Jewels 2008

I entered the Seminary in September of 1941. On December 7, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, and we were at war. That very day, all the Seminary boys told Chancellor Louis Finkelstein that we were quitting to go fight the Nazis. He begged us to stay put because Jews had to provide hundreds of chaplains for the Armed Forces.My very first service was a graveside funeral for a month-old baby. I was driven to the cemetery by the mother, the father being overseas in the Service. I stood, my heart in my mouth, waiting for the hearse. Finally, I timidly asked,

On December 25th, 1988, I received my visa from the American Embassy in Damascus. For the first time in my life, I would be able to express myself, as a woman and as an American citizen.Soon after arriving in Los Angeles, I wrote the first of many articles formulating my views on Islam. That article was published in a local Arabic newspaper. Despite my more tolerant surroundings, fear still prevented me from expressing my thoughts fully and freely. After the horrendous massacre of September 11th, 2001, a new sense of determination was born inside me: I realized that I had

My passion for space began at the age of ten in my fourth grade science class. I was a shy kid with a knack for science and math. One day, my friend Kenny was giving a report on the planets. At the same time, high above our heads, the drama of Apollo 13 was unfolding. In that moment, I felt like there was nothing more important in the world than exploring space. I littered every school book I owned with doodles of rockets and far-away planets. Personal spaceflight became my mission. I had the desire and intention to become a

We have always been committed to the promise, “Never Again,” and to the dream of Israel flourishing as a successful state living in peace.  When the second Intifada broke out in 2000 and Israel was increasingly misunderstood in the media, misrepresented on campuses, and singled out at the U.N., we dreamed of educating people.  We wanted to tell them about Israel’s rich history, its extraordinary achievements, and its side of the story in this tragic, ongoing conflict.  We wanted to create understanding, not for any particular government policies, but for the Zionist dream that had become the Jewish state. Because we found kindred spirits who shared our dream, today that dream

We all have challenges! There will always be obstacles to fulfilling our dreams and goals. The difference between successful people, champions, and everyone else is that champions know how to take those obstacles and turn them into stepping stones for success. My obstacle came in the form of paralysis when at the age of sixteen, I flew off a downhill training course and slammed into a tree, crushing my spine and my dreams of being an Olympic ski racer. But I quickly learned that my dream didn’t have to die, that if I wanted to, I could still ski race, adaptive

If you don’t like the way things are, quit whining. Find a Dreamer who’s “The Real Thing,” bring the dream down from Dreamland, and help her or him make it real. Train yourself to know which Dreamer is honest, upright, and just “off” enough to capture your imagination.  Demagogues, tyrants, all manner of phonies, and crackpots also have dreams, but they are toxic, often lethal.  Reject them. Find a Dreamer: the right one to match your own personality, expertise, genes, background, and drive. Work tirelessly with The Dreamer.  Better to exhaust yourself for a worthy purpose than to meaninglessly pursue

At a lecture about the Rwandan genocide and its aftermath, I was stunned to learn that there were 1.2 million orphans in Rwanda. With no systemic solution, the future did not bode well for these children or the country. It occurred to me that the Jewish people had had a similar experience: Holocaust orphans dealing with trauma and rebirth. I vaguely recalled the story of Youth Villages – that was what Rwanda needed! In researching the Israeli Youth Village experience, I came across a model to emulate – Yemin Orde. With Ethiopian Israeli graduates I planned to go to Rwanda to

There’s nothing more boring than someone else’s dreams. I’m referring to have-them-while-you-sleep dreams, not I-want-to-do-that-someday dreams – there’s an enormous difference. It’s very boring when someone tells you, “I had a dream last night that I went to work naked.” It’s much more exciting if they say, “I want to go to work naked.” On the face of it, other people’s dreams should be enthralling. After all, they are constantly going to work naked, flying like Superman, or taking a long train ride with their dead grandmothers. Interesting stuff. Sometimes they’re flying to work naked with their dead grandmothers. That’s

Although there were many factors that pushed me, my path to the rabbinate became clear on the 11th day of April, 1979, corresponding to the 14th of Nissan 5739, just as Idi Amin‘s nine-year regime in Uganda (during which Judaism was outlawed) came to a timely end, and the season of freedom began. It is from this amazing coincidence that I acquired my inspiration and commitment to Judaism, the springboard for my rabbinic future.In 2002, I shared my dream with Dr. Gary Tobin, the president of the Institute for Jewish and Community Research, to which he replied, “We will help

