Wed, 7pm Beit HaChayal, 60 Weizman.
The launch of Atid Echad, the political party that is running to enhance Israel’s education system generally and with Jewish values, as well as complete successfully the aliya and klita of the remaining Ethiopian community.
We are seeking to elect Avraham Negusa, the first Ethiopian Israeli to head a party, not only to the Knesset, but to be the Minister of Absorption. We are seeking also to be influential in naming the next Education Minister and the chairs of both the Education as well as the Aliya, Klita and Diaspora Affairs Committee of the Knesset. Spread the word!
Thanks, Yossi

הודעה לעיתונות והזמנה לכנס פעילי×? מרכזי

פרופ’ מיכ×?ל קורינלדי – שהיה מועמד לבית המשפט העליון
ומספר 10 ברשימה לכנסת יפתח ×?ת כנס המפלגה.

הכנס הפותח יתקיי×? ביו×? רביעי (1.3.60) בבית החייל בת”×? בשעה 19:00 בהשתתפות מ×?ות פעילי המפלגה ומועמדיה לכנסת הב×?×”. הכנס מהווה
פתיחה רשמית למסע הבחירות של המפלגה.

במהלך הכנס יציג ר×?ש הרשימה, ×?ברה×? נגוסה, ×?ת עיקריה המצע של המפלגה המבוססי×? על מהפכה בקליטת העלייה, שיוויון זכויות לבני הקהילה, מ×?בק בגזענות והשקעה מ×?סיבית בחינוך הציוני ערכי לכל ילדי ישר×?ל.

לצד נגוסה יפתח ×?ת כנס המפלגה הפרופ’ קורינלדי, מי שהיה מועמד לבית משפט העליון, מומחה לחוק השבות, דיק×?ן ומרצה בפקולטות למשפטי×?. פרופ’ קורינלדי
× ×?ות לר×?שונה לקחת חלק ברשימה לכנסת, מתוך הכרותו ×?רוכת השני×? ×¢×? העדה ×”×?תיופית וייצוגו ×?ותה בפני ×?רכ×?ות ובג”×¥, ממ×?בקיה הר×?שוני×? לעליה ולקליטה.

בכנס ישתתפו מ×?ות מפעילי המפלגה שיגיעו מכל קצוות ×”×?רץ ותומכי×? נוספי×? השותפי×? לרעיונות שמציגה המפלגה “עתיד ×?חד”.

עיתונ×?×™×? ו×?נשי תקשורת מוזמני×? לכנס ×”×—×’×™×’×™ הר×?שון בבית החייל ת”×?.

לפרטי×? נוספי×?, דובר המפלגה: מוטי עובדיה 0523-983326

Well, it was a tough and interesting day at the Wexner Alumni Institute, where I had a chance to present and win over probably only a quarter of the participants on some of these ideas about Peoplehood. The scars of so many of the battles on the limits of pluralism run deep, creating a barrier to seeing anew the big picture on what a Jewish values approach can mean and how it can transcend old boundaries. We learned via the BabagaNewz value clarification editorial summits that it is possible, and very exciting when done, to highlight values that work for all major flavors of Jews and to define these values in ways that also work for every0ne. But I forgot how rare this experience is.
Larry Moses described Peoplehood as a sense of “wholeness,” a term I like. My goal was to link Ahad Ha’am’s vision for Jewish life with the call by business guru Jim Collin’s (and Joe Kanfer’s version of it) for establishing the core mission statement and DNA of the enterprise and then build out from there. Here are some of what I highlighted from Good To Great:

I am highlighting particularly the ones where I think we generally fail as a community:

• Disciplined People, Disciplined Thought and Disciplined Action

• Clear set of Core Beliefs that everyone can articulate

• A clear mission statement Read more

Dear Friends, feel free to cut and paste this letter and send to family and friends in Israel; a Hebrew version will be available shortly. Thanks, Yossi

For email circulation

Friends -
I am delighted to send you information about a new political party, ATID ECHAD. ATID ECHAD is the first party in Israel’s history to be led by an Ethiopian-Israeli immigrant - Avraham Neguise. Neguise, head of South Wing to Zion, made aliyah in the 1980s and is a hero of the Jewish people. ATID ECHAD is testimony to Israel’s Zionist mission, its inclusiveness and its hopes for the future.

