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This Chanukah, Celebrate the Community We Aspire to Build

Posted by Rabbi Rob Symons and Melissa Hiller on November 28, 2018

Redefining neighbor from a geographic term to moral concept On Sunday night, members of the Jewish community around the world will begin our annual celebration of Chanukah. It is the time honored commemoration of the victory of the Maccabees in the 2nd century BCE over the Assyrian Greeks and their allies who wanted to create a homogeneous cultural and religious community in which diversity was neither tolerated …

“This day seals your destiny as American citizens – as patriots.”

Posted by Melissa Hiller on September 28, 2018

In advance of the exhibit, American Patriot: Photographs by Charlee Brodsky, Poetry by Jim Daniels, now on display in the The American Jewish Museum at the JCC, Melissa Hiller, AJM Director, was the keynote speaker at the Naturalization Ceremony held at the Frick Environmental Center. Following is her speech: You stand here on this rainy but beautiful Fall day because of your fortitude, bravery, courage, your belief in yourself, …

Our Kids Deserve Our Respectful Debate

Posted by Brian Schreiber on July 20, 2018

These are extraordinary times. As noted in the Jewish Chronicle’s June 21, 2018, opinion piece, “The purpose of a newspaper,” the more polarized opinions become, the more we need lively, respectful debate over issues that are important to us. I couldn’t agree more. Respectful debate between people seems harder and harder these days. A 2016 NORC Center for Public Affairs Research study found that that 74 …

I Need Shabbat This Week

Posted by Rabbi Ron Symons on June 22, 2018

I need Shabbat this week because all I have heard is people talking over and through each other. I need Shabbat this week because all I have seen are images of children separated from their parents. I need Shabbat this week because all the values about family and human dignity I thought were foundational to our American way of life are being challenged. I need Shabbat this week …

What Does Israel Mean to Me?

Posted by Brian Schreiber on May 22, 2018

I vividly remember the endless bus trip from Jerusalem to Kibbutz Hazorea in 1985. I didn’t know a soul, spoke fewer than a dozen Hebrew words, and had never traveled overseas. But I had a longing to experience Israel, to learn the language and connect to people on their terms – not mine. The journey took me from the kibbutz to community service work in Ashkelon …

Updating Our Mission Statement

Posted by Brian Schreiber on April 27, 2018

Over the past year, our lay and professional leadership went through the thoughtful and intentional process of updating our Mission Statement. Our goal was simple – to help our members, guests, professional staff, donors, partners and other stakeholders know more than what we do, but WHY we exist and who we aspire to be. Mission statements are more than just assemblies of words. Each word has weight and …

Passover is All About Time Travel

Posted by Rabbi Ron Symons on March 27, 2018

Each and every year when we pull our wine stained haggadot off of the shelf and place them on our beautifully set Passover tables, we have two options. The first is the basic plan: Read through the haggadah, go through the rituals, eat the symbolic foods because this is the way that we have done it for years and we think that we should just maintain …

International Women’s Day – #PressForProgress

Posted by Rabbi Ron Symons on March 8, 2018

As we celebrate International Women’s Day today, and Women's History Month during March, we understand the phrase #PRESSFORPROGRESS is needed more than ever. We live in a world in which women’s voices have been suppressed when it comes to reporting sexual harassment, domestic violence and sexual assault in all areas of society. Our contemporary conversations are a mirror of conversations and attitudes that have been going …

JCC Camps: Preparing for Life’s Journeys

Posted by JCC Camps Team on February 21, 2018

C O N N E C T I O N S • V A L U E S • G R O W T H • F U N This is our responsibility: To prepare the next generation for the journeys that lie ahead. We hope that every journey will be fair and just. We hope that every journey will be filled with joy and happiness. We hope that …

Celebrating the Lunar New Year

Posted by Rabbi Ron Symons on February 16, 2018

You might be wondering why the JCC opens its doors to the Lunar New Year celebration. Let me begin by sharing a metaphor I just learned on a podcast by my teacher Rabbi Larry Hoffman of the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion. While discussing the tension between being particular (having concern for and being interested in the Jewish community) and universal (having concern …

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