Michael Steinhardt Joins Board of JDC-Taub Center http://blogs.jta.org/ENTRY_PERMALINK_HERE/michael-steinhardt-joins-board-of-jdc-taub-center/ Michael Steinhardt has joined the board of the JDC-Taub Center for Social Policy. en-us jberkman@jta.org Copyright 2009 2009-10-27T;01:24:00-05:00 Comment by Evan Zuesse tzur@optusnet.com.au steve ariza, hundreds of millions of people have been turned off tennis because they were not able to make the Wimbledon finals and play against Agassi.  Did you know that?  I didn’t.  But in your world, it is true.  Oddly enough, people tune into their TV programs when the big tennis matches are shown, nevertheless - you wouldn’t guess it.  I guess not everyone gets everything they want in life.  “Deal with it!” Really it is too funny. Actually, of course, kids are not “turned away” from this program, only not admitted in a given year because funds can’t cover every applicant.  Bravo for the program: it now is so popular it has waiting lists.  But while going to Israel is a “birthright,” it is not a right.  It is a gift.  Decent people are grateful if they get a gift, but they don’t become haters of the donors if they don’t get a gift.  There is something very wrong with the nasty attitude shown here by “steve.” In any case, the gift of a trip to Israel is one any Jewish family can provide their children and in fact themselves.  I know a good number of Jewish families who have already sent their children there, usually after finishing high school or for a summer during their university years, for weeks or months at an accommodating kibbutz or other appropriate organization, including yeshivot.  Sometimes it was done through their shul, or via relatives in Israel.  They did not wait for the Birthright Program.  The truth is any Jew can go there on their own, at some point in their life, and every Jew should.  It is a transformational experience.  Simply to see Jewish holy sites is deeply moving, and to be in a flourishing, majority Jewish nation: fabulous!  I recommend it to our readers.  But I am grateful for the Birthright Program too, as every Jew should be.  It is worthy of charitable support: contact them and see what you can donate! steve ariza, hundreds of millions of people have been turned off tennis because they were not able to make the Wimbledon finals and play against Agassi.  Did you know that?  I didn’t.  But in your world, it is true.  Oddly enough, people tune into their TV programs when the big tennis matches are shown, nevertheless - you wouldn’t guess it. 

I guess not everyone gets everything they want in life.  “Deal with it!”

Really it is too funny.

Actually, of course, kids are not “turned away” from this program, only not admitted in a given year because funds can’t cover every applicant.  Bravo for the program: it now is so popular it has waiting lists.  But while going to Israel is a “birthright,” it is not a right.  It is a gift.  Decent people are grateful if they get a gift, but they don’t become haters of the donors if they don’t get a gift.  There is something very wrong with the nasty attitude shown here by “steve.”

In any case, the gift of a trip to Israel is one any Jewish family can provide their children and in fact themselves.  I know a good number of Jewish families who have already sent their children there, usually after finishing high school or for a summer during their university years, for weeks or months at an accommodating kibbutz or other appropriate organization, including yeshivot.  Sometimes it was done through their shul, or via relatives in Israel.  They did not wait for the Birthright Program.  The truth is any Jew can go there on their own, at some point in their life, and every Jew should.  It is a transformational experience.  Simply to see Jewish holy sites is deeply moving, and to be in a flourishing, majority Jewish nation: fabulous!  I recommend it to our readers.  But I am grateful for the Birthright Program too, as every Jew should be.  It is worthy of charitable support: contact them and see what you can donate!

]]> 2011-02-25T;01:28:00-05:00 Comment by Evan Zuesse tzur@optusnet.com.au Actually, I must amend my earlier numbers.  Taglit-Birthright Israel has helped to provide nearly 225,000 American Jewish youth educational tours of Israel.  So says a recent study that also shows that “rates of marriage outside the faith were sharply curbed among young Jews who have taken ‘birthright’ trips to Israel, a development that could hearten Jewish leaders worried about assimilation,” quoting from an article from the Wall Street Journal by Jennifer Levitz, “Jewish marriage Tied to Israel Trip,” on Oct. 26.  See http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125652745959507567.html It is now fully established that a high quality educational program like this can be a major turning point in people’s lives: it has really made a major difference for Jewish young people.  More power to it! Actually, I must amend my earlier numbers.  Taglit-Birthright Israel has helped to provide nearly 225,000 American Jewish youth educational tours of Israel.  So says a recent study that also shows that “rates of marriage outside the faith were sharply curbed among young Jews who have taken ‘birthright’ trips to Israel, a development that could hearten Jewish leaders worried about assimilation,” quoting from an article from the Wall Street Journal by Jennifer Levitz, “Jewish marriage Tied to Israel Trip,” on Oct. 26.  See http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125652745959507567.html

It is now fully established that a high quality educational program like this can be a major turning point in people’s lives: it has really made a major difference for Jewish young people.  More power to it!

]]> 2011-02-25T;01:28:00-05:00 Comment by Evan Zuesse tzur@optusnet.com.au The Birthright Program is an unqualified success, and has deepened the Jewish knowledge and attachment to the Jewish people of over 100,000 young American Jews.  To understand Ariza’s sneering comments, merely check his abusive remarks on all other topics in JTA blogs. The Birthright Program is an unqualified success, and has deepened the Jewish knowledge and attachment to the Jewish people of over 100,000 young American Jews.  To understand Ariza’s sneering comments, merely check his abusive remarks on all other topics in JTA blogs.

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