. I also did a little bit of reporting into this about how the other candidates, who other likelies that Kamala Harris were considering, are also pro-Israel, and Tim Walz has a long list of accomplishments, but you know, a measure of how fast this summer has gone, how crazy this political season has been, is this a week and a half ago, when Yair put up his story, he didn't even have Tim Walz in it. He was looking at Roy Cooper, he was looking at Mark Kelly from Arizona, and then, because nobody was even thinking about Tim Walz then, and now, he's the running mate.  But from what you can see about him, and like, we just, JTA just did a big story about his master's thesis on Holocaust education, he's somebody who really wants to listen. His recommendation to the Republican Party, you know, he's coined this whole weird thing. That's actually why the Harris campaign noticed him, because he was the first to call the Republicans weird. I mean, the Republican candidates, but he said don't direct that at the voters, direct that only at the nominees, because we have to listen to the voters. And so I think that you can look at what he says about listening to the protesters on campuses in that context. For somebody who was born in Nebraska and lived most of his life in a town of 400 people in Minnesota, he shows, like, remarkably nuanced understanding of things that are of Jewish concern regarding the Holocaust. He's talked about how, you know, one can look at the Holocaust legitimately as an anomaly in history, but also understand it as something that could be repeated, which is actually Yehuda Bauer, the famous Holocaust historian's point. The way he boiled it down was that the Holocaust happened only to the Jews, but it can happen to anybody. And so that's Waltz's outlook, and it shows somebody who's really sort of read up on this and considered it in depth. Julie Fishman Rayman: Because you mentioned that Josh Shapiro had been very much in the running there, I want to get your take on the sort of social media trends of calling him “Genocide Josh” because of his pro-Israel statements and record. Is that just blatant antisemitism that we need to be mindful of, was it specific? Do you think it's just, you know, savvy opposition researchers? What do you make of that? Ron Kampeas:  You know, we often think of antisemitism as, you know, planning to be antisemitic and putting out a statement. There are people who are consciously antisemitic, but the much greater, the much more vexing problem is that, how, it just seeps into the discourse. We have a polarized society, and it's just very easy when you're opposing somebody to grab whatever is in the toolbox to harm them. And for anybody who's Jewish, I mean, you see this and we talk about it openly, you see it when we talk about women in politics, about how attacks on them can be gendered. And nobody, at least nobody on the left, complains about that. Actually, maybe they did a little bit. You know, the Bernie Bros made gendered attacks on Hillary Clinton, and they didn't denied it.  But anyways, so you can say that attacks can be gendered, but it's hard to explain how attacks can also be antisemitic, because that's a tool in the box. And then a lot of people on the left don't want to acknowledge that. They slip into that. And I think that's what happened with Josh Shapiro. I think that there is for some reason, I mean, I can speculate as to, not even speculate – people have said why, even though he was just as pro-Israel as Tim Walz. He's like he's not less pro-Israel. But Mark Kelly did things that I'm sure Josh Shapiro wouldn't have done. Josh Shapiro doesn't like Benjamin Netanyahu.  Mark Kelly, the senator from Arizona, went to the Netanyahu speech, shook his hand afterwards and applauded, and they didn't get attacked in the same way. And if you look at some of the reasons that Shapiro was attacked, they talked about his upbringing, his going to a Jewish Day School in the Philly area, and the things that he was exposed to, they talked about his going to Israel when he was a teenager. And those are things that are part and parcel of a lot of American Jewish upbringings. And so you can say those things are indicting, but there's a point, because you're an American Jew coming up in American Jewish communities, going to be exposed to a lot of pro-Israel. But at what point does that become antisemitic? Because that's just the natural part of Jewish life. Julie Fishman Rayman: I want to ask you another question related to the media. I want to sort of get your take. Last week, AJC and the Jewish Federations of North America published an open letter to media outlets generally, really identifying how so many of them got the Hezbollah attack on the soccer field in the Golan so, so, so wrong that, after a dozen Druze kids playing soccer were murdered in the middle of the afternoon, Washington Post, Houston Chronicle, others, just totally misrepresented the facts. The Washington Post headlined a story “Hezbollah denies responsibility for the fatal rocket strike.” It wasn't true. Hezbollah celebrated the attack until they learned that children were killed and then walked it back. And then doubling down, a later Washington Post story showed an image of the funeral of one of the children who was killed, but the headline read, “Israel hits target in Lebanon.”  So if you only look at the picture and you only read the headline, you think it's a Lebanese kid that has been killed by a strike in Israel, not that an Israeli Druze kid was killed by a Hezbollah attack. CNN, AP, they all sort of downplayed Hezbollah's role in these really horrific murders. Is this ignorance? Is it bias? Is it both? And regardless, if we're sort of operating under this principle of journalist integrity, is this OK? Ron Kampeas:  No, it's not OK. I don't know what went on at the Washington Post. I was witness, kind of, to one of the most foundational episodes in bad media takes, which happened right after the Second Intifada began, and the AP put out a photo of a policeman helping up a Haredi Jewish kid who had just been knocked down or even beaten by Palestinian writers in Jerusalem. And the AP captioned the photo saying that the policeman was attacking a Palestinian on the Temple Mount, which is so funny because there's a gas station in the back of the picture and there's no gas stations on the Temple Mount. I mean, if you know Jerusalem, you know the Temple Mount, you know how crazy that is. And so, like, what had happened was that I knew the guy who was handling photo editing at the AP that night when he got this picture. And at the time – this is in the early days of the Internet and computers – the picture came across at the AP's, Israeli photo agency affiliate, and Hebrew couldn't work on that machine, so, like, the Hebrew was scrambled. They captioned it in Hebrew. It was scrambled.  So the guy calls up the other guy who's also tired, and he said, was this like some cop beating up a Palestinian on the Temple Mount? He said, yeah, sure, and that's how the thing goes out. So it's just, like, journalists can screw up in ways that speak to a certain underlying bias about the conflict. They expect to see certain things, but it's also can be stupidity and laziness and just screw ups at the last minute. I mean, I imagine that's what happened with the Washington Post front page, but it's awful, and it needs to be remedied, and people need to be more educated, and they need to pay more attention. I think you're right. I think the way that the media has been treating the Hezbollah-Israel conflict in the north, in a way, differently than it treated, at least at the beginning, it treated Israel-Hamas. Hamas is clearly defined as a terrorist organization. Hezbollah is a terrorist organization. Hezbollah is an organization that's holding Lebanon hostage. Historically, people now think it was a big mistake to invade Lebanon in 1982. Hezbollah was partly an outgrowth of resentment of the Israeli occupation in southern Lebanon. But Israel withdrew to UN. They went to the UN and they said, you decide where the lines are. We're not going to decide where the lines are.  You decide where the lines are, and we will withdraw that to that point. In 2000 Israel did that. Hezbollah continued to attack. Hezbollah launched a war in 2006 that Israel did not want, and conflict with Israel helps uphold Hezbollah within Lebanon. And so I think that because Hezbollah is a very proficient and weathered militia, they fought a war in Syria. They fought a terrible, genocidal war in Syria. They were on the wrong side of that, but they fought a war in Syria. They're good at what they're doing. So maybe there's a reflex to see this as a conflict between two militaries, but it's not.  It's a conflict between Israel and a terrorist organization that unprovoked launched missiles inside Israel on October the eighth, even before Israel was striking back in Gaza as a means of solidarity with Hamas. And so I think that needs to be front, just as I think a lot of media, obviously JTA, but even a lot of like, you know, non-Jewish media always put out there that Hamas started this war. It needs to be reminded that Hezbollah also started its version of the war, and that Hezbollah, it's not an army that's accountable to any kind of civilian infrastructure, never mind a democratic one, like the Israeli army is accountable to elected officials. It's its own militia with a stranglehold on Lebanon.  So yeah, I think that should be evident in everything that's written about that conflict, and maybe that's what helped distort at least the initial reporting from what happened in Majdal Shams, which is just horrible. Julie Fishman Rayman: One of the things that AJC is always trying to call on media outlets to do is to know who to call. Right, if there is an incident related to Israel that they don't fully understand, if there's an antisemitic attack and they need more context, to understand that there are Jewish individuals and organizations who can help to provide insight and texture and understanding so that their reporting can be more accurate. That's one of the recommendations in our Call to Action Against Antisemitism in America, recommendations for media. I wonder if, you know, journalist to journalist, if folks call you and say, “Ron, this is what we're writing, is this right?” Knowing that you are just such a font of knowledge, they should, this is what I'm saying. They should call you. Ron Kampeas:  My son asks me, I mean, very occasionally, I do get calls more having to do with my alleged knowledge of the American Jewish community and how it works and how it functions. I get calls about that. I think on Israel, less so because everybody's an expert. Everybody considers themselves an expert. Everybody flies in. I think what was an unfortunate standard. 20 years ago, it wasn't just the AP, it was all mainstream media, that you get your best takes from a foreign correspondent between three and six months into the assignment, because it takes them three months to learn it, but it takes them six months to go native, which is to sort of really understand the nuances. I think that's unfortunate, because I think going native, really understanding the nuances, sort of delving into a story, becoming familiar with it, becoming sympathetic in ways, with all sides to the story, actually enriches a story. And I think that that's something that maybe you know, I've been doing JTA for 21 years. I've been in journalism for 35 years. I think it's great to have fresh outlooks. It's good. I think it's also good to sometimes rely on institutional knowledge and to listen to people who have been here before. It was weird at AP. I was in a position at AP when I wasn't allowed to use my institute for bizarre reasons. Institutional knowledge, you know. But it was funny, because at the outset of the Iraq War, the first day, the major Iraq war in 2002, 2003, I knew things that signal that it was going to go wrong, because I'd lived in the Middle East, and I wasn't the only one. By far, by far, there were a lot of people who knew those things institutionally. It means literally saying, like what the Israelis said in 1982, the Shiites are throwing rice and you had actual examples in 1982 of Shiites throwing rice at Israelis, and in 2003 of Shiites throwing rice at Americans. They want this. And it never works out that way. It goes awry.  But nobody was listening, because people were too invested in a particular outcome to listen to the institutionalists. And I think that that's a problem. There's a reflex sometimes to say, oh, the institutionalists got it wrong in the past, because the world is still a mess, but that's not their value. The value of the institutionalists, and a great institutionalist just passed away, Martin Indyk, the value of the institutionalists is that sometimes they can actually say, this is where I went wrong, and this is what we misunderstood, and this is how we misunderstood it, and this is how we were deep in the weeds and we misunderstood it. And that's the kind of knowledge that I think shouldn't go wasted. Julie Fishman Rayman: Thanks so much for that perspective. I was going to ask you as a final question, if there was anything that you wanted to raise that we haven't discussed yet. But I would also add to that question, feel free to answer that question. Or is there something that we're getting wrong now institutionally? Ron Kampeas:  Yeah, I think that, you know, there's a lot that we're getting wrong now institutionally. I think that people are, and every side of the Israel-Hamas conflict are they retreating into sort of easy, reflexive understandings of what could go right and what could go wrong. I think that there is a value in understanding how toxic Hamas ideology is, that was, I think, grasped at the beginning after October the seventh, but has slipped away as this seems to be just a conflict, and people are retreating into Israel's bashing Gaza. We have to get it to stop bashing Gaza, which is fine, it's an outlook. It's a legitimate outlook, but it's one that's not going to register at all with any Israeli, unless you take into account how Hamas is perceived among Israelis as a genocidal organization. If it wasn't before October 7, it is now.  On the other hand, I think that sort of reflexive, we can never have a two state solution. I'm not saying, advocating, for two state solution. We never have a two state solution. We're just going to go on as we've gone with the Palestinians. I think that also reflects this kind of like a reflexive blindness that you have to account for the Palestinians, somehow. Nothing is going to be imposed on them. They have to be agents and actors and whatever happens, and it might not happen in my generation, it might not happen in my lifetime, but that has to be back of mind. And I think for a lot of people, particularly in parts of the Israeli establishment, it is not back of mind.  So those are things that I think that people can maybe, you know, if, if these competing, they're not actually enemies, I'm talking about people who are on the same side. They can be on the same side in Israel, they can be on the same side in America, but they're rivals, and they don't like to listen to each other. But if they did talk to each other and listen to each other, maybe they would find nuances that could get everybody to a better place. Julie Fishman Rayman: If we could do a word cloud of some of the themes that have come out of this conversation, listening is definitely one of the words that would be prominent. And I think it's not only a good aspiration, but I also want to highlight that our listening to you on these really important issues is revelatory, truthfully, and we're grateful for all the work that you're doing with JTA every day, but also for being here on People of the Pod with us and for all the wisdom that you've shared. Thank you. Ron Kampeas:  Thank you. Manya Brachear Pashman:   If you missed last week's episode, tune in for my conversation with AJC Jerusalem Director Avital Leibovich on what the widely reported deaths of two terror leaders last week could mean for Israel and the wider region.

This episode is about humans. This episode is about identity. This episode is about health. This episode is about self-awareness and self-care. This episode is about morality and this episode is about making sacrifices to pursue authenticity and wholeness. Any commentary outside of those themes is out of ignorance.  Michael Alroy, an IDF veteran, a contestant on Israel's Big Brother, a business owner, and a kind soul, speaks to his life journey and how it relates to his Judaism. Chaz Volk, an ally of the LGBTQA community and host of Bad Jew, investigates Alroy's journey to shed light on the human need to pursue inconvenient and difficult measures to embrace identity.  00:00 Introduction 05:01 Understanding gender 06:49 Realized identity 10:57 Emphasizing with the transgender community  15:07 Revealing transgender identity 18:12 Respect, kindness, reflection 22:27 Challenges in LGBTQ community 25:06 Promoting understanding and acceptance 26:49 Transition process 30:09 Outro About Michael Alroy: “Life begins where fear ends” was Michael's motto when he made the bold decision to undergo gender reassignment surgery at the age of 21. This was an irreversible decision, which finally allowed him to be and look, the way he felt. From that point on there was no hesitation, regrets, and no holds barred as he transformed himself from Michelle Haziza, to Michael Alroy – a man of his own. Michael Alroy was born Michelle Haziza in Johannesburg South Africa in 1990. He spent the first seven years of his life in South Africa and attended a Jewish Day School in Johannesburg until Grade 1. In Israel, Michael struggled to adapt to the strictly religious environment of his school as he began to experience a conflict with his gender identity. He felt like a boy in girls' clothing and hated the rules about dress and behavior imposed on him by the school. Nevertheless, the girls admired his spirit of independence and insistence on being and acting as he felt. As you can imagine his school life was fraught with conflict and feelings of duality and awkwardness. His most joyous day was when he finally finished his schooling and was able to dress and act as he wanted, although after that came his recruitment to the army where as you can imagine he encountered more difficulties. The lecture provides an opportunity to hear first-hand Michael's touching and fascinating life story, whilst compelling the audience to identify with his plight and to look more closely at the society in which they live. Michael awakens in each and every member of the audience their potential and power to make changes in their lives. Connect with Michael Alroy: YouTube @mikialroy21   IG @michael_alroy LI Michael Alroy Connect with Bad Jew: BadJew.co https://linktr.ee/badjew BadJewPod@gmail.com Ig @BadJewPod TikTok @BadJewPod

Join host Sherry Bagley as she engages in a conversation with Rosanne Mistretta, assistant director for program development, SUNY NY Master Teacher Program, and Jeromy Slaby, science teacher and experiential programs coordinator at the Jewish Day School of Metropolitan Seattle. Together, they delve into their extensive careers in experiential education, sharing insights on their work focus, classroom practices, and guiding principles. Gain valuable advice for new teachers entering the realm of experiential education, learn about their commitment to community engagement, and discover the valuable lessons they've learned from each other along the way.

