A new organization called JDov is putting out TED-like talks with motivational Jewish speakers. In this one, Ruth Messinger, the president of AJWS, talks about the Shema as a tool for listening to the people of the developing world.

“Jewish tradition urges us to listen and act based on what we hear. The Shema, the bedrock Jewish prayer, commands us to listen because listening anchors our lives with compassion, interconnection, and a shared commitment to justice. Only when we truly pay attention to people who are silenced, disempowered, or rendered invisible, can we begin the work of repairing the world.”

This came through the wire today. Nathan Schwartz, dorky Jewish Bar Mitzvah boy, gets backstage with his dad to all these rap concerts and takes pictures with the rappers. He’s gotten so famous for this he needs his own bodyguard. But pretty sure he’s still a virgin.

Nathan Schwartz, 12, of Miami has been attending rap concerts with his father since he was 6. After the shows, the boy has made it a habit to take pictures with the artists and upload them to his lively Instagram account (@natedoggschwartz). Schwartz has photos with artists such as Kanye West, Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj and T-Pain, not to mention Bill Clinton—the ex-president, not a rapper.
Vice magazine interviewed him Friday and revealed that Nathan has a bodyguard because he gets some threats—“ ‘if you don’t get me to meet Wayne imma fuk u up’ and stuff like that. It’s a cold world out there,” Nathan told the magazine, adding that he “respects the haters.”
He also wants to be a big music executive. And, most important,…

Yeah, yeah, it’s that time of year when everyone goes on and on about resolutions. I’m not really big on the NY resolution making, partly because I feel like I make resolutions every day (“I swear, this is the last time I will be 15 minutes late to absolutely everything,” etc.), and partly because I tend to opt out of social customs that are associated, ultimately, with failure.
Anyway, I have made some resolutions in spite of myself, and I think they’re good ones - and ones that we can all use.

1. Start setting more realistic expectations.
How many times a day/week/month do you realize you kind of screwed up on something? Or didn’t put in your best effort? If you’re Type A, like I am, you probably want to smack yourself in the head at least one time a day. if you’re one of those really laid-back types, well, you probably should smack yourself in the head more often.
I frequently read loads of comments - under articles, on Facebook - expressing the idiotic incompetence of the author/governmental…

Every year, around Thanksgiving (which seems odd to me, as Hanukkah is only a week and a half away, and next year will be even earlier), my sets of relatives ask me for my holiday wish list. This is increasingly complicated as my birthday also happens to fall on December 25 (yes, Christmas day. Like a good Jewish girl born in Israel).

And, every year, this task becomes more frustrating, as I am of the mindset, more as I get older, that I would really rather not accumulate more stuff. I don’t want it and I don’t need it. What usually ends up happening is that I receive checks in the mail or gift cards to Amazon.com, which is all well and good, but I’d rather not get those things and have my family donate to a charity that they or I care about. Because those gift cards will still inevitably accumulate—yup, you guessed it—more stuff. Unfortunately, It’s sometimes hard for people to get past spending money at the holidays though.

In a search around the interwebs today, I found this great website—and I know it’s not the only of its kind—for…

After a week of fighting in Gaza, for which a candlelight vigil in solidarity with Israel was held last night here in Seattle, a bus bombing this morning has made matters worse.

I did not attend the vigil last night. Why? Not because I do not stand with Israel. But because the violence and response on both sides has been so incredibly jarring—and the outcry on both sides so ugly, I honestly don’t know how to feel right now.

This morning, I read an article from the Washington Post that commented on the video that was released almost immediately after the Tel Aviv bus bombing that injured between 20 and 30 people. The video, images and commentary broadcast on Hamas-run Al-Aqsa TV, were disturbing to say the least. For me, the news was devastating as it has been six years since a bus bombing in Tel Aviv.

What’s worse, I believe the images from the nearly 140 casualties and over 1,000 injuries in Gaza from Israeli response are just as staggering. I’ve read half a dozen articles regarding the last week’s worth of violence, and each one has its own slant and…