Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on January 18, 2022

Bob Saget, the comedian and actor famous for playing a wholesome sitcom father figure but who never lost his flair for raunchy comedy, has died at 65. Saget died shortly after performing in Orlando, where he had delivered a show with his trademark mashup of dark humor and dad jokes that he first developed while misbehaving in Hebrew school.

As a performer, Saget alternated between the raunchy standup comic known for darkly funny bits peppered with curse words and the wholesome dad that he played on the 1990s sitcom Full House, bringing together his audiences of children and adults in his role as host of Americas Funniest Home Videos.

Even before he got to Hollywood, Saget honed his comedy as a misbehaving Hebrew school student at Temple Israel in Norfolk, Virginia.

Well, a lot of it was rebellion, Saget told the Atlanta Jewish Times in 2014. In my Hebrew school training, I would spend more time trying to impress the girls in the class. I remember the rabbi taking me up to his office and saying, Saget, youre not an entertainer; you have to stop doing this. I couldnt stop.

He never did.

Saget was born in Philadelphia in 1956 to Jewish parents but spent much of his childhood in Norfolk. After studying film at Temple University, Saget moved to Los Angeles and became a regular at the Comedy Store, the legendary comedy club famous for launching the careers of comedians like David Letterman and Jay Leno.

In 2021, Saget participated in a Purim spiel, or comedic reading of the Purim story, to benefit the Met Council, in which he played the villain of the story, Haman. Im self-loathing, too, he quipped as he and other members of the cast sounded groggers to drown out Hamans name.

Saget recalled his Jewish upbringing, including his Hebrew school experience and the Jewish foods his bubbe cooked, in the foreword he wrote for the 2011 book, Becoming Jewish: The Challenges, Rewards, and Paths to Conversion, by Rabbi Steven Carr Reuben and Jennifer S. Hanin.

I was born a Jewish boy. I was circumcised. Thank God by a professional. That is not something you want done by a novice. Or someone doing it for college credit. So I became Jewish instantly upon birth, he wrote.

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Bob Saget, comedian and actor, dies at 65 - Jewish Community Voice

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Posted By admin on January 18, 2022

A museum near Tel Aviv, which first opened nearly 35 years ago, has ceased operations after failing to reach an agreement with 47 artists who accused the museum and the city of censorship, and demanded that their work be removed.

The artists had asked The Ramat Gan Museum of Israeli Art to reverse its decision to withdraw a controversial painting by Israeli artist David Reeb that juxtaposes the Hebrew words Jerusalem of Shit and a depiction of a Haredi Jew davening at the Western Wall. The museums decision to remove Reebs work was prompted by a request from the mayor of Ramat Gan, who, according to the New York-based online arts magazine Hyperallergic, said the work was racist towards ultra-Orthodox Jews.

In solidarity with Reeb, nearly 90% of participating artists petitioned for their works to be withdrawn from the exhibit.

Its a pity the exhibition had to close due to the mayors and the museum managements political cynicism and that a really nice art-purposed space has gone to waste, Reeb wrote in an email to Hyperallergic.

But Im happy about the participating artists solidarity, and that they managed to stand up together against censorship of a work of art by a politician. I think thats more important.

Reeb told Hyperallergic that his 1997 painting Jerusalem was not meant to disrespect religious Jews, instead describing the work as a critique of the instrumentalization and sentimentalization of Jewish attachment to the Western Wall in order to justify the occupation of East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Jerusalem was displayed at the museum as part of a larger institutional critique that launched on Dec. 23, 2021. However, two days after the exhibit opened, the museum complied with Ramat Gan Mayor Carmel Shama-Hacohens request to remove Reebs painting.

Reeb, represented by the Israeli Association for Civil Rights, appealed the museums decision in a Tel Aviv court. A judge ruled that the mayor had gone too far, but that the museums board of directors were allowed to remove Reebs work. The museum board is chaired by Ramat Gan Deputy Mayor Roy Barzilai, and one-third of the trustees are elected officials.

A compromise could not be reached with the protesting artists in subsequent mediation, and so the museum closed on Jan. 12, less than a month after the exhibition, its first since a recent remodeling, opened.

The artist Ofri Cnaani told Hyperallergic that she and the other artists made all possible efforts to come to an agreement with the populist mayor.

In a statement on its website, the museum expressed sorrow and disappointment over the results of the mediation process between the artists and representatives of the Ramat Gan Municipality.

The artists have begun removing their work, which they plan to document in a digital archive.

We left the museum no choice but to close its doors, Cnaani told Hyperallergic. It is a reminder that there is no art museum without artists, but there are artists without the museum.

She added: We feel absolutely at peace with the decision to remove our pieces, as it sparks much wider public discussion about the role of cultural institutions and the price of censorship.

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Israeli museum shutters its doors after 47 artists ask to remove their work - Forward

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Posted By admin on January 14, 2022

Lani Guinier, the daughter of a white Jewish mother and Black Panamanian father whose nomination by President Clinton to head the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice was opposed by mainstream Jewish organizations, died on Friday.

Guinier, who went on to become the first Black woman on the Harvard Law School faculty as well as its first woman of color given a tenured post, succumbed to complications from Alzheimers disease, according to The Boston Globe.

Carrie Johnson, who covers the Justice Department for National Public Radio, tweeted a message from Harvard Law School Dean John Manning confirming Guiniers death and praising her.

Her scholarship changed our understanding of democracy of why and how the voices of the historically underrepresented must be heard and what it takes to have a meaningful right to vote, Mannings message said.The deans letter to the school community said she died surrounded by friends and family.

By LUKE FRAZZA/AFP via Getty...

This undated file photo shows Lani Guinier(C), President Clintons nominee to head the U.S. Civil Rights office of the U.S.

Guinier was born in April 1950 to Eugenia Genji Paprin, a Jewish civil rights activist and educator, and Ewart Guinier, a Black Panamanian lawyer, union organizer and academic. At age 12, she was inspired to become a civil rights attorney as she watched Constance Baker Motley help escort James Meredith, the first Black American to enroll in the University of Mississippi.

When her former Yale Law School classmate President Bill Clinton nominated Guinier for assistant attorney general for civil rights in 1993, it seemed her dream was being fulfilled. But despite her stellar record as a voting rights activist, her nomination was thwarted by conservative journalists and Republican senators who publicly described her as a quota queen, reverse racist, and radical madwoman.

I deeply regret that I shall not have the opportunity for public service in the Civil Rights Division, Guinier said then, according to a transcript on BlackPast.org. I am greatly disappointed that I have been denied the opportunity to go forward to be confirmed and to work closely to move this country away from the polarization of the last 12 years, to lower the decibel level of the rhetoric that surrounds race, and to build bridges among people of goodwill to enforce the civil rights laws on behalf of all Americans.

