Equity in Jewish Organizations: Why It's Important and How To Get There

by: Hannah Farber

Wed Jul 23, 2008 at 15:14:25 PM EDT

 “The Jewish communal field is staffed predominantly by women, yet the majority of [its] CEO positions are occupied by men.”

Why are the people in charge mostly men?

• The executive search process relies on a largely male network for referral and recruitment of candidates

• Leadership style is viewed differently depending on gender. For example, an “aggressive” style is often seen as positive and necessary for men but as a negative attribute among women.”

• Work-life balance and challenges of relocation impede women’s advancement significantly. While these issues also affect men, they have more of a negative impact on women.

Why is it a problem?

Protest Politics: Visibility of our Jewish Identity

by: Alana Krivo-Kaufman

Wed Jul 23, 2008 at 14:12:08 PM EDT

I received an action alert email two days ago, a facebook invite last night, and, via text message communication, arrived @ Radio City Music Hall a bit before 8 am this morning.  Thus, the triumph of high tech networking guided me to a protest organized by AJWS.  More info over @ Jewlicious.

The crowd was passionate, the chants well planned and witty, the T-shirts (almost) plentiful, fast facts available,and signs held high.  The signs matched the shirts and coordinated with the slogans, and the crowd seemed to represent cross sections of the Jewish community.

Yet, nothing identified the group as representing a Jewish organization, supporting a cause informed by community values and experiences, or unified in any way, beyond the direct demands being made.

Intentional? For what purpose? Does unifying behind a single message open Jewish activism up to coalitions and give greater gravity the voices yelling? Or does it disconnect us from our roots and sources of our passion and political sensibilities?

Gore Proves Global Warming by Sweating Profusely, and Other Lessons Learned at the Netroots Nation

by: Katie Halper

Tue Jul 22, 2008 at 14:29:06 PM EDT

(Written in satire. A literal trasnlation for the tonally impaired is available upon request.)

This weekend I went to Austin, Texas, to attend the third annual Netroots [Aryan] Nation, the convention formerly known as Yearly Kos and recently called a "Klan gathering" by Bill O'Reilly. I agree with O'Reilly that "including the Nazis and the Klan... there is not a more hateful group in the country than the Daily Kos People." I too hate this hateful conference, which encourages democracy, open politics, participatory democracy, grass roots organizing and other Nazi-ish thing. But I attend each year, under the guise of a Laughing Liberally comic and Living Liberally leader, in order to counter the lies of the liberal media, who receive their talking points and marching orders directly from Subcomandante Markos [Moulitsas]. I go because somebody needs to document the atrocities that are ignored by the appeasement era press and distorted by the Netroots deniers. I go to show the world the truth. I go to say Never Again.

So, here are some of the things you won't hear from the liberal media about the four-day gathering of over 2,000 progressive bloggers, journalists, politicians and activists.

1. The netroots are so vicious that Obama was forced to flee to the relative safety of Afghanistan.

2. The netroots are reconsidering their position on FISA. Although they were disappointed with Obama's vote and his absence from the conference, they have now realized that thanks to the new FISA law, Obama could hear everything they said.

3. The surprise guest was no surpirse. Everyone knew the surprise guest would be Al Gore. Duh! He is the inventor of the series of tubes known as the internets.

4. Al Gore proved global warming is real, beyond the shadow of a doubt. I'll admit it, I was a skeptic about global warming. But that was before I saw Al Gore speak live. Because what An Inconvenient Truth doesn't capture, is Gore's presence, energy, and sweat. After watching Gore sweat in an air-conditioned convention hall, it is impossible not to believe in global warming.

5. Al Gore is anti-American. During his speech, Gore mentioned wind turbines several times. Well, wind baseball caps are fine with me, Mr. Vice President. Love it or leave it!

6. The Socialist Party made a debut at the Convention. The convention has had Democrats and recovering Republicans. But this year for the first time, with Nancy Pelosi's attendance, the conference hosted a member of the Socialist Party.

7. Nancy Pelosi has sound judgment (for a Socialist). The Speaker of the House is a radical San Franciscan and a pusher of the Homosexual agenda, Yet when she spoke in Austin, Pelosi demonstrated sound judgment and astute reasoning through her vibrant mint green pants suit, a tasteful Clinton-Cleavage-free blouse, neutral but elegant tan heels, and warm honey highlights.

8. Donna Edwards does not belong in politics. If I learned anything from Representative Edwards' keynote speech, it's that she is too honest, hard-working, passionate, genuine, inspired, and inspiring to be in Congress. What is she thinking?

9. Contrary to popular belief, bloggers do have a sense of humor. The Netroots Nation gift bags included condoms.

10. John McCain should not be misunderestimated by the netroots. After all, McCain is already "aware of the internet." By next year's convention in Pittsburgh, the maverick may know how to get online.

Claiborne Avenue Overpass Cleared

by: Hannah Farber

Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 11:50:45 AM EDT

According to the Times-Picayune, as of this weekend, everybody who has been living under the Claiborne Avenue Overpass in New Orleans has been physically removed from the area. 

When I visited New Orleans with a service learning trip in March, we heard several different opinions about the identities and socioeconomics of the people living under that bridge. According to one camp, they were mostly disabled and mentally ill individuals who had been living with families before the storm. According to the other camp, many of these people had jobs and were under the bridge largely due to bureaucratic incompetence.

