Finding my voice (Part II)
This list is continued from Part I and is comprised of my blogs which appeared under the Atlanta Jewish Times banner on the Times of Israel site.
Last night I had the privilege of attending “A Painful Hope – A Rabbi and A Palestinian Talk Peace,” an event that I wish more could see. Speakers from an...
This past Friday, I was privileged to present a paper at a graduate student panel at the Georgia Political Science Association’s annual meeting, alongside two other...
This week I read an?article ?about false accusations of dual loyalty against Lt. Colonel Vindman, the top expert on Ukraine who advises the National Security...
I recently joined a Facebook discussion group for people who speak more than one language. Endlessly fascinating, discussions surrounding how words as well as...
This past week, my husband and I watched a few episodes of the Netflix series?Abstract: The Art of Design , in which each focuses on a particular designer...
Yesterday would have been the birthday of Judy, my closest friend when I lived in Jerusalem. When I traveled to Israel last summer, we were able to get together...
Every week, I sit down to write this blog. There are times when I’ve been thinking all week about the topic I want to hit on, like politics or how bias and “othering”...
It is interesting that though the prayers we recite on the High Holidays themselves are collective prayers, where we as a community stand before G-D and ask for...
As Israeli politics fill my newsfeeds, I liken the headlines to a drama, and as a result, my social media platforms have become somewhat addictive. What... ?
“Do I like you?” “Are you believable?” During a conference call, this was posited as what really matters to prospects when those positioning themselves as advisors in...
In this week’s news,?Jewish students were hospitalized following an attack ?by Arab youth in Poland,?Barcelona’s largest synagogue was vandalized ?with the...
Learning and growing are important to me. I’ve gone back to school. I just applied for a leadership institute and this year, for the first time, I dipped my toe into...
This weekend I went away with a few girlfriends to celebrate one friend’s milestone birthday. There we were, a group of Jewish women in the Smoky Mountains in...
The last few days have been a roller coaster of action and reaction, of poor choices and escalating consequences, each of which have driven attention and energy...
This past weekend, my husband and I and our random children (his two sons and my three sons and daughter-in-law) took a break from the world around us. For...
Recently, I’ve seen a number of suggestions for how both sides could end the current situation. Each of these paths to peaceful coexistence offers milestones...
Why is Zionism equated by some with racism? Why is anti-Zionism anti-Semitic in nature? I contend part of this has to do with mistaken definitions. A friend of mine...
Earlier last week, Congresswomen Ihlan Omar and Rashida Tlaib announced their plan to go to Israel. A flurry of headlines followed; the country might not let them...
IfNotNow, a Jewish group of activists, has its eyes on targets outside of the Jewish world. Whereas once their primary focus was to disrupt Birthright tours and...
It’s one thing for a country not to unite to find common ground. It’s quite another for a single political party to publicly take a path to splitting. In the case of the...
Anti-Jewish incidents make up more than 59 percent of all reported religiously biased hate crimes in the United States. Stated simply, there are too many. And...
Following an overview on the White House’s dedicated?Peace to Prosperity website , the site offers the administration’s vision for a three pronged economic...
A few years ago, I put together a LinkedIn article called “How to prepare to do anything .” Its first step, I thought, was often overlooked, and I wanted to remedy...
Lexico, powered by Oxford, has this as its second?definition of the word Pride : “Confidence and self-respect as expressed by members of a group, typically one...
I think people conflate pro-Palestinian with anti-Israeli. But it is not a zero-sum game. You don’t have to have a loser in order to have a winner. We can want a...
In the days after Israel’s elections, my social media feed filled with exclamations of doom and gloom because Likud had secured the most votes and Benyamin... ?
What literally started as a pain in the shoulder, arm and neck turned months later into rotator cuff surgery. While the outpatient procedure itself required treating...
This week, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib was interviewed for the?podcast Skullduggery ?(start at about minute 27:00). Her comment, “‘There’s always?kind...
When American politicians use misinformation about what happened in Gaza to stoke the flames, we have a problem. Let’s start with what happened. Over 600...
A synagogue in Poway, a mosque in Christchurch, churches in Sri Lanka were only the latest in a growing global trend of deadly attacks on houses of worship...