There was notable Jewish opposition to Guiniers appointment. The American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress, and the Anti-Defamation League declined to endorse Guinier.

The Jewish press also weighed in with editorials critical of Guinier, said an article in The Washington Report for Middle East Affairs at the time, citing specifically an editorial in the Forward. It said that the Supreme Court decision upholding the redistricting of Brooklyn set the stage for the Balkanization of our entire electorate, a process that will accelerate if Ms. Guinier is confirmed by the Judiciary Committee. and that her logic suggested that a democratic system is one in which all ghettos are represented, no matter how small the ghettos might be, concluding: What a tragic development if would be were the political party in which most Jews made their home in America to begin erecting political ghettos in the new land.

It was Guiniers Jewish mother who helped to inspire her response to the high-profile controversy. According to a 1998 article, Black writers hail Jewish moms by Owen Moritz of the New York Daily News, Guinier described how her mother helped her stay cool in the face of public humiliation. She told me not to project my own anger onto a situation, but to listen closely to hear other peoples anger or feelings, Gunier was quoted as saying. It was a way of depersonalizing the situation, getting outside of it. It taught me not to internalize rejection.

A month after Clinton pulled Guiniers nomination, she spoke at the 1993 National Association of Black Journalists convention in Tampa, Florida. We are in a state of denial about issues of race and racism, she told the crowd. The censorship imposed against me means that officially, there should be no serious public debate or discussion about racial fairness and justice in a true democracy.

At the convention press conference, Robin Washington who is now the Forwards editor-at-large asked Gunier how she felt about the attacks on her from Jewish media.

Your mother was Jewish, right? he recalled asking her.

Yes. Still is, she replied.

So you would be?

I was raised Unitarian, Washington recalled her interjecting.

According to Moritzs Daily News article, Guiniers mother took her and her three sisters to bar mitzvahs and seders and taught them to see their mixed heritage as enabling them to be bridge people.

Prior to Clintons nomination, Guinier, a graduate of Radcliffe College, was a tenured law professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She had also been a civil rights attorney for more than a decade and served in the Civil Rights Division during the Carter Administration as special assistant to then Assistant Attorney General Drew S. Days.

Clintons snub inspired Guinier to use her fame to speak out against racism and sexism and to advocate for more candid public examination of these issues. She wrote several books about her commitment to social justice and equal political participation, including her memoir, Lift Every Voice: Turning a Civil Rights Setback into a New Vision of Social Justice in 2004, which contributed to the national discourse about the true meaning of democracy. Her most recent book was The Tyranny of the meritocracy: Democratizing Higher Education in a Democracy, in 2015.

Sherfilynn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund where Guinier headed the voting rights project during the 1970s, tweeted a loss that means to me more than words can say. Civil rights atty, professor, my mentor, member of our NAACP LEF family. A mother of the 1982 amendments to the Voting Rights Act. A scholar of uncompromising brilliance. Rest in Peace and Power, dear Lani. #LaniGuinier.

Guiniers father forged a path for her historic role at Harvard. In 1929, he was one of two Black students admitted to Harvard College. He had to drop out two years later after being excluded from living on campus and receiving financial aid. Despite those obstacles, he returned to Harvard in 1969 as a professor and the first chairman of the Afro-American Studies Department.

Guinier will long be remembered and lauded for her contributions to civil rights and voting democracy. In November 2021 her alma mater Yale Law School held a symposium to honor her teaching legacy and career achievements. Days earlier, she received the 2021 Award of Merit from the Yale Law School Association, and The Lillian Goldman Law Library displayed her written works of scholarship.

Today Guiniers son, Nikolas Bowie, continues the family tradition as an assistant professor at Harvard Law School. My mother taught me from a very age the meaning of courage, he stated Friday in The Boston Globe. She taught me that a principle is far more important and courage is far more important than any position someone can give you, he said.

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Lani Guinier drew on her Black and Jewish roots in a life of outspoken activism - Forward

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Posted By admin on January 14, 2022

During the Jim Crow era, segregation drove Black children into poor quality schools. But about 100 years ago, a collaboration between two unusual partners built almost 5,000 schoolhouses specifically for Black children throughout the South.

Named after one of the partners, Julius Rosenwald, one-third of the Souths rural black school children and teachers were served by Rosenwald Schools by 1928, according to the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund. The schools ultimately enriched the lives and education of a generation of Black families.

Next month, an exhibit at the Charlotte Museum of History will highlight the partnership between Booker T. Washington, a man born into slavery who became a leading intellectual of his time, and Julius Rosenwald, the son of Jewish immigrants, who went on to lead Sears, Roebuck & Company.

We speak with the exhibits creator and photographer as well as other experts about the legacy of the Rosenwald Schools in Mecklenburg County and throughout the American South.

GUESTS

Andrew Feiler, photographer, author and creator of the exhibit to be featured at the Charlotte Museum of History, A Better Life for Their Children

Fannie Flono, former associate editor for the Charlotte Observer, author of "Thriving in the Shadows: The Black Experience in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County," Charlotte Museum of History trustee and Chair of the Save Siloam School Project

Dan Morrill, former consulting director for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission and professor emeritus of history at UNC Charlotte

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The enduring legacy of Rosenwald Schools in Charlotte and throughout the American South - WFAE

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Posted By admin on January 14, 2022

Thursday, January 13

Cuban music group Cortadito headlines Miami Beach Botanical Garden's late-night Garden After Dark series on Thursday. Known as the Buena Vista Social Club of Miami, Cortadito plays the traditional 20th-century Cuban music. Grammy winner Nestor Torres will join the band for a night of Latin classics. Guests can experience the garden in a more intimate setting as they wander the romantic grounds. 7 p.m. Thursday at Miami Beach Botanical Garden, 2000 Convention Center Dr., Miami Beach; 305-673-7256; mbgarden.org. Tickets cost $35 via eventbrite.com. Ashley-Anna Aboreden

Former Oakland Raiders cheerleader turned comedian Anjelah Johnson-Reyes stops at the Miami Improv for a four-night stint starting on Thursday. From her viral characters to her time on the other Saturday night sketch show, Mad TV, Johnson-Reyes has built on her success as an actor and standup with parts in Curb Your Enthusiasm and a nonstop national touring schedule. She also has a memoir, Who Do I Think I Am, set to drop in March. 7 p.m. Thursday, at the Miami Improv Comedy Theater, 8300 NW 36th St., Doral; 305-441-8200; miamiimprov.com. Tickets cost $35. Olivia McAuley

