Begin with Passion

A conversation with Mitchell B. Reiss, President, Washington College, Chestertown, MD for Reform Judaism

What is the best advice you can give a high school student who's deciding on a college and a career?
You're not going to be very successful or very happy unless you're really enthusiastic about what you're doing.

If you don't yet know where your passion lies, take a cue from the French, who have the expression, "The appetite comes with the eating." In other words, in higher education you can sometimes find your passion by taking a variety of different courses. This is one of the great advantages of a liberal arts education: it allows you to try different courses and see if you might like something you don't imagine you would.

Finding your purpose in life is what a great undergraduate experience is all about. The best colleges help students find that passion. I believe a liberal arts institution can do this better than any other model on the planet.

About a third of young people are getting jobs in industries that didn't exist 10 years ago. How do you educate students for jobs that don't yet exist?
You teach them transcendent skill sets, the most important of which is how to think critically, dissect, and analyze situations. Communicating effectively both in writing and in speech is another essential skill we emphasize. We also stress that possessing these skills is necessary but not sufficient; students also need to develop the moral courage to speak up when they believe something is wrong. Take some of the great mistakes over the last decade-the BP oil disaster, the Penn State sex scandal, the presumption of WMDs in Iraq-in each instance, individuals knew that something wasn't right or that misstatements were being made, but nobody spoke up and it led to disaster. In teaching the importance of ethics, integrity, and character, we hope that our graduates will go out into the world with the discernment to make judgments for themselves and the moral courage to act on them by speaking up even when it's unpopular to do so.

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Should we shut up or stand up when celebs slur 'the Jews’?

When Miley Cyrus and Kanye West let anti-Semitic comments slip, plenty of people actually believe them.

By Yael Miller / Jewish World blogger for Haaretz
It hasn’t been a great couple of months for the Jews. First Miley Cyrus freaks out about old Jewish men being out of touch with teens, a U.S. councilwoman-elect implies that Jewish people might have reason for being randomly punched, and of course, Kanye West’s tirade. Just a few weeks ago, he went on record saying:

"Man, let me tell you something about George Bush and oil money and Obama and no money. People want to say Obama can't make these moves or he's not executing. That's because he ain't got those connections ... Black people don't have the same level of connections as Jewish people. Black people don't have the same connections as oil people."

Pardon me, Kanye, but I didn’t realize all Jewish people have such insane connections, more than — wait for it — the president of the United States of America. Excuse me a moment while I make a few phone calls and work my way to the CEO of Cisco Systems, or better yet, Apple.

West has been getting a lot of media attention, being derided for his “classic anti-Semitism,” and, on the other end of the spectrum, urged not to apologize.

It’s unclear as to whether all this hype is good or bad for the Jews. In a Daily Beast article last week, one woman implored fellow Jews to “stop trying to make people shut up” - particularly when it comes to debates on Israel. But is she right? Would we be better off trying to keep everyone quiet or let them rant and rave so as not to quell public debate?

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Teenage nominees sought for Jewish awards

Based on the Jewish concept of tikkun olam, or “repair of the world,” the Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards seek to recognize teens who are exceptional role models in their communities and beyond. The Awards celebrate teens who have demonstrated remarkable leadership and are actively engaged in projects which embody the values of tikkun olam. Teen projects may benefit the Jewish community or the general community.

Up to fifteen selected teens, five from California and ten from other communities across the country, will each be acknowledged for their visionary actions with an award of $36,000, to be used to further their philanthropic work or their education.
Learn more about the nomination and application process or go directly to the nomination form, or application form.

Q&A for Teens: Grandpa in Decline

by Lauren Roth for Aish.com

Dear Lauren,

My grandfather is getting old and is slowing down physically and mentally. He used to have such a booming presence, and now he seems shrunken and weak in his chair. I know it pains him to be so trapped in himself like that. I know he wants to be the leader of the family again. I hate how everyone talks down to him, unintentionally, of course; even I can't deny he gets confused sometimes. I want him to know how proud I am of him, how much I love him, how much I worry about him. I cry after every get-together; it's so hard to watch. My anxiety comes out most when I think about things like this. God is my only comfort, but even with Him I feel confused, and that bothers me too. I know it all makes sense somehow, and God is in control...but why is all this fair? I know it's the cycle of life...I know I'm not the first kid to worry about her grandfather...but I’m scared. Please help.

Lauren Roth's Answer

It’s scary when the strong presences in our lives become weaker, and “go the way of all flesh.” Remember the second law of thermodynamics from physics: things of this physical world inevitably go towards entropy—towards greater disorder. Physical systems inevitably break down. Your grandfather’s physical and mental decline is part of the natural order of things.

When my friend lost her father, she told me, “Of course I miss him. I miss him every day. But we had a wonderful life together. And that is a life well-lived.” Nobody lives forever and no state of being lasts forever, even though we want it to. The question is: what do we do with the time we have?

I think you should tell your grandfather everything you want to say. Tell him all the points you mentioned in your question: tell him how and why you are proud of him, tell him how much you love him, tell him you know he doesn’t feel as strong as he did before, but that you still respect him the same as you did before. Whether he understands what you’re telling him or not, you’ll feel better for having said it out loud to him.

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Israeli Zombies Hit the Big Screen

 When an Israeli Defense Forces special ops unit heads to Lebanon to capture a Hezbollah leader, they're expecting trouble. But not in the form they find it.

Welcome to Cannon Fodder, Israel's first-ever zombie movie. The 94-minute film (in Hebrew and English, with English subtitles), which began as the BFA thesis of friends Eitan Gafny and Tom Goldwasser, features some grotesque special effects, and a suitably metal soundtrack.

Cannon Fodder boasts the bleak scenery, dark humor, and fast-paced sense of danger of traditional war films, but it's the unique and unexpected combination of meticulously choreographed zombie mayhem and political commentary that's been delighting fans and winning awards (including Best Feature Film at the Fright Night Film Fest, Louisville, KY) around the country. Cannon Fodder is the first action/horror film to be sponsored by the prestigious Israeli Film Fund—and, we suspect, the first Israeli film production to have used 40 gallons of fake blood.

- Elizabeth Michaelson for Jewniverse

Effort to remember Holocaust blossoms in Squirrel Hill

It took 4 1/2 years to collect 6 million pop tabs that form a Squirrel Hill memorial to victims of the Holocaust

By Robert Zullo / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

At first, it was just a simple way to study a staggering statistic.

Searching for a means to give both his students and himself a way to come to grips with the 6 million Jews killed by Germany's Nazi regime and its collaborators between 1933 and 1945, Bill Walter, a middle school social studies teacher at Community Day School in Squirrel Hill, borrowed an idea from a school in Illinois.

Starting in 1996, Mr. Walter's students began collecting pop tabs from cans, one for each of the victims of the Holocaust, the systematic genocide of European Jews. The Nazis also killed hundreds of thousands of others judged inferior, including Roma, Slavs, the disabled and homosexuals.

"The pop tabs each represent a human being discarded and tossed aside without a second thought," Mr. Walter said.

In a month, they had collected nearly 25,000 and Mr. Walter thought the project was moving along well until some quick math revealed it would be two decades before they had enough at that pace.

So the endeavor blossomed into a school-wide project at the private, pre-K-through-eighth-grade Jewish school and soon tabs were pouring in from around the world.

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