Thank you”

I Googled for something completely different, but found your page…and i have to say thanks. nice read.

this is a good summary of much of our discussion of the last years, but I still take issue with the omissions and on where the emphasis is placed, rather than on the content which you do discuss.

You treat values as a series of checkboxes to be ticked off and the resulting lists compared. On the one hand the thinking in terms of a series of attributes which one “has” or doesn’t possess is in itself questionable: values are not attributes, but rather concepts or ideas which one espouses. The question is how? And here one comes to the second part of my critique: much of what is distinctive about Judaism is the oral tradition, not in its written form, but in its “narration”. That is, in how it is passed on and how it is applied, and most importantly with which rhetorical gesture and tone of voice it is communicated. This is above all what is distinctive about Judaism, and we haven’t really examined this at all, and you do not articulate this in your article either. Our lack of a voice has much to do with breaks in the oral chain of transmission for which book learning and submergence in goyish western culture, no matter how good we may be at them, cannot be a substitute.

Getting inside the logic, the methodology, and the rhetoric of the oral sources can help, but only with good rabbinical teachers. And, generally, anyone outside orthodoxy no longer has access to them.

And here there is a third point which is essential, and is hard to bring across: any Jew who refuses Jewish institutions any authority (over her or himself), is already lost to the Jewish people since he or she then has no stake anymore in it. It no longer matters to her or him, since he or she looks at it from the outside: the fourth son at the Seder …

all the best,

Ian

How did the fact that BABAGANEWZ, a JFL publication, the only publication in Jewish life for middle school kids, a magazine that is PURCHASED by 2,000 schools for 4,000 teachers and 35,000 kids EACH year for 5 years now, with mountains of research to support its success, where was BABA in the article.
Where was the AEP award, the AJPA awards, the stamps, the teacher training record breaking sign ups? Where was BABA.
Call me self promoting and quirky and what you want that is all fine for the purpose of making headlines, but writing about JFL without BABAGANEWZ and its long provem measured success is like writing the history of Israel without the six day war.

Earlier this evening a piece appeared in the on-line Jewish Week on Yossi Abramowitz. It really saddened me in a way that I’ve never felt in reading an article.

I am very conscious of not burdening CEJP’s e-mail list with more then one communiqué every few months…so I apologize for doing do tonight, but I felt that the situation warranted it. Please feel free to share this e-mail with anyone you feel should read it. I have submitted it to the Jewish Week as an OP ED piece with the hope that they will run it.

Warmest regards,

Joseph Hyman

The Center for Entrepreneurial Jewish Philanthropy

CEJP@optonline.net

Yossi’s Dream

By Joseph Hyman

President the Center for Entrepreneurial Jewish Philanthropy

For the better part of eighteen months I have traveled the country to engage a new generation of Jewish philanthropists. During that time, I have met with hundreds of dedicated and caring people, including philanthropists, advocates, volunteers and professionals. It has been a remarkable experience that has reaffirmed my belief in the power of the human spirit.

These are extraordinarily complex times for the Jewish people. Never before have we known such influence, affluence and acceptance; and ironically it threatens to destroy us as a people. Intermarriage continues to abound and for far too many apathy silently extinguishes any last remnants of a connection to the Jewish people.

Internationally, a dramatic rise in Muslim extremism has blurred the lines between rampant anti-Israelism and anti-semitism. We have experienced a level of rhetoric that grotesquely questions the sacrifices made by six million Jews…that question the basic right of a Jewish state to exist.

Yet I am filled with hope because I have also witnessed the transformation of 100,000 birthright alumni, the empowerment of an entire movement of Jewish day schools and the emergence of Jewish camping as the crown jewel of informal education. I have witnessed an Israeli Prime Minister stand at the podium of this country’s most sacred institution and deliver an address that few will ever forget.

In meeting rooms, offices and hotels I have sat across the table from Jewish social entrepreneurs who often see in the Jewish people what we can not often see in ourselves. It resonates in their eyes as a reminder of what is possible if only we can forgive our own self doubt. It is a rare gift that gives me hope for the future.

If the Jewish people want to maintain our strong identity we have a responsibility to honor, nurture and protect those who help lead the way, those who dream in colors and shapes that often confuse and frighten us. Without our support and protection, they fall prey to cynicism and criticism.

Earlier today I read Debora Nussbaum Cohen’s piece “The Paradox of Yossi Abramowitz.� It was an article that saddened me greatly because it brought into question the motives, personality and style of a fine Jewish social entrepreneur whose only true motivation is to create a new vision for our community, embodying a proud commitment to Jewish peoplehood, social activism and Jewish values.

For anyone who truly knows Yossi Abramowitz, the article stands as a grossly unbalanced, unfair and pointless assessment of someone who daily strives to live a life filled with compassion and goodness.

If I would wish anything for my own four children it’s that they have the heart of Yossi Abramowitz.

Where in this story is mention of the role Yossi played in energizing the Jewish community’s movement to free Soviet Jews? Where is there mention of his tireless commitment to recruit the Israeli government’s support for a worldwide social activism month?

He helped lead a team that created MyJewishLearning.com which today reaches hundreds of thousands of people wishing to engage in Jewish study. He helped tackle the challenges of re-engineering Hebrew schools, creating a 21st century curriculum and website called Babaganewz that today appears in over 3,500 classrooms throughout the country.

While many of us sit on the side line and bemoan the challenges facing our people, Yossi is in the game, each and every day.

Whether standing at a PEJE conference advocating for zero interest day school loans that are guaranteed by the government of Israel, or flying to Israel to campaign for a newly created political party aimed at supporting Ethiopian Jewry, he challenges us with new ideas. He implores us to be better Jews and better people. He reminds us of what is still possible… if only we believe enough, if only we care enough, if only we try hard enough.

And yes that comes with a price. Dreamers are not always the best administrators, or managers. Dreamers can not always control their enthusiasm and at times are impulsive and pushy. They are often not practical and get enamored with their visions. They can do stupid things that remind us of a groom overcome with infatuation for his future bride.

But in truth, they are the key to our future and the power of our past. People like Yossi Abramowitz stand on the abyss and tell us not to be afraid. They imbue hope and kindness, enthusiasm and naiveté. They see what is possible and perhaps what does not yet exist.

Today was a sad day for the Jewish people. Debra Nussbaum Cohen’s article was mean spirited and unfair. It tarnished a person who for all his mistakes embodies the best in the human spirit and our best hope for the future.

Perhaps Michael Steinhardt said it best. “He’s one of the more original and creative people in the Jewish world,� Steinhardt said. “He is a valuable asset to the Jewish world and will become increasingly more so over time.