Tony Award-winning musical Tootsie has taken over the Broward Center of Performing through January 23. Based on the 1982 Dustin Hoffman-starring romantic comedy of the same name, the show follows the story of Michael Dorsey, an actor struggling to make it big, and an act of desperation pushes him into a role of a lifetime. The Broadway show has been a hit with audiences and critics alike since its debut in 2018. Rolling Stone calls it "musical comedy heaven," while the New York Times chose it as a Critic's Pick. 8 p.m. Thursday through January 23, at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 SW Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale; 954-462-0222; browardcenter.org. Tickets cost $35 to $95 via ticketmaster.com. Ashley-Anna Aboreden

Art Deco Weekend: See Friday

Photo by Karli Evans

The Miami Design Preservation League pays homage to Miami Beach's signature design style with Art Deco Weekend. This year's theme is "Art Deco Celebrates the Radio," featuring lectures on topics like "Broadcast Hysteria" delivered virtually by A. Brad Schwartz, while Danielle Shapiro gives an in-person talk on American industrial designer John Vassos at the Wolfsonian-FIU. Festival epicenter Lummus Park features an artisan and antiques marketplace, guided tours, a classic car show, films, and live music. Friday through Sunday, at Lummus Park between Fifth and 15th streets and Ocean Drive, Miami Beach; artdecoweekend.com. Ticket prices vary. Olivia McAuley

Synth-pop duo Erasure has had a steady stream of hits since making a splash on UK dance floors in 1987. Andy Bell and Vince Clarke have more than earned their place in the synth-pop hall of fame with releases like Wild!, Chorus, and Abba-esque. In 2020, Erasure dropped its 18th studio album, The Neon, an ode to the pair's original sound. Bell and Clarke make their way to the Fillmore Miami Beach on Friday, with Australian pop duo Bag Raiders serving as openers. 8 p.m. Friday, at the Fillmore Miami Beach, 1700 Washington Ave., Miami Beach; 305-673-7300; fillmoremb.com. Tickets cost $55 to $75 via livenation.com. Olivia McAuley

Have you ever dreamed of being a guest at Jay Gatsby's extravagant parties? Now is your chance to experience the glamour of the Roaring Twenties at the Great Gatsby Party at the historic and era-appropriate Alfred I. Dupont Building in downtown Miami. From eclectic entertainment to speakeasy suites to delicious cocktails, the traveling party promises to be like nothing you've ever experienced before. Come dressed in your swankiest 1920s attire and ready for nostalgic debauchery. 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Alfred I. Dupont Building, 169 E. Flagler St., Miami; greatgatsbyparty.com. Tickets cost $110 to $225. Ashley-Anna Aboreden

Palomino Blond at Gramps: See Saturday

Photo by Steph Estrada/@stephhestrada

Otakufest, a two-day festival-meets-convention celebrating anim, manga, cosplay, video gaming, and comic fandom, takes over Miami Airport Convention Center on Saturday with live panels, costume contests, and music performances. Meet and greet anim and animation guests like Trina Nishimura of Attack on Titan and catch performances by local and national bands like local pop duo Seizure Machine and rapper Emyhr Rhymes. 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, at Miami Airport Convention Center, 711 NW 72nd Ave., Miami; macc.com. Tickets cost $33 to $90 via otakufest.com. Olivia McAuley

Described by Iggy Pop as "one of Miami's brightest lights," four-piece outfit Palomino Blond celebrates the release of its EP ontheinside at Gramps on Saturday, featuring special guests Mold!, Smelter, and Big Child. Produced, mixed, and recorded by Torche's Jonathan Nuez, ontheinside is the anticipated debut from the buzzed-about band who cultivated a cult following in a few short years with tracks like "Creature Natural" and "Damage." 7:30 p.m. Saturday, at Gramps, 176 NW 24th St., Miami; 855-732-8992; gramps.com. Admission is free. Olivia McAuley

Coral Gables Art Cinema's After Hours series is currently hosting a Pedro Almodvar bingeathon, having kicked things off last Saturday with a screening of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, the movie that brought the Spanish auteur international acclaim. This Saturday, the series continues with a showing of the 1997 erotic drama Live Flesh starring a younger Javier Bardem (before he found success in Hollywood) and Italian actress Francesca Neri. The retrospective continues later this month with screenings on All About My Mother on January 22, Bad Education on January 25, and The Flower of My Secret on January 29. 9 p.m. Saturday, at Coral Gables Art Cinema, 260 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables; 786-472-2249; gablescinema.com. Tickets cost $12.75. Jose D. Duran

WhoMadeWho at Club Space: See Sunday

Photo by Petra Kleis

It is a full moon on Saturday, and Faena Hotel Miami Beach will be making the most of the lunar phase with its monthly Full Moon Sound Meditation led by Tierra Santa Healing House wellness director Agustina Caminos and didgeridoo player and sound healing educator Jared Bistrong. Converging in front of the hotel's iconic Damien Hirst golden mammoth statue, guests can expect to be guided through body movement, breathwork, and experience a drum and didgeridoo sound bath. 6:30 p.m. Sunday, at Faena Hotel Miami Beach, 3201 Collins Ave., Miami Beach; 305-534-8800; faena.com. Tickets cost $40 via eventbrite.com. Olivia McAuley

Danish trio WhoMadeWho seems to have a love affair with Miami. Tomas Hffding, Tomas Barford, and Jeppe Kjellberg performed at III Points back in October and then returned in December for an appearance at Rakastella. Now they're back in the Magic City for a Sunday set at Club Space. The group has always avoided being pigeonholed and currently is presenting a hybrid DJ set that combines live instrumentation with programmed effects. "Even though our albums have always been electronic the live stuff we've been doing is usually based around drums and two singers just rocking out with a four-to-the-floor beat," Hffding told New Times in November. Expect more of the same on Sunday on the terrace. 10 p.m. Sunday, at Club Space, 34 NE 11th St., Miami; 786-357-6456; clubspace.com. Tickets cost $15 to $40 via eventbrite.com. Jose D. Duran

Berlin-based British DJ-producer Stephanie Sykes stops at Treehouse on Sunday for an end-of-the-week shindig heavy on the techno beats. Sykes was drawn to DJ'ing after a trip to Ibiza at the age of 15, and she's managed to become one of the best techno wizards out there. She's held residencies at European nightclubs like Khidi and Corsica Studios. At Treehouse, she'll spin alongside Feph and Mr. Tron. 9 p.m. Sunday, at Treehouse 232 23rd St., Miami Beach; 786-318-1908; treehousemiami.com. Tickets cost $20 via eventbrite.com; admission is free before 10 p.m. Ashley-Anna Aboreden