When education as we know it is placed in a box, it takes a professional, highly educated and compassionate woman to shake things up and bring out a result where she has her students thriving and parents letting out a sigh of relief. Meet Jen Stark, wife and mom of 5 beautiful sons; a woman who wears many hats and excels at them all. Previously a teacher in the public school system for 18 years, Jen is currently an administrator with a Jewish Day School in Toronto, as well as a private educational consultant and a doctoral student with University of Western Ontario. Listen to the Jen explain what she finds most fascinating about the educational field, what, in her opinion is the right way to educate and support her staff members in the right direction, as well as her thoughts on a childs' educational diagnosis and how she goes about directing the child and parents forward. Jen shares some stories of successful turn arounds when the "system", professionals and parents had pretty much given up. Jen's motto for her work is turning around "what now?" to "now what?" (I already let her know that I conveniently stole her phrase!) If you want to connect with Jen personally, you can email her at: jenniferstark1800@gmail.com. Loved what you heard? Tap 5 stars and let me know why! Share with three others who need to hear Jen's wisdom as well. I'll catch YOU in next week's episode! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/devora-goldberg/message

Following Hamas' October 7 massacre of Israelis Jews around the world have experienced a  surge of antisemitism. We checked in with some of AJC's global experts  to learn what they've been seeing and hearing on the ground and to understand what efforts are underway to protect Jews and counter this hate. In the first of two installments, we hear from AJC Europe Managing Director Simone Rodan Benzaquen, AJC Africa Director Wayne Sussman, and Dina Siegel Vann, Director of AJC's Belfer Institute on Latin American Affairs. Take action to bring all hostages home now. *The views and opinions expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views or position of AJC.  Episode Lineup:  (0:40) Simone Rodan Benzaquen, Wayne Sussman, and Dina Siegel Vann Show Notes: Listen – People of the Pod on the Israel-Hamas War: What Happens Next: AJC's Avital Leibovich on the Hostage Deal and Challenges Ahead What Would You Do If Your Son Was Kidnapped by Hamas? The Good, the Bad, and the Death Threats: What It's Like to Be a Jewish College Student Right Now Mai Gutman Was Supposed to Be at the Music Festival: IDF Lone Soldier Recounts Harrowing Week Responding to Hamas Terror: IsraAID CEO on How You Can Help Israelis Right Now Learn: Debunking the False Equivalency Between Israeli Hostages and Palestinian Prisoners How much do you know about Hamas? Try to ace our quiz and expose the truth about the terror group today. Follow People of the Pod on your favorite podcast app, and learn more at AJC.org/PeopleofthePod You can reach us at: peopleofthepod@ajc.org If you've appreciated this episode, please be sure to tell your friends, and rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. Transcript of Interview with Simone Rodan Benzaquen, Wayne Sussman, and Dina Siegel Vann: Manya Brachear Pashman: American Jewish Committee has 14 international offices around the world. For today's episode, we checked in with some of those offices to learn what they're seeing and hearing on the ground since the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel. Today, we take you to Europe, Africa and Latin America. We start in Paris, where years of work to combat rising antisemitism has seen a serious setback. For more than two decades, since the Second Intifada, antisemitism has been on the rise on the European continent. In fact, it was that ripple effect that prompted AJC to ramp up its advocacy there. AJC Managing Director of Europe Simone Rodan Benzaquen joined us from Paris. Simone Rodan Benzaquen: What we have seen, I think, in Europe is more or less what we've seen, everywhere, what can only be described as an explosion of antisemitism across the European continent, I would say, mostly in Western Europe, here in France in particular, but also in the United Kingdom, we have seen the same. In Germany, we have seen similar things going on in Sweden and Denmark. But of course, here in France, where antisemitism has existed for at least two decades, or at least this contemporary form of antisemitism, for the past two decades with high numbers of antisemitic hate crimes. The situation is very, very serious. We've had basically three times the number of antisemitic hate crimes, since October 7 of what we had during the entire year, last year.   We have desecration of cemeteries, we have antisemitic tags. We have intimidation, we have spitting on people. It is as if the sheer horror, the violence that happened on October 7, unleashed an antisemitic passion, an antisemitic violence across the world. As if the horrible images that were filmed by the Hamas terrorists on October 7 sort of was a legitimization. Manya Brachear Pashman: So what does that mean for the Jewish community and daily life? Simone Rodan Benzaquen: We've reached a point where people are hiding every single aspect of their Jewish identity. People are changing their names on their delivery apps, people are changing their names on their doorbells, if they believe that they sound Jewish. People are hiding every single aspect of their Jewish identity. On Uber apps, on taxi apps, myself, you know, I go on TV and do interviews quite a bit and so I give a different name to the taxi, and I give a different address a few blocks down the street is to be sure that you know, just in case, the taxi driver doesn't know where I actually live. So everybody takes precautions. It's gotten to a point where we just don't live the same life as everybody else. Manya Brachear Pashman: Has the work you've done over the past two decades made a difference? For example, since the Second Intifada, there have been a number of conflicts between Israel and terrorist groups in Gaza. Do you see progress? Simone Rodan Benzaquen: We in Europe have felt like we've been doing a little bit of the work of Sisyphus over the past two decades, where we have moments of hope and things are getting better. And we say to ourselves, oh, maybe this is a wakeup call. And sort of, then we go back to, you know, before. And I hope that this this time around, given the level of violence, given the level of antisemitic hate crimes, given the number of sheer antisemitic attacks.  When you actually take it down, you come to on average about 40 antisemitic acts a day. I mean, that's huge for a population that represents far less than 1% of the entire French population. I hope this will serve as a wakeup call. But there is the question of what does it mean, how do you translate it politically? How do you translate it into government action? I mean, Europe has come up with different plans, action plans against antisemitism, but it's not enough and more needs to be done. I think one of the things that we as Jewish communities were very wary about was the fact that  over the past sort of two decades, there was sort of a lack of how can I say, solidarity from other French people. Again, we've had antisemitic hate crimes for the last 20 years, people have been murdered. But every single time, when you look at the demonstrations, at the marches after something horrible happened, you would mostly have a few hundred, or maybe a few thousand Jews in the streets.  And so there was sort of a feeling that within the French Jewish community that they were a little bit abandoned by the rest of society. And so we know from our surveys, AJC does a survey every two years where we know that, for example, French people, and Germans as well, are convinced about the fact that antisemitism is not the problem of Jews alone, but that of the entire society.  So both in Germany and in France, 73% of the population say that it is not the problem of Jews alone. But despite that number, it has never sort of translated into something concrete. So we would never have marches. We would never have like sort of big shows of solidarity with the Jewish community. And I think, since, if there's one good news, and there's not a lot of good news these days, if there's one good news is that last Sunday there were massive demonstrations across France, against antisemitism with basically the entire political class were present, with 20 government ministers who were present, with a prime minister who was present, with three former prime ministers who were present, two former presidents, plus a lot of people on the streets. We had over 180,000 people in the streets of France, basically expressing solidarity with the Jewish community and saying that they want to fight against antisemitism. So I think that was a sort of a very important sign of hope for many French Jews. …. Manya Brachear Pashman: Now we go to the continent of Africa, where AJC Africa Director Wayne Sussman joins us from the South African city of Johannesburg to explain how the war that began on October 7 affects Israel's relations with African countries.  Wayne Sussman: I would say the tensest of the relationships right now is between Israel and South Africa. The Ambassador of Israel to South Africa received a démarche.  So when the first two countries to recall their ambassadors were South Africa and Chad. When it comes to Chad, that was more unexpected than South Africa. Because relations were recently increasing between Chad and Israel. Sadly–and one's got to remember that the largest Jewish community in Africa by a country mile is in South Africa. But sadly, the government of South Africa has had a very adversarial relationship with the State of Israel over the last few years. And this has manifested in the last few weeks. Manya Brachear Pashman: Because of this antagonistic relationship with Israel, has the South African Jewish community faced quite a bit of antisemitism? Wayne Sussman: Even though the current government of South Africa has had an adversarial relationship with the State of Israel, levels of antisemitism are extremely low–far lower than Europe, far lower than Latin America, far lower than the United States of America, far lower than Canada, far lower than Australia.  So we are working off a very low base here in South Africa. But over the last few weeks, antisemitic incidents have increased. For the time being, levels of violent incidents have been low. A turning point was on Sunday afternoon in Cape Town on the Sea Point Promenade, just to zone in on Sea Point, where the majority of Jews in Cape Town live. And the promenade is a beautiful public space, which all residents of the city use.  And what we saw the day before was a pro-Palestinian demonstration through the streets of the City of Cape Town. It was a largely peaceful protest. There were pockets of the protests, which had hateful slogans and made concerning threats against the main Jewish Day School in Cape Town.  And then the next day, a group of Christians at the Sea Point Promenade, which I referred to earlier, which is in the Jewish neighborhood of Sea Point, were going to have a prayer vigil for the State of Israel. They had a stage set up, microphones, etc. And a group of 200 to 300 pro-Palestinian, pro-Hamas supporters sympathizers came and disrupted it. And the police had to get involved and use water cannons. It's very rare for us to see sights like this in South Africa, particularly in Sea Point. Manya Brachear Pashman: So what I'm hearing you say is the antagonism toward Israel doesn't normally translate into antagonism that targets the Jewish community there? Wayne Sussman: One of the worrying sides we see is our threats against, first of all, multinational corporations. I think these threats will not be impactful. But what is more concerning are privately owned Jewish businesses. And we have seen specific targets in this regard. Because of  the CEOs of these businesses purporting to support and stand with Israel. But I think we need to see how successful these are going to be.  But I think the community is incredibly united right now. They are standing strong. And it's vital because this is a very important Jewish community in South Africa. A rich history, this community has made a remarkable contribution to the fight against apartheid, to building this economy, to creating jobs in the field of medicine and law, to arts and culture, and even some in sport. Manya Brachear Pashman: There was a United Nations resolution calling for a truce. I believe 35 African states voted in favor of that resolution but Cameroon and Ethiopia abstained. Can you shed a little light on where other African countries stand? Wayne Sussman: I would say the overwhelming amount of countries have adopted a neutral position that might change when we come to the United Nations and a multinational forum on the African continent like the African Union. But countries like Kenya, who under the new president have stood firmly and strongly with Israel. Countries, like Zambia have shown a lot of empathy towards Israel. That's a version relationship. And then we look at countries in the west of Africa, Togo and Cameroon. They've historically had very strong ties with Israel, those ties remain. And then you have countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, those countries have stood firmly with Israel at this time. An interesting development. And again, this is a very fluid situation. But Indian Ocean islands like Mauritius, and Seychelles, where I was, I've been surprised at their even-handedness on this particular situation.  Ethiopia is a fascinating country. It's a country which for many years had remarkable levels of economic growth, a very young population, one of the largest populations in Africa, also the center of the African Union, and also the hub of African air travel. And, of course, a country where many of Israel's citizens hail from and still maintain deep personal ties to. So I think that Ethiopia abstaining was very, very interesting in that regard. And that ties will be stronger between the two countries after this. Manya Brachear Pashman: I should note that Sudan and Morocco, two signatories of the Abraham Accords, did vote in favor of a truce. Do you see those ties weakened by all of this? Wayne Sussman: I think universally, it's going to be a challenging time for Israel. But I think once the dust settles, that you will see countries like Morocco return to embracing normalization. You'll see countries like Zambia, who are not part of the Abraham Accords, but are deepening ties, I think they will continue to do that. So I think the next few days and weeks will be very difficult. But again, back to what I was saying earlier, from a bilateral level, I think African countries are pragmatic.  Those which were considering the Abraham Accords will see the benefit with regards to Israel, agritech Israel in fintech, Israel in rural health care, Israel in rural development. I think countries have seen a great benefit in deepening those ties. So it is going to be tested, certainly in places like the United Nations, certainly in forums like the African Union.  What's very interesting, there was an interview in a Saudi Arabian newspaper recently with the president of Somalia. And he was very bullish, saying that if Israel and the Palestinians agreed to a two-state solution, that it would be right for Somalia to engage in peaceful relations with Israel.  So even though we're in a very difficult and dark time, and it's unclear what's going to happen, we're seeing signs from Somalia, which is obviously in Africa, and also signs in Saudi Arabia, that even once the dust settles over here, that diplomatic doors will still remain open. …. Manya Brachear Pashman: In July 1994, terrorists bombed the AMIA Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, killing 85 people and injuring more than 300 others. From that point on, the Argentine capital became known as the site of the worst and most fatal antisemitic attack since the Holocaust. That distinction changed on October 7 when terrorists breached the border between Israel and Gaza and murdered more than 1,200 people. As the Director of AJC's Belfer Institute for Latin American Affairs Dina Siegel Vann explains, it has not been an easy time for Jews on the South American continent or other Spanish-speaking regions.  Dina Siegel Vann: Some of the countries that have really concerned us the most, are countries like Colombia, which in the past used to be the most steadfast ally of the United States and of Israel. But since the arrival of President Petro, who is a leftist ideologue, I would say, this has changed. And since October 7, we have seen really the country go in a totally different direction, which is really endangering the relationship not only with Israel, but with the United States.  Colombia, President Petro has tweeted on October 8, he was already tweeting, where he was comparing Gaza to Auschwitz, where he was talking about international bankers, and he was talking about, the media, international media being on the side of those who commit genocide.  So, you know, that has already made for a very rarefied environment, in terms of relations, as I said, both with the United States and what Israel. He also threatened through his foreign minister, the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador who was responding to his attacks, and now he has recalled his ambassador to Israel. Manya Brachear Pashman: Chile also has been unfriendly, but that's been the case for a while. It is home to the largest Palestinian diaspora outside the Middle East, and leaders of that community have expressed support for Hamas. But AJC will hold its annual strategic forum for Latin American and Iberian leaders in Santiago this month. Can you give us the lay of the land there?  Dina Siegel Vann: So what has happened since is that President Boric, who, you know, who identifies with those positions of the Palestinian community has also had very hostile attitudes towards Israel. Number one, you know, he has not met with the Jewish community, he has not expressed his condolences, he hasn't expressed his condolences to Israel, and to the families of the victims. And he has also spoken, you know, mostly about what is going on in Gaza, and has characterized Israel's efforts to defend itself as genocidal as crimes against humanity, etc. And that also has created a very very vulnerable sense in the Jewish community in Chile that feels, you know, totally alone when it comes to this development. So I would say that Chile and Colombia have been the most egregious cases. Particularly because we're not talking about insignificant countries in the region, we're talking about Colombia, which is the third largest recipient of U.S. aid after Israel and Egypt. And we're talking about a country like Chile, who has always been or considers itself a paragon of human rights, not only in the region, but around the world. So their voices count, and that's why, you know, it concerns us a great deal. Manya Brachear Pashman: As I mentioned at the beginning of this conversation, until October 7, the worst antisemitic attack since the Holocaust had taken place in Argentina in 1994, carried out by Iran's terror proxy, Hezbollah. And just recently, Brazilian police detained a couple of Hezbollah operatives who were in the country with plans to attack Brazilian Jewish institutions, correct?  Dina Siegel Vann: It underscores the really, really dangerous role that Iran plays in the region. And we know firsthand about it, because of course, the attacks in 1992 and 1994. But we know about it also, because of the tri-border area, where we know that Hezbollah and Hamas are very active, undertaking all kinds of money laundering activities. It's very important that we keep a focus on that. I think the U.S. is very, very keen on following very closely what's going on in that area, and in other areas in other areas of the region, including Venezuela, which has been the gateway to Iran in the region. Iran is very well positioned in that country and has ties to President Maduro. Started with President Chavez and it has continued with President Maduro.  So we need to keep in focus, when we talk about, you know, potentially dangerous scenarios, not only from lead for Latin America, but for the United States for the whole hemisphere., this, you know, Iran is quite  active. And is really, you know, thinking about how to create mischief, you know, whether in Brazil or elsewhere.We don't remember that, you know, that we have really a dangerous situation very close in our own neighborhood. Manya Brachear Pashman: You have told me that 30% of the hostages hail from Latin America: Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Mexico, 15 from Argentina.  Dina Siegel Vann: Yes. Well, I have to say that Argentina, for example, President Fernandez published in the New York Times a half a page with a letter an open letter demanding that the hostages be brought home and talking about their own hostages their own citizens. So yeah, absolutely. I mean, the hostages are traveling, there's some hostages from Latin American families that are traveling all around the region, meeting with members of Congress meeting with government officials and others and the media to raise more awareness about the issue and pressure the governments, their own governments to to speak up, you know, on on on, on behalf on to bring that these hostages home.  Manya Brachear Pashman: Since recording this episode, many of those hostages with Latin American citizenship have been able to return home. Of course, there are still so many hostages– nearly 160. To push for their safe return, listeners can head to AJC.org/BringThemHome or follow the link in our show notes.  Dina, take us back to Europe–tell us about the situation in Spain.  Dina Siegel Vann: Spain has been a mixed bag, because you have President Sanchez and Foreign Minister Alvarez has come out from the very beginning with very strong signs of support towards Israel, recognizing Hamas as a terrorist organization recognizes Israel's right to defend itself. But they they were in the process of creating a government and they need some of the more radical parties, independent parties, and, you know, some other parties like Soomad, who are very anti-Israel, they needed them to form coalition's and this parties were speaking, you know, in very vile terms regarding Israel, and really indulging on some antisemitic themes, and President Sanchez, didn't come out publicly as well as, you know, Foreign Minister Robotis to denounce them. But at the same time, they made clear that everybody understood that in foreign policy, what counts is the voice of the President and the voice of the foreign minister.  They met with the Jewish community, they expressed their their their solidarity, they express their concern about antisemitism, they met with the families of the kidnapped. So they have really tried to, you know, to keep a very balanced and very difficult position, vis a vis, their current situation. They formed a government yesterday, the government was finally formed. And maybe at this point, they will be more, they'll have more leeway to come out to protest this type of discourse.  But at the same time, you know, in Spain, you have seen some vandalism, you have seen some intimidation in schools against Jews and Israelis. So as I said, it's a mixed bag. And we are still monitoring this very carefully. Spain wants to be a leader, wants to be a convener when it comes to negotiating some sort of peace deal, they did it in the Madrid Conference a while back, they see their role, once again, as you know, as as a liaison, as a bridge between both worlds and therefore, you know, they always try to keep a very careful stance when it comes to both communities.   