While some of us enjoyed our seders at home with our families, others did not. In?Nepal, where the world’s largest seder takes place , it was a festive scene for...
When all the ballots were finally counted, my Facebook feed filled with exclamations of depression. A bit melodramatic, I thought. I also wondered how...
This past week, some students at Emory University found mock eviction notices on their doors. Distributed by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), this wasn’t the...
This past week has been a difficult one. The heat rising in Gaza?between Hamas and Israel ?can only hurt prospects for there ever to be a resolution. Georgia’s...
Hamas. They’ve been in the news a hell of a lot lately. In the last few weeks, we’ve twice seen rockets “accidentally” get shot towards Tel Aviv. The?most recent ... ?
This has been a very difficult week. 50 massacred in their mosque in New Zealand,?none of whom ?went to pray on Friday with the thought that this would...
This past week Autrey Middle School in Alpharetta hosted its annual Multicultural Night. A map of Israel with Palestine written in large letters in its place was...
How will Israelis and Palestinians ever achieve a resolution, I honestly don’t know. As the April 9 Israeli elections approach, we can only see what we see. And it’s...
In the beginning on the first day, G-D created heaven and earth. And one day this past week, Israel’s first moon-bound spacecraft, Beresheet (i.e., “in the beginning”...
The arguments I’ve seen online this week trying to untangle anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism, anti-lobbies and anti-AIPAC have sometimes hit the mark and other times...
In a recent Facebook exchange with a friend, I explained my issue with the word “tolerance.” To me, the concept is problematic. Much as I would like for our world...
I know I am not the only one – Zionistic and progressive – who sits in my niche, recognizing that all people need to be equally treated and that Israel is the...
Yesterday was International Holocaust Remembrance Day. When the United Nations created this day, it called on countries to develop curricula that would not...
Women’s March Inc. has lost relevance. I see many headlines about Linda Sarsour, who is willing to renounce Farrakhan but will not allow a place for Zionists in her...
With my second semester back at school kicking off (I am enrolled in a dual Master of Public Administration/Master of Integrated Global Communications program)...
Coexistence. It’s a word often used in a political context, as we are all well aware. Today, though, I am thinking about it in an even broader way, and it actually...
If you could pick one word to describe your 2018, what would it be? For me, I think “change” best characterizes mine. If you’ve been reading weekly, you may have... ?
As we go through life, many of us hit certain milestones. And while the overwhelming majority of us may have similar first tooth and first day of school... ?
As a parent, I found this week to be a particularly difficult one. In the aftermath of the terrorist shooting at a bus stop in Ofra, nine people were shot, including a...
In the most recent episode of Madame Secretary, “Winter Garden,” Blake Moran, newly promoted from personal assistant to a policy advisor, wrestles with getting...
This is what I think: deciding the outcome of the territories has to be decided by negotiation between the two parties. Not by protesters. Not by BDSers. Not by...
I think too many are missing the point with Linda Sarsour, the Women’s March and its anti-Semitism. And as I shared with friends on Facebook recently, here’s why...
On the morning of our recent wedding, my then fiancé and I attended shul for our?aufruf, where we were called up to the Torah. That day, we had the honor of...
What a difference a week makes! Not only in my personal life (I just got married over the weekend and am about to leave for my honeymoon in a few hours – and...
When Ben and Jerry’s?announced ?its new flavor?(Pecan Resist) and its intent to donate proceeds to four organizations,?Color of Change ,?Honor the Earth ,?Neta ...
This week ?has been difficult beyond belief. The Pittsburgh?shooter yelled ?“All Jews must die” and proceeded to kill. Another shooter in Kentucky earlier in the week...
The topic of how we see things has come up lately. In one class I am taking, we’ve shifted from learning about quantitative to qualitative research. In...
In the midst of a season of moving, going back to school, taking on a new role at work and preparing to get married, all life-changing activities, I’ve been watching...
Day in and day out, I follow the news. I don’t just read it, I sometimes share stories on social media. I sometimes react to or comment on others’ posts too. And...
I’ve?written in the past ?about how I can’t stomach the position of judgmental vehemence we are seeing more and more of lately, especially online. The sheer...
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This year, like almost every other, I did not build a sukkah. I’ve long wanted to, but it just never happened. Now that I am in a new home, perhaps next year we could...