Miami Heat vs. Toronto Raptors at FTX Arena: See Monday

Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Currently sitting fourth in the Eastern Conference, the Miami Heat will face off the seventh-place Toronto Raptors at FTX Arena on Monday. Coach Erik Spoelstra and the players are hoping to keep the momentum going before April's playoffs. The Raptors are hardly looking like the team that won the championship in 2019, so the Heat should be able to send the Raptors back to the Mesozoic Era. 7:30 p.m. Monday, at FTX Arena, 601 Biscayne Blvd., Miami; 786-777-1000; ftxarena.com. Tickets cost $15 to $375 via ticketmaster.com. Ashley-Anna Aboreden

Every Tuesday, the Corner hosts its Downtown Jazz night feature "Miami's finest players." Yes, believe it or not, the Corner can be fun outside of the hours of 3 to 7 a.m. Presented by Miami Jazz Bookings, this week, enjoy the stylings of Derek Fairholm (piano), Lucas Apostoleris (drums), Cisco Dimas (trumpet), and Brian Tate (bass) while sipping on expertly crafted cocktails and nibbling on some light bites. Best of all? You'll most definitely be in bed before sunrise. 10 p.m. Tuesday, at the Corner, 1035 N. Miami Ave., Miami; 305-961-7887; thecornermiami.com. Jose D. Duran

Vizcaya Museum and Gardens reboots a tradition started by industrialist James Deering, the estate's original owner, with a special screening of the 1986 comedy The Money Pit as part of its Vizcaya Late series. Audiences should keep their eyes peeled for a scene filmed at the historic home. The event includes discussions about historic leisure activities at Vizcaya, plus a complimentary map of locations throughout the estate where other movies have been filmed. (Note: Lawn chairs and related equipment not permitted on the property.) 6 p.m. Wednesday, at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, 3251 S. Miami Ave., Miami; 305-250-9133; vizcaya.org. Tickets cost $10 via eventbrite.com. Olivia McAuley

Guitarist and singer-songwriter J.D. Simo stops at Culture Room on Wednesday. Before going solo, Simo fronted the Nashville rock band that bore his name and quietly fizzled out in 2017. He later released his first proper solo album, Off at 11, in 2019, followed by a self-titled album in 2020. His third album, Mind Control, dropped back in November. Joining Simo on Wednesday is Boston-bred band GA-20. 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, at Culture Room, 3045 N. Federal Hwy., Fort Lauderdale; 954-564-1074; cultureroom.net. Tickets cost $15 via ticketmaster.com. Ashley-Anna Aboreden

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The 16 Best Things to Do in Miami This Week - Miami New Times

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Posted By admin on January 14, 2022

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In His Masters Voice, a 1968 sci-fi novel by the Polish writer Stanisaw Lem, a team of scientists and scholars convened by the American government try to decipher a neutrino signal from outer space. They manage to translate a fragment of the signals information, and a couple of the scientists use it to construct a powerful weapon, which the projects senior mathematician fears could wipe out humanity. The intention behind the message remains elusive, but why would an advanced life-form have broadcast instructions that could be so dangerous?

Late one night, a philosopher on the team named Saul Rappaport, who emigrated from Europe in the last year of the Second World War, tells the mathematician about a timethe year was 1942, I thinkwhen he nearly died in a mass execution. He was pulled off the street and put in a line of Jews waiting to be shot in a prison courtyard. Before his turn came, however, a German film crew arrived, and the killing was halted. Then a young Nazi officer asked for a volunteer to step forward. Rappaport couldnt bring himself to, even though he sensed that, if no one did, everyone in line would be shot. Fortunately, another man volunteered; he was ordered to move cadavers but that was all. Why hadnt the officer specified that the volunteer would not be harmed? Rappaport explains that this would never have occurred to the Nazi: Although he spoke to us, you see, we were not people. Maybe the senders of the neutrino message, Rappaport suggests, are similarly oblivious to human considerations. Maybe they cant conceive of a life-form so rudimentary as to focus on the weaponizable part of the message. Rappaports interpretation turns out to be wrong, but his recollection, with its uncanny analogy between Nazis and aliens, feels like a key.

Lem, who died in 2006, would have celebrated his hundredth birthday this past fall, and M.I.T. Press has just republished six of his books and put out two in English for the first time. Lem is probably best known in the United States for his novel Solaris (1961)the basis for sombre, eerie movies by Andrei Tarkovsky and Steven Soderberghabout a distant planet where a sentient ocean confronts human visitors with a manifestation of a person whose memory they cant get over. In former Warsaw Pact nations, his robot fables and astronaut tales sold in the millions. When he toured the Soviet Union in the nineteen-sixties, he was greeted by cosmonauts and astrophysicists, and addressed standing-room-only crowds. A self-described futurologist, he foresaw maps that could plot a route at a touch, immersive artificial realities, and instant, universal access to knowledge via an enormous invisible web that encircles the world.

In a cycle of melancholy sci-fi novels written in the late nineteen-fifties and sixtiesEden, Solaris, Return from the Stars, Memoirs Found in a Bathtub, The Invincible, and His Masters VoiceLem suggested that life in the future, however remote the setting and however different the technology, will be no less tragic. Astronauts disembark from a spaceship into the aftermath of an atrocity; scientists face an alien intelligence so unlike our own that their confidence in the special purpose of human life falters. Lem was haunted by the idea that losses can overwhelm the human capacity to apprehend them.

Lem was born in 1921, to a Jewish family in Lww. Like many Jews of his generation who remained in Poland after the Second World War, he rarely discussed his Jewish identity in private and almost never in public. He omitted it from Highcastle (1965), a memoir of his childhood. Perhaps the only time he referred to it in print was in an essay published in this magazine, in 1984, and, even there, he downplayed its importance in his life. But two recent books by Polish authors make clear how much Lems wartime experience weighed on him. In Agnieszka Gajewskas deeply researched Holocaust and the Stars, translated by Katarzyna Gucio (Routledge), we discover that Lem excelled in Jewish studies in secondary school, and that his father, a doctor, gave to the local Jewish community despite a modest income. And Lem: A Life Out of This World, a lively, genial biography by Wojciech Orliski, which has yet to be translated into English, relates a story of Lems parents, shortly before the Nazis sealed the Lww ghetto, being spirited away to a safe house. Gajewska and Orliski both believe that Lem must have had to wear a six-pointed star: he told his wife, Barbara, about being struck for failing to take off his cap in the presence of a German, something only people identified as Jews were required to do.

Privately, Lem told people that he had witnessed the executions described by his fictional character. Dr. Rappaports adventure is my adventure, from Lww 1941, after the German army enteredI was to be shot, he wrote to his American translator Michael Kandel. When Orliski asked Lems widow which elements in the scene were drawn from life, she replied, All of them.

