The Jewish Federation, my employer, asked me to write about it. Below is a brief look at our experience. Thank you to all who make this experience possible for my kids, and the other schools that participate.
Twinning Builds Friendship
Showing posts with label israel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label israel. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Twinning Builds Friendship
When my family life spills into my
professional life (or vice versa), the experience is simple gratitude. Earlier
this month, my daughter and her class participated in their twinning program
with their new friends from their partnership school in Israel. As a
professional, I have bragged about this program and its benefits to the
families and the community. Now as a parent, I witnessed the true meaning of
developing friendships and educational partnerships with kids, parents and
teachers in Israel. On all levels, I was thrilled and overwhelmed by the
experience - friend to friend, parent to parent, and institution to
institution.
The Jewish Federation, my employer, asked me to write about it. Below is a brief look at our experience. Thank you to all who make this experience possible for my kids, and the other schools that participate.
Twinning Builds Friendship
The Jewish Federation, my employer, asked me to write about it. Below is a brief look at our experience. Thank you to all who make this experience possible for my kids, and the other schools that participate.
Twinning Builds Friendship
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Danny Sussman's Speech Atop Mt. Herzl
Have you ever been listening to someone wishing you had a video camera to capture the moment? Last November, The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles took 400 people to Israel to celebrate our 100th Anniversary. Luckily, we caught one of our most passionate leaders on camera as he welcomed young entertainment industry professionals to his hero’s landmark, Mt. Herzl.
On this celebratory mission, Danny addressed the group of from the Entertainment Division atop Mt. Herzl. His passion is infectious and his commitment is deep. Talking about Israel comes naturally to Danny and if you want to learn, he wants to teach. He is overcome with joy when he travels with first–timers to Israel. As seen in this video, he equates their arrival to Israel to their birth and therefore he wishes them, “Happy Birthday.”
I urge you to watch this video for an incredible dose of inspiration. And then watch it again. I did.
On this celebratory mission, Danny addressed the group of from the Entertainment Division atop Mt. Herzl. His passion is infectious and his commitment is deep. Talking about Israel comes naturally to Danny and if you want to learn, he wants to teach. He is overcome with joy when he travels with first–timers to Israel. As seen in this video, he equates their arrival to Israel to their birth and therefore he wishes them, “Happy Birthday.”
I urge you to watch this video for an incredible dose of inspiration. And then watch it again. I did.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Listen Carefully and Scream Louder
Today I wondered why we don't scream louder at the injustices of the world. I have been watching many people on the news talk about what should be done. What a great luxury it is to have your own talk show and spew out all that is wrong with the world. When do we take action? How do we take action? We can't even agree on who should be in charge of a women's body! While the pre-election debates and commentaries take place, I am frustrated to hear so many conflicting reports from people who are so sure that they are right. And the more heated they get, the nastier they get. I can't even watch a network reporter without feeling that he/she is biased. What happpened to unbiased reporting? I try to focus on on the 3-4 minutes of information. Here are the issues that concern me:
Education - what the hell is going on in our public schools? How is it possible that this has not been a priority for our communities? As parents, my husband and I send our children to private school. We chose a school that is a Jewish Day School with a dual language program. We sweat every year to make it possible for our children to attend this school and we believe that they are in the best place for them and for us. My husband and I are lucky; we make it work. What about those who can't afford to choose where they want their kids to go to school? Education has changed so much here in Los Angeles. When I was growing up, I knew very few (and I mean very few) kids that went to private school. When you planned on having kids, you moved into the area with good schools and that was it, your kids went to the neighborhood schools with all the other kids. I hope we can figure it out soon.
Women's issues - I am not sure how to make this any clearer - I do not want anyone telling me what I can or cannot do with my body. That is the first issue. Secondly, I want society to care about educating both men and women about equal rights, which means to me that men and women have the freedom to choose who and what they want to be in life. Shouldn't we spend our energy teaching our children how to be productive members of society rather than she can't do this or he can't do that? Man or woman, we should be able to teach our children that both sexes are our best partners and together we need to solve our communities problems and not create more.
Gay marriage - can't we just get this done already? It is going to happen. Let's just make it possible already. I think it is ridiculous that we are preventing people who want to simply express their love for each other. The weirdest part is that the heterosexual community is not that successful at it, so I am not sure why we feel we should prevent others from doing it. This really takes up too much of our time and eventually it will happen, so let's just make it happen.
