Dr. Mijal Bitton: Translating Sephardic and Mizrahi Stories in America
Episode 44 of What Gives? the Jewish philanthropy podcast from Jewish Funders Network.
Dr. Mijal Bitton, Rosh Kehilla and co-founder of the Downtown Minyan, talks to JFN President and CEO Andres Spokoiny about being a translator for the stories of Sephardic, Mizrahi, and other non-Ashkenazi Jewish communities. Andres and Mijal talk about what the trajectory of those communities has been in the United States, and the misunderstandings that the larger American Jewish community has about the recent waves of immigrant Jews, politically and culturally. Mijal also gives insight into being a woman leader in an orthodox religious community, and witnessing the transcendence of god through parenthood.
Rabbi Leon Morris: Creating Communities of Meaning Through Submission
Episode 43 of What Gives? the Jewish philanthropy podcast from Jewish Funders Network.
Rabbi Leon Morris, President of the Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies, talks to JFN President and CEO Andres Spokoiny about his essay in Sources, "In Defense of Surrender in Liberal Jewish Life." Morris argues that a Jewish response to individual agency having eclipsed every other important value is necessary, and can be done through a sense of surrender (of our defenses, our time, and our notion of isolated individualism) to community, rather than submission to authority. Leon talks about what he finds excited about pluralistic spaces, how thoroughly modern Jews are having trouble finding places for Jewishness in their lives, the enormous relevance that traditional texts still have for our modern time, and what gives him hope for the Jewish future.
Works referenced in this episode:
Yotam Polizer: IsraAID's Humanitarian Road to Global Compassion
Episode 42 of What Gives? the Jewish philanthropy podcast from Jewish Funders Network.
Yotam Polizer, CEO of IsraAID, talks to JFN President and CEO Andres Spokoiny about how IsraAid is able to deploy to places where Israel doesn't have diplomatic relations, and the knock on effects of sending aid from Israel to unfriendly territories. Yotam spoke about how a humanitarian organization fundraises at times when there isn’t a disaster in the news, and about the steps that he and his team take to ensure that they stay mentally and emotionally happy in the face of this difficult work.