When Lem was a child, Lwwnow named Lviv and part of Ukrainewas Polands third-largest city, and home to some hundred thousand Jews, who comprised about a third of its population. In Highcastle, Lem describes himself as a monster who tore apart his toys. He recalls sneaking looks at his fathers anatomy textbooks and poking through items removed from patients tracheae: coins, safety pins, sprouted beans. He loved to create imaginary bureaucracies, manufacturing identity papers for nonexistent sovereigns and deeds to distant empires. Lem had a large extended family, and in his memoir he recounts borrowing encyclopedia volumes from one uncle, to pore over woodcuts of locomotives and elephants, and accepting five-zloty pieces from another, to fund a different hobbyconstructing motors, electromagnetic coils, and transformers. Although Lem doesnt say so in the memoir, the uncles were killed by the Nazis.

Lem turned eighteen in September, 1939, the month that Germany invaded Poland, setting off the Second World War. He had a brand-new drivers license and was planning to attend engineering school, but, within days, Lww was beset by both German and Soviet troops. Because Hitler and Stalin had just signed a non-aggression pact, with secret provisions divvying up Eastern Europe, a German bombardment of the city was followed by a Soviet occupation. The Soviets deported and later secretly executed many of Lwws defenders, and, in the following months, the N.K.V.D., the Soviet secret police, arrested thousands of the citys lite, mostly ethnic Poles. Historians estimate that while the Soviets were occupying eastern Poland they deported a million and a half residents. An N.K.V.D. officer was boarded in the Lem family home, and whenever the Lems noticed him hard at work they warned friends to hide.

Later, when asked about life under Soviet occupation, Lem was cagey, talking only about how poor the Soviets candy was, and how excellent their circus performers. His bourgeois background disqualified him from engineering school, but his father managed to get him a place at the university in Lww, to study medicine. This was probably not the career he would have chosen. He was already writing sonnets and trying to read Proust.

In June, 1941, Germany turned on the Soviet Union, and the Nazis mounted a surprise attack on Lww. As German troops closed in, the N.K.V.D. deported about a thousand prisoners and then, in a panic, executed thousands more. The Lems boarder, in his haste to depart, left behind pages of handwritten poetry. In the citys prisons, his comrades left behind decomposing corpses.

The Nazis, who harped on the notion that Jews were Communist collaborators, saw a propaganda opportunity. They blamed the Soviet killings on Lwws Jews and recruited, encouraged, and supervised a militia of Ukrainian nationalists who carried out a three-day pogrom. Jews were forced to crawl on their hands and knees and to clean the streets, in at least one case with a toothbrush. Militiamen gave Jews orders to praise Stalin. Jewish women were stripped, chased, and sexually abused. Local children as young as six pulled Jewish womens hair and Jewish mens beards. In the most gruesome and violent phase, militiamen took Jews off the streets and out of their homes, ordering the menincluding Lem, Gajewska reportsto retrieve the corpses that the Russians had left rotting in prison basements, and the women to clean the decayed remains. The men were beaten while they worked, and many were killed, including a cousin of Lems.

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New Biographies of Stanisaw Lem, Reviewed - The New Yorker

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Posted By admin on January 14, 2022

Lisa Schwartz thinks she knows who is responsible for the shout that New Jersey State Assemblyman Gordon Johnson of Engelwood (D.-37) has called a disturbing incident of antisemitic bias.

The shout was addressed to Congressman Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ Dist. 5) in September, as he was concluding a visit to businesses in Glen Rock to promote the federal infrastructure bill. He was confronted by protesters from the Working Families Party of New Jersey, who were upset by his refusal to vote for President Joe Bidens Build Back Better bill until after the infrastructure bill had passed. They worried that the bill that Mr. Gottheimer championed, which had won support from 13 House Republicans, would be passed and the rest of the presidents agenda would languish. This so far has turned out to be the case, with Senator Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) so far refusing to vote for the broader agenda despite repeated negotiations with the White House.

As Mr. Gottheimer recounted the incident in in a speech at Rutgers University about antisemitism in December, I held an event in my district to talk about the benefits of the bipartisan federal infrastructure bill, only to have members of the Working Families Party disrupt the event by screaming Jew at me. What has our country come to?

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In the wake of the speech, the Working Families Party immediately denied the story of the shouted slur. New Jersey Working Families Party State Director Sue Altman issued a statement saying We believe Rep. Gottheimer has gotten inaccurate information and respectfully ask that he retract it. He may not totally align with our politics, but that doesnt make it right to mislead a group of students about where we stand.

Assemblyman Gordon Johnson

The New Jersey Working Families Party, unlike the New York Working Families Party that inspired it, does not run candidates for office; the difference between the states election laws makes third parties in New Jersey far less viable than in New York. It does, however, endorse candidates. And in 2020, it endorsed Mr. Gottheimers opponent in the Democractic primary, Arati Kreibich.

Ms. Schwartz, who lives in Teaneck, was at the September 20 demonstration in Glen Rock.

She had canvassed for Mr. Gottenheimers congressional campaign in both his 2018 and 2020 campaigns, though she had voted against him in the 2020 primary.

But like the other protesters, she was disappointed in his failure to support the full Biden agenda as well as his failure arrange for a town hall-style public forum to take questions from the public.

Working Family Party demonstrators protest Congressman Josh Gottheimer in Glen Rock in September.

We were trying to get him to speak with us, she said. He was kind of running away from us. It was pretty amazing he wouldnt even stop to speak with us.

And thats when she shouted as she heard on the video This is your cup of Joe, Josh!

She was referring to the Cup of Joe meetings the congressman holds periodically in the district, where he will chat with people in a diner or a restaurant rather than doing town hall meetings, she complained.

Im wondering if that is what he misheard, she said. Thats the only thing I can figure out, having looked at the video a couple of times.

Why would she yell that?

I meant, talk to us. Hear us out. And he just ran away.

In December, after answering several questions about the Rutgers speech, Alexandra Caffrey, the congressmans press secretary, did not reply to a follow-up email concerning the Working Family Partys denial that anyone had called out Jew at the demonstration.

Two weeks later, she emailed a link to a New York Post report that Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, who had accompanied the congressman on his Glen Rock visit, was vouching for Mr. Gottheimers account. According to the report, the congressman told the Post that Ms. Raimondo heard the remark too and reacted with disgust. She couldnt believe it. I remember looking at her, it quoted him as saying. It further reported that Ms. Raimondo said she, too, heard the hateful jeers.

Antisemitism is wrong, reprehensible and unacceptable, the Post quoted Secretary Raimondo as saying. I join Congressman Gottheimer in condemning these hateful attacks that have absolutely no place in our politics.