ATID ECHAD is a diverse party concerned about a successful Ethiopian klita for the benefit all of Israel. Second on the list is Rabbi Yechezkel Stelzer, founder of the New-Idan educational movement. Fellow Kol Dor member, Yossi Abramowitz, winner of the Covenant Award for Excellence in Jewish Education, is another.

ATID ECHAD believes that the best long-term anti-poverty program is quality long-term education, which will benefit all families. ATID ECHAD is deeply committed to restoring educational excellence and promoting social justice – issues that affect the majority of Israelis and are key ingredients of National Security for a strong, confident State. An enlightened society is judged by how it treats its most vulnerable citizens; ATID ECHAD is dedicated to ensuring that all citizens participate in an enlightened civil society that is truly “a light unto the nations.”

ATID ECHAD will join the governing coalition if it is able to influence the selection of the Ministers of Education and Aliya & Klita, as well as serve in influential posts on the key Knesset committees overseeing these Ministries

ATID ECHAD is privileged to have leadership from many communities within Israel and support from international Jewish educational and communal leaders. You will hear much more about ATID ECHAD in the coming weeks, but if this interests you, and you would like to know more/help out, please read further and let me know.

Make your vote really count on issues that can determine the character of the State of Israel and the Jewish people for generations to come. Please pass this along to others who will be interested in this exciting historic venture as well.

To encourage you further, I add this quote from Margaret Mead,
“never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world: indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

Best -
name
title, if appropriate
phone and contact information

Educational platform highlights include:
• Reduce classroom size 10% a year for 4 years
• Creat government-backed university student loan programs
• Provide merit pay for excellent teachers, especially those who work in under-performing school districts
• Creat and adopt a core curriculum of Jewish values to promote Peoplehood for religious and secular use
• Complete the Aliya of the remaining Jews in Ethiopia, consistent with previous yet unimplemented Israeli government decisions and rabbinic opinions; offer academic educational support to ensure a successful klita.

Atid Echad is a new party running in the elections for the 17th Knesset. For the first time, a Party is being headed by an Ethiopian Israeli and the election platform is not only about Aliya and Klita, but has comprehensive educational vision for the future of the Jewish state. Click on the Atid Echad link . Avraham Negusei is a hero of the Jewish people and I am proud to serve with him on the Atid Echad list. Let’s elect him to the Knesset and have him be the Minister of Absorption.
Thanks, Yossi

From Ahad Ha’am’s essay, “Moses,” a sweet and powerful clue as to the uniqueness of the Jewish people.

“Israel has never lived in the present. The present, with its evil and wickedness, has always filled us with anguish, indignation, and bitterness. But just as constantly have we been inspired with brilliant hopes for the future, and an ineradicable faith in the coming triumph of the good and the right; and for these hopes and that faith we have always sought and found support in the history of our past, whereon our imagination has brooded, weaving all manner of fair dreams, so as to make the past a kind of mirror of the future.
Our very Hebrew language, the garment of the Jewish spirit, has no present tense, but only a past and a future. The question has been much debated, whether the fundamental characteristic of the Jewish spirit is optimism or pessimism; and extreme views have been propounded on both sides. But all such discussion is futile. The Jewish is both optimist and pessimist; but his pessimism has reference to the present, his optimism to the future. This was true of the Prophets, and it is true of the people of the Prophets.”

As I pen my address to the Wexner Alumni Institute, these are the three key quotations from Ahad Ha’am that I will be using.

“If, as we hope, there is to be a third (Jewish commonwealth) its fundamental principle, on the national as on the individual plane, will be neither the ascendancy of the body over spirit, nor the suppression of the body for the spirit’s sake, but the uplifting of the body by the spirit.� Ahad Ha’am

Ahad Ha’am warned that Jewish communities outside of Israel do not have “any defense against the ocean of foreign culture, which threatens to obliterate our national characteristics and traditions, and thus gradually to put an end of our existence as a people.�

“Judaism… shall have as its focus point the ideal of our nation’s unity and its free development through the expression of universal human values in the terms of its own distinctive spirit. This is the conception of Judaism on which our education and our literature must be based.�

The key points from the address include:

• The Jewish people are currently suffering from a terrible case of collective amnesia about who we are and why we are.
• Peoplehood needs to be the grand unifying field theory of Jewish life, here, in Israel and worldwide.
• Peoplehood is a return to our historic essence, which was the point that Ahad Ha’am was trying to remind us of.
• Once we wake up and embrace this reality, Jewish life will snap out of our lack of focus and mediocrity and experience a new level of rejuvenation, which will be a much needed blessing to the world.
• We as next generation Jewish leaders can accelerate the pace of acceptance of new strategies, which Jewish life is hungry for.