September is upon us: school supplies are being purchased, backpacks are being filled, books are being covered. In that same vein, it's time podcasts like ours take stock of Jewish day schools, which have historically been a pillar of Jewish communal life. We ought to regularly examine what's going right, what's going wrong and what trends have emerged in recent years. To discuss the state of Jewish education heading into 5784, Avi sits down with Paul Bernstein, the founding CEO of Prizmah, a network for Jewish day schools across North America, based in New York City. Credits Bonjour Chai is hosted by Avi Finegold and Phoebe Maltz Bovy. Zachary Kauffman is the producer and editor. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Socalled. The show is a co-production from The Jewish Learning Lab and The CJN, and is distributed by The CJN Podcast Network. Support the show by subscribing to this podcast, donating to The CJN and subscribing to the podcast's Substack.

It seems the goal-post of how we reach and teach the next generation is always moving. As parents, grandparents, educators, and a community who cares, how do we get it right? How can we move the next generation toward an indelible connection to Judaism now and for generations to come? Rabbi Ravid Tilles has been the Director of Jewish Life and Learning at Schechter Boston since 2017. Schechter Boston is a Jewish Day School in Newton for students from 15 months to 8th grade. He and his family are also members of the Temple Emanuel community. Before moving to Newton, Rabbi Tilles was the Associate Rabbi at the Merrick Jewish Centre in Merrick, Long Island and has served multiple communities in various educational/pastoral capacities. He received ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2013 where he also earned a masters degree and certificate in Pastoral Care.

Celebrate July 4th by learning about a TRUE Jewish American Patriot & Hero. Psst: General Washington wouldn't have won the war without him! Enjoy Monday Motivation w/Rabbi Garfinkel this July 4th weekend... & beyond! Special thank you to Rabbi Menachem Levine- CEO of JDBY-YTT, the largest Jewish Day School in the Midwest, for his incredible article on Haym Solomon upon which this podcast is based (sometimes even verbatim!) https://thinktorah.org/the-jew-who-saved-the-american-revolution/

As educators, we all have a lot to say. But in this special season finale of Adapting, we flipped the script and got to hear from the learners! CEO David Bryfman sits down with his two kids, Jonah and Abby, for an exclusive interview about their Jewish education.Join us as the dynamic duo reveals favorite topics they've learned at Jewish Day School like the story of Joseph and learning Hebrew, what they think their dad does for a living, the teaching qualities that earned a "favorite teacher" designation, and excitement over summer camp and Jewish surf camp. Yes, you read that right! Kick off your summer with some inspiration and get firsthand insights from these young Jewish minds. This episode was produced by Miranda Lapides.The show's executive producers are David Bryfman, Karen Cummins, and Nessa Liben. This episode was engineered and edited by Nathan J. Vaughan of NJV Media.If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a 5-star rating and review, or even better, share it with a friend. Be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and be the first to know when new episodes are released. To learn more about The Jewish Education Project visit jewishedproject.org where you can find links to our Jewish Educator Portal and learn more about our mission, history, and staff. We are a proud partner of UJA-Federation of New York.

According to the latest CASJE study, there are more than 14,000 Jewish Day School educators in the U.S. How would the future of the Jewish people change if every one of these educators made it a priority to tap students on the proverbial shoulder who they identify as becoming part of the next generation of Jewish educators?Joining David Bryfman on Adapting this week is Rabbi Marc Wolf of Prizmah, who addresses the pipeline challenge or decline in Jewish educators specifically through a lens of Jewish Day Schools in North America.  Rabbi Wolf's "tap on the shoulder" method is an innovative way to inspire learners to see themselves as Jewish leaders – it's direct, relationship-based, and has the power to transfer that spark of learning from teacher to student. Listen to this week's episode of Adapting to find out how Jewish educators can change the possible trajectory of Jewish education through one simple yet impactful action.This episode was produced by Dina Nusnbaum and Miranda Lapides.The show's executive producers are David Bryfman, Karen Cummins, and Nessa Liben. This episode was engineered and edited by Nathan J. Vaughan of NJV Media.If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a 5-star rating and review, or even better, share it with a friend. Be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and be the first to know when new episodes are released. To learn more about The Jewish Education Project visit jewishedproject.org where you can find links to our Jewish Educator Portal and learn more about our mission, history, and staff. We are a proud partner of UJA-Federation of New York.

מי אני Qui suis-je ? Quelle est ma propre identité juive ? Quel est l'objectif réel de l'éducation juive ? En fin de compte, l'objectif de l'éducation juive, qu'il s'agisse d'une école juive, d'un camp, d'une synagogue, de groupes de jeunes ou même de la maison, est d'aider nos jeunes à répondre à cette question - מי אני - qui suis-je ? Quelle est mon identité juive ? Qui est la personne juive que j'aspire à être ? C'est là qu'intervient ce podcast. Dans le cadre d'un projet financé par le Legacy Heritage Fund, les élèves de troisième année de l'école Herzliah ont été invités à réfléchir en profondeur à leur propre conception de l'identité juive. Les élèves ont interrogé des membres de la communauté juive locale sur leur propre identité et se sont finalement interrogés les uns les autres - tout cela autour de la question de la recherche et de la définition de l'identité juive. Cet épisode présente un entretien entre les élèves Liel Dawit et Tali Warshawsky, et Zakay Levy et Gabriel Fhima. Nous espérons que vous apprécierez ! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- מי אני Who am I? What is my own Jewish identity? What is Jewish education really about? Ultimately, the goal of Jewish education, whether it's Jewish Day School, Camp, Synagogue, or youth groups - or even the home - is to help our youth answer that very question - מי אני - who am I? What is my Jewish identity? Who is the Jewish person I aspire to be? That's where this podcast comes in. As part of a project funded by the Legacy Heritage Fund, Herzliah students from Secondary 3 were challenged to think deeply about their own conceptions of Jewish identity. Students interviewed local Jewish community members about their own identity and ultimately interviewed each other - all surrounding the question of finding and defining Jewish identity. This episode features an interview between students Liel Dawit and Tali Warshawsky, and Zakay Levy and Gabriel Fhima. We hope you enjoy!

It may be a tired joke that Jews make great lawyers, but there is some truth to it. And that truth begins at events like the annual Jewish Day School Debate Tournament, which drew dozens of middle school debaters on March 21, 2023. Grades 6-8 students from Heschel, Netivot, Bialik South, Bialik North and Associated competed in a long-overdue war of words—the ninth time the competition was held, but the first since their pandemic-induced hiatus. The lead organizer, Netivot teacher Eli Savage, feels that the focus on in-person communication is critical for young minds in a post-pandemic world, where basic skills like eye contact, active listening and logic can easily get lost in Zoom calls and text messages. The CJN Daily‘s producer, Zac Kauffman, visited the tournament held at the Heschel campus to hear the students' side of the story. Now with the school year coming to an end, we bring you his special mini-documentary report about how old school debating may be the remedy to three years of lockdowns, remote learning and social distancing. Related reading How Jewish day schools are handling the Pride issue, by Phoebe Maltz Bovy in The CJN When Jewish day schools shut down in March 2020, in The CJN Did Jewish day school help or hurt Ilana Zackon, in The CJN Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. Support the show by subscribing to this podcast or donating to The CJN.

מי אני Qui suis-je ? Quelle est ma propre identité juive ? Quel est l'objectif réel de l'éducation juive ? En fin de compte, l'objectif de l'éducation juive, qu'il s'agisse d'une école juive, d'un camp, d'une synagogue, de groupes de jeunes ou même de la maison, est d'aider nos jeunes à répondre à cette question - מי אני - qui suis-je ? Quelle est mon identité juive ? Qui est la personne juive que j'aspire à être ? C'est là qu'intervient ce podcast. Dans le cadre d'un projet financé par le Legacy Heritage Fund, les élèves de troisième année de l'école Herzliah ont été invités à réfléchir en profondeur à leur propre conception de l'identité juive. Les élèves ont interrogé des membres de la communauté juive locale sur leur propre identité et se sont finalement interrogés les uns les autres - tout cela autour de la question de la recherche et de la définition de l'identité juive. Ce deuxième épisode présente une interview de Lesley Sherman (Herzliah '97), with students Alexa Hamou and Liora Mamane. Nous espérons que vous apprécierez ! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- מי אני Who am I? What is my own Jewish identity? What is Jewish education really about? Ultimately, the goal of Jewish education, whether it's Jewish Day School, Camp, Synagogue, or youth groups - or even the home - is to help our youth answer that very question - מי אני - who am I? What is my Jewish identity? Who is the Jewish person I aspire to be? That's where this podcast comes in. As part of a project funded by the Legacy Heritage Fund, Herzliah students from Secondary 3 were challenged to think deeply about their own conceptions of Jewish identity. Students interviewed local Jewish community members about their own identity and ultimately interviewed each other - all surrounding the question of finding and defining Jewish identity. This second episode features an interview with Lesley Sherman (Herzliah '97) with students Alexa Hamou and Liora Mamane. We hope you enjoy!

