I received a message at 4:00 a.m. this morning. It was from a person we work with in Emergency Services. He called to express sadness and concern after the murders at the mosques in New Zealand. It was a remarkable call for its humanity, compassion and the recognition that a mass murder at a mosque…
Community Is Our Tradition
A midrash tells about a group of people in a boat. One begins to drill a hole in the floor under his seat. Incredulous, the group demands to know, “What are you doing?” The one replies, “It’s in my space, why do you care?” The group cries back, “We are all in the same boat…
125 Years: A Milestone of Significance
“As in the rest of America…growth and success did not extend to all in Seattle.” This passage from Carolee Danz’s history of JFS isn’t a contemporary reference. It’s the description of Seattle, circa 1892, the year the women of this Jewish community first organized to collect and distribute aid to the most vulnerable. Those acts…
Placing Our Hearts
We are living in an era when attention spans are assumed to be 140 characters or less — two bits as my dad would say. That’s how much we are willing to “pay” for our attention. In Hebrew, “pay attention” is literally translated as, “place your heart.” Placing our hearts requires effort. It requires us…
In Response to Charlottesville
Elie Wiesel once said, the opposite of love is not hate, it is indifference. The Nazis came to power in Germany because of the bystanders as much as the persecutors. Today, none of us can be bystanders. Silence is guilt. We must call on our leaders, no matter their party affiliation, to stand against bigotry…
Celebrate the Home Runs
“The home run today doesn’t win the ballgame tomorrow,” my dad would say when he felt I needed perspective or a dose of humility. I believe in that saying — to some degree. But I also believe that celebration, tempered with humility, is just as necessary. This year has been rough. Our clients continue to…
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