“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.”
“Although not every application of behavioral economics will make the world a better place, I believe that giving economics a more human dimension and creating theories that apply to humans, not just econs, will make our discipline stronger, more useful, and undoubtedly more accurate.”
“When staff and board members at foundations need trusted information about philanthropic practice, there’s one source that tops their list: their peers.”
“If nonprofits committed to understanding their true cost of operations and funders shifted to paying grantees what it takes to get the job done, the starvation cycle would end.”
“Jewish tradition encourages Jews to think of themselves as an extended family; by reaching into the most extreme and insular corner of the Jewish world to find universal themes, Shtisel sends the message that, despite everything, they still are.”
“Never before was there a civil, secular Jewish state. This is the first time we have had such a thing. One would expect that special circumstances such as these would result in a different type of Jewishness.”