Driven by their message of "radical love," hear how Doni Zasloff and Eric Lindberg, the husband and wife duo behind the renowned bluegrass band Nefesh Mountain, combat antisemitism within the music industry and beyond. Join us as we delve into their remarkable journey of representing Jewish-American culture, tradition, values, and spirituality through bluegrass and Americana music. The band also treats us to intimate performances from their latest album, "Songs for the Sparrows." *The views and opinions expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views or position of AJC.  ___ Episode Lineup:  (0:40) Doni Zasloff and Eric Lindberg ___ Show Notes: Learn more about:  Nefesh Mountain Take our quiz: Jewish American Heritage Month Quiz Test your knowledge of the rich culture and heritage of the Jewish people and their many contributions to our nation! Start now. Read: What is Jewish American Heritage Month? Jewish American Heritage Month Resources Faces of American Jewry Amazing Jewish Americans Listen: 8 of the Best Jewish Podcasts Right Now Sen. Jon Ossoff on Jewish Resilience Follow People of the Pod on your favorite podcast app, and learn more at AJC.org/PeopleofthePod You can reach us at: peopleofthepod@ajc.org If you've enjoyed this episode, please be sure to tell your friends, tag us on social media with #PeopleofthePod, and hop onto Apple Podcasts to rate us and write a review, to help more listeners find us. __ Transcript of Interview with Doni Zasloff and Eric Lindberg: Manya Brachear Pashman:     Nefesh Mountain arrived on the bluegrass and American music scene in 2014. The husband and wife duo of Eric Lindbergh and Doni Zasloff have since performed in hundreds of synagogues in the United States and around the world, representing Jewish American culture, tradition, values and spirituality in the world of bluegrass. Bluegrass Today magazine has described the duo as what happens when bluegrass and Jewish traditions meet and fall madly in love. In honor of Jewish American Heritage Month, Doni and Eric are with us now. Or I should say–we are with Doni and Eric now in their home in northern New Jersey, Doni, Eric, thank you for welcoming “People of the Pod.” Doni Zasloff:    Thank you for coming. We're so excited to have you. Eric Lindberg:     What a treat.  Manya Brachear Pashman:    So please share with our listeners how the two of you got together. Did you have individual musical pursuits? Or did you not really find your groove until you were together as a duo. Eric Lindberg:     We're both pointing at each other. You tell it. Doni Zasloff:    You tell it. Eric Lindberg:   Well, we both had individual pursuits. We met playing music in the New York kind of North Jersey area. Years ago, we met back in 2010. And we were playing music in various fashions. And the quick story is that our band is a love story. And we fell in love a few years later, and it became apparent to each of us that we were head over heels crazy about each other. And that we also had all of this stuff that needed to come out that we kind of needed the other person to help kind of embolden our feelings of Americana music and of Jewish life and of culture and all this stuff.  So I grew up in Brooklyn. And so much of my life as a kid was part of the synagogue, my after school program, and my camp, and of course, synagogue and I had a Bar Mitzvah and I grew up with this big Jewish life in Brooklyn. But at a certain point, I became kind of just a musician, I didn't know where to put this Jewish side of myself. I went to study jazz in college and all this stuff.  So when I met Doni, she kind of brought me back to this feeling of, well, you can be proud of this and you can be excited about it. And you can live a fully Jewish life, you don't have to do it, any which way. You don't have to be a quote unquote, good or bad Jew, which, we hate those terms, but people tend to use them. Even Jewish people, of course, to show how religious or observant they're being at a certain time. So she had this completely unbridled kind of cowgirl way of looking at being wild and Jewish and proud and being yourself. And ultimately, I think that is pretty much the core of our message as a band. But I guess we'll get to that a little bit later. But she brought me back to this place of really just being proud of who I was. And that was the little germ that started this band. And then I brought kind of this musical sensibility in Americana music, with the banjo, and fiddle, and all this stuff.  Manya Brachear Pashman:   And Doni, how about you? What was your journey? Doni Zasloff:    I've always loved all different kinds of music. And I've always been very, as Eric was describing, just having a very strong Jewish spirit. And I think what Eric you know, it's exactly right. When Eric and I fell in love and started to really kind of get real with ourselves and we wanted to kind of express ourselves in the most authentic way. And I think my Jewish spirit and his massive knowledge of all kinds of music, and he just kept throwing CDs into my car–listen to this, listen to this, listen to this. And he just kind of opened my mind and my heart to so many styles of music that I--some of which I loved already, some of which I learned. It was just something about the stars aligning for Eric and I that the music that we started to write from our truest selves in that moment, came out in this Nefesh Mountain kind of a way. And it turns out, it's exactly our truth. And it's exactly the thing that we were looking for, this idea of our relationship, our connection. It is our truth and it's become our whole adventure. Manya Brachear Pashman:   And are you talking about the genre of music when you say that the Nefesh Mountain sound, or something else you're referring to? Doni Zasloff:    It's not, it's like our language. It's the type of music that we play. It's the stories that we tell, it's the perspective that we have. A lot of people say, you know, where is Nefesh Mountain? Is that a place? And we always say it's a place. We made it up. But it's a place that we kind of, it's like a little dream world, that bubble that Eric and I have sort of dreamt up. Where, you know, it is a little like, the free to be you and me vibes of like, just be yourself. And it's infused with this huge range of musical styles. And Eric brings that to the table.  Manya Brachear Pashman:     Would you describe your genre or style as bluegrass? Or would you describe it as something else? I call it bluegrass. But what do you call it? Eric Lindberg:   That's a great question. Because we're right now kind of, you're catching us in the throes of exploring that. And we have been this whole time. I'm a huge fan of bluegrass music. But when I say that, like that means something to me. And it doesn't necessarily mean the same thing to everybody. Of course, it's a word out there that means different things, like being Jewish means something different to everybody. You know, is it a religion? Is it a culture? And bluegrass has the same kind of thing where there's a purest form of bluegrass, which when you're talking about Bill Monroe, Flatt and Scruggs, Stanley Brothers, etc, you know. And then you also have the Bluegrass that I grew up with, which was more of a quote, newgrass thing, and also really just ended up being kind of very fancy folk music with the likes of you know, people like Béla Fleck and Nickel Creek, and Punch Brothers and Sarah Jarosz. All these singer songwriters that are starting to write music with bluegrass instruments, and also improvising on a very high level. So bluegrass has become something that is actually more Americana. So these days, we're kind of using Americana. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Talk a little bit about the original purpose of your music, or message that you wanted to convey with your music together. Or the one that's evolved over time, perhaps? Eric Lindberg:   Well, the original purpose. I'll say, it was all an accident. You know, we fell in love. That's always an accident. A beautifully happy, you know, accident that is ever evolving and beautiful. We, um...sorry. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Stop making lovey dovey eyes at each other. Actually, you can continue, I just wanted our listeners to know. Eric Lindberg: No, no. It's a big story. We fell in love. Your question was…say it again.  Manya Brachear Pashman:  You talked about wanting to be authentic, wanting to express yourselves originally. But has that purpose or intended message of your music evolved over time? Eric Lindberg: Yes, it has evolved and the purpose in the beginning, I noticed something when we first started making this music. As a fan of course, Americana, bluegrass, all this stuff. I noticed that so many artists could go out and sing songs about, about Jesus, about Christianity, about their spirituality. And it's not necessarily called religious or overtly Christian, or anything. It's just Americana. Because they are kind of synonymous.  And the fact that gospel music is kind of at the core and like in the bedrock of what has laid the foundation for Americana music, it goes without saying. So any secular artists can go out there and kind of be themselves in all of that. If they want to sing a gospel tune, well, let's do Will the Circle Be Unbroken, everyone will love it, you know, even though it's a gospel song. Or even songs that we've kind of turned on their ear a little bit like Wayfaring Stranger or Down to the River to Pray, I Fly Away, gospel songs that we love.  So this was our answer to that– we're gonna bring a sense of Jewish spirituality to the Americana table. And our first records, or really our first record. And then a little bit into the second dealt with some of our liturgy with some of the prayers that we had grown up singing, which, for us, meant a lot. Songs, like Henei Mah Tov, which is a whole song about how great it is to have friends and be together and, you know, celebrate each other's uniqueness and beauty. To songs like, Oseh Shalom, prayer for peace, or something like that.  Through the years, we found a new purpose. And we've also, you know, been a band through a very trying time in this country. You know, no matter what side of the political fence you're on, it's been, we're all living in a world where we pretty much don't agree. And it's kind of de facto, now, that we don't agree, and we're gonna fight. And unless you see exactly eye to eye with me, I'm your enemy. And we have now kind of taken a stance, we're not politicians by any stretch. But Doni has kind of created this term that I love, and it's called radical love, which is to, regardless of our backgrounds, regardless of, our opinion on this, that, or the other, we are going to look at people in the eye and embrace them, and to put love out, because that's what the world is clearly lacking.  And it's definitely a kind of hippie sentiment, peace and love, man. But we're fighting all the same things now that everyone was in the 60s, that everyone was in the 70s and 80s. And before that, and probably beyond. And we're challenged with the same issues. We're challenged with racism, antisemitism, a lack of empathy and diversity in neighborhoods and school systems and in cities and the world is still, we want to be happy. So we pretend that it's better than it is sometimes, but it's not great for so many people. And it is a Jewish ideal that I grew up with, this idea of Tikkun Olam, to make the world a little bit better. That's what we want to do through our music.   Manya Brachear Pashman: Do you feel like you have had opportunities to share and communicate that radical love? Are you getting through to people?  Doni Zasloff:   I think every time we get on a stage that is, in front of anyone really, whether it's a Jewish crowd in front of us, or whether it's a you know, a secular, diverse crowd of people, we don't know what their backgrounds are, we really are kind of stepping into a space where we are putting out this radical love. And I think that we have been blessed with an amazing response to it. People are skeptical about a lot of things. There are Jewish communities that were very skeptical about the banjo and very skeptical about the bluegrass thing. The amount of people that come up to us at a synagogue and say, I thought I hated bluegrass. I had no interest in bluegrass, I love it. Or I thought I was gonna hate you guys. Like I didn't understand what you guys were all about. But it turns out I really love it. So we're getting a lot of love wherever we go, which is kind of why no matter what's going on, we just keep doing it because, you know, we've also had responses from people of all backgrounds just hugging us, thanking us for sharing this, you know, culture with them. People have come up to me crying like thank you I, I've never met anybody Jewish, I just didn't know, I didn't know.  I think that music is so powerful, that it can break down so many walls and just shift people's ideas. And so I do think that the response to our radical love has been great. It's not easy, it's a little scary sometimes. It's not always been embraced. There are a lot of bluegrass festivals that wouldn't put us on their stages, because they don't want a Jewish band up there. They don't know what their crowd's gonna think or how that would affect their bottom line, or I don't know. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Do they come right out and say that?  Doni Zasloff:   Pretty much, yeah, we've definitely gotten that feedback. It's hard to hear, as you can imagine, it's painful. But it's the truth, that there is antisemitism everywhere. Eric Lindberg:   Yeah, it used to be–we've been a band since about late 2014. And now, we're knee deep in 2023. And in the beginning stages maybe I was more naive. And I used to kind of think, because, again, the bluegrass world I had in my head was that of progressive music. But I will say that there is a flaw in the bluegrass world and some of the people who want to keep bluegrass being a certain way. And that explains part of our, you know, we will always play bluegrass. So it's not that we won't depart from the genre, but are exploring other areas as well, because we've had clear cut answers of: No, you will never be on this radio station. No, you will not be at this bluegrass festival. We don't have room for people that preach Jewish things. Which is not what we do at all. We have a big show,  I think we're a good band. We've done a lot. I'm proud of what we've done. You know, if the answer was no, because we don't believe you're good enough, then that'd be one thing. But the answer is clearly a Jewish issue. It's a tough thing to live with. So a little bit of me is, it's one of those things you hope as a little kid growing up, who loves music, who is crying and dancing and laughing and learning it and loving it. And it's the most exciting thing in your life, you hope that when you grow up, that it's not going to turn around and kind of kick you in the ass. And you're not going to see some of the dark underbelly of the world that you love. And unfortunately, some of that has happened. At the same time, I've gotten to play with my heroes, our heroes, Sam Bush and Jerry Douglas and Bryan Sutton. The people, the people that I've loved as musicians have all been the most beautiful, like creatures on planet Earth. They are very much beloved to us and our family.  Manya Brachear Pashman:   I'm not totally surprised. We love bluegrass as a family. But my kids do call it Jesus music occasionally. And we make sojourns to bluegrass jam sessions. There's one in Little Silver, New Jersey once a month that we've made the sojourn to at the little Methodist church there in town and I sing along with I Saw the Light. My eight year old wants to play the banjo, that's the musical instrument he has settled on to learn. That's why you guys stand out so much is that you have given to us, a sense of belonging. That like we belong in this world too, we belong in those seats as well. And so I'm not surprised that you have experienced that, but my heart is breaking a little as you talk. Eric Lindberg:   And I want to add that there's nothing wrong at all with bluegrass music, with celebrating Christianity and that spirituality, at all. And I just want to be really clear, because that's the music that I love. And I'll sing along with those songs, too. I love those songs. And it's not, as Doni was saying before, it's not like we haven't, we're playing a lot where there are folks that are saying yes, that are embracing us. But there is something about, you know, when you're Jewish, and when you get that kind of feedback, because it speaks more to antisemitism than I think the musical world or the culture that we live around us in, in this country. I hope that I am being clear in that, the music is beautiful, and the heritage is beautiful. And we're not saying we should be like, we love bluegrass culture, bluegrass music, Americana culture, all that stuff. We love our Jewish culture. And we only want to do right by both sides of that equation, you know, make sure that they're balanced and treated with love. Doni Zasloff:  But just like the world, there is, a little bit of a, not a little bit. I mean, the antisemitism that we're seeing, right now, in this country, it's everywhere, including what Eric was talking about. It doesn't just go away. We were at a big conference, and somebody came up to me, and I tell this story a lot, this guy came over to me in a big cowboy hat. And he just looked at me and he said, Why do you have to be here? Why do you have to play this music?  Eric Lindberg:   He actually said, you actually don't belong.  Doni Zasloff: Y'all don't belong here. This Jewish thing, just basically, get out. And I remember just like, taking a deep breath, walking outside, I think I cried a little bit. I think I called my dad. You know, I was just like, What am I doing here? Like, this is nuts. You know, but then I walked back in and I'm getting, hugs and like, a lot of love. So, you know, this is part of being outwardly Jewish, I think right now. Like, it's just kind of what happens. Eric Lindberg:   And that's the phrase that we haven't, we haven't said yet, because it seems like kind of a strange thing, to be outwardly Jewish. What does that mean? And I didn't grow up in a world where, where people did this, you know, and it kind of boils down to, there's a decision that we have to make that I had to make, and Doni, as musicians that are we going to be a band that is just about the music. And largely we are, actually we want to make good music first and foremost. And we also want to be a band that is, we live in this world, and we are seeing a rise in antisemitism, and we are scared about it. It troubles us and it makes my blood pressure rise and it's terrifying. And if we don't say anything about it, if we're not outwardly Jewish, if we're not openly wearing the star on our chest, you know, so to speak, or on our shoulders. I don't think we're doing ourselves a service. I think we're hiding behind something. For better or worse we're openly going out there and talking about this stuff all the time, because, you know, it won't get better if we don't. Manya Brachear Pashman:  You have recorded three albums, you're getting ready to release a fourth. Is that correct? Eric Lindberg:   Yeah, we actually have four albums out. One is a live one that we kind of snuck out at the end of 2021. Okay. But yeah, there's four that you can stream or buy or any of that stuff, and we have some new music coming out that we're really excited about. Manya Brachear Pashman: If you could talk a little bit about the inspiration behind those albums, because I know that they tell stories. And I'm curious if you could, you could share with our listeners.  Eric Lindberg:   “Songs for the Sparrows” is the most personal and adventurous recording that we've done, it was a huge undertaking. But maybe Doni, you want to tell them a little bit about the inspiration behind that record. Doni Zasloff: That record was inspired by a trip that Eric and I took with our older kids and my mother. My mom did all of this research about our family history, in Eastern Europe, and found all of this information and was able to locate the town that our families we're from. And so we did this big roots trip. It turns out I'm from Ukraine, I thought I was from Poland, but now it's Ukraine. And so we went on this trip, and we saw the town that my family was from and then we saw the forest outside of this town where some of my ancestors, we believe, were shot.  We saw so many things, this trip really kind of just rocked us. I mean, it's everything that we've learned about. But to go there and to see it, it's not in a book, it's not in black and white. It's there and to see that the history was kind of almost trying to be erased, in modern times. It was hiding, we had to dig it up to even know that it had happened. Eric Lindberg:   Literally hiding like we'd get there, we were in Lviv, this is of course before current day, this is back in 2018. And we were in this kind of great shopping area and parking lot and our tour guide had to say, you know, this was a cemetery. This was one of our flea markets. It was like a flea market and it was like what's going on? And there's vibrant life happening but at the same time, no one was… Doni Zasloff: Everything was destroyed, everything, you know, everything hundreds and hundreds of synagogues. I mean almost all of our ancestors, you know, this is where it all was at. But anyway, so we were on this trip. And while we were there I posted a picture on Facebook saying you know I'm on this roots trip. And then one of Eric's cousins like a distant cousin Reuvain, who had also done a lot of research on his family history, started sending email after email to Eric saying, Eric Eric, you are from six hours south of Lviv, you are from the Carpathian Mountains, that's where our family is from, you should go. So we turn the bus around, we ended up going six hours south to the Carpathian Mountains, so that we could see where Eric's family was from the next day. Eric Lindberg:   And just like you thought your family was from Poland, I thought my family's from Austria-Hungary. But in '91, the borders all shifted. And so my grandma grew up, you know, grandma, where we from, she spoke a little Hungarian and, and Yiddish too. It was always Austria-Hungary. That's where we were from. And now of course, it's present day Ukraine. Doni Zasloff:   Right, so we take this six hour drive south, and through the help of Reuvain, were able to find the cemetery where Eric's great grandfather was buried. Hours of looking, and we finally get there, and it had been destroyed. But somebody actually was trying to restore it. But it was little bits and pieces of stones everywhere. But at least it was kind of marked as something. So we went in there and looked for hours, we spent hours trying to find a little evidence of something with his great-grandfather's name on it. We never found anything.  But there was a moment when we were walking around the cemetery that we looked up and saw all of these little birds flying above us, these tiny little sparrows. And there was just something that kind of was very breathtaking about the whole experience and kind of weird. We went through this whole trip, kind of taking it all in. It was a very emotional as you can imagine, like, just very intense trip. We got home and we're trying to like process it six weeks after we returned home was the tree of life shooting in Pittsburgh. So it was like, you know, part of our brains would like you know, that was the past that when it happened over there, this was a terrible thing. It happened over there. Then suddenly we come home and it's happening here. And there's this hate and there's this violence and so it was just like all swirling in our heads and we just kept thinking we have to do something we have to like we just felt compelled to make Now we'll basically or to do something, we didn't know what it was gonna be, we just had to write. But then we kept coming back to that moment with the bird with the sparrows, when we were walking around the cemetery. And Eric and I had this thought, well, maybe those sparrows were our ancestors. And maybe the and then the sparrow, maybe the sparrow. And we learned that sparrows live all over the world. They're small and mighty, and they live and their sparrows everywhere, there's sparrows outside of this house, there are sparrows in Ukraine, there's sparrows everywhere. So the sparrow has become, you know, became a symbol or a totem for anyone who has been discriminated against and hated for just being themselves. You know, whether it's our ancestors, or anyone, right now who's just not being accepted for the person that they were born to be.  Manya Brachear Pashman:   Unbelievable. I want to ask you about your upbringing. And I know Eric grew up in Brooklyn, but where did you grow up? Did you have a bat mitzvah? What's your spiritual journey? Doni Zasloff:  I was born in New York. And then I lived a little bit in Boston and then I grew up in DC in the DC area and then Philadelphia and then I moved to New York so it's been you know, East Coasty.  So I grew up going to Jewish camps and Jewish schools and I had this very intense connection to my Jewish spirituality. Like, I hated it, I loved it, I challenged it. It was like, I needed it. I didn't want it, you know, it was but I was in it. You know, I had this relationship with my Jewish identity. Even as a little kid, like a little girl, I remember, I wrapped to fill in when I you know, in a Jewish Day School setting, and like the rabbis were like, you know, angry at me, you know, things like that. Like, I was just like, really rebellious in my relationship with my Jewish self and going to Jewish schools and things like that. So I don't know, I felt like a Jewish cowgirl really my whole life.  Manya Brachear Pashman:   You have a film crew that has been shadowing you for quite a while now. Six months. And tell us a little bit about “We Sing Nonetheless.” Which is the title of an upcoming documentary. Eric Lindberg:   Yeah, it's really exciting. We met this awesome gentleman, Adam, up in Boston, we were playing a show, I believe that was at his synagogue. But we were, you know, it was just after the show, and I'm like, kind of sweaty, over by the merch or something, and I just start talking to this guy. And he's like, I'm a documentary filmmaker. Little did I know, he's an Emmy award winning documentary filmmaker, and his last project,  Dawnland with the--Upstander Project is the name of the organization. And we became really kind of fast friends, so much in common. And we just kind of started texting a little and throwing around some, could this work.I'm kinda like, there's gonna be a documentary about us? I mean, what we do is really important, but I kind of forget that we're the ones that do it sometimes. And I'm like, You're gonna follow us around and, and do this thing. And he was serious about it. And it's turned into, it's happening. It's a project. It's gonna be a movie.  And the working title is We Sing Nonetheless, which is borrowed from one of our lyrics. It's from this song called Tree of Life. It's a bigger story, because we wrote it the day of the Pittsburgh shooting. But the refrain in that song is this lyric, but we sing nonetheless. Despite this pain that we've gone through with everything we've talked about with the sparrows and all this stuff, we sing nonetheless. And it's a lyric that we of course, we love, we wrote it. But when Adam came to us and said, that could be a theme. I was kind of blown away, because that's kind of one of the core messages of the band, which is that, despite history, and what history tells us and what we've learned, we are here, so we have to sing, we have to make that choice to sing. Doni Zasloff: And it's so Jewish. I mean, it's just such a Jewish like, that's what we do. So it just feels –actually he came up with the title. And I just burst out crying. I was just like, oh, yeah, that's kind of, that's just how my life has been. It's just always that, you know. Manya Brachear Pashman: I want to talk about one of my favorite songs of yours, and one of the most calming: tell us about the inspiration behind Evermore (Hashkiveinu), which is another song off your album Song For the Sparrows. Doni Zasloff: Oh, yeah. I love the gosh, every song's like another one of our babies but the song that we wrote called, Hashkiveinu, the Hashkiveinu prayer that was inspired. Eric started writing that, I think because I was having a hard time sleeping. And I think you wrote that one to try to help me get through the night.  Eric Lindberg: Yeah. Doni Zasloff:  When I was like, I just have a hard, sometimes I just can't, not sometimes, most times. Eric Lindberg:   Still some days you're just like, I didn't sleep. That's actually a great one to bring up because it's based on this ancient prayer, Hashkiveinu. It's based on this ancient idea. And then when really reading the text and we looked through a lot of different translations and it's just beautiful that we would you know, that moment at night before sleep, first of all, we all have it's universal. And the idea that these angels come and like take us to this land and like golden shores and all this kind of like cool imagery.  Doni Zasloff:   [singing, acapella] Shelter, oh shelter as night... Doni Zasloff and Eric Lindberg:   [singing, acapella] Shelter, oh shelter as night settles in  Lay us down beside tranquil shores  So we can dream of the wings  That'll bring us home again  For now, and evеrmore Eric Lindberg:   Something like that.  Manya Brachear Pashman:   Beautiful.  Eric Lindberg:   Yeah, I mean, but that's our task. You know, sometimes if we are looking at a song from a prayer, I'm glad you brought it up because, while we're not like, the word religious can mean something different to everybody, but these prayers are based in also our culture and our heritage. And it's all one if you're living a Jewish life, and I think that this is one of these beautiful, poetic, whimsical, magical prayers, that is, that is a part of our culture that we're super proud of. And we kind of wrote this folk song around it, about being able to get yourself to sleep, despite the day you've had. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Beautiful. Would you mind closing us out with another song? Doni Zasloff:   [guitar playing] This song's called Where Oh Where, it was intended to be a song of hope, inspired by nature. And it's a response to all of the not so great things that we're seeing around us, to try to comfort ourselves really. But it's called Where Oh Where. Doni Zasloff and Eric Lindberg: [singing, with guitar]  Where oh where are the sweetest songs Of Miriam and her daughters? They were sung beside the seas and tides So still must be out on the waters Still on the waters   Where oh where is the wisdom Sung by the many before us? She was there inside the tree of life So still must reside in the forest Still in the forest   Yai da dai da dai dum dai dai Dum dai ya da dum dai Ya da dai da dai dum dai dai Dum dai ya da dum dai   Where oh where is the innocence From our first days in Eden? They used to rest their heads on the flowerbeds So still must be there in the gardens Still in the gardens   Yai da dai da dai dum dai dai Dum dai ya da dum dai Ya da dai da dai dum dai dai Dum dai ya da dum dai   Where oh where's the forgiveness From the age of the flood so long ago? Under all the rain the earth remained So it's still in the fields and the meadows In the fields and the meadows   Yai da dai da dai dum dai dai Dum dai ya da dum dai Ya da dai da dai dum dai dai Dum dai ya da dum dai   Where oh where's our compassion Is it somewhere we can discover? It's never too far, it's right where you are It's always been in the arms of each other Manya Brachear Pashman:   Thank you so much.  Eric Lindberg:  Sure thing.  Manya Brachear Pashman:   It's been a jam-packed Jewish American Heritage Month here on People of the Pod: we kicked off with AJC CEO Ted Deutch, popped into the kitchen with Busy in Brooklyn food blogger and cookbook author Chanie Apfelbaum, and last week, we heard from from Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff. Thank you for joining us to close out the month with Nefesh Mountain. Tune in later this week for our sit-down with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

