It’s standing room only for National Pride Young Professionals Shabbat Dinner, located in the non-denominational, non-traditional congregation’s social hall.
Moment
Moment reached out to an eclectic group to ask: which event most defined the last half-century of the Israeli experience?
Brooke Davies spent ten summers at Camp Ramah, confronted anti-Semitism routinely as a child in the South, and fell in love with Israel as a teenager. She also had a close call with terrorism, less than two years ago, when a young boy attempted to stab her in Jaffa. But when became a national leader in J Street U, she faced opposition from the Jewish community and even from those in her family. Now she is reconsidering her relationship with the Jewish community altogether.
“The Paris accords were a rare occurrence in which the world united—save for Syria and Nicaragua—to care for the welfare and health of future generations,” Israel Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz posted on Facebook. “Even if there’s a 50 percent likelihood that climate change and global warming are caused by human activity, it is our duty to act to minimize risks.”
Ellen Wexler
Michael Krasny wants to tell jokes—but he also wants to explain them. “It’s important to be analytical about humor,” he says.
Ellen Wexler
I sat in front of our black-and-white 19-inch TV watching the progress of the war, my heart in my mouth the whole time.
One of the less-celebrated benefits of globalization is that you can walk into a bakery in almost any city in the world on Friday and buy a challah. But not in Shanghai. At least not until this past March.
Hillel’s Angels. The Chai Riders. Yidden On Wheels. The Sons of Abraham. If these phrases read like the names of Jewish biker clubs, it’s because that’s precisely what they are.
“It sends a message that Jerusalem is on the table, and that the Arabs can expect to get parts of the Jewish city of Jerusalem, when in fact it’s almost certain they will not.”
Liam Hoare
The candidness and emotional vulnerability of Israeli soldiers is of such renown today that there’s even a pejorative for it: yorim ve’bochim, shooting and crying.
Born in Haifa to Eastern European immigrants, Harari now lives with his husband in a moshav outside Jerusalem. A vegan deeply distressed by the suffering of domesticated animals, Harari meditates daily (plus a 60-day silent retreat each year). He does this, he says, to understand more fully the nature of human consciousness and “human dissatisfaction.” Moment talks with Harari about the role of technology in politics and the rise of big data, as well as topics Harari does not usually discuss, such as Judaism and Israel.