Israel - I am Jewish and I want/need Israel to survive. My generation does not know a world without Israel. It scares me that there are people in the world who want the Jews to die (not just go away, but actually die) and this does not seem to get people crazy. I want peace. I want to help to achieve peace. I want people in public office to also want to achieve peace. I also want Amercians to support Israel simply because it is a thriving democratic society. I hear Americans criticize Israel and I wonder if they criticize our country so harshly. Maybe they do, and yet we still have our own problems to solve.
Poverty and homelessness - I don't even know where to begin. The older I get, the sadder I get seeing so many homeless people in our society. I drive by them or walk by them and feel guilty. How is it that we have not fixed this problem? How is it that we allow people to live like this? I understand that many of us allow ourselves luxuries, but after seeing Tom Shadyac's documentary I Am, I really wonder at what point do we stop collecting stuff? Why are waiting in line for the next better phone when we just bought our phone within 6 months? I feel guilty having the choice to write this blog on 4 different devices. This ill in our society truly saddens me because I know that I am not doing all I can to help those who are suffering.
These are the issues I think about when I read and listen to "the experts." And these are the issues that sometimes overwhelm me, scare me and upset me. And sadly, these are the issues that I often feel powerless to fix. I promise to read more, watch more, listen carefully and scream louder and maybe together we can get something done.
Education - what the hell is going on in our public schools? How is it possible that this has not been a priority for our communities? As parents, my husband and I send our children to private school. We chose a school that is a Jewish Day School with a dual language program. We sweat every year to make it possible for our children to attend this school and we believe that they are in the best place for them and for us. My husband and I are lucky; we make it work. What about those who can't afford to choose where they want their kids to go to school? Education has changed so much here in Los Angeles. When I was growing up, I knew very few (and I mean very few) kids that went to private school. When you planned on having kids, you moved into the area with good schools and that was it, your kids went to the neighborhood schools with all the other kids. I hope we can figure it out soon.
Women's issues - I am not sure how to make this any clearer - I do not want anyone telling me what I can or cannot do with my body. That is the first issue. Secondly, I want society to care about educating both men and women about equal rights, which means to me that men and women have the freedom to choose who and what they want to be in life. Shouldn't we spend our energy teaching our children how to be productive members of society rather than she can't do this or he can't do that? Man or woman, we should be able to teach our children that both sexes are our best partners and together we need to solve our communities problems and not create more.
Gay marriage - can't we just get this done already? It is going to happen. Let's just make it possible already. I think it is ridiculous that we are preventing people who want to simply express their love for each other. The weirdest part is that the heterosexual community is not that successful at it, so I am not sure why we feel we should prevent others from doing it. This really takes up too much of our time and eventually it will happen, so let's just make it happen.
Israel - I am Jewish and I want/need Israel to survive. My generation does not know a world without Israel. It scares me that there are people in the world who want the Jews to die (not just go away, but actually die) and this does not seem to get people crazy. I want peace. I want to help to achieve peace. I want people in public office to also want to achieve peace. I also want Amercians to support Israel simply because it is a thriving democratic society. I hear Americans criticize Israel and I wonder if they criticize our country so harshly. Maybe they do, and yet we still have our own problems to solve.
Poverty and homelessness - I don't even know where to begin. The older I get, the sadder I get seeing so many homeless people in our society. I drive by them or walk by them and feel guilty. How is it that we have not fixed this problem? How is it that we allow people to live like this? I understand that many of us allow ourselves luxuries, but after seeing Tom Shadyac's documentary I Am, I really wonder at what point do we stop collecting stuff? Why are waiting in line for the next better phone when we just bought our phone within 6 months? I feel guilty having the choice to write this blog on 4 different devices. This ill in our society truly saddens me because I know that I am not doing all I can to help those who are suffering.
These are the issues I think about when I read and listen to "the experts." And these are the issues that sometimes overwhelm me, scare me and upset me. And sadly, these are the issues that I often feel powerless to fix. I promise to read more, watch more, listen carefully and scream louder and maybe together we can get something done.
Friday, December 4, 2009
My trip to Israel
It is hard to believe that I was in Israel less than a month ago. The link is the blog that I wrote for The Jewish Federation's website, posted today.
http://www.jewishla.com/2009/12/beauty-and-strength-in-israel/
I'm thrilled to have my own blog and will be writing about all different things. I'm grateful to Jordan for setting me up.
Here we go...
http://www.jewishla.com/2009/12/beauty-and-strength-in-israel/
I'm thrilled to have my own blog and will be writing about all different things. I'm grateful to Jordan for setting me up.
Here we go...
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