מי אני Qui suis-je ? Quelle est ma propre identité juive ? Quel est l'objectif réel de l'éducation juive ? En fin de compte, l'objectif de l'éducation juive, qu'il s'agisse d'une école juive, d'un camp, d'une synagogue, de groupes de jeunes ou même de la maison, est d'aider nos jeunes à répondre à cette question - מי אני - qui suis-je ? Quelle est mon identité juive ? Qui est la personne juive que j'aspire à être ? C'est là qu'intervient ce podcast. Dans le cadre d'un projet financé par le Legacy Heritage Fund, les élèves de troisième année de l'école Herzliah ont été invités à réfléchir en profondeur à leur propre conception de l'identité juive. Les élèves ont interrogé des membres de la communauté juive locale sur leur propre identité et se sont finalement interrogés les uns les autres - tout cela autour de la question de la recherche et de la définition de l'identité juive. Ce premier épisode présente Gary Polachek, un des principaux soutiens du Les Ecoles Azrieli Herzliah. Nous espérons que vous apprécierez ! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- מי אני Who am I? What is my own Jewish identity? What is Jewish education really about? Ultimately, the goal of Jewish education, whether it's Jewish Day School, Camp, Synagogue, or youth groups - or even the home - is to help our youth answer that very question - מי אני - who am I? What is my Jewish identity? Who is the Jewish person I aspire to be? That's where this podcast comes in. As part of a project funded by the Legacy Heritage Fund, Herzliah students from Secondary 3 were challenged to think deeply about their own conceptions of Jewish identity. Students interviewed local Jewish community members about their own identity and ultimately interviewed each other - all surrounding the question of finding and defining Jewish identity. This first episode features Gary Polachek, a major supporter of Les Ecoles Azrieli Herzliah High School. We hope you enjoy!

Where does Jewish history live in your curriculum, culture, and approach to education at your school? Jewish history is central to Jewish education, and can be a locus of meaning, authority, and knowledge for all Jewish day school students. Listen to this interesting discussion with Rachel Bergstein, Director of the Center for Excellence and Engagement in Jewish History and Jewish History Department Faculty Member at Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School and Rabbi Mitchel Malkus, Head of School at Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville, MD. 

Andy Pass is the Founder of A Pass Educational Group, an Elearning and Instructional Design services company. He joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about how learning content development and instructional design are being transformed by generative AI tools like Chat GPT. We begin by hearing Andy's origin story which begins in a Jewish Day School where he discovered his love of teaching. Soon after, he discovered instructional design and sales while working for Pearson which led him to found A Pass in 2009. Then Andy provides his perspectives on how disruptive generative AI tools are changing how we think about doing content development through a new and improved symbiosis between human skills and the growing capabilities of learning machines. We conclude with thoughts on the future of work and the uniquely human qualities of critical thinking, creativity, communication and collaboration that will be critical as we navigate new waves of disruption. It's a free-ranging conversation about how learning development is being directly impacted by new generative AI tools. Don't miss it! Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes on the future of education.

On this fun episode with my good friend Isaac Zones, who started playing guitar at 19 at Camp Tawonga, we explore the Moishe House, Jewish Day School, Independent B'nai Mitzvot, his Jewish path, an upcoming film and the diverse San Francisco Bay Area Jewish landscape.https://www.isaaczones.com/https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1556248266/i-hear-you-the-israeli-folk-music-film?ref=bqbbex&token=6793334cBecome a Patron of The Holy Sparks Podcast!go here to supporthttps://www.patreon.com/user/membership?u=85745591www.saulkaye.com

Jewish Day Schools are having a celebrated moment, but will they be viable in 20 years? Are the trends and challenges that may impact day schools in the future...leadership turnover, a quality educator pipeline, and affordability, being sufficiently acknowledged and addressed?  In this week's episode of Adapting, David Bryfman explores these topics and more with Dr. Chaim Botwinick, an executive coach, consultant, and day school executive director who is bravely challenging the status quo. His frank assessment of the strengths and deficiencies in the Jewish Day School landscape is both illuminating and disquieting, but ultimately leaves listeners with a newfound sense of optimism on how we can sustain a thriving Jewish Day School system.Read Chaim's article in the Times of Israel here.This episode was produced by Dina Nusnbaum and Miranda Lapides.The show's executive producers are David Bryfman, Karen Cummins, and Nessa Liben. This episode was engineered and edited by Nathan J. Vaughan of NJV Media.If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts or even better, share it with a friend. Be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and be the first to know when new episodes are released.To learn more about The Jewish Education Project visit jewishedproject.org where you can find links to our Jewish Educator Portal and learn more about our mission, history, and staff. We are a proud partner of UJA-Federation of New York.

Alison and Amanda talk about SEC football etiquette, their basketball debuts at Jewish Day School, and the tricks and treats of choosing a Halloween costume. Sis & Tell, an award-winning weekly comedy podcast, is hosted by southern Jewish sisters Alison Goldstein Lebovitz from PBS' The A List and comedian Amanda Goldstein Marks.

Aviva Summers, a former student of Melissa's, is now teaching as well at a Jewish Day School. She chats about teaching Hebrew and Judaic Studies at the same school in which her mom taught for many years. Working with young students K-2, Aviva shares what her focus is in Jewish education. 

Is the current state of Jewish education half full or half empty? You could say that the answer is somewhere in between, that both are true, at least to some extent. Or you could say that it really does depend on who you ask. This episode was produced by Dina Nusnbaum and Gabriel Weinstein.  The show's executive producers are David Bryfman, Karen Cummins, and Nessa Liben. This episode was engineered and edited by Nathan J. Vaughan of NJV Media.  If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts or even better, share it with a friend. Be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and be the first to know when new episodes are released.To learn more about The Jewish Education Project visit jewishedproject.org where you can find links to our Jewish Educator Portal and learn more about our mission, history, and staff. We are a proud partner of UJA-Federation of New York.

What motivates and inspires Francie Goldberg and Emily Hausman, two of the recipients of The Jewish Education Project's 2022 Robert M. Sherman Young Pioneers Award? Francie, the Director of Admissions and Marketing and School Librarian at HANC Plainview, discusses her unique approach to family education and the importance of making libraries places where children feel creatively empowered. Emily, Director of Early Childhood Education at the Riverdale Y, shares her passion for working with young children and what it's like working at a school that is part of New York City's universal early childhood education program.This episode was produced by Dina Nusnbaum and Gabriel Weinstein.  The show's executive producers are David Bryfman, Karen Cummins, and Nessa Liben. This episode was engineered and edited by Nathan J. Vaughan of NJV Media.  If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts or even better, share it with a friend. Be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and be the first to know when new episodes are released.To learn more about The Jewish Education Project visit jewishedproject.org where you can find links to our Jewish Educator Portal and learn more about our mission, history, and staff. We are a proud partner of UJA-Federation of New York.

In today's episode of Fruitful & Multiplying, we had the incredible opportunity of meeting actress and producer (and Oscar winner!) Jaime Ray Newman and learning more about her 10-year-long family-building journey. Jaime went to a Jewish Day School in Detroit for much of her life and later on, married Israeli writer and director Guy Nattiv. Together, they have 2 beautiful daughters, but their path to parenthood was not easy. They underwent IVF and endured multiple miscarriages, as well as a stillbirth in 2013- all in the public eye. They then turned to surrogacy, and their second daughter was born 15 weeks early, weighing only 1 lb 9 oz. Jaime embodies strength, humor, and endless wisdom and offers a tremendous amount of hope and advice to the JFF community. Thank you, Jaime!

