Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life has formally partnered with City Year, the national service corps organization, to promote civic engagement among young Jewish adults. The move, which affects Jewish students from more than 25 college campuses, represents a rare large-scale partnership between a Jewish and secular organization.
We’ve seen lots of top ten lists about the 00’s over the past few weeks, but what do the numbers from the last ten years say about the decade itself? In the spirit of “nothing is coincidence,” we looked for numerical values to make visible possible invisible implications. This week, we uncover the Gematria of the 2000’s:
The year almost ended with a bang. If not for some brave, smart passengers on that Detroit-bound flight from Amsterdam, a Muslim underwear bomber would have succeeded in blowing a hole through 2010.
The Exodus was made possible because of the merits of the righteous women, say our sages. Some interpret this statement as a patronizing approach to women in the spirit of the famous dictum: Behind every great man there is a great woman. But this relegates women to the sidelines and renders them nothing more than hidden tools, helping pave the way for their husband’s success.
If you peruse the organizational directory of any major university, chances are you will come across groups devoted to almost anything. Here at the University of Michigan we even have a group for squirrel enthusiasts. However, there is only one campus (thus far) where you can find an organization that is filling the gap between Israel’s economy and American business-minded students.
The Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF) Western Region gala, held Dec. 17, 2009, at the Beverly Hilton, raised more than $5.2 million to benefit IDF soldiers through the various FIDF programs. Paul Guerin, president of the Western Region group, began the evening’s program with the announcement that he and his wife, Vera, would give $1 million, half of which will be dedicated to supporting FIDF’s IMPACT! scholarship program that provides college scholarships to former combat soldiers with limited financial means. At the sold-out gala, event chairs Cheryl and Haim Saban then said they would match the $1.6 million already raised, followed by two additional $500,000 pledges by Victoria and Ron Simms, and Erika Glazer.
In “36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction” (Pantheon Books, $27.95), Rebecca Newberger Goldstein probes the collision of faith and reason in numerous intellectual, philosophical, mathematical, ethical, theological and kabbalistic arguments sprinkled with fistfuls of humor.
While mainstream critics speculate endlessly on which movie, director or actress will waltz off with the Oscar and Golden Globe trophies, this occasional reviewer has always been more interested in checking out the annual foreign-language film contenders.
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