Blog
Non-Religious Shabbat?
I've been speaking about the need to support secular approaches to Jewish lifecycle events even as we support our traditional religious institutions. Here's a great example of integrating a religious practice for the secular or non-religious, a Technology Shabbat:...
Jewish Federation Awards $30,000 in Grants to Innovators
Eight local ideas for Jewish education and engagement projects chosen for funding from 73 submissions Jewish Federation of St. Louis announces it has named eight recipients as the first cohort for the 2013 Innovation Grants. Their eight projects, which address Jewish...
The Pew Study
Two weeks ago the Pew Center published its report on American Jewish life that reported what many of us highly suspected: American Jews are, like most Americans, becoming less religiously identified, more intermarried and assimilated. The Pew Study is the most...
Days 8 and 9 – This Is the End; But This Is Only the Beginning
SPOILER ALERT: For those of you who don’t want to know how this journey ends, please read the next paragraph last. Your 2013 Rubinites are back in our St. Louis homes! As the last couple of days of our journey were tightly packed (literally and figuratively in some...
Day Seven – Serious Reflections on Contemporary Issues and Sobering Remembrances of Past Losses
Apropos for a Sunday morning, we spent the first hours of the day discussing currennt Middle East affairs with a pair of highly qualified speakers. First up was Jodi Rudoren, a 15 year veteran of the New York Times who is currently serving as the paper's Jerusalem...
Federation Bringing in Israel Expert for Discussion on Media Bias
Jewish Federation of St. Louis is bringing in Neil Lazarus, an internationally acclaimed expert on Middle East politics, to speak at two events on the subject “Is the Media Biased Against Israel?” on Tuesday, November 12. Lazarus, known for blending humor with serious...
Megiddo Youth Advancement Unit Joins Leket Volunteer Activity
By Yael Shapira, Federation Representative in Yokneam-Megiddo I am such a “match maker” at heart, that I just love it when two federation- funded programs come together. The result is always greater than the sum of each part alone. The Hila program is a national...
Day Six – Shabbat on the Go, a return to the Old City, an Evening Briefing and Baseball on Ben Yehuda
While Shabbat is supposed to be a day of rest, the Rubinites had spiritual missions to fulfill, so it was another bustling morning. We met with social historian and former longtime Tel Aviv University Professor Paul Liptz who gave us a rundown on the general...
Day Five – A “Dayenu” Kind of Day
As usual, there were plenty of activities and a surprise or two to fill our Friday. We started the day with one last Kibbutz Dalia breakfast, then met up with our new guide Dovev who accompanied us to our tour's final home base, Jerusalem. During the two hour trip,...
Day Four – Harvesting Hands, Helping Hands, Farewell to an Old Friend, Hello to Some New Ones
Thursday marked our second day in the Yokneam-Meggido region. As has been the case every day thus far (and, according to our remaining schedule, will continue to be the case), we had a full ledger of planned activities. Following the now-customary robust Israeli...