fbpx
ADVERTISE
pick up locations
donate

Jewish Journal

Connect. Inform. Inspire.

Category

December 4, 2003

Does Buddhist Hold Mideast Peace Key?

Ruth Mason December 4, 2003

While news of the Geneva accords hit the headlines, a group of Palestinians and Israelis were trying to make a different kind of peace — with the help of Buddhists in southern France.

Thich Nhat Hanh — Vietnamese Zen master, poet and Nobel Peace Prize nominee — has been inviting groups of Palestinians and Israelis to his practice center, Plum Village, in an effort to show them that Buddhist meditation can lead to inner peace as well as nonviolence between nations. The trips are largely underwritten by an American Jewish businessman.

Nhat Hanh preaches nothing less than personal transformation as the road to peace.

Jewish Groups Work Against AIDS

E. B. Solomont December 4, 2003

Jewish groups from across the denominational spectrum are calling on the Jewish community to help fight AIDS in Africa and other places hit hard by the pandemic. An open letter to the Jewish community issued by the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, together with Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist Jewish leaders, called on \”synagogues and rabbis to renew and affirm our commitment to ending the AIDS crisis in Africa and elsewhere around the world.\”

Chanukah Concert Picks Up the Pace

Andrea Adelson December 4, 2003

About three weeks before an annual Chanukah concert, Kathleen Abraham renews a Jewish ritual little practiced outside the county\’s borders.

On her day off, Abraham left home at 5:30 a.m., stopping at a convenience store to fill a 64-ounce coffee mug before heading to the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa. Besides java, Abraham\’s other provisions include a nosh, cell phone, PalmPilot and beach chair.

Her goal: to be at the head of the box office line to buy a block of 100 prime seats at the Dec. 7 Chanukah show for parents and congregants of Newport Beach\’s Temple Bat Yahm.

Think Global, Cook Local

Judy Bart Kancigor December 4, 2003

\”The Jewish Kitchen: Recipes and Stories from Around the World\” by Clarissa Hyman (Interlink Books, $29.95)

Clarissa Hyman\’s new cookbook, \”The Jewish Kitchen,\” is alive with miracles — stories of Jewish life and war-torn Jewish communities, bringing with them their glorious history, rich culture and a cuisine passed through the generations, itself a story of miraculous survival.

This award-winning author crisscrossed the globe, visiting eight families in nine months, recording their stories and recipes.

The Answer Isn’t…

Rob Eshman December 4, 2003

Aliyah is the oat bran of the Jewish people. We know it\’s good for us. We know we should be having more of it. But truth is, we just find it hard to swallow. And we certainly don\’t like it shoved down our throats.\n\nWhile in Israel last week, I heard several Israeli officials, from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on down, proclaim that increased Jewish immigration to Israel is crucial to the country\’s long-term well-being. And each time I heard an Israeli or American Jewish leader say that, I thought: \”Uh-oh.\”

Opportunities and Changes Abound

Rabbi Marc S. Dworkin December 4, 2003

This month, as I started my work with the American Jewish Committee (AJC), my wife\’s father, Sol, celebrated his 90th birthday with his friends at Leisure World of Laguna Woods. Like many of us, Sol is a transplant to Orange County from Brooklyn, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and finally reaching this day at Leisure World.

We are a people that move as life changes. For Sol, this has been a fortunate journey, and he has his community to support him. For the rest of us, finding our place in a community of transplants can be a challenge.

Do We Have Anything Left to Give?

David Suissa December 4, 2003

Do the Jews have anything left to give to America?\n\nThis question was on my mind recently, after I was on a panel at Brandeis-Bardin Institute to discuss the Jewish influence on American culture. The popular view on this subject is invariably, \”Just look at all the Jews who run Hollywood and the media; look at the humor, the attitude, the Yiddish terms, etc. Jews are everywhere.\”\n\nThis is true, but when you start to look beneath the surface, you see a more complicated picture, one that suggests the waning influence of Judaism and the need to re-examine the Jews\’ role in America as we begin the 21st century.

License to Date

Sharon Lynn Bear December 4, 2003

When I went to the JDate Web site to sign up, I discovered that they had my profile from four years ago. For my preferences, I had checked single (never married), separated, divorced and widowed. But I\’m older (48) and wiser now and \”unchecked\” single and separated. Such men do not carry a \”license to date.\” Although our mothers wanted us to \”marry Jewish,\” they had the wisdom to warn us that any Jewish man over 40 who has never been married is not \”marriage material.\”

Phillip was 49 and never married, but told me, \”There were women who wanted to marry me, who I didn\’t want to marry, and there were women I wanted to marry, who didn\’t want to marry me.\”

Adding Soul to the Syllabus

Andrea Adelson December 4, 2003

One by one, a class of sixth-graders read aloud a passage and title that each has selected to go with one of Zion Ozeri\’s striking black-and-white portraits.

Seated with the young critics at Morasha Jewish Day School, the New York photographer seems pleased when students accurately discern the context of his untitled images, which the students have filtered through their study of Jewish values.

Neither does he hesitate to crib from one who summoned a particularly apt metaphor for a photo of candle lighting. \”What was that title?\” he asked, scrambling for pen and paper during a morning-long session last month.

Funding Our Jewish Future

Rachel Pomerance December 4, 2003

Imagine a world in which every newborn child receives a voucher toward early childhood Jewish education and a free trip to Israel.

That\’s what philanthropist Michael Steinhardt asked 4,000 delegates to the North American Jewish federation system\’s General Assembly to consider earlier this month.

The \”Newborn Gift\” would be part of an overall investment in strengthening Jewish education that Steinhardt is proposing. He told delegates that he was willing to contribute $10 million to the project, which he called the Fund for Our Jewish Future — on condition that his contribution represent no more than 10 percent of the total fund.

In other words, the former Wall Street tycoon was challenging the audience to raise at least $90 million for Jewish education in the Diaspora.

New Articles

More news and opinions than at a
Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

Jewish Journal

Connect. Inform. Inspire.
© Copyright 2024 Tribe Media Corp • Powered by Lightdrop

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.