Today I got to kick it in The Diner with fellow New Yorker, Arel Moodie. He's a professional speaker who helps other speakers start and grow their own businesses. We talked about the experience of fitting in during our younger years (and the difficulty of blending his life growing up in the projects while simultaneously attending Jewish Day School) and how that still shows up in our adult lives, especially when it comes to influencing people and making friends. Arel offered some incredible advice on likability and how to make an impact on others in an authentic way. You're going to love this conversation, so slide on into the booth and have a listen.   About the Guest:  Arel is known as a “human behavioral investigator” who has extensively studied the intricacies of human dynamics and relationships. He is a best-selling author who has spoken to over 750,000 people throughout 48 states and 5 countries. He has been invited to speak at the White House twice, and on the TEDx stage three times. He has been featured in The New York Times, Inc. Magazine, Essence, USA Today, Forbes, Black Enterprise, Huffington Post, and has been a contributor to the television program The Doctors. For fun Arel likes to dance; he has performed at Madison Square Garden and even had a viral video featured on The Ellen Show!   Connect with Arel Moodie and learn more: http://www.arelmoodie.com/ (www.arelmoodie.com) https://www.adultdevelopmenttheory.com/ (https://www.adultdevelopmenttheory.com) https://www.facebook.com/arelmoodie (https://www.facebook.com/arelmoodie) https://www.instagram.com/arelmoodie/?msclkid=056cc865bb7111ecad9df7eb4b815363 (@arelmoodie) About the Host:  Friends! Here's a somewhat stuffy bio of me:   I am an author, professional speaker, coach, host, and entrepreneur. My first book, Leading Imperfectly: The value of being authentic for leaders, professionals, and human beings, is available wherever people buy books. I speak internationally to willing and unwilling attendees about authenticity, vulnerability, and leadership. My clients include American Express, General Electric (GE), Accenture, Yale University, The Ohio State University, and many others. As a speaker, I am doing the two things I loves the most: making people think and making people laugh!  I host my own events multiple times a year. They are 2-day events called Living Imperfectly Live (and sometimes they are 1-day virtual events). They are a space where humans from every walk of life can come together to be part of a community on the pursuit of badassery. The goal is to help attendees start living the life we say we want to live. Alas, you're here because of an idea I had a number of years ago and didn't think I was good enough to pull it off. I finally acted on it and alas Diner Talks with James was born! As you can see from what I do in my professional life, Diner Talks is alligned with everything I believe in and teach.  If this wasn't dry enough, and you would like to know more info about my speaking, events, or coaching feel free to check out my website: JamesTRobo.com. Let's Be Friends on Social Media! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamestrobo (https://www.instagram.com/jamestrobo) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jamestrobo (https://www.facebook.com/jamestrobo) LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesrobilotta/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesrobilotta/) YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/JamesRobilottaCSP (https://www.youtube.com/JamesRobilottaCSP) Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/JamesTRobo (https://www.twitter.com/JamesTRobo) Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like...

What is the magic of 21st century Jewish day schools? Rabbi Joshua Lookstein, Head of School at Westchester Day School, speaks with David Bryfman about the unique opportunities Jewish day schools provide. Rabbi Lookstein, who hails from a rabbinic dynasty, offers reflections on his family's legacy and what he learned at his parents' Shabbat table. Hear how #opernationshabbatshalom has brought a new sense of community and connection to his Shabbat preparations.Adapting: The Future of Jewish Education is a production of The Jewish Education Project. Be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and be the first to know when new episodes are released. This episode was produced by Dina Nusnbaum and Gabriel Weinstein.  The show's executive producers are David Bryfman, Karen Cummins, and Nessa Liben. This episode was engineered and edited by Nathan J. Vaughan of NJV Media.  If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts or even better, share it with a friend. Be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and be the first to know when new episodes are released.To learn more about The Jewish Education Project visit jewishedproject.org where you can find links to our Jewish Educator Portal and learn more about our mission, history, and staff. We are a proud partner of UJA-Federation of New York. 

Rabbi Micah Lapidus, Ed.D. is The Director of Jewish and Hebrew Studies at The Alfred & Adele Davis Academy in Atlanta, Georgia. Having served in his current position since 2008 he is an advocate for Jewish Day School education. A former board member of the CCAR (Central Conference of American Rabbis) as well as PARDES: Day Schools of Reform Judaism, Rabbi Micah is also a composer of Jewish and spiritual music with 5 albums and many more to come. You can find his music on his website: micahlapidus.com.Gems:Encourage students to have a conversation about G-d.Discussions about G-d must be done in a developmentally appropriate way and respectfully.Make G-d a topic of conversation.Be mindful of adolescent development.Education and dedication go hand-in-hand.Take advantage of opportunities to check your own ego.Our vision for the future is deeply informed by our memories of the past.If it's easy to create good, sweet, funny, and strong memories for children, we need to know that and wield that power with humility and understanding of our importance of trusted adults in their lives.Let the light shine!We're planting seeds in our students.Read Pirkei Avot.Maintain boundaries.Education is an art.Allow Jewish values to be the values through which you express your most fundamental commitments.Amazon We receive a small commission for any items purchased through my Amazon link.Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched! Start for FREEDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/JewishEducationExperiencePodcast)

What if you could speak to a student who graduated from Jewish day high school two years ago to ask them about their experiences? Well, in this episode, I tracked down a Jewish day school graduate who was willing to speak to me. "Bob" generously agreed to spend some time chatting informally. As an aside, you will note that I did not have an interview protocol to follow and that I also tried to sometimes provide 'leading questions'. If you are interested in the research side of things, you may want to listen with an ear to how the interview proceeds and how, in a research context, things that the interviewer does or says would have to change. If you are interested in the student perspective, you may want to compare this anecdotal chat to your own knowledge of students or to the more robust research literature that is out there. 

In the cool, otherworldly confines of a Zoom room, a controversial president's ethereal daughter and hands-on son-in-law surf the choppy waters of chiseled memories, personal responsibility...and elementary school. JARED AND IVANKA'S PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCE AT MAURICE J. FELDMAN JEWISH DAY SCHOOL, our third James Stevenson Commission for Short Comedic Plays, was written by playwright and screenwriter Jonathan Spector (Eureka Day, This Much I Know, The Flats) and directed by Daniel Aukin. It stars Paul Sparks (“Physical,” “Sweetbitter,” “House of Cards”), Cindy Cheung (“13 Reasons Why,” “New Amsterdam”), Tracee Chimo Pallero (“People of Earth,” “Difficult People,” “Genius”), and Thomas Jay Ryan (West Side Story, The Crucible, The Little Foxes, Henry Fool). 

Rachel Zivic grew up in Chicago, attending Jewish Day School for elementary  and high school. She is currently the Head of School/Principal at Kellman Brown Academy in Voorhees, NJ. Prior to becoming Head of School, she was the Director of Curriculum and Instruction. Rachel also served on the New Jersey Association of Independent Schools Accreditation committee. Model compassion and supportive leadership.Important not to shy away from talking about G-d with children of all ages.Talking about G-d makes G-d manifest in our lives.It's Ok not to have all the answers.Learn about what your students have to say.Education is interacting differently with the world around us.Learning is valuable and leads you to take action.A robust Jewish education is important.Inspire people to care and make Jewish education a priority.Greet every student by name and get to know them.We're educating the next generation of Jewish leaders.Find colleagues who share your values and collaborate with them.Knowledge of Hebrew is crucial.Immerse students in Hebrew.Amazon We receive a small commission for any items purchased through my Amazon link.Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched! Start for FREEModernTribe Judaica ModernTribe is contemporary Judaica that fits your lifestyle. Our focus has always been on you, the Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/JewishEducationExperiencePodcast)

This week we are joined by Liz Glazer. Liz is a standup comedian, actor, and writer. She won first place in the Boston Comedy Festival and Ladies of Laughter Competition, and has been featured in a full article in the Wall Street Journal! Check her out!In this episode we discuss growing up in New Jersey, going to Jewish Day School, climbing the professional ladder, being a suburban kid in a New York City school, flirting, dating,  and so much more. You don't want to miss our discussion about "winning the category of just me." Give it a listen!Check Out Liz: www.dearlizglazer.comCarly: @carlyjmontagEmily: @thefunnywalshEmail us! Aloneatlunch@gmail.com**LEAVE US A RATING AND REVIEW**

In honor of Benjy's wedding this weekend, join the Boyz in this throwback episode with their first-ever guest (and the reason they all know each other), Brett aka Tox the Creator. They talk about Jewish Day School antics, listening to rap music around parents growing up, comedy catfishing, getting into fights in college, when Jewish people wore turbans back in the day, Benjy's African-Jewish swirl style for his wedding, and so much more spicy banter! Want an extra episode a week? Join the Spice Pack on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/spicerackboyz Digging the pod? Consider leaving your boys some love by leaving us a coveted 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! It takes less than a minute, but you will remain in our hearts forever ;) Follow Benjy (@benjyhimmel) on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube Follow Sukh (@sectorthirteen) at his website Sector 13 (Use the Promo Code "spicerackboyz" for 20% OFF!) & on Instagram and Twitter Follow Sirish (@therealsirish) on Twitter and Instagram Follow The Spice Rack Boyz (@spicerackboyz) on Youtube & Instagram Spice Rack Boyz is about 3 friends: a Jewish comedian, a Hindu doctor, and a Sikh designer. Benjy, Sirish, and Sukh bring you a perfectly seasoned blend of spicy takes in a comedy podcast you didn't know you needed to be listening to! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/spice-rack-boyz/message

Mark Joshua Epstein is a gifted storyteller and artist. If you want a great evening, hang out with Mark and talk about what you are working on and be prepared to laugh and think differently about what you have created. Born in Rockville, Maryland, Mark spent his early school years at a conservative Jewish Day School and his summers at a progressive camp learning about Third Wave Feminism. This duality in his formative years hints at his later exploration for a new and alternative space in his work. Something that pushes back and asks why it must be one way or another, both or neither. He achieves this by stacking fiberglass shapes to create new forms that function as a shaped canvas but also protrude slightly to make you question if it is also a sculpture. What is the line? Is there a line and if so, should it be there?   This questioning also arises in the pattern that is applied to the work. Some of the pattern points to op-art while other areas remind us of the hand and tools making the piece. In Nothing Matters When We’re Dancing, Ink splotches are dripped onto the surface and encapsulated by a line forming a circle. This pattern radiates out and brings to mind cells in the body.  His knack for storytelling comes through in his titles such as Small Talk at the Salad Bar. These titles add another level to his work. The seemingly abstract pieces begin to shift just enough for us to see a figure, or what could be a stand in at least, challenging us to wonder, does the piece have to be either or?   Mark Joshua Epstein is an artist, educator and curator. He received an MFA from the Slade School of Fine Arts, University College London, and a BFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. Epstein has had solo or two person shows at Ortega y Gasset Projects’ Skirt Space (Brooklyn, NY) SPRING/BREAK Art Show (NY, NY), Handwerker Gallery, Ithaca College (Ithaca, NY), NARS Foundation Project Space (Brooklyn, NY), Caustic Coastal (Salford, England) Vane Gallery (Newcastle, England), Demo Project (Springfield, IL), Biquini Wax Gallery (Mexico City, Mexico), Breve (Mexico City, Mexico) and Brian Morris Gallery (New York, NY).    Selected group shows include Arlington Arts Center (Arlington, VA), Des Moines Art Center (Des Moines, IA), Collar Works (Troy, NY), Good Children Gallery (New Orleans, LA), Monaco (St Louis, MO), DAAP Galleries at the University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH), and Beverly’s (New York, NY).    Epstein has been a resident at Vermont Studio Center, Millay Colony, Jentel Foundation, Macdowell Colony, KHN Center for the Arts, I-Park and Saltonstall Foundation amongst others. His work has appeared in publications such as New American Paintings, Art Maze Magazine and Dovetail. He works as a lecturer at the Penny Stamps School of Art and Design, at the University of Michigan.   “Reckoning with the change that accompanies a new studio and landscape, new shaped paintings, my largest to date, delve deeper into queer ornament and graphic excess, while limiting their color schemes. Taking inspiration from pattern and decoration, op art, and furniture design, these works continue the use of ornate patterning and overlapping panels that confound perception, while relishing in a new discomfort of compositional order. One painting’s title, Finding refuge in inefficiency (2021), nods to the pleasures found in the laborious and time-consuming nature of pattern-making exemplified in these recent works. And, as with earlier paintings, these works continue to challenge a viewer’s sense of taste and orientation.   Recent photographs, stemming from an interest in index and documentation, further emphasize my painting process. The images reproduce hand-made cut-outs, created from scraps of paper, which I often use to generate repetitive patterns within my paintings. Normally meant to deliver flatness and depth, shape and form to my fiberglass surfaces, the cut-outs in these photographs reframe the landscape immediately surrounding my studio.   My current work, both in painting and photography, refuses the either/or of binary polarities and opposing geographic pulls. All the while, by latticing together different planes, motifs, and marks, my work never forgets its own amusement.”-MJE   TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE:   -Growing up with progressive summers and a conservative school year -Dealing with anxiety due to change -Moving to Canada to pursue a different major -Gap Year - “Leap and then Look” -Graduate School in London -Working in museum education -Interior Spaces and being inspired by his grandfather -Excubert rooms and wild interiors -Hustling in the art world -Making work that takes time -Bathroom colors -Leaving NYC -Leaving a little bit at a time -his current show -Staying open when curating a space   ARTIST SHOUTOUTS: Christian Maychack @cmaychack Yvette Molina @yvette_molina Adam Liam Rose @adamliamrose Zahar Vaks @zaharvaks Elizabeth McMahon @elizabethwmcmahon   LINKS:  Website: www.markjoshuaepstein.com Instagram: @markjoshuaepstein Current solo show at Ortega y Gasset: www.oygprojects.com/the-skirt-current Current group show at Arlington Arts Center: www.arlingtonartscenter.org/exhibits/2021/stretched/ Upcoming outdoor group show in New York: www.bravinlee.com/regrowth-riverside     I Like Your Work Links:   I Like Your Work Podcast Studio Planner Instagram Submit Work Observations on Applying to Juried Shows

We've had many conversations here on Ask Doctor Death about a variety of religious views, but have rarely touched on Jewish  beliefs and practices around death, dying and bereavement.  In this episode, we are honored to present Rabbi Sarah Rensin, a hospice chaplain with a very  progressive perspective on Judaism. Rabbi Sarah was ordained at the Academy for Jewish Religion California in 2015. After ordination, she used her background in fine art and teaching to create a dynamic Jewish education curriculum at the Jewish Day School in Bellevue Washington. During her years working at JDS she continued her education and became certified as a clinical chaplain. She  worked as a rabbi and chaplain at Evergreen Hospice in Washington, and was instrumental in creating programs for spiritual care support for hospital clinicians during the Covid-19 pandemic. In late 2020 Rabbi Sarah moved to Oregon, where she currently works for Signature Hospice. Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/askdoctordeath?fan_landing=true)

Writer, YouTuber, and podcaster Gaby Dunn reflects on her childhood in Florida where she attended Jewish Day School, stayed in the closet, and then ultimately came into her own as an adult after going to college, coming out, and moving away to California. She also chats about tattoos, dating, and getting back in touch with religion. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/prayforus/support

As we look toward the future, how are innovative Jewish educators shining a light beyond the pandemic? 2021 Robert M. Sherman Young Pioneers Awardees DiCo DiColandrea, Melissa Hume, Dammara Kovnats Hall, Pamela Schuller, and Avi Siegel, join The Jewish Education Project's CEO David Bryfman for a conversation on how they are helping their communities build for a brighter tomorrow.Watch the video recording of the episode here. This episode was recorded on  March 11, 2021. Learn more about the 2021 Robert M. Sherman Young Pioneers Awardees. Register for The Jewish Education Project's Virtual Benefit on March 22 and make a donation today. 

Joanna Powers, shares how she ended up in Allentown, PA after being born and raised in NY. She shares her love of Judaism and how her school has adjusted during this pandemic. Joanna is the Judaics Director at the Jewish Day School of the Lehigh Valley, in Allentown, PA, and she also teaches various grades there. She has always had a passion for education and enjoys sharing her love of Judaism with her students. Gems:Relate prayers as opportunities to thank G-d/Hashem for what we have.Talk about Hashem according to the level of each child. Give children ownership of the process.Every student has their individual needs.Children are not just numbers in the class, they are someone else's baby.Children need to feel loved, safe, and happy.Present Jewish topics in a way that inspires them, and allows them to connect.Amazon We receive a small commission for any items purchased through my Amazon link.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/JewishEducationExperiencePodcast)

SBS Australian weekly Jewish community report with Shane Desiatnik from the AJN...Our Brilliant Students

What role should Jewish education play in civic engagement today? Aaron Dorfman, President of Lippman Kanfer Foundation for Living Torah, and Dr. Tamara Mann Tweel, Director of Civic Initiatives of The Teagle Foundation, discuss Jewish Education and Civic Education. Access the shownotes for this episode and watch the LIVEcast recording here. This episode was recorded on  October 28, 2020. Adapting is produced in partnership with  jewishLIVE. Learn more about  The Jewish Education Project. 

