If you have a European or Middle Eastern heritage and you grow up in the Southern Hemisphere, you suffer from permanent cognitive dissonance. You may read about stars and constellations, but you’ll never see the Ursa Major in the sky. Or you’ll find it between funny and pathetic to celebrate midwinter traditions — designed for colder climes — in the sweltering summer heat.

JFN President and CEO Andrés Spokoiny's presidential address at the JFN 2021 International Conference, delivered online on Wednesday, March 17, 2021.

Ridiculousness is one of the central characteristics of Purim. On this holiday, we are not afraid to be silly and absurd. We don funny costumes; we drink ourselves into oblivion; we are boisterous and noisy.

It takes just 13 seconds to chop down a tree with an ax. If you must know, New Zealander David Bolstad holds the world record of “underhand chop” at 12.28 seconds. With a mechanical saw, which is how most chopping occurs these days, it takes about half that (and the record for that is 5.085 seconds, held by American Matt Bush).

Sorry to break it to you, but Hanukkah is not that unique.

Almost every culture has a midwinter holiday in which light is the main protagonist. From the Norse Yule, to Christmas, to Diwali. It seems that, as the days shorten and the sun retreats, the fear of darkness inscribed in the human DNA takes over.

"Overwhelmed as we are with the threat that Covid presents to our institutions, we tend to forget a quiet revolution that is taking place during the pandemic: the democratization of quality."

Read article on eJewish Philanthropy

Anybody who, like me, has ever tried to lose weight – and failed – has experienced some of the harsh realities of dieting. At the beginning, you get really encouraged, take decisive action, and see the results right away. The pounds seem to fall off, and those old jeans suddenly fit again.

But then progress slugs. You plateau and, little by little, you start gaining weight again. Well, you tell yourself, after that run I earned that cookie, didn’t I? You fail to realize the two key truths about dieting: that certain practices, like exercise, portion control, and no-snacking, need to become a way of life, and that every stage requires different actions. The exercise routine that helped you lose your first five pounds may not be effective for the next 10. And your carbs strategy needs to be different: You can totally cut them for two weeks, but can you sustain that over time?

Read full article — a Message for the National Day of Philanthropy — in eJewish Philanthropy.

Rome’s highest honor for its military leaders was the triumph. It was an extravagant and lavish affair in which the triumphator, wearing a crown of laurel and a gold-embroidered purple tunic, and riding a gold-plated four-horse carriage, was paraded through the streets of the city at the head of his army, showing off the captives and the spoils that they brought from the campaign.  

According to physicist Carlo Rovelli, the most radical discovery of quantum mechanics is this: Things don’t have concrete existence, but instead acquire proper entity only when they interact with other things. Like most concepts in quantum, this is mind-bending. At the most basic level, quantum says, our world is not made of “things” but of relationships.

“Since the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem”, says the Talmud, “prophecy has been taken from prophets and given to fools and children.” In other words, there’s no way of knowing what the future holds. But if I can’t prophesize, I can at least, ask questions. And the questions are more important than the answers, for they can spark important communal conversations.