“If donors could close the aspiration gap, billions of additional big-bet dollars would flow to the world’s most challenging problems, and millions of lives could change for the better for generations to come.”
“Without broader avenues to share the lessons learned, failures are wasted. As foundations continue to embrace risk-taking, they would be well advised to commit to evaluating and sharing the outcomes in practical and public ways.”
“Great advice is always a hammer: an organizing principle that works across many domains. To get the most mileage out of a single hammer, don’t stop at using it to tackle your current pet problem. Use it everywhere. Ideas don’t get worn down from use.”
“We are all peers, learning together, regardless of position. When Moses himself was transported through time and space to Rabbi Akiva’s study house, he took a seat in the back, observing from among the students.”
“The great dilemma of liberal Judaism is the flipside of the great discovery of liberal Judaism: maybe God didn’t say you had to, so why would you continue doing this? All of non-literalist Judaism is an attempt to answer that question.”
“Given the correlation between higher education and better professional opportunities, the university provides Haredi students a stepping stone to a better economic future, while also bridging the divide between the Haredi community and the secular world.”
“The beauty of digital media is that it turns breadth vs. depth into a false choice. In our case, by vastly expanding our overall audience, we are greatly increasing our ability to go deeper and deeper with more and more people.”
“’To be Jewish’ is not black or white but actually shades of grey and that Judaism is for us to fall in love with, again and again.”
“As human beings it is in our nature to learn from our experiences, and as Jews it is our responsibility to learn from our experiences; learning which ultimately impacts the formation of our identities and enhances our personal agency.”
“A thick institution is not one that people use instrumentally, to get a degree or to earn a salary. A thick institution becomes part of a person’s identity and engages the whole person: head, hands, heart and soul.”
“We need a word for that feeling one experiences when you either a) reply all in error or b) send a sensitive (or worse) email to the wrong person … I suggest we call it a kishkor – a mash-up of kishke and error because, at least in my experience, that is where the feeling hits.”