I Come From a Land Down Under

Last Updated on Saturday, 2 January 2009 03:51 Written by bryfy Thursday, 17 December 2009 08:07

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to meet with a group of talented Jewish-Australian (or is it Australian-Jewish?) students leaders in New York on the AUJS Leadership Development Program (LDP). Full disclosure before I continue – I was a madrich on AUJS LDP a few years ago (ok, quite a few years ago). The group had spent some time in Washington D.C., was just starting a few days in the Big Apple, before heading off to Amsterdam and then Israel.

The discussion began by looking at some of the characteristics that define the Australian Jewish community. Orthodox (and some Conservative and Reform), Anti-Semitism, Israel, Holocaust, Jewish Dayschools, South Africans, Russians, youth movements – were some of the terms they generated.

The list about American Jewry was a bit less interesting, a bit less informed (as expected) and a bit more stereotypical – but that is hardly the point.

Change or Die: Why Traditional Organizations Must Innovate

Last Updated on Friday, 4 December 2009 07:22 Written by bryfy Sunday, 22 November 2009 05:07

In recent times I have been in a position to ask various groups of Jewish educators and communal professionals to come up with new ideas – specifically innovative ways to engage Jewish teens in meaningful Jewish activities. Perhaps not surprisingly, brainstorming alone did not deliver any out-of-the-box ideas. In the vast majority of instances people are only able to conjure events from their own experiences – ideas may be tweaked or adapted – but at the end of a day very rarely does something qualitatively different emerge from these group think sessions.

Who is Wise?

Last Updated on Saturday, 5 December 2009 12:14 Written by bryfy Sunday, 8 November 2009 09:49

How many times have we as Jewish educators quoted this passage from Ethics of Our Fathers? How many times has it actually happened – where we as educators truly do learn from everyone (especially our students)

Just recently I was giving a talk about Israeli music and I played the song “Hebrew Man”. (what a great song!)

After listening to the song I asked, “any comments?”

I expected the usual responses – “cool”, “who’s Cohen?”, “look – they included Jesus…”

And then it came – the question from a seemingly disinterested 14 year old male. “Well the song says that Moses said, “let my people go” in Hebrew. Does that mean that Pharaoh spoke Hebrew?”