I have never been much of a dreamer. Maybe a better term for what I am is imaginer. Spinning fantasies as a way of putting myself to sleep as a child, I realized I could repeat the stories and develop the details. At first they were ridiculous odes or adventures in which the heroine saved the world, or at least married the smartest man. Much later, as I began my life as choreographer, I employed this same device to picture a dance. I tested big notions such as how to end a dance, or I repeated details in trying to

I was incredibly fortunate. I got to learn about dreams from the master dreamer: Walt Disney. It was back in 1984. I had just come to Disney Studios and was informed that one of my responsibilities was to oversee animation, a subject about which I knew less than nothing. I hardly even watched cartoons as a kid. That’s when I got to know Walt. It turned out he had meticulously saved and catalogued every single thing that had gone into the making of his films. All of this was housed at the Disney Archives. For me, it was like finding bread

Just as the courageous Zionists who established the State of Israel were energized by Theodore Herzl’s dictum, so do Americans draw inspiration from the notion that determination can turn our dreams into reality. As someone who grew up without a strong sense of roots, I have always been drawn to the belief – embedded in the long journey of the Jewish people – that you could sustain a spiritual, emotional, and cultural identity in the face of impossible odds. And I deeply understood the Zionist idea – that there is always a homeland at the center of our story. For America’s

I remember the day I realized, at age eight, that I might not be the most beautiful girl in the world. Getting out of the bath, catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror, I was so angry at my mother. “But all these years, you said…and I believed you. Look…I’m just a regular girl!” Fuming, I let her wrap me up in the towel she was holding. By the time I became a newspaper columnist for the London Times and a semi-public figure, I had found comfort in having my own look. I drew inspiration from Ellen Barkin and Pam

I was introduced to the concept of Jewish solidarity when I was eight years old, thanks to a red winter hat. Actually, many red winter hats.We had just moved from the delicious climate of Casablanca and were now ensconced in the frigid world of the long Canadian winters. As we huddled in our little apartment one night, my father announced, “School starts in a week. You will all be going to Bedford School.” Bedford School is where I first noticed the red winter hats. You see, we were not the only Moroccan Jews in the neighborhood. Several other families who

Being a philanthropist, I am constantly exposed to the dreams of dreamers. The hardest job is choosing which ones to support and build upon. For me, the dreams must not only be ambitious, they have to reflect passions close to my own: A passion for caring, for learning, for Jewish life, and for service; a passion for action and results; a passion for partnership and sharing. A great dreamer is one who visualizes opportunities that others don’t.I work with visionary dreamers – among them are people who advocate for improved children’s services in my hometown of Tulsa, or educators who

Once upon a time I had a dream.   Like most of my dreams, it came to me in my sleep.  It was an idea that was very funny and very profound at the same time. It actually woke me up. I thought, maybe I could share this funny/profound idea about a small group of diverse individuals who have to learn to get along with each other.  They must, because they are stuck together on a deserted island.  It is also an allegory for the diverse countries in the world.  We all have to learn to get along together.  If

God whispered to Moses, “Ehyeh asher ehyeh: I will become more; yet I am born from what already is.” Jewish prayer is ancient, yet it must become more. Though we daven to a cadence and melody of tradition, spiritually, we seek harmony. How often have the words of worship barred an “other” in our midst? Worship has integrity when it embraces each person present. The vision of Mishkan T’filah began here: the language and offering of Jewish prayer should let us soar without intellectual gymnastics. Develop a siddur that would open doors rather than close them. A vision or a

I’ve often found that I am more afraid of success than failure.With failure, you know what comes next: You change something and try again, or you move on. With success, you might not know what to do next. The success may have come at too high a cost. People will expect more of you, and you will expect more of you. I think what scares me the most about success is that it puts me firmly on one path: I’m good at this, I can succeed in it, and therefore, it is what I’ll do, what I’ll be. But being

My father spent his teenage years in the Chestochowa ghetto and the Nazi concentration camps of Dora, Buchenwald and Bergen-Belsen. During those years, he lost his parents, four of his five siblings and, undoubtedly, all of his dreams.  One of the clearest memories of my bar mitzvah was my father’s tears as he sat alongside my mother with my brother and sister in our synagogue. At the time I did not know why he was crying. It was not until years later that I learned he had never had the privilege of becoming a bar mitzvah. Thirteen years ago, at the

Subconsciously, I already knew at the age of four that I wanted to swim. When my parents took me to the pool and the coach said I could not join because I was too young, I jumped into the next lane and swam 700m.  I proved my point. I knew I had a connection with the water unlike anything I had felt before. With each year, my dream to become an Olympian grew stronger.  I researched what I wanted to achieve and found that only 3% of any nation makes a national team and only 0.8% gets up on the medal dais.  I wanted to be a