Nima Omidvar- NCAA Assistant Coach Worked at NC State, University of Maryland, South Alabama Nima is arguably one of the best and most active recruiters in NCAA basketball. He has been a part of the top recruiting classes in NCAA Division 1, at NC State, University of Maryland, South Alabama. Currently has his own podcast called "Thru_the_tunnel" , a part of the rising coaches podcast network. - How and why did he get into coaching? Talked about his experience at Jewish Day School, St John's College HS( He coached me there during the 06-07 season) and Paul VI. Talked about how the WCAC is one of the toughest High School conferences in the nation - We touched on his time at North Carolina State and University of Maryland. How he helped them recruit players and how he learned how to recruit with the best Difference between recruiting in the ACC vs at a smaller school or smaller conference. His new podcast, all inside info on thru the tunnel- a podcast about college recruiting. You can find Nima on TWITTER and Instagram His podcast can be found here - Thru_The_Tunnel

Lauren Belferder, Carly Namdar, Dina Newman and Phreddy Nosanwisch were recipients of the 2020 Robert M. Sherman Young Pioneers Award. Lauren Belferder is the Director of Youth Engagement at Temple Sinai of Roslyn on Long Island. Carly Namdar is the Director of Middle School Guidance at Hebrew Academy of Long Beach (HALB). Dina Newman is the Associate Director for Youth and Teen Engagement at Congregation Rodeph Sholom on the Upper West Side. Phreddy Nosanwisch teaches spiritual technologies and Hebrew School at CSAIR in The Bronx. They discuss their work, how they have adjusted their educational practices because of Coronavirus, and share their philosophies of Jewish Education. Learn more about Lauren, Carly, Dina, Phreddy, and Jonathan Shmidt Chapman, who was unable to join the show, here. Access the shownotes for this episode and watch the LIVEcast recording here. This episode was recorded on  June 24, 2020. Adapting is produced in partnership with  jewishLIVE. Learn more about  The Jewish Education Project.

Dr. Rachel Fish is a historian and educator of Zionist thought and Israeli history and society. Robbie Gringras is a British-born Israeli living in the Galilee, working in education, performance, and writing. Anne Lanski is the Founding CEO of The iCenter, an organization that supports and advances the professional field of Israel education across North America. They explore some of the complicated issues that Israel raises for educators today with David Bryfman. Access the shownotes for this episode and watch the LIVEcast recording here. This episode was recorded on  July 1, 2020. Adapting is produced in partnership with  jewishLIVE. Learn more about  The Jewish Education Project. 

Daniella Pressner and Moshe Werthan, head of school and board member at the Akiva School in Nashville, Tennessee, discuss their experiences of working with board members, the challenges and successes that their board has seen, and the culture that they try to cultivate on the board. They are joined by Alex Pomson, principal and managing director of Rosov Consulting, and host Ilisa Cappell, Prizmah's vice president for leadership development, who draw upon Prizmah's recent study of lay leadership in Jewish day schools to highlight contexts and trends in this field.

Pictures Study Guide Eruvin 56 Today's daf is sponsored by by Rachel Alexander Levy in honor of her mother, Sheila Alexander. When Mom created the Jewish Day School 40 years ago, would she have every thought that I would be learning Daf Yomi at age 47! And by Caroline Ofstein in honor of Yakir's bar mitzvah and for a refuah sheleima to Sheindel Chaya Bat Leah בתוך שאר חולי ישראל. Does a Torah scholar needs to live in a place that has vegetables? Are vegetables good for you or bad for you? One should not live in a place with uphills and downhills as it causes premature old age. When one squares off a round city for the purposes of techumim, how does one do it? Each side needs to correspond to the four directions - North, South, etc. The gemara gives advice about how to determine where the directions are - either based on the constellations or on the direction of the sun at different times of the year. How much extra does one get on the angles? A braita is quoted regarding the 1,000 cubits outside each of the Levite cities that are left wmpty as compared to the whole space around the city of 2,000 cubits - a ratio is brought of 1 to 4 and the gemara brings a number of explanations of how this ratio makes sense. 

Pictures Study Guide Eruvin 56 Today's daf is sponsored by by Rachel Alexander Levy in honor of her mother, Sheila Alexander. When Mom created the Jewish Day School 40 years ago, would she have every thought that I would be learning Daf Yomi at age 47! And by Caroline Ofstein in honor of Yakir's bar mitzvah and for a refuah sheleima to Sheindel Chaya Bat Leah בתוך שאר חולי ישראל. Does a Torah scholar needs to live in a place that has vegetables? Are vegetables good for you or bad for you? One should not live in a place with uphills and downhills as it causes premature old age. When one squares off a round city for the purposes of techumim, how does one do it? Each side needs to correspond to the four directions - North, South, etc. The gemara gives advice about how to determine where the directions are - either based on the constellations or on the direction of the sun at different times of the year. How much extra does one get on the angles? A braita is quoted regarding the 1,000 cubits outside each of the Levite cities that are left wmpty as compared to the whole space around the city of 2,000 cubits - a ratio is brought of 1 to 4 and the gemara brings a number of explanations of how this ratio makes sense. 

In this episode, the Boyz do their first in-person podcast together in Brooklyn with their first guest (and the reason they all know each other), Brett. They talk about Jewish Day School antics, bad Instacart experiences, listening to rap music around parents growing up, conspiracy theories about Hip Hop legends that might have been gay, cultured racists, getting into fights in college, and what this podcast is supposed to be about. Do yourself a flavor and savor all the spiciness in this one! WATCH Benjy's new special on YouTube, "So Good." Want an extra episode a week? Join the Spice Pack on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/spicerackboyz Digging the pod? Consider leaving your boys some love by leaving us a coveted 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! It takes less than a minute, but you will remain in our hearts forever ;) Follow Benjy (@benjyhimmel) on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube Follow Sukh (@sectorthirteen) at his website Sector 13 (Use the Promo Code "spicerackboyz" for 20% OFF!) & on Instagram and Twitter Follow Sirish (@therealsirish) on Twitter and Instagram Follow The Spice Rack Boyz (@spicerackboyz) on Youtube & Instagram Spice Rack Boyz is about 3 friends: a Jewish comedian, a Hindu doctor, and a Sikh designer. Benjy, Sirish, and Sukh bring you a perfectly seasoned blend of spicy takes in a comedy podcast you didn't know you needed to be listening to! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/spice-rack-boyz/message

Rabbi Pinchas Allouche, the founding Rabbi of Congregation Beth Tefillah (https://www.bethtefillahaz.org/) presents his virtual presentation "Lessons From My Teacher, Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz." Rabbi Allouche is a respected rabbinic figure, a renowned lecturer, and a prominent author of many essays on the Jewish faith, mysticism, and social-criticism. Besides his academic pedigree, Rabbi Allouche is richly-cultural, having lived in France, where he was born, South Africa and Israel. He is also fluent in English, Hebrew, French and Italian. Rabbi Allouche is a member of AIPAC's National Council, and a member of the Vaad Harabanim, the Orthodox Rabbinic Council of Arizona. Rabbi Allouche's wise, profound, and sensitive perspective on the world and its people, on life and living, is highly regarded and sought-after by communities and individuals of all backgrounds. Rabbi Allouche is also tremendously involved in the Jewish community of Greater Phoenix, and he teaches middle-school Judaics at the local Jewish Day School. Rabbi Allouche is also a blogger for many online publications including the Huffington Post, and The Times of Israel. Rabbi Allouche was listed in the Jewish Daily Forward as one of America's 36 Most Inspiring Rabbis, who are "shaping 21st Century Judaism." DONATE: http://www.bit.ly/1NmpbsP For podcasts of VBM lectures, GO HERE: https://www.valleybeitmidrash.org/learning-librarh https://www.facebook.com/valleybeitmidrash

For All Abilities – The Podcast: Adult ADHD with Stacey Kovoloft    In this episode, I interview Stacey Kovoloft. We discuss the challenge of her diagnosis of ADHD as an adult and how she has navigated school and work with the diagnosis. To connect with Stacey, please go to her community for parents, educators and other professionals at https://www.hopesdreamsjourney.com/home, follow her on LinkedIn (Stacey Kovoloft) and on Instagram at dyslexia_girl. Please subscribe to For All Abilities – The Podcast! Please follow me on Instagram @forallabilities, LinkedIn (Betsy Furler) and on Facebook (For All Abilities). Go to our website www.forallabilities.com for information on our software that enables employers to support their employees with ADHD, Dyslexia, Learning Differences and Autism. Thanks for listening!  Betsy     Thanks for listening to For All Abilities today!    Share the podcast with your friends, they’ll thank you for it!   Get our newsletter and stay up to date! The newsletter link is on our website www.forallabilities.com   Follow me   Twitter: @betsyfurler   Instagram: @forallabilities   Facebook: @forallabilites   LinkedIn: @BetsyFurler   Website: www.forallabilities.com   Full Transcript from Otter.ai   Betsy Furler  0:05   Welcome to for all abilities, the podcasts. This is your host, Betsy Furler. The aim of this podcast is to highlight the amazing things people with ADHD, dyslexia, learning differences and autism are doing to improve our world. Have a listen to for all abilities, the podcast, and please subscribe on whatever podcast app you're listening to us on.   Hi, everybody. Welcome back to for all abilities, the podcast. This is your host Betsy Furler. And I'm so excited to be here with another special guest, Stacey Kovoloft. Stacey, thank you so much for agreeing to be on my podcast.   Stacey Kovoloft  0:49   Thank you so much, Betsy for having me. Very excited.   Betsy Furler  0:53   Yes. So why don't you introduce yourself to my audience so they know a little bit about you before we launch into my interview.   Stacey Kovoloft  1:01   I'm I'm Stacey Koval off, and I have been an educational consultant, and advocate. And I'm also currently on admissions at an independent private school called RJ. I'm the mother of four. My children are 2522 12 and eight. Um, and I'm also the founder of an educational startup called hopes, dreams journey. And hosting journey is a community of educators and consultants, experts and parents working together to help kids succeed, despite their learning differences. We are an educational platform that we'll be bringing parents and educational professionals together. And we're going to be using something called gamification to help motivate professionals to add their content and resources and also   reach out to as many providers parents as possible   Betsy Furler  2:13   about is so awesome. So I will definitely link to that in the show notes and we'll talk a little bit more about it at the end of the interview as well. So how I usually start my interviews is always asking my guests what they were like as a child. So what were you like when you were a little girl?   Stacey Kovoloft  2:32   And I was curious. I had more energy than I think any of my family members knew what to do with. Uh huh. Um, I was never able to sit still. So obviously I self diagnosed myself with ADHD. Um, I was a very anxious child I I was always afraid of failure. failure. I didn't accept failure very well. School was really difficult for me. I really believe that by the fifth grade   my formal educational   Unknown Speaker  3:18   career   Unknown Speaker  3:19   was put to bed. Oh, wow, that's so young.   Stacey Kovoloft  3:24   It was really. I, I had dysgraphia dyscalculia and was labeled by my teachers. I remember in second grade, not being able to sit still in the classroom and I would go use going to the bathroom is a way of being able to get up and move my body around. Uh huh. I peed myself in my second grade seat because the teacher stopped allowing me to go to the bathroom.   Betsy Furler  3:52   Oh, cuz you're done up, gotten up so many times.   Stacey Kovoloft  3:56   Not too many times. Yeah. And then I think it was fifth grade. I used to chew gum, it's a form of sensory integration. And my teacher made me stick a ball of gum on the tip of my nose. Oh, awful. It was really awful. Um, my family. My mom got quite ill when I was young, and I was separated from her by the age of 11 years old. So I had trauma with and I think that made my anxiety levels increase. And I was brought to California, and I went into the private. I went into the independent private educational system, I was at it. I was at a Jewish Day School, where instead of the educators being honest with my parents about my educational needs, I was pushed through   Unknown Speaker  4:45   and Well,   Stacey Kovoloft  4:47   yeah, so I had a father that believed in me, and told me that I could do anything on my mother's side of the family who were all very well educated. I'm really At a very young age told me I had no choice but to get married, I would never be able to stand on my own two feet and take care of myself. And I did just that I got married at 23 and had my first child by the time I was 24. But I made a commitment that I would not and my kids would have the opportunity to go to college, they would go to college and whatever resources that they would need, I would be there to help provide them. Um, so to back up a little bit, I ended up not finishing high school. I left high school in 11th grade. Um, I had it I was I was always self driven. And I was not a follower. And I ended up getting a job with Project headstart. Mm hmm. And so by the time I was 18, I was with headstart full time, and I was with headstart for five years and We became we ended up losing our funding, and we were a federally funded program and became a state funded program. At that time, I ended up going back to school and getting my early childhood units and worked up to local independent private schools in Los Angeles. And I must say it's 20 years ago, I found that school shop la Hmm. After teaching nursery school for 20 years.   Betsy Furler  6:36   What is interesting to me that you while while school was so hard for you and didn't work well for you, then you ended up going into education, actually, at a really young age.   Stacey Kovoloft  6:48   I wanted to prove, you know, I think my mission was, you know, for the longest time to prove to my family, that I was smart, because I was always I always felt dummy down. I always felt that broke in, I think till this unit I just turned 50 and I think till this day, I'm constantly trying to prove myself and weight it in almost unnatural ways. You know, in my, in my immediate family, my mother, my, my, my aunt, my uncle, and even my, my, the young, my younger sister, or any of my siblings for that matter. Um, but yeah, and you know, I've always been very very passionate because you know, I've never I I don't want though it it's not the case I've never wanted you know, anyone child to have to leave. We live what what my educational experience was?   Betsy Furler  7:43   Yeah, that's it's i i think it's so wonderful when people take what could have been a will probably was a terrible experience, but you've taken it and made something good out of it. And also, you're so you've never been you've never Ever been officially diagnosed? Correct with ADHD or dyslexia or dysgraphia? So can you talk tell my audience a little bit about kind of how, how that's come about and what happened there.   Stacey Kovoloft  8:14   So ADHD, and you know, I have really focused on things that I'm interested in, you know, education I could read educational read for hours, listen to lectures for hours, but things that are not like most people, but I really, I I have a harder time with things that are not of interest. I also have to move around. Um, you know, I move around a lot. I multitask. I can't you know, if I'm, if I'm reading I always have I believe it or not have the TV on I could be, you know, organizing something and reading at the same time, maybe works better with multiplayer. You know, multi facilitated activities. I'm just scrappier, you know, I have brilliant ideas, I can dictate wonderful emails and letters. I implemented technology on my computer. But when I try to type something out myself, it sounds like I'm drunk. My, my, my children till this day get really aggravated with my text messages. At work, we use something called slack. And I've been labeled by other colleagues of mine, which you know, is as far as I was concerned, it was slander. And when you're working in an educational environment, there's not tolerance for those who have disabilities. Mm hmm.   So as incredible as the work that I've done,   I'm still so misunderstood by a lot of my colleagues.   Betsy Furler  10:09   Wow. Yeah, that's and I've heard that from other people too, who are in education and have their own differences or disabilities that they have felt very misunderstood.   Stacey Kovoloft  10:22   100 misunderstood. I have, you know, other colleagues of mine that have had podcasts and, you know, unless unless they have a PhD or master's or doctorate, they don't, you know, they're like, Oh, my God, you might hinder our program, as well. Yeah. But meanwhile, you know, I've been successful. I have, you know, two very well adjusted young adults. I, uh huh. So we're very younger children. I, you know, financially self sufficient. But that was a homeowner at 24 years old.   Betsy Furler  10:55   Wow. That's amazing. Yeah. And, and you've been a mom for a long time. time when you were talking about how old your kids were, that's what I thought I was like, Wow, she's been a mom for a really long time. So tell us a little bit about what you're doing now. So everybody can connect with you but also benefit from the resources that you that you're developing.   Stacey Kovoloft  11:16   So what we're doing now is I am still an educational consultant, but we're focusing on hdj. We are reaching out to educational providers, educators of behavioral therapists and therapists, speech therapists, OT PT, pediatricians, reading specialist, dyslexia specialist, and we are trying to get them to sign up for our for our site.   Betsy Furler  11:50   And what So give us a kind of a walkthrough of what that will look like. So will you have professionals members and ORS are how am I gonna work?   Stacey Kovoloft  12:04   We are a destination for parents to learn more about their child and how to help them succeed. This all starts with education. Our network of professionals has the knowledge and experience to educate parents by adding articles, resources and videos. the more you'll The more you contribute to our site, the more visible you'll be in our hdj community.   Unknown Speaker  12:25   That's a great idea.   Unknown Speaker  12:27   Cuz it kind   Unknown Speaker  12:28   of motivates people to put more information up,   Stacey Kovoloft  12:33   right? We're going to be promoting all of our content on social media and advertising online, and AR will be the destination for parents who want to help   Betsy Furler  12:44   their children succeed. That's awesome. It is it isn't location specific at all, or is it us specific or is it going to be information for kind of everybody?   Stacey Kovoloft  12:56   Right now we're launching Los Angeles, Chicago, and believe it or not, My next our next will be in Houston, Florida, we hope, you know to eventually be all over the United States and then possibly International. We will also be connecting families with schools because I think with distance learning becoming so prevalent is educational, you know, daily resources being needed, we're going to we're going to be adding schools and such to our site.   Betsy Furler  13:27   Awesome. Yeah, I was gonna I wanted to ask you, um, how has COVID-19 and the stay at home order affected both you from your workflow? And, you know, from a personal standpoint, as far as with your ADHD, and your other, your other differences, and how has it affected the thought process on how to go forward because I know when, when you and I talked to the other day, we talked about the fact that education is probably going to be changing, it's going to look a lot different And so anyway, I was interested in finding out what you thought about that   Stacey Kovoloft  14:05   about how it's affected me personally. Well, I, I have two young kids at home that were assisting to be homeschool to young students at home right now that I'm working with, and how is it affecting me as far as my consulting business? I've been receiving a lot of phone calls. I think a lot of parents are scared. Globally, you know about what is going to be with their public educational programs, a lot of learners that public schools are not doing a great job with their online learning. Mm hmm. I have a lot of parents that moved into local great school districts that are realizing that their local public school is not working up either I've been receiving a lot of requests for information for private schools, but also a lot of families with fear of how they how are they going to be able to sustain the cost of private school?   Betsy Furler  15:13   Right, right. It's kind of a catch 22. Also, I know for the schools, you know, how are they going to survive? How are the parents going to be able to pay for tuition, there were so many issues. So it's interesting that you It sounds like you've been really busy. Since this has all happened really   Stacey Kovoloft  15:31   busy. Rotate the school that I'm at admissions at is is a totally different kind of a model. We really have focused and honed in on 21st century education. Instead of finals. There's symposium. There's roundtable discussions, all the information even today is very relevant to what's happening in the world. We're not teaching teaching to the textbook, which is generally speaking for most, most people Students who are bored in the classroom, students with ADHD are students that get frustrated easily or even students that are chewy. Our RTI has been ideal. I think that whole independent private school model is probably just in general going to have to change because of affordability. So I've been busy speaking to families, I've been busy and super excited working on this startup. Next Wednesday, next, sorry, the the evening of the third educational professional series and I'm starting out with two educational attorneys that will be speaking about what families need to know about accessing   resources during this time. Uh huh.   The second week, I have a neuro psychologist that's going to be speaking in the third week. I have a global educational college consultant that is going to be doing an event. And then I have a friend who's involved   in   she has a podcast called overthrowing education. And she is going to be speaking about what is what needs to be acquired to receive 21st century education.   Unknown Speaker  17:30   Oh, that's fantastic.   Stacey Kovoloft  17:32   Yeah. So I'm putting a lot of different events together but also really honing in and kind of making a shift for myself to focus on our educational startup and bringing providers to our to our space.   Betsy Furler  17:45   Yeah, that's that sounds amazing. It sounds like it's the perfect time for my listeners to go onto your platform and get get signed up and start utilizing those resources. Well, this has been amazing. Stacey, thank you so much for joining me today.   Stacey Kovoloft  18:04   Everybody to sign up for host dreams journey.com it's hope dreams journey.com.   Betsy Furler  18:11   Awesome. And I will put that in the show notes. And can I also find you on LinkedIn? What's the other like? Is there another social media platform?   Stacey Kovoloft  18:20   Yes. Behind dyslexia girl on Instagram. Okay.   Unknown Speaker  18:25   And what's your girl on Instagram?   Stacey Kovoloft  18:28   Yes. So we have we have, we've just started a Instagram for hdj. And then you can also find me on LinkedIn.   Betsy Furler  18:39   Perfect. And I will put links to all of that in my show notes. Because I'm sure there are many people that are listening that will really benefit from this. And so it was great talking to you today. Thank you so much. And to my listeners. Thank you for tuning in, please rate review, subscribe to the podcast. Wherever you are listening to it on whatever podcast platform you're listening to, and I will talk to you all soon.   Stacey Kovoloft  19:08   Thanks so much. Thank you.   Betsy Furler  19:11   Thanks so much for listening to the for all abilities podcast. This is Betsy Furler, your host, and I really appreciate your time listening to the podcast. And please subscribe on any podcast app that you're listening to us on. If you'd like to know more about what we do in our software that helps employer support their employees with ADHD dyslexia, learning differences in autism, please go to www dot for all abilities calm. You can also follow us on Instagram. And you can follow me on LinkedIn at Betsy Furler f isn't Frank, you are le AR Have a great day and we will see you soon.   Transcribed by https://otter.ai

