Drs. Ari Johnson and Jessica Beckerman

Health care for all in Mali: A Jewish Call to Action with Drs. Ari Johnson and Jessica Beckerman

To address the child and maternal mortality crisis in Mali, Dr. Ari Johnson and Dr. Jessica Beckerman co-found Muso, a non-profit advancing child and maternal health which has developed a new, proactive model of universal health care in Mali. Today, Muso provides health care to more than 370,000 people and the communities it serves have achieved rates of child mortality lower than that of any country in Sub-Saharan Africa. Johnson and Beckerman join Moment Senior Editor George Johnson, who also happens to be Ari’s dad, for a conversation about the health care crisis in Africa and how the couples’ Jewish commitments have motivated and energized their inspirational work.

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The New "New Jew"

By Lily Hoffman Simon A new kibbutz movement is sweeping Israel. Most often, it is comprised of irbutzim (city kibbutz), which are collectivist structures based on the original ideas of the agricultural kibbutz. Instead of creating an alternative community on the fringes of everyday Israeli life, however, these communities are placing themselves in the heart of Israeli cities, from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.  Just as the kibbutzim were centred on the idea of creating an ideal society to influence the greater Israeli society, so do irbutzim, which like their predecessors share communal bank accounts and emphasize youth leadership.  This adaptation represents a hopeful future for the kibbutz movement and Israel itself. The traditional agricultural kibbutzim were based on socialism, egalitarianism, environmentalism, hard work, interpersonal relationships and the liberation of the Jewish people through a Zionist revolution. The...

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