When my son, Ben, was in Iraq, I had a lot of vivid dreams. In one, a child pulled a small dark winged stone from a river. She brought it to me.  My son’s first name, John, the one we never use, was chiseled into it.  In another, Ben was scaling a cliff. His face was blackened.  The air around him swirled with debris. Often, during the day, I had a waking dream.  It was always the same.  I saw him underground in a concrete room.  There were maps spread out on tables and tacked to the walls.  He moved

“I’m through accepting limits ’cause someone says they’re so. Some things I cannot change but ’till I try, I’ll never know. I think I’ll try defying gravity and you can’t pull me down.” So sings the lead character, Elphaba, in my Broadway musical Wicked. Ever since I was a kid, I dreamed about working in the theatre. When I set out professionally, the one thing I wanted to do above all else was to produce a Broadway musical. My career opportunities took me into the film industry instead, yet despite having earned great success, I never lost that lifelong dream.

I have been working at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for twenty-six years.While working on the unmanned exploration of the solar system, the two words that I hear far too often are “you can’t.” Recently, as the project manager for the Phoenix Mars Lander, I have been told, “You can’t get that Lander safely on the surface.” “You can’t operate a surface mission based on discovery and change your plans every day.” These words of discouragement are truly a means of increasing the determination of the truly committed. Results will always speak for themselves. If you have a passion for what

With your two hands, your active mind, and a will that never accepts the word “No,” it is inexcusable not to find a way to succeed. That success is not measured in terms of dollars or material goods, but in fulfillment of your own human potential and in helping others find their way. For not everyone receives the benefits of their attempts. They only need to be led.When I arrived from Hong Kong at a small Catholic girls’ school in Iowa in 1969, I felt the freedom to do what I wanted to do. I sent out hundreds of letters

I am dreaming of six towering barbwire shapes made from mirror-polished stainless steel, placed globally, that will serve as a monument and reminder for human rights and reflect both past and present horrors and injustices. This will be called “Barbed.”I am dreaming of a ten foot mirror-polished stainless steel ball that is internally mechanized and will roll side to side in a museum in eight hour increments to commemorate this country’s anonymous workers who keep our society functioning. This will be called “Eight Hour Shift.” I am dreaming of a twenty-six foot tall music box that actually functions that will

The Jewish month of Elul is both a time for reflection and one of hope for the future.  Jewish tradition teaches that a person is judged on Yom Kippur, but afterwards the slate is wiped clean for the coming year.  No matter how bad the past, the future is always one of hope. Indeed, one of Judaism’s greatest contributions is the lesson of hope.  Ancient civilizations believed in fate.  A man’s future was not in his own hands but in the stars.  The Hebrew Bible refuted that.  It taught that man is created in God’s image, and that God gave

Erev Shabbat, July 18, 2008.  Berlin’s Pestalozzistrasse Synagogue. One of the few non-native parishioners in a packed pre-World War II sanctuary, I daven, mesmerized by the cantor’s mellifluous tenor.  I think: What seemed improbable, impossible, is not.  Six decades after the Nazis obliterated 200,000 German Jews, Berlin is the world’s fastest growing Jewish community.My thoughts flit from macro and global to micro and communal, considering another unlikely scenario.  Ten years ago, my husband Rob and I started the Foundation for Jewish Camp, which advocates for and supports non-profit Jewish overnight camps.  We struggled to convince the Jewish world to financially

As someone who fell in love with God and Torah as a collegian, I dreamed I would have a child with whom I would share my newfound passion. At my rabbinical school, I would see professors and their children swaying together in prayer or over a text, and I would imagine the thrill of sharing that piety with my (as yet unborn) child.When my wife, Elana, and I were told she was expecting twins, my heart and my fantasies soared. Yet, my beloved daughter, Shira, is not drawn to religious services. My son, Jacob, diagnosed with autism at age three,

I almost never dream.On that rare occasion when I do, it’s the typical dream that Freud would be proud of. I fly through the air. I can’t find the room in which an important test is being held. I’m driving too fast. I see almost no relationship between my dreams and my accomplishments. I do have hopes, wishes, aspirations, goals – but they are rooted in reality. Dreaming is fantasy and fantasies rarely produce accomplishments. The concept of “dreamers and their dreams” may be intended in a metaphoric way – as a euphemism for aspirations. I’ve always had aspirations. Coming