Hetty Rosenstein of West Orange agrees that antisemitism has no place in New Jersey politics or in the Working Families Party. But as a longtime Working Families Party activist, she said she has never encountered antisemitism in the group.

Most of the original founders were probably all Jewish, Ms. Rosenstein, who was the board chair for about 10 years, said.

Look. Theres a lot of antisemitism everywhere. We know that. But I am not aware of any antisemitism coming from the leadership of the NJ Working Families Party, not from Sue Altman, not from members of the board. I havent experienced any inkling of antisemitism coming from Working Families. Sue called every person she knew who was at that demonstration to see if anyone heard it and who had said it. Nobody had heard it.

Last week, Mr. Johnson, the assembly member, weighed in on the matter, telling David Wildstein, a former Livingston mayor and later Bridgegate-linked Port Authority official who now runs the New Jersey Globe blog, that the failure of Working Families Party to admit to shouting Jew is itself an act of bigotry.

To deny hate speech is to give bigots and racists power whether against people of color or members of any faith, Johnson was quoted as saying by the Globe. By denying the hate speech against Congressman Gottheimer ever occurred, despite the courageous confirmation by a member of President Bidens cabinet, the WFP leadership and their allies truly empower haters.

He added that by essentially calling Secretary Raimondo a liar and refusing to offer any apology, they add more hate to an already dangerous time.

He said he had asked the Bergen County prosecutor to investigate the incident.

I call upon the Bergen County prosecutors office to conduct an investigation into this disturbing incident of antisemitic bias, the Globe quoted him as saying.

A spokesperson for the Bergen County prosecutors office declined to comment to the Globe, noting that the office can neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation.

It is not clear how a protester could be prosecuted for shouting Jew at a government official during a legal protest, even if there were clear evidence they had done so. Under New Jerseys hate crime statute, bias intimidation enhances an already existing crime; if the underlying speech is legal, the hate crime statute doesnt apply.

For her part, Ms. Altman said that she had reached out to Mr. Gottheimer after the Rutgers speech and received no reply. We welcome any leads or information the congressman may have, she said. Ill gladly sit down and watch videos with him, so we can figure out what exactly occurred that day, when and where; what he heard or thought he heard, and what we saw.

I hope we are united in our interest to get this figured out, so we can get back to passing voting rights protections and the elements of the Build Back Better agenda that now hang in the balance.

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Joe or Jew? - The Jewish Standard

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Posted By admin on January 14, 2022

Halakha is a wondrous thing. Seriously. A legal system that evolved from the 613 commandments originally written down in ancient Hebrew in the Torah at least 2,500 years ago (nearly 3,300 years ago if you believe in Mosaic origin), which has influenced the laws and constitutions of countless nations and remains the basic code upon which millions of people lead their lives to this day.

I write that halakha has evolved, though of course the ultra-Orthodox panjandrums who see themselves as the guardians of rabbinical law, and spend their days studying the layers of commentary and responsa, would frown on using that Darwinian term. To them, halakha is unchanging since the time of Moses on Mount Sinai: It remains pure and unadulterated.

But that is a bullshit fundamentalist approach. I much prefer the formulation of the great Orthodox scholar of Hebrew Law, former deputy President of the Israeli Supreme Court, Professor Menachem Elon, who said that halakha should be understood in terms of the Hebrew verb its derived from lalechet, to walk, to go to new places, and to develop with the times.

That is why I prefer to refer to it as halakha, even though its a Hebrew word which is impossible to translate in to English, rather than its more technical term rabbinical law. Because it doesnt belong to the rabbis, and even if it did, which rabbis? There are so many of them, and none are to be fully trusted.

Of course, halakha develops. Like any legal code it needs to adapt itself to the changing lives of the evolving humans it regulates. To insist that halakha doesnt develop flies in the face of all historic and contemporary evidence.

Many of us secular Jews despise halakha. We despair of its rigidity, when rabbis claim there is no alternative course, and we sneer when the rabbis approve of work-arounds, like Shabbat-lifts and Shabbat-clocks, as if they somehow prove that religious people are all hypocrites because they want to lead their lives according to halakha while enjoying the benefits of technology as much as possible.

But if anything, its hypocritical of us to despair when a rabbi tries to impose unyielding strictures only to mock when a rabbi finds ways to be flexible. The problem is with those of us who leave halakha to the rabbis.

Ive been thinking a lot about halakhic flexibility this week in the wake of the political crisis caused by the Jewish National Funds tree-planting program in the Negev. While most of the focus has naturally been on the clashes between the police and local Bedouin residents at one of the planting sites and the threats by the United Arab List to leave the coalition and bring the government down if the work continues, there have also been a less predictable group of JNF critics: Ultra-Orthodox rabbis.

The Haredi leaders couldnt care less for the Bedouin and their claims to ancestral grazing lands, but they dont like JNF planting trees during the shmita year.

Very quickly, for the uninitiated, shmita is the seventh year in a cycle going back millenia during which the land of Israel must remain fallow and untended. If you like, an agrarian Shabbat. And just like with other commandments, there are various ways of dealing and working around this. But in general, the JNF, dedicated to reforestation, doesnt normally plant trees during this year of 5782, a shmita year.

So why is the JNF planting trees on contested land in the Negev in a year where its forbidden?

JNF chairman Avraham Duvdevani, himself a veteran religious-nationalist hack, explained in countless interviews this week that while theyre not planting new forests on shmita, they have special rabbinical dispensation to carry out two types of tree-planting trees needed for security purposes, such as those being planted in communities around the Gaza Strip to obscure homes which could be targeted by direct-fire, and trees needed to protect land that would otherwise be invaded by Bedouin.

And it wasnt just Duvdevani who came equipped with a note from his rabbi. Itamar Ben-Gvir, leader of the Otzma Yehudit party, who just had to plant some trees of his own for the benefit of the camera, got his own (suitably extremist) rabbi, Dov Lior, to rule for him that the war for the Land of Israel comes before the commandment of shmita (not that Ben-Gvirs trees did much in the war, the Bedouin had them uprooted by nightfall).

Halakha is flexible. It can allow people to have a better life and it can be abased to justify and enable a radical ideology. The Haredi leadership has used it to justify its own communitys isolation, the exclusion of women from public position and the deprivation of its young members from having an education that will equip them for life outside.

Theyve used it when convenient to exonerate convicted bribe-takers, like Shas Leader Arye Dery and former Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski, and most recently to cover up the deeds of sexual predators like Chaim Walder. Haredi-Nationalist rabbis like Lior havent just abased halakha to justify tree-planting on shmita, theyve koshered all manner of theft and vandalism in the West Bank in the name of the war for the Land of Israel.