Tomorrow is moving day. Tomorrow I say goodbye to the house my three sons and I called home for over 13 years, though two of them now live in other states. My...
In?2016, UGA’s homecoming concert ?was on Yom Kippur. It was the only day the stadium was available. Not considerate, but not the end of the world. In 2017, the... ?
In a world embracing hate, it’s important to find example of alternatives, of better ways. This week brought a sampling of each; here we begin with hate in the south...
Life takes you to places you might never had envisioned when you were younger. At least, for me, I know that is true. As a child, I thought when I would grow up, I’d...
What if…??begs for creativity. It is an invitation to ask more questions and to envision possibilities. And in doing so, it allows us all to reframe current reality....
This week, I was captivated by a story I saw on Facebook, one which fit the mindset I like to promote: we are all individuals, and the best way to recognize that this is so...
This past week students in my county returned to school. And as?I wrote last week , I registered for classes as well, as I head back to a classroom after a number of...
This week I registered for my first two classes as I head back to school, for the first time in decades. Though I still don’t know how I will work a Master in Public...
This week, I’ve seen Israel in the news in far too many unflattering ways. The outcry against the Basic Law, the Conservative rabbi arrested, the LGBT protest for...
If you read the news or go online, you’ve seen how politicians, celebrities, athletes, policemen and everyday people caught on video are often described as bad or as...
As I sat in one airport after another on my three-legged trip back to Atlanta, I thought a bit about how I spent this past week, living and breathing in Jerusalem....
Last Sunday I traveled to Israel for the first time since I moved back to the United States in 2003, accompanied by my fiancé who had never visited before. For me, it...
In the aftermath of the discovery of what our administration is doing to families as they come through our borders, I have seen a number of disturbing reactions.?One...
Children need stability and predictability in their lives.?Two-thousand children ?have just had the most stable and predictable part of their lives — their...
The thought behind creating this blog in the first place was to be able to take the?multiple perspectives?I think I bring to any given situation and use them to...
What I know is that I don’t know enough. I’ve written about it too. In one?LinkedIn article ?I posted, aptly titled “How to prepare to do anything ,” I advise how to...
I am finding that this world has become a judgmental and harsh place. Online and off, there are too many examples of people ranting, raving, judging, hurting... ?
Recent events have driven home how far apart the two sides are. There were times in the past when Israeli and Palestinian negotiators spoke, when talks resulted in...
The last time Israel won the Eurovision song content, I was living in Jerusalem, and like many others, watched as?Dana International , the competition’s first openly...
This week, Cigna revealed the results of a study showing that loneliness, especially but not only among young people 18-22, was alarmingly high. In its coverage...
Yesterday’s?Israel@70 celebration ?at Park Tavern was one of the special kinds of events that has the potential to bring together two related but disconnected...
Every year, on the weekend of Hitler’s birthday, members of the?National Socialist Movement ?hold their Annual Meeting and Banquet. This year, it was held at the...
We’ve all seen the?headlines . A significant number of millennials don’t recall hearing of the Holocaust. Over 40% of them (and over 30% of all asked) thought...
Yesterday, I visited?The Breman Museum. ?Its current exhibit, running through the end of the month,?Discovery and Recovery: Preserving Iraqi Jewish Heritage , is...
When I first read about the then upcoming March of Return, I knew. I knew this was something that wouldn’t end well. How could it? The purpose of the march was to...
This weekend, liked many others in cities across America and the globe, I marched in the March for Our Lives. And in marching forward, I couldn’t help but think about...
On a Sunday afternoon, in a community room in a suburban Whole Foods, a group of Jewish and Muslim women got together. This, of itself, may or may not be...
Passover is approaching. And though I thought about what it could provide in the matter of topics — the similarity in its Hebrew name,?Pesach, to the Aramaic and...
This past week, I was fortunate enough to be able to attend my new nephew’s?brit milah, ???? ????. The baby cried well before the ritual was to begin, as if he knew...
Tonight, I attended a presentation sponsored by?AJC Access Atlanta , the young professionals program of the regional branch of AJC, Global Jewish...
