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It's often called the most difficult 48-hour period in Israeli life. From memorial to celebration - Yom Hazikaron to Yom Ha'atzmaut - Israelis switch gears in a manner in which the human psyche was not designed.
Adam Stewart has been involved with Israel education and teen travel experiences for fifteen years and is the Director of the Goodman Camping Initiative. Adam has taught at the Newberry Library Center for Public Programs and Loyola University Chicago, has lectured on topics in Jewish history and culture, and has served as an educational consultant to a variety of Jewish organizations.
Anyone who has recently visited an Israeli Purim costume store will soon realize that Purim is not just for little kids but rather, a reason or ‘excuse’ for people, of all ages and orientations, to dress up and express their inner-selves in the weirdest and most elaborate ways.
Before founding NU Campaign and setting off to turn Jewish youth worldwide into global ambassadors for Israel, David Kramer worked in informal Jewish education, non-profit management and business, both in Israel and abroad. David was a head-advisor for the Division of Informal Jewish Education, for the South African Jewish Board of Education and founded the Israel Information Department at the South African Jewish Board of Deputies. He was also Camp Director for the largest Jewish summer camp in the Southern hemisphere. In 2002, David made Aliya and served as a combat soldier in the IDF. In Israel, he has worked for the Jewish Agency, the World Union of Jewish Students and was a founding partner in Segwayz.com. David has a Bachellor of Commerce degree from the University of South Africa. He is married to Tova and they live in Jerusalem with their three children.
Perhaps the first question should be: “Why is there no Presidents Day in the U.S.?” Despite popular convention, the holiday that we will celebrate in the U.S. this week is officially Washington’s Birthday. In 1968, Robert McClory, a congressman from Illinois, proposed a Bill, which would consolidate Lincoln’s Birthday and Washington’s birthday into one federal holiday. The Bill never passed, but advertisers and some state legislatures have pushed the name “Presidents Day” as both more representative of all of our great presidents, and somehow easier to sell cars and appliances.
Adam Stewart has been involved with Israel education and teen travel experiences for fifteen years and is the Director of the Goodman Camping Initiative. Adam has taught at the Newberry Library Center for Public Programs and Loyola University Chicago, has lectured on topics in Jewish history and culture, and has served as an educational consultant to a variety of Jewish organizations.
Having lived in the US for four years on Shlichut and then being back in Israel for six years, I had forgotten what it feels like here when “secular” holidays roll around. Christmas and Easter are pretty clear cut, they “don’t belong to us”. Valentine’s Day and Halloween sort of do, but then there is that tension…do we do it? Don’t we? Do we but feel funny about it?
As a parent this time around, it’s even more interesting to observe. It’s all around us, yet the children are oblivious about it and it hasn’t been mentioned in school.
Sophie Fellman Rafalovitz made Aliyah with her family as a child from Guatemala City. She served in the IDF as a drill sergeant through the NAHAL program. She earned her Bachelor's degree in Occupational Therapy from Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She was one of the founding workers of NOAM-MAROM Olami, helping to establish Masorti youth and Student groups in Latin America and in Europe. From 2001-2005 she served as the United Synagogue Youth Shlicha on the West Coast. Since then, she has worked in Israel's Ministry of Education as an occupational therapist for children with special needs, guiding educational teams and families. At the same time, she served as the National Youth Commission Chair and on the Executive Boards of the Masorti Movement and Marom Olami. She arrived in Chicago this past August with her husband and three children. Sophie is now serving the Chicago community and 16 other states in facilitating Aliyah.
Yadoa teda ki ger yihyeh zarecha b’eretz lo-lahem.
Know that your descendents will be strangers in a land not their own.
~ Genesis 15:13
The condition of being a stranger, a ger, is woven into Jewish identity. From Abraham through the present day, to be Jewish is to stand inside and outside ourselves at the same time. It is to be at home and to be a foreigner, or at least to have the awareness that we were once foreigners, at every moment.
Rabbi Josh Feigelson serves as Educational Director for Ask Big Questions, a national initiative of Hillel to promote civil dialogue on campuses throughout North America. He is a doctoral student in the Department of Religious Studies at Northwestern University, focusing on the intersection of American Jews and American higher education. From 2005-2011 Josh served as Campus Rabbi at Northwestern Hillel, and currently serves as a spiritual leader of the Evanston Orthodox Minyan. He is an alumnus of Yale University and was ordained by Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. Josh blogs about Jewish life and education at www.rabbijosh.com
This past summer Lena Benson and I went to Israel to meet with the people that we were hoping would be our partners in our Mishpacha l’mishpacha project, a project of the iChallenge Ideas Incubator. We had a wonderful meeting and I left feeling good that the program might really work.
Anne Stein has been the Director of Education at Congregation Etz Chaim for twenty years. In 1990 she started Shalom Sunday at the Mayer Kaplan JCC, a Sunday school program for newly arrrived children from the former Soviet Union. Before going into Jewish education she was a primary grade teacher in public schools and started a gifted program at a Catholic school in Dayton, OH. She serves on the board of NATE and is finishing her fourth term as president of CATE.
What is it about Thanksgiving and Americans? We have a visceral connection to this all-American holiday that makes celebration among American Jews almost universal, even American Jews living abroad.
Lori B. Sagarin has served as the Director of Congregational Learning at Temple Beth Israel in Skokie, Illinois for fifteen years. She is the former president of the National Association of Temple Educators (NATE), and is also past president of the Chicago Association of Temple Educators. Lori and her husband, Rabbi James Sagarin, are co-authors of Oseh Shalom, published by the URJ press. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Wisconsin and received a Masters degree in Jewish Education with the designation of Reform Jewish Educator (RJE) from Hebrew Union College.
November is the month of the mustache. While many causes have been assigned a month – Breast Cancer Awareness month in October, Black History month in February – men around the world are claiming November as their own.
Naomi comes to the iCenter with a strong passion for education and building Jewish community. After working as a high school English teacher through Teach For America for two years, Naomi is an avid believer that education is the key to building personal identity. Through her work at Hillel at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her experience in Israel through Birthright and the Livnot Galilee Fellowship program, Naomi was able to really see the intersection between her passions for education, Judaism, and Israel. As a result, she is committed to sharing this connection with others and is excited to be working at the iCenter.
Today is the first time I have seen Aviva Schalit smile. After over five years in captivity her son is coming home. A nation takes a big sigh of relief, and the woman who has become Israel’s conscience – an Israeli “every”-mother, can go back to being an actual mother.
Adam Stewart has been involved with Israel education and teen travel experiences for fifteen years and is the Director of the Goodman Camping Initiative. Adam has taught at the Newberry Library Center for Public Programs and Loyola University Chicago, has lectured on topics in Jewish history and culture, and has served as an educational consultant to a variety of Jewish organizations.
