Embrace Your Inner Girl – Powerful (even with the Rachel Corrie reference)

Last Updated on Saturday, 30 January 2010 08:31 Written by bryfy Friday, 29 January 2010 08:27

Today I was blown away by a video I saw: Eve Ensler from Vagina Monologues was speaking at a TED conference in India.

There is one line, in the 20 minute presentation, that some/many Jews might have a problem with (others might agree) – it is a reference to Rachel Corrie, a 23 year old peace activist who was killed on March 16, 2003 when she was crushed by a bulldozer on the Gaza Strip. Admittedly I was taken aback by the reference, which appeared to be out of context and over-simplified in order to make a point.

Despite the one line – I think that Ensler’s presentation is powerful and a must view for any one involved in the education of today’s youth – especially the education of young women.

Jews by Choice

Last Updated on Tuesday, 19 January 2010 08:49 Written by bryfy Tuesday, 19 January 2010 08:49

Today we seemingly have unlimited choices. Jewish teenagers, for example, necessarily must choose whether to partake in anything Jewish, often competing against soccer practice, band camp, spring break in Florida or worshiping at the local ashram.

I don’t have a problem with choice – I have come to accept it as a part of the world in which we choose to live. Whether we like it or not – individual choice is the choice of this generation.

On the other hand we (and here I mean many Jews, especially us in the Jewish communal and educational world) have this concept of Peoplehood floating around. Jews have always had a sense of connectedness to their history and to one another. Here I can reference Tevye’s call for “Tradition,” my grandmother pointing at all the Jewish names on the screen at the end of a movie, or more recently the pride which many of us exhibited when seeing Israeli rescue teams in Haiti. Can we have it both ways? Can we be both a people of individual choice and a collective people?

Why I love to hate (Jewish) lists?

Last Updated on Wednesday, 13 January 2010 01:33 Written by bryfy Wednesday, 13 January 2010 01:33

It’s easy to love lists. They are compact and often logical. Often more importantly they are conversation starters. Mike Sheahan’s 50 top Aussie Rules footballers, for example,  is always a great source of controversy and debate. But (unfortunately) that is hardly a topic of conversation for this blog.

JESNA’s list of top ten achievements in Jewish education over the last decade provides such a level of debate and controversy, especially for those of us more immersed in Jewish education than the Collingwood Magpies.

And JESNA’s list is a great list. Who could argue with Birthright Israel or PJ Library as being major game changers in the Jewish communal landscape? But the point of such a list should not be only to congratulate the big names in Jewish education. The real point, in my opinion, should be to try and identify the trends that these listed organizations exemplify – so that this does not become merely a back-slapping exercise, but one where the community is able to identify what works, what needs further investigation, and what needs further communal attention and resources.

So, inspired by JESNA’s top 10 list I have created a top 5 list of: Bryfy’s Pick for the Top 5 Trends in Jewish Education in the Last Decade.