Site Spotlight: Cape Town, South Africa

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Viv Anstey, Melton Cape Town Director, together with Lauren Snitcher (Marketing & Recruitment) have built the site into a respected, beloved resource for the community and beyond, collaborating wi...

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Meet Mehrnaz Halimi of Melton Sacramento

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What's your favorite part of being a Melton Director? With my love of Jewish education, I can recruit Learners and our second-to-none faculty that keeps them engaged. Learners enjoy Melton so much tha...

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Antisemitism on the Rise

antisemitism-post2 ADL Mountain States Senior Associate Regional Director Sue Parker Gerson

 Last month, antisemitism rose two-fold in the United States compared to May 2020. The trend is even more worrisome in Europe, where antisemitism grew 500%. This surge in antisemitic attacks has ...

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Tzedek, Tzedek: Two Generations of Social Justice

Melton-Blog-Image-1 Jean and Jill “Scout” Bratt

"Tzedek, tzedek tirdof -- Justice, justice you shall pursue." It's one of the most famous – and precious – Jewish concepts. It derives from Moses's charge to the Israelites in Deuteronomy, urging the ...

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Site Spotlight: Melton Louisville

This year has been full of highs and lows, as the challenges and tragedies of the pandemic have been mixed with beautiful growth in Jewish learning. Louisville Melton has had its most diverse age rang...

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Meet Dr. Zollman

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My specialty is American Jewish history, and I teach everything from the Bible to modern Israel. I look at material culture—arts and artifacts—to understand history, especially the "lesser-known chapt...

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The Seder and the Stories We Retell

A Seder table A Seder table. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Imagine bringing a guest to your family's seder — a newcomer to the Pesach traditions. "We will tell the story of our journey from slavery to freedom," you explain, "and along the way, we will eat som...

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Melton Moments: Passover

Traditional seder plate

With Passover upon us, we have much to celebrate this time around. As we gather our families around the seder table this year (in person and online), the story of exodus resonates as deeply as ever-- ...

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Meet Beyond Borders' Dr. Joy Getnick

Dr. Joy Getnick Meet the Teacher!

Growing up, I often heard about my great uncles who had been active in Zionist youth activities. They all made Aliyah, either in the late 1940s pre-State or soon thereafter, leaving my grandfather her...

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On the one-year anniversary of COVID — trends in adult Jewish education

Matthew T Rader / Unsplash Matthew T Rader / Unsplash

Organizations of all sizes have seen an increase in the number of adult learners in their online programs during this year. Adults recognize that Jewish learning can offer them spiritual nourishment, ...

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The law of return and the Jewish covenant of fate

Israel-Supreme-Court-500px The Israeli Supreme Court in Jerusalem.

It seems to me that the timing of the Israeli High Court decision to recognize Reform and Conservative conversations done in Israel as meeting the requirements[i] of the Law of Return could not have b...

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Mixing Dough and Heritage in the Name of Hamantaschen

Hamantaschen

How a Sephardic baker made her Ashkenazi family's recipe famous The Purim holiday commemorates the Jewish people's triumph over Haman, an official in 4th-century BCE Persian Empire who attempted their...

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The Problem With Quick-Fix Jewish Wisdom

Torah Scroll

2021 has begun, and the pandemic is still looming. So many aspects of our lives feel like they remain on hold.In the chaos and uncertainty of our moment, we often find ourselves seeking a nugget of in...

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Melton School of the Year goes to…

Deborah-Slosberg--award-500 Louisville Director Deborah Slosberg received the 2021 Florence Melton Award on behalf of her school at the virtual International Directors Conference on Jan. 26.

… The Louisville Melton School at Adath Jeshurun and their director Deborah Slosberg! Deborah received the annual Florence Melton Award, given for excellence in building a strong learning community, a...

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Calling a Plague, a Plague

Liz Cheney Wyoming's Republican Rep. Liz Cheney announces her decision to vote to impeach President Donald Trump.

Congresswoman Liz Cheney, the third-highest-ranking Republican leader in the House, has named it – what happened in the US Capital one week ago today was an act of betrayal by the President of the Uni...

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Hindsight is 2020

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In all matters of life and living, we can view what happens to us through one of three lenses: Lens of insight – as life happens, we seek to understand it. Insight is the limited capacity to gain an a...

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Silver Linings in a Challenging Year

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As leaders of an international organization, we try to view every challenge we face with perspective and a bias towards action. This year, while difficult for many reasons, has pushed us to connect wi...

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One was Loved, One was Hated

mandrakes Mandrakes (Wikipedia Commons)

The Torah uses a harsh word to describe Jacob's feelings for his first wife, Leah: that she was hated. Alarmed by this language, some commentaries suggest that "hated" does not mean Leah was actually ...

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Leaders are elected, but leadership must be earned

washington Image: W Kennedy, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

When George Augustine Washington was elected in 1789 to become the first national leader of the nascent republic of the United States of America, there was major debate as to what he should be called....

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Melton mourns loss of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks

sacks Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom Jonathan Sacks at a National Poverty Hearing in 2006 at Westminster, London.

(JNS) Jewish groups expressed their condolences over the passing of former U.K. Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, who died early Saturday morning at the age of 72 after recently being diagnosed with ca...

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