10-minute check-ins with schools during the global pandemic

Today's episode is a positive and heartwarming conversation with Andy Lulka, a Montessori teacher, parent and child. As someone who has spent their whole life around Montessori, you'll hear about:growing up in a Montessori schoolwhat a middle school Montessori program looks likehow Judaism is brought into the Jewish Day School programhow we can do better with anti-bias education touching on equity, diversity, inclusion and intersectionality (and where Simone puts up her hand to say, "I'm losing you" and asks for more explanation, learning right alongside you)the four planes of development including the Montessori elementary child and teenagersAndy's wonderful phrase "convince me" instead of closing a dialogue with her sonsingle parenting and ideas for creating a villageMontessori observation and self-observationwhat is dialoguing"Who we are as human beings - how we show up in the world - is what will make the biggest impact on our children's lives" - Andy Lulka"Montessori is a way to make the world a better place" - Andy Lulka"People know what they do; frequently they know why they do what they do; but what they don't know is what what they do does.”― Michel Foucault, Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of ReasonSimone also answers a listener question:I am a working mother of 14 month old twin girls. I have started following Montessori principles recently. It is extremely hard for either of the babies to focus on their own activities without getting distracted by the other. It is challenging for me to engage both the girls in the same activity without them fighting over the toy or anything else. I try to explain them to wait for their turn but I guess they do not understand that yet and cannot wait for anything. Any suggestions on how to implement Montessori at home with twins?For full show notes, click here: https://www.themontessorinotebook.com/montessori-and-anti-bias-education/Want even more Montessori inspiration?- website: themontessorinotebook.com/the-montessori-notebook-podcast- instagram: instagram.com/themontessorinotebook- facebook: facebook.com/themontessorinotebookThe Montessori Notebook podcast is hosted by Simone Davies. Edited by Luke Davies of Filmprov Media. Podcast art by Hiyoko Imai.

The title of this ep says it all. It’s got everything - a hilarious interview with our mom, an epic conversation with visionary horror director and founder of Kwanza Con Jeff Carroll, and cousin Luli drops by with her Jewish Day School friends (Noam, Joel, and Adam) to talk “ok, boomer,” Rush, and the Goldbergs. Another awesome installment in our Gamer Comic Expo Special! More to come!  — Friday Night Movie host and filmmaker Becky Korman's short film Ataguttak the Hunter will be screening on November 13, 2019 at 5:00PM at Cinepolis Chelsea as part of the DOC NYC Film Festival. Get your tickets now!  Play along with Friday Night Movie at home! Read the FNM Glossary to learn the about our signature bits (e.g., Buy/Rent/Meh, I Told You Shows, Tradesies, etc.) and then head on over to our merch store your very own official FNM t-shirt.  Also, send us your recommendations and your tradesies! We'll watch them and report back on the show! Email us at pancake@pancake4table.com or tweet @FriNightMovie, @pancake4table, @chichiKgomez, and/or  @paperBKprincess.  Follow our creations and zany Instagram stories @frinightmovie and @pancake4table. Subscribe to our quarterly newsletter for exclusive giveaways and news! Theme music by What Does It Eat.  Subscribe and leave a review on IOS or Android at www.fridaynightmoviepod.com.  Follow all of our pop culture shenanigans at www.pancake4table.com. 

The message was delivered on Sunday, July 14, 2019, at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by Rabbi Michael Weinstein, Senior Rabbi, Temple Israel. DESCRIPTION As we are engaging in the idea of trading places, really what this means is that we are adding tension to our lives. Let’s move from a place of ordinary to that of extraordinary, as we move toward intentional sacredness in our lives. With these summer months comes a sense of transition. With sabbaticals and vacations, we return refreshed. How quickly that feeling diminishes, as we return to our daily schedules and practices; the daily grind! WhiteSpace provides us with the opportunity to return refreshed, and continue to feel refreshed, with the new year before us. ABOUT Rabbi Michael Weinstein assumed the role of Senior Rabbi of Temple Israel in July of 2018, when he moved to Tulsa with his family. Michael was ordained as Rabbi in 2010.    Rabbi Weinstein has served congregations in the greater Boston, Atlanta, and Washington DC communities, in addition to spending time working in the Jewish Day School and Jewish Federation environments. Rabbi’s professional interests are relationship based, in the areas of community organizing, engagement, and creating a welcoming community.    SUBSCRIBE TO AUDIO PODCAST: WATCH THIS MESSAGE ON YOUTUBE: SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL: GIVE A DONATION TO HELP US SPREAD THIS LOVE BEYOND BELIEF: or text LOVEBB to 73256 LET'S CONNECT: Facebook: Twitter: All Souls Church Website:  

Since 1988 the Charlotte Jewish Day School has been serving elementary age children and their families for an intertwined Jewish and General Studies Education.  https://www.cjdschool.org https://www.facebook.com/CJDSchool/ https://www.chabadnc.org/templates/articlecco_cdo/aid/3744926/jewish/Schedule-of-Events.htm  

This week's guests will be Marion DePuit who is a grandmother of five girls age 5 to 10 years old. She is an accomplished health professional who is providing health education to patients and novice nurses at bedside, in the classroom, hospital, community, and academic settings. Her primary professional work for the last sixteen years has focused on educating and mentoring faith community nurses, and lay leaders in health ministry in faith communities in the SF Bay area.Dora Rivers will be the second guest. Dora Rivers has been working with ASEB for several years and she is also a grandmother.The third guest will be Jacob Schonfield who was born in London. He grew up in a Jewish household and attended a Jewish Day School started by his father. In 1947 at the age of 20, he moved to the United States through a scholarship to study at Yeshiva College in New York. He graduated with a BA major in Psychology. Today, he is the proud grandfather of two beautiful grandchildren; Rebecca and Theo.This show also will be dedicated to Desiree Rene Owens, who died peacefully surrounded by family and friends who loved her, and her spouse and soulmate, Leslie Ross, on August 18, 2013, at 12:50 am. She worked in a variety of settings including community mental health centers, a range of long-term care settings, adult day health care programs, community health clinics, and academic settings. Her select areas of interest included: aging and the arts, Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, caregiving, death and dying, healthcare among underserved communities, long-term care, and mental health issues.Click here to SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube Channel.Like us on Facebook.

This week’s guests will be Marion DePuit who is a grandmother of five girls age 5 to 10 years old. She is an accomplished health professional who is providing health education to patients and novice nurses at bedside, in the classroom, hospital, community, and academic settings. Her primary professional work for the last sixteen years has focused on educating and mentoring faith community nurses, and lay leaders in health ministry in faith communities in the SF Bay area. Dora Rivers will be the second guest. Dora Rivers has been working with ASEB for several years and she is also a grandmother. The third guest will be Jacob Schonfield who was born in London. He grew up in a Jewish household and attended a Jewish Day School started by his father. In 1947 at the age of 20, he moved to the United States through a scholarship to study at Yeshiva College in New York. He graduated with a BA major in Psychology. Today, he is the proud grandfather of two beautiful grandchildren; Rebecca and Theo. This show also will be dedicated to Desiree Rene Owens, who died peacefully surrounded by family and friends who loved her, and her spouse and soulmate, Leslie Ross, on August 18, 2013, at 12:50 am. She worked in a variety of settings including community mental health centers, a range of long-term care settings, adult day health care programs, community health clinics, and academic settings. Her select areas of interest included: aging and the arts, Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, caregiving, death and dying, healthcare among underserved communities, long-term care, and mental health issues. Click here to SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube Channel. Like us on Facebook.

This episode of Smorgasbord, was produced by PEJE (The Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education) In this episode, Ken Gordon sat down with author Dan Ariely to discuss Jewish Day School and the “Free” way. For more context about this conversation, we invite you to visit the PEJE blog where there is a full post. For more information about Dan Ariely’s books please visit his Authors page on Amazon.

Renowned Jewish educator Jane Taubenfield Cohen of The Solomon Shector School in Norwood, MA joins us for a very enlightening discussion

Dr. Kevin O'Grady is the Regional Director of the Anti-Defamation League, Orange County/Long Beach region. He previously served as the region's Associate Director. At the ADL, Dr. O'Grady oversees all programming including: civil rights; government affairs; community relations; education; and law enforcement relations. He coordinates the region's response to civil rights issues and hate crimes, monitors extremist groups, and speaks at public forums on issues of civil rights, diversity, anti-Semitism, and education. Before joining the Anti-Defamation League, Dr. O'Grady served as the Dean of Students for Milken Community High School, the largest Jewish Day School in the country. He has also served as Director of the Hawai'i Technology Project: a state wide project that introduced on-line technologies into small schools across the state's five primary islands. In 2001 he was named "One of Los Angeles' City and County's Most Inspirational Teachers." He recently, authored a study of gay and lesbian high school teachers and is considered a national expert in the area of gay and lesbian issues in education. In addition to his work with the ADL, Dr. O'Grady is a member of The Center, Orange County, GLSEN Orange County and the Center for Unconventional Security Affairs. He holds a masters degree in Political Science from California State University, Fullerton and a doctorate in Education from the University of Southern California. Kevin lives in Long Beach, CA with his partner Dr. Craig Kain. www.adl.org