The Times-Picayune article lends more weight to the first camp's argument, with one key addition:

One of the difficulties of emptying the Claiborne camp with any haste was the level of illness there. Most of its residents suffered from untreated mental illness and life-threatening medical conditions, according to detailed surveys conducted by Miller and others. That same survey found that 86 percent of those living at the camp were from the New Orleans area, a statistic that surprised many and flew in the face of Nagin's May tongue-in-cheek comment about solving the homeless problem with one-way bus tickets out of town.

Universal Access to Healthcare, the New Jewish Penicillin.

by: Alana Krivo-Kaufman

Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 14:10:59 PM EDT

I’ve made two trips to the Kosher Market this week to purchase the magical cure all for sickness, chicken noodle soup, accompanied by the HUGEST matzo balls in existence.

Problem is, the soup isn’t actually a magical cure all for sickness. Another problem is that I’m not a doctor and can neither diagnose nor prescribe expensive prescription drugs. Another problem is that 47 million uninsured American lack access to preventative, primary and emergency care and have nowhere to go, besides the ER, when they’re sick. Another problem, poverty is bad for your health. Shocker. Really, I can’t believe it.

So, what to do beyond soup? How about real structural change.

Hero Worship, Claiming Representation

by: Alana Krivo-Kaufman

Thu Jul 10, 2008 at 16:23:57 PM EDT

The Dark Lady

Players Perform the deep Allegorical levels of SHAKESPEARE’s plays, demonstrating that they contain JEWISH religious satires AND THUS were written by England’s ONLY Jewish poet.

In fact, there is a whole trust entrusted with accounting for all of the possible identities.

History, especially, as put forward in a Euro-centric manner, and stemming from the Great Man theory, which dominated for so long, has been white-washed, hetero-washed and sanitized.  Reclaiming can be seen not as a seizing or a revision, but simply a search for greater honesty.  At the same time, it illustrates informative parables on what groups lack representations, and in what spheres.

REVEALED! The hidden identities of Presidents, dictators, and even actresses! BELOW THE JUMP. And maybe some contemplation..

Oh, FISA...

by: Mik Moore

Thu Jul 10, 2008 at 10:08:39 AM EDT

There are a lot of interesting things about Facebook. Yesterday it provided me with the opportunity to notice that my Facebook friends were not of one mind on FISA. For example, while my feed brought me this comment from a friend about the NYTimes article reporting on the bill's passage,

"Fucking disgusting!"

another friend's status report (visible in the sidebar next to my friend above) said the following, 

XXXXXXXXX is looking forward to being in the Rose Garden this afternoon for the signing of the FISA Amendments Acts of 2008!

 I have been somewhat surprised by my own views on the FISA controvery. I have followed the most recent controversy, which, if I understand it correctly, involved a decision by many Democrats to accept a compromise bill that doesn't really hold phone companies accountable for breaking the law (by turning over phone records to the administration without a warrant) and codifies some of the changes the administration implimented - illegally - to get around the safeguards against spying provided by FISA. 

I consider myself a civil libertarian, although it is not and has never been the focal point of my activism. For individuals who have been on the wrong end of a civil liberties violation, I'd imagine it is hard not to have strong feelings about invasions of privacy and illegal domestic spying. 

And yet... I am finding it hard to get too worked up about the FISA issue, particularly the "betrayal" by Democrats. It is likely precisely my attitude that has emboldened more progressive Democrats to support the compromise. And... I feel guilty about that.

Perhaps I'm not worked up because I'm not sure that the law is the best mechanism for preventing government abuse. FISA was a good law, but it didn't stop the Bush administration; they just ignored the law.  Which is not to say that we shouldn't have laws, only that it may be more important that we create a culture that strongly values civil liberties, so much so that there would be real political and social consequences for those who violate them. 

Shmoozin' like a Jew. . . or not?

by: Rabbi Jill Jacobs

Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 23:50:24 PM EDT

Do American Jews speak a special brand of English?  Do Americans speak Jewish?  What about New Yorkers? (cue your Lenny Bruce here.)

For a totally fun 10 minutes, try this survey on language (see below for details).  Did you know that shmooze has at least three potential meanings?  Find out more. . .

You are invited to participate in an interesting and entertaining survey about language.  Essentially, we’re asking about the spread of Yiddish (and some Hebrew) among English speakers in North America.  We’re turning to both Jews and non-Jews to answer questions like these: Who uses Yiddish words like “shmooze” and “daven” and phrases like “Money, shmoney”?  Why do some people say “temple” while others say “shul”?  Who prefers biblical names for their babies?  Your responses will help us answer these and other questions, and you might learn something about yourself in the process.  Please set aside 15-20 minutes, and click on this link to participate.

surveymonkey

Please forward this e-mail to your friends and family.  We are hoping to get thousands of responses from people of all religions, ages, and regions of the United States and Canada.  If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail Prof. Sarah Bunin Benor <sbenor@huc.edu> or Prof. Steven M. Cohen <Steve34nyc@aol.com>.

"What the hell is wrong with these people?"

by: Mik Moore

Mon Jul 07, 2008 at 13:53:05 PM EDT

From The New Yorker, Shouts & Murmurs, titled Animal Tales:

DALMATIANS

“Hey, look, the truck’s stopping.”

“Did they take us to the park this time?”

“No—it’s a fire. Another horrible fire.”

“What the hell is wrong with these people?”

As a parent I have to wonder, does this apply to me? If so, it might go something like this...

Mik's Kids

"Hey, look, the subway is stopping."

"Did they take us to the playground this time?"

"No - it's a protest. Another angry protest."

"What the hell is wrong with these people?"

Parshat Chukat: Derech Yam Suf

by: Rabbi Jessica Zimmerman

Thu Jul 03, 2008 at 09:50:09 AM EDT