Andrea Bronfman, a giant in the world of Jewish philanthropy, was killed Monday when a car struck her while she was walking her dog in Manhattan. She was 60 years old.
Philanthropist and game show icon Monty Hall took center stage last week at Temple Shalom for the Arts when he stepped up to the bimah to read from the Torah at his bar mitzvah. Hall embraced the ancient tradition of a second bar mitzvah surrounded by an overflowing group of friends and well-wishers who turned out to share this \”second\” special life moment.
Mark Worland — six-foot-something, dressed in tight black and skinhead bald — grabs Navid by the arm.
\”Come with me!\” he barks.
\”No!\” screams Navid, barely 5-feet tall.
Navid throws himself on his back, locks the bottom of his feet to Worland\’s knees, and shields his face and head from Worland\’s flailing fists.
\”Great job,\” says Worland, a self-defense specialist, shaking Navid\’s hand and helping him up, as Navid\’s friends applaud.
This self-defense class is part of a repertoire of life skills that Navid and his peers are learning at Independent Living Skills, a summer program for developmentally disabled adults run by Etta Israel Center, a mid-Wilshire nonprofit for people with special needs.
Who\’s up and who\’s down in Jewish charities? While a recent snapshot of some of the largest Jewish charities reveals that Jewish fundraising generally is stable, nuances in the numbers reveal the viccissitudes — and why.
Every Jewish New Year we recite the words, "Repentance, prayer and charity avert the evil decree." It sounds straightforward enough, but trying to navigate myriad charities, especially Jewish charities, is confounding.
The Ohr Dessa Project was established 11 years ago by Rabbi Shlomo Bakst to rebuild Kiev\’s Great Choral Synagogue, completed in 1997. During reconstruction, Bakst became aware of numerous homeless Jewish orphans in Odessa. The Tikva Children\’s Home was created in 1996 as a spin-off of the Ohr Dessa Project.
With religious school winding down this month at many synagogues, some cantors will regularly seize the opportunity to produce a brief season of secular concerts with guest artists and visiting cantors.
Tricia called Jewish National Fund (JNF) to find out if she could plant a tree in Israel for each guest invited to Danielle\’s bat mitzvah. \”It turns out JNF has exactly such a program set up already,\” Tricia said.
Today, Jews are among the most educated and affluent minority groups in the United States. Attitudes toward them have evolved to such an extent that an Orthodox Jew, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.), is considered a front-runner for the Democrat Party\’s presidential nomination.
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