Beshert | A Dishwasher’s Cycle of Kindness
“This stranger-on-a-train held onto my father’s kindness for decades and, at the moment when I needed it the most, she gave it back to me.”
“This stranger-on-a-train held onto my father’s kindness for decades and, at the moment when I needed it the most, she gave it back to me.”
Join Deborah Lipstadt and Robert Siegel for a conversations on anti-Semitism, hosted by Moment Magazine with the support of the Joyce and Irving Goldman Family Foundation.
Deborah Lipstadt, author of Antisemitism Here and Now, is a professor at Emory University and is best known for having won a libel suit brought against her in London by David Irving, one of the world’s leading Holocaust deniers. The story of this trial was depicted in the film DENIAL with Academy Award winning actor Rachel Weisz depicting Deborah.
Robert Siegel is the former senior host of NPR’s award-winning evening newsmagazine All Things Considered.
I wore my necklace almost constantly for years, thinking of my grandparents each time I rubbed my fingers across the star’s face.
When it comes to celebrating the Festival of Lights, eating latkes (fried pancakes) is almost as important as lighting the menorah. The hard question is: Which topping belongs on them? Whether you are Team Applesauce, Team Sour Cream, Team Ketchup or on some other team, join us as our great thinkers weigh in on why their favorite topping is best—in the spirit of the popular Latke-Hamantash Debate.
Moderated by C-SPAN Director of Communications Howard Mortman.
Panel:
* Sarah Breger, Moment deputy editor
* Barry Friedman, comedian, author
* Dahlia Lithwick, writer, journalist
* Rabbi Douglas Sagal, Congregation B’nai Israel, Rumson, NJ
* Alan Silberberg, author, cartoonist, screenwriter
It’s a rare treat to discover a film that appeals across the generations, but The Crossing is a perfect example. This movie is true family-friendly storytelling. Set in 1942 Norway, during the third year of the German occupation, this is a particularly poignant and uplifting tale of ordinary youngsters rising to the challenge of rescuing Jewish children during a brutal period of history.
“I’m grateful that Arthur, new to the city, ventured out exploring that weekend, grateful that he chose to walk up Sixth Avenue, grateful that he saw me through the shop’s window that Saturday in 1986, and came in to discover, ‘who belonged to that face.'”
Amy E. Schwartz, in conversation with New York Times best-selling author Laura Blumenfeld, discusses whether robots can be Jewish and other perennial questions, such as what Judaism has to say about love, miracles, the afterlife and so much more from Amy’s new book, Can Robots Be Jewish? And Other Pressing Questions of Modern Life , a selection of questions and answers drawn from Moment’s ever-popular Ask the Rabbis column. This smart and provocative talk is perfect for anyone interested in the rich diversity of Jewish thought on contemporary questions.
It seems beshert to have this small world to remind the three of us that we are needed to repair the larger one. As a family, we practice tikkun olam with Jewish values like tzedakah, teshuvah, gemilut Hasidim. And hakarat hatov, gratitude.
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright sits down for an in-depth interview with Robert Siegel, former host of NPR’s All Things Considered. She talks about her granddaughter asking, “what’s the big deal about Grandma Maddie being Secretary of State” and how the world is different today for woman in the workforce compared to when she graduated college. She also discusses the genesis of her famous pin collection; the definition of fascism; the changing nature of the Middle East; what it was like to find out late in life that her grandparents were Jewish and murdered in the Holocaust; and why retirement is a four-letter word. Secretary Albright is the 2020 recipient of “The Moment Women and Power Award.”
“An excruciatingly prolonged relationship with Mr. Not-Even-Jewish consumed the balance of my 20s. He was black and his cultural identity was a hugely significant part of his life. That motivated me to look more deeply into my own cultural identity.”
Two weeks have passed since election day, and there’s nothing anyone wants more than to put this whole thing behind us. But before we do so, we need to settle the least important question of these elections, yet the one most likely to come up during your (virtual) Thanksgiving, Passover or whatever family dinner table: How did the Jews vote?
“When he sings Eyshet Chayil before kiddush, he reaches across the table for my hand. Not one convert, but two, we’re partners on the journey in the fullest sense of the word; soulmates, beshert.”