In the aftermath of this latest mass shooting, I shared a?Slate?piece, “How to Stop Violence “ on Facebook and it sparked a conversation. Subtitled “Mentally ill...
Today, I taught second-graders all about?shalom bayit. We talked about getting along with siblings and about helping around the house, and I showed them...
I know what I know and I don’t know what I don’t know. It’s both a simple truth and a powerful thought. In social discourse and in everyday work world, we... ?
When you focus on specific populations, you are bound to exclude others. Many companies have employees or committees whose function is to promote...
Every day I read news stories. Most of it pretty depressing. Government shut down. Children found shackled, chained and starved. Olympic gymnasts...
I first heard Amir Benayoun’s music when I lived in Israel in the 1990s. His voice and his music spoke to me. When I hear “When you are sad ,” the depths of the...
In the mid/late 1990s, I was a mother of two young sons living in an apartment on the outer edge of the?Givat Mordechai ?neighborhood in Jerusalem with my...
At the end of each secular year, Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics?publishes statistics ?regarding the population in the country. This year, for instance, it...
Some people are fortunate enough to know what they want to do long before they enter the working world. Others spend their lives not ever figuring it out....
As we wind down the last few days of Chanukah, two thoughts float around in my mind. A bit disjointed, but please join me for the ride. First. Something I...
What does it mean to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital? What are the repercussions of announcing the US Embassy will be moved from Tel Aviv to...
I've spent the better part of my life trying to improve how messages are communicated. An English major back in school, I’ve worked in trade... ?
A lot of the pain I am witnessing these days is connected to hurt feelings. People taking umbrage at being categorized and people categorizing. Be it?Tsipi ?...
I've been writing a bit about community and our need for it, so it is no surprise that when I read two recent pieces (one by my Rabbi and another in the...
Tonight, I had the pleasure of hosting a dairy and pareve potluck dinner with 13 other women. Billed as a Jewish-Muslim event and part of a monthly series, it...
Last week , I wrote about how cries for addressing “mental health” will not solve America’s crisis, promising that this week I would outline several specific...
When horrific shootings occur by apparently unbalanced people and gun control is brought up, we hear cries of “But wait. Mental health.” Not only does...
This past week, the internet overflowed with stories of #metoo. And for those men who “got it,” they were impacted by how prevalent this objectification and...
How does one find peace of mind when the issues of the day are so – unruly? Natural catastrophes, political discord, -isms up the wazoo? Or on a more...
What a week for Georgia schools. I’m still trying to wrap my head around a number of classroom lessons gone awry. In one incident in a Gwinnett County...
In her blog, “Yes, I’m judging you ” Yocheved Davidowitz makes a case for why it is okay to judge others. Beyond the fact that it is human nature, she notes that...
If you are like me, an American Jew who believes people should be able to live life free of bias and that every person is truly entitled to the pursuit of life...
"This week, we usher in the Jewish New Year,” began an?article that I posted on LinkedIn three years ago . I called it, “What companies could learn from Rosh...
During the week, I work with brokers, mostly responding to requests for proposals for reinsurance services, and with my division’s marketing and...
There are very few things I hate, very few. Currently, getting hot flashes is up there. But of wider relevance these days is my abhorrence of two (somewhat...
Communities can come from anywhere people have close contact and an opportunity to get to know — and care — about each other on a regular basis....
People tend to associate with those who are similar. At the same time, the more you get to know about each person you meet, the more similarities you can....
I read the news. And my heart hurts. I have a theory about hate. Nothing too original, I’m sure. But please hear me out. People are insecure. And they don’t...
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Born in Brooklyn and raised on Long Island, Wendy lived in Jerusalem for over a decade submerged in Israeli culture. Since returning to the U.S. in 2003; she has been soaked in Southern life in metro Atlanta. An Ashkenazi mom to Mizrahi sons born in Israel and the US, MIL to a French Mizrahi DIL and an Israeli DIL whose parents are also an interesting mix, and a step mom to sons born in the South, she celebrates trying to see from multiple perspectives and hopes this comes out in her blogs. While working in Jewish and Zionist education and advocacy, Wendy's interests also have her digging deep into genealogy and bringing distant family together. All of this is to say, Wendy's life has brought her to the widened framework she uses for her blogs: there are many ways to see and understand.