It can go both ways, of course. Back in 1978, when Israel was making peace with Egypt, then Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef used halakha to argue that relinquishing land was permissible to prevent bloodshed. But that was before the fundamentalist alliance between ultra-Orthodoxy and nationalism was formed, when it was still convenient for the Haredi leadership to be on the left of the political spectrum.

Mocking halakha isnt the way to face fundamentalism. Neither is looking for rabbis who share your political worldview a great solution. The Reform and Conservative movements have both had ample opportunity to detach themselves from the JNF and the rest of the moribund network of quasi-governmental Zionist agencies and movements; theyre not going to raise more than a pathetic protest.

But halakha shouldnt belong to any stream of rabbis.

Halakha is the largest and oldest body of Jewish literature which goes back way before any of the modern streams of rabbinical Judaism were established (and no matter what the Haredi rabbis tell you, ultra-Orthodoxy is a reactionary ideology which has been around for only a couple of centuries, about as long as Reform Judaism has).

Theres a misconception that to have a significant relationship and acquaintance with halakha, you need to be an Orthodox Jew who doesnt drive on Shabbat and waits three hours after eating meat to drink a cappuccino. That misconception is convenient for the various Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox leaders of course, but its based on the fallacy that any of them represent authentic Judaism. None of them do. They simply ignore the bits which are less convenient and present the rest as the full package.

Halakha doesnt have to be anyones exclusive legacy. What any hardline stream of Judaism calls halakha are conveniently curated and updated versions that serve specific ideologies, be they Haredi isolationism or Greater Israel nationalism. If they get to pick and choose what they want to use, why cant secular Jews? Halakha, which isnt just laws but also a set of values, is certainly flexible enough.

If youre fed up with the way halakha is being used to justify so much injustice, perhaps its time to start reclaiming it.

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The radical rabbis who trample on Jewish law to 'redeem' the land of Israel - Haaretz

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Posted By admin on January 14, 2022

Utah tech entrepreneur Dave Bateman resigned from the Entrata board last week just hours after sending an antisemitic email to business leaders and government officials claiming that Jews are behind a sadistic effort to euthanize the American people.

In the email, which was first reported by Salt Lake Citys Fox 13, Bateman claimed that the pandemic and systematic extermination of billions of people will pave the way for the Jews to consolidate all the countries in the world under a single flag with totalitarian rule.

Although Batemans email sparked widespread outrage and condemnation, experts said that the incident was unsurprising. Despite the strides American Jews have made in recent decades, antisemitism is deeply embedded in our culture, in general, and in the business sector, in particular, they said.

In theory, American Jews a group that once faced educational and professional restrictions and widespread prejudice have come a long way. Jews now attend the nations top universities, including schools that once sought to restrict their admission; Harvard has even had a Jewish president.

Additionally, there are about three dozen Jewish politicians in Congress. And a 2019 study conducted by Pew Research Center found that Jews are the most warmly regarded religious group in the United States.

But, as Batemans email suggests, antisemitism is still alive and well.

One scholar explained that its best not to think of antisemitism as an all-or-nothing phenomenon. Rather, Its better to think about a spectrum where have Jews been included and why and where have they been excluded and why. Both are always happening at the same time, said Britt Tevis, an American Jewish historian affiliated with Indiana University Bloomingtons Borns Jewish Studies Program.

There are certain sectors that still seem particularly susceptible to stereotypes about Jews, among them the business world, Tevis added.

In many respects these accusations of Jewish dishonesty by leading business figures is nothing new, she said, pointing to the long history that dates back at least to the 1840s of business leaders considering Jews to be shady and untrustworthy and participating in schemes to defraud their organizations.

Tevis offered two examples from the 19th century. Fire insurance companies concluded and promoted the idea that Jews were arsonists and would commit arson fraud, she said, noting that Aetnas manual told insurance agents not to insure Jews.

And as the credit industry sprung up, credit agents routinely denied business loans to Jewish business owners because of their untrustworthy character, Tevis said.

As late as the 1970s, Jewish Americans faced exclusion from different dental and bar associations, Tevis added.

By that time, however, being openly antisemitic had already become, for the most part, unacceptable.

Antisemitism used to be quite open until after World War II, said Helene Sinnreich, director of the University of Tennessees Fern and Manfred Steinfeld Program in Judaic Studies. The allied liberation of the concentration camps was a turning point, Sinnreich said, after which articulating anti-Jewish sentiments becomes not OK because we are now on the side of the liberators and not the Germans.

While antisemitism was driven underground, it didnt disappear.

Antisemitism is engrained in many layers of our culture, Sinnreich said

Despite this, many American Jews felt largely assimilated in recent decades that is, until the shooting at Pittsburghs Tree of Life synagogue in 2018.

For the countrys Jewish community, that event, Sinnreich explained, reopened this window into the idea that as much as Jews have progressed as a society there is still this undercurrent of antisemitism.

The number of antisemitic incidents and hate crimes have risen since 2016 and hate crimes reached their highest level in a decade in 2019, according to The Associated Press. In 2020, however, the number of antisemitic events declined while anti-Black and anti-Asian attacks surged.

Sinnreich pointed out that antisemitism can also be expressed in less obvious ways than antisemitic violence, such as when someone refers to haggling as Jewing the other person down. And philosemitism or a love of or admiration for Jews can also be a form of antisemitism, Sinnreich noted.

Philosemitism is predicated on stereotypes about Jews its the other side of the same coin, said Sinnreich. Some seemingly positive stereotypes, like Jews being good with money, are underpinned by an (antisemitic) idea about Jews controlling world finances and being greedy and stingy.

Even when the stereotype isnt rooted in something bad, its still a way of delineating Jews as an other, said Amy Shapiro Simon, Farber Family Chair in Holocaust Studies and European Jewish History at Michigan State University, who explained that, historically, in Europe, Jewish people were considered to be not just of a different religion but also of a different race the quintessential other.

The question that remains today, she added, is How do you stop being that other?

Because being overtly antisemitic is no longer acceptable as the reaction to Batemans email shows antisemitism in America today has become largely coded, said Simon, adding that many of the conspiracies embraced by QAnon believers are based on older antisemitic tropes, even if they dont overtly reference Jews.

When reading excerpts of Batemans email, Simon heard echoes of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a booklet penned by a non-Jew that pretends to spell out the alleged secret plans of Jewish leaders seeking to attain world domination, according to the Anti-Defamation Leagues website. Like the Protocols, Batemans email revolves around a conspiracy theory that the Jews are out to take over the world.

Tevis said its important to consider the broader political moment, in which conspiracy theories are rampant.

