David Suissa is Publisher & Editor-in-Chief of Tribe Media/Jewish Journal, where he has been writing a weekly column on the Jewish world since 2006. In 2015, he was awarded first prize for "Editorial Excellence" by the American Jewish Press Association. Prior to Tribe Media, David was founder and CEO of Suissa Miller Advertising, a marketing firm named “Agency of the Year” by USA Today. He sold his company in 2006 to devote himself full time to his first passion: Israel and the Jewish world. David was born in Casablanca, Morocco, grew up in Montreal, and now lives in Los Angeles with his five children.
What did Gary Wexler, do? He took out a full-page ad in the local trade publication, Adweek, put a picture of himself in the middle of the ad, and did something rarely seen in the business.\n\nHe spoke the naked truth.\n\nThe boldfaced headline read: \”Gary Wexler Is Miserable.\” The rest of the ad explained why.\n
It must have been quite a scene in that little courthouse in Jerusalem. Rav Qapah, a Yemenite Jew who sat on the Jerusalem Beit Din (court of law), was hearing a case involving a commercial dispute between a Jew and an Arab.
This notion of blindness is a common theme in the life of Dennis Brown, a Chasidic Jew and professional counselor in his early 60s who runs the state-certified Ness Counseling Center in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood. Dennis deals with what he calls \”the schmutz of life\” on a daily basis — physical and sexual abuse, drugs, marital and family problems, wife beating, pleated pants.
They were filming the third episode of \”Camp Bnos Yisrael,\” billed as \”a new DVD series for women and girls only.\” And the actors were all from an ultra-observant all-girls summer program called Kol Neshama Performing Arts Conservatory.\n
You can\’t talk about Jewish philanthropy without talking about Jewish priorities. For many years now, a huge priority for the American Jewish community has been to fight assimilation — what is elegantly called \”Jewish continuity.\” It\’s a priority that is rarely challenged. How do you argue against Jewish continuity?
A friend sent me an e-mail telling me I \”can\’t miss\” this Jerusalem rabbi\’s one-man show Sunday night at Beth Jacob Congregation. I opened the e-mail a few minutes before show time, so, on a whim, I ran over to catch \”The Four Faces of Israel,\” starring Rabbi Benji Levene. After two hours of Benji, my head was spinning.
During a Shabbat dinner, I blurted out the idea that maybe we ought to \”marry first and date later.\” Not literally, of course, but in terms of how we approach both dating and marriage.
As we walked back from shul on a recent Shabbat, my friend and neighbor David Myers asked me if I was \”comfortable\” with the service we had just attended.
As I reflected later on my Yemenite moment in time, I couldn\’t help but think of all the traditions that so many Jewish communities throughout the world are fighting to maintain. There are countless variations of Ashkenazic and Sephardic traditions that have their own melodies, their own chants, their own ways. We all read the same words, but after that, we\’re allowed to tweak. It\’s as if God gave us the consonants, and then said: \”Have fun with the vowels.\”
…I noticed that my hosts were talking about something called the third ear. It sounded like worn-out hippie schmaltz – this notion of tapping into our \”third ear energy\” to bring more harmony into our lives, and to the world.