Julie Platt is the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) and immediate past Chair of the Board of Directors of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and serves as Chair of the Foundation for Jewish Camp.
We ended last week with the news that $350 billion in small business loans offered through the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act had been exhausted. The announcement of the availability of these funds, just two weeks before, was welcome news and we are hopeful that rum…
B’chol dor vador chayav adam lirot et atzmo k’ilu hu yatza mimitzrayim. In every generation, each Jew should regard themselves as if they personally came out of Egypt.
When we read these words in the Haggadah—as we will this week in Jewish homes all over the world—we usually take it…
There is a famous dispute in the Talmud between two great sages of our people, Shammai and Hillel, about the lighting of the Hanukkah candles. Frankly, they were always about espousing conflicting views on matters of Jewish law. But just as famously, they had enormous respect for one another…
Rav Kook, the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Palestine, was a rigorous defender of traditional Judaism, yet broke with his contemporaries and engaged the secular chalutzim—the pioneers settling the land of Israel. He saw in them not a break in the chain but the dawn of redemption. Stories …
Morton L. Mandel, z"l, died the morning of October 16, 2019, at the age of 98. Among the many leadership roles Mort played in the world of business, across the Jewish world and in his home community of Cleveland, he served as the President of the Council of Jewish Federations from 1978 to 19…