If you have come to accept all these other ideas the idea of the election being stolen, the idea that Trump was booted out of office because he was about to uncover this ring of child kidnapping that was being promoted by the Hollywood elite and George Soros if you have accepted all these other ideas then the idea that Jews are promoting vaccines is not a leap, she said.

Even so, incidents like Batemans email can be shocking, including for American Jews, Tevis said, noting that, among Jews, theres an element of denial when it comes to facing antisemitism.

In the Jewish community, theres been difficulty recognizing the consistency of antisemitism. We think of these things as individual events, as outliers, she said.

Another challenge when it comes to dealing with antisemitism is that Jewish people want to believe in the Cinderella story about Jewish success and of being slowly integrated into American society and culture. But the waters are muddier than we often want to see, Tevis said.

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What is antisemitism? Why are Jews attacked because of their faith? - Deseret News

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Posted By admin on January 14, 2022

Rabbi Sherre Hirsh, Founder of Maven

Maven is a new platform that has the unique purpose of helping bring Jewish wisdom to the world. I caught up with Founder Rabbi Sherre Hirsch to find out more.

Afdhel Aziz: Sherre, welcome! Youve had an unorthodox (excuse the pun!) career to date, combining being a rabbi and a tech entrepreneur. How did this lead you to creating Maven?

Rabbi Sherre Hirsch: When I was younger, I didnt know I would be a rabbi when I was older, but looking back, Im not surprised that this was my path. In Hebrew school, I found ways to get into enough trouble that I could be sent to the rabbis office but not so much that Id be sent home because I wanted to soak up this mans wisdom.

It wasnt until I was in college, studying with an Orthodox rabbi, that I realized this could be my future. I became the first female rabbi of one of the largest congregations in Los Angeles and got to see firsthand the importance of connection and community. Ive always wanted to heal the world and found the best way for me to do that was to create programs that fostered opportunities for people to come together.

One of the reasons I believe Ive found success is because I not only think of the idea, but I also figure out how to bring it to life. My family owned a retail lighting store in the local mall, and my job was to count the register and stack the lightbulbs. Being financially independent by 18, if I had a problem, it was up to me to solve it.

When I became the Chief Innovation Officer of American Jewish University, I wanted to blend my spiritual calling and my entrepreneurial passion, and Maven was born. Mavens mission is to bring Jewish wisdom to the world, and that wisdom is for all people. Jewish wisdom teaches that every one of us can take action to leave the world better than we arrived. If I can help inspire and empower people to live a more meaningful, purposeful life because of the Jewish wisdom shared through Maven, I know Ive succeeded.

Jewish wisdom teaches that every one of us can take action to leave the world better than we ... [+] arrived.

Aziz: How would you describe Maven and what kind of offering does it have?

Rabbi Hirsch: It all started with the pandemic. In March 2020 people became lonely and isolated overnight, and I was worried that in the wake of lockdowns and social distancing, people would become emotionally and spiritually alone. I wanted to give people what they needed, a front-row seat to intimate conversations that made them feel included and connected.

Beyond that, I really wanted people to see that Jewish wisdom, regardless of background or history, helps people live purposeful livesand that they dont have to be Jewish to take away something meaningful. From the beginning Maven was intentionally designed for all people, to discover the ultimate lesson: you need to be the agent of change. You cannot defer how you act and how you behave to someone else.

One last really special thing about Maven is the kind of content we bring to our audience. These conversations are with leaders, innovators, disruptors, celebrities and more than 200 diverse guests from every walk of life. Theyre the kind of people who normally dont have one-on-one conversations with a rabbi in front of 750-1200 people in a live setting. But they come to our platform because we create a secure environment and because we ask atypical questions that enable them to share sides of themselves they normally dont share in public.

From the beginning Maven was intentionally designed for all people, to discover the ultimate lesson: ... [+] you need to be the agent of change. You cannot defer how you act and how you behave to someone else.

Aziz: Who are some of the thought-leaders you have hosted and what have been some of the highlights?

Rabbi Hirsch: I loved when we were able to invite the Jewish producer Jonathan Yunger and Christian star Taylor John Smith to be in conversation with me about The Untold Story of American Valor: Behind the Movie the Outpost.

The producers made a decision to have many of the U.S. soldiers who battled the Taliban against all odds in Afghanistan act alongside the A-list cast. We discussed what it meant for the soldiers to relive those days; what it meant for them to be with actors alongside them; and what it meant to tell a public story leading with your morals.

Another one Ill tell you about is Cokie Roberts husband Steven Roberts. He came to talk about his book, COKIE: A Life Well Lived. The reason I love his interview is because it was so raw and real. He shared that his Catholic wife had taught him how to be a better Jew, and his in-laws made him value and appreciate what it means to actually own your identity. The interview is profound and wise for everyone.

Aside from those highlights we have hosted such a diverse set of speakers including Buzzy Cohen, the Jeopardy Champ discussing his battle with mental health; His Excellency Omar Saif Ghobash of the UAE discussing the Abraham Accords; and Laura Berman, the sex therapist discussing her spiritual odyssey.

A really special thing about Maven is the kind of content they bring to their audience. These ... [+] conversations are with leaders, innovators, disruptors, celebrities and more than 200 diverse guests from every walk of life.

Aziz: What has been the reaction from the audience?

Rabbi Hirsch: What I love about our viewers is that they really get what were doing and theyre spreading the word. We get hundreds of letters each day that say things like, Im in a hospital with COVID, and my only joy is that I know every morning I get to wake up to the best conversations in the world. But equally, were hearing from people who are engaging in meaningful conversations and applying what theyre learning through Maven to their own lives.

One great example was of a conversation we had with an organization called Jewish Queer International (JQ International), which is creating inroads for Jewish people to be accepted as queers both inside and outside of the Jewish community. One of the best, unexpected responses to this conversation came three months later when I merely stumbled upon these two young women in their 20s at a JQ International event online. When they realized who I was, we all started to weep because one of the girls had her family watch that event and used that conversation to tell them she was gay. That blew my mind. I felt like if everything shut down that very night that everything we had done up until that point was worth it.

Aziz: Finally, what are your plans for the future of Maven?

Rabbi Hirsch: Were building an expansive partnership model, which enables us to give individuals, institutions, and communities the ability to provide enhanced digital education without the burden of technology and content development.

We also hope to build sponsorship opportunities, Maven on Demand, and many other amazing avenues for this platform to grow. We want to create a world in which people see that Jewish wisdom can transform their lives for the better. I look forward to the day that everyone is an expert, a Maven, making a kinder, better and connected world.

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How Maven Is Helping Bring Jewish Wisdom To The World: An Interview With Rabbi Sherre Hirsch - Forbes

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