Even though Tu Bishvat is over, this video is worth the experience. For adults and especially kids familiar with the Star Wars theme, Store Wars is a great short video that represents great values, great humor and a great message.
Click here to view. Enjoy!

The most defining force in the 21st century so far is the impact of globalization. While there are many benefits of globalization, there is also the acceleration of injustices and gaps between the rich and poor. The only antidote to the negative effects of globalization is mutual responsibility, which is something that is hard-wired into the essence of the Jewish people.

We have been a global people for 2,000 years. At a time when the international institutions formed after World War II are lacking in the ethical framework to deal with a new and more complex age, the Jewish people have some things to say, teach, model.

Mutual obligation and responsibility is the only thing that can save the planet, which is not going to come from Christianity, since Christianity quite deliberately elevated the necessity for belief over action, thus inadvertently divorcing ethics from obligation. Belief that people should do the right thing, to respect human rights, has taken civilization only so far.

It is time to enter into a new global covenant of mutual responsibility and this we can bring into the public arena by making sure we not only instill it in the next generation of Jews, but model it both in our relationship to other Jews and to those in need.

Coming Soon: Ahad Ha’am’s Take

http://www.advfn.com/news_today-s-grammy-announcements-missing-jewish-music-artists-_9621435.html

I’ve been asked to address my peers at the Wexner Alumni Institute next week on the topic of Peoplehood. Here is a mini preview for people’s comments and suggestions.
Thanks, Yossi

Peoplehood Town Meeting: Ahad Ha’am Meets Jim Collins

A billion people on the face of the planet today did not have access to clean water, live on less than $1 a day and went to bed hungry. A billion people, of which 30,000 of their children will die today of hunger.

The Jewish people burst forth in history about 4,000 years ago. We are taught that Abraham, the first Jew, challenged God’s morality and sense of justice with Sdom and Gmorra, and then played chicken with God over child sacrifice. The tension of their partnership drew a line in civilization that child sacrifice is a moral crime.

There is something deeply off in our relationship to the world and to the probable intent of our moral tradition. We are seeking endowments for all the institutions that serve our children, the most privileged children in the history of the Jewish people and indeed, the most privileged children in the history of the world.

Is there a way to morally justify this excess in a world in real need? No, but maybe, maybe.

How many children need to perish on the planet today to break through and re-orient our priorities? 100,000 a day, 90,000, 80,000? You get the point.

The extreme focus on our communal survival in the face of unimaginable pain in God’s world should signal to us to drop the knife before we sacrifice not only the innocent by our inaction, but our own children’s place in the moral universe.

The past two thousand years have not been easy. Yet somehow the dark forces of history never quite could extinguish a very special spark, one that was always linked to a sense of purpose in the world…

…I know in my kishkas that we have in a broad sense failed when Hamas and Islamic Jihad can cultivate a Cult of Death where children are dressed in costumes of suicide terrorists and eventually grow up to blow themselves up amid Jewish and Arab Israeli children. It is not just the horrific reincarnation of child sacrifice in the cradle of civilization, but the failure is marked by a world that is largely indifferent to trespassing over a line that we participated in drawing long ago. The evil lunacy of the President of Iran’s nuclear threats against the Jewish state is not exactly actively opposed by most governments and people on the planet, based on actions and not just statements. There are a million children in the State of Israel who have been threatened directly and believably.

If the challenges are global, then our best responses are also global. Maybe even universal, which I think is broader than global since universal in my mind transcends time itself. And unless the Moshiah comes any time soon, we’re in this for the long run and should plan accordingly and strategically. Are we ready to exploit globalization for our moral agenda and as a trademark of a 21st century notion of Peoplehood?

Coming soon: The limitations of religion as the central defining force