The St. Lou Jew has been closely monitoring the internet buzz about Hebrew Union College via Google News and Google Blog Search. The campaign has now moved into Social Media territory with a Facebook group and a Twitter account.
Join the Facebook group here and be sure to follow @savehuc on Twitter. While you are there, don't forget to follow us (@thestloujew) too!
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Showing posts with label HUC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HUC. Show all posts
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
SaveHUC.com - Internet Activism and Efficacy.
SaveHUC.com has already attracted nearly 1000 visitors. How does internet activism move beyond simple page views?
SaveHUC.com contains several call to actions, including links to email HUC President Rabbi David Ellenson and the chair of the Board of Governors, Barbara Friedman, as well as links to support HUC financially.
My question is, how does this get bigger? How does SaveHUC.com turn into FreeConnie.com?
The internet provides a fantastic way to rally people across geographies for a common purpose, but without further actions -- emails, letters, phone calls, petitions, letters to editors -- can a movement really take off?
The St. Lou Jew would love for you to educate us. What models have you experienced that worked?
Read More......
SaveHUC.com contains several call to actions, including links to email HUC President Rabbi David Ellenson and the chair of the Board of Governors, Barbara Friedman, as well as links to support HUC financially.
My question is, how does this get bigger? How does SaveHUC.com turn into FreeConnie.com?
The internet provides a fantastic way to rally people across geographies for a common purpose, but without further actions -- emails, letters, phone calls, petitions, letters to editors -- can a movement really take off?
The St. Lou Jew would love for you to educate us. What models have you experienced that worked?
Read More......
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Hebrew Union College, Midwestern Judaism, and Money
Hebrew Union College, the oldest Jewish educational institution in America, may close its original campus, in Cincinnati, Ohio due to a ballooning deficit.
According to a report in the Cincinnati Enquirer, "HUC has raised the possibility of closing two of its three U.S. campuses. The others are in New York and Los Angeles."
Now, we know that the chances of the New York campus being shuttered or scaled back is fairly low. There are way too many Jews in the city for them to consider that.
Never mind that the campus is the most expensive to maintain, the most expensive for students to attend, and that the majority of congregational positions won't be located in or around NYC, it would be unthinkable that a Jewish organization would uproot itself from the self-proclaimed center of American Judaism. Then again, maybe, because the community is so over served as it is, HUC isn't really that important in New York.
Los Angeles, home to the second largest concentration of Yids in America is also an expensive campus both operationally and for students, but is home to the Rhea Hirsch School of Education and the School of Jewish Communal Service.
Cincinnati isn't a top tier city, and its Jewish population is a bit below 30,000, but it is a central location within the Midwest and ordains more rabbis then either of the other campuses. The Cincinnati campus is also home to the Klau Library, the largest library of Jewish works outside Israel, which is currently undergoing a multi-million dollar renovation and expansion, as well as the American Jewish Archives.
It is relatively easy for someone in New York or Los Angeles to look at Cincinnati and say (with disdain), "who wants to be in a fly-over state?" But for the hundreds of thousands of Jews who live across the Midwest and South, the Cincinnati campus of Hebrew Union College is an important beacon, a symbol that indeed Jewish life and thought thrives, even outside of the coasts.
Throughout the years, my life has been influenced by faculty and students of HUC in Cincinnati. From all of the congregational rabbis, to the youth group advisors, to camp directors and counselors, the vast majority of them had been directly influenced by Hebrew Union College.
I urge you to check out www.savehuc.com, and to write to HUC President David Ellenson.
Ideally, we could help HUC to raise the funds necessary to overcome these tight times.
I worry that in trying to get out of this immediate crisis, HUC will create for itself a much larger one down the line. One shuttered, these losses cannot be regained.
Please HUC, in your attempts to allay financial crisis, don't bankrupt your core purpose!
Read More......
According to a report in the Cincinnati Enquirer, "HUC has raised the possibility of closing two of its three U.S. campuses. The others are in New York and Los Angeles."
Now, we know that the chances of the New York campus being shuttered or scaled back is fairly low. There are way too many Jews in the city for them to consider that.
Never mind that the campus is the most expensive to maintain, the most expensive for students to attend, and that the majority of congregational positions won't be located in or around NYC, it would be unthinkable that a Jewish organization would uproot itself from the self-proclaimed center of American Judaism. Then again, maybe, because the community is so over served as it is, HUC isn't really that important in New York.
Los Angeles, home to the second largest concentration of Yids in America is also an expensive campus both operationally and for students, but is home to the Rhea Hirsch School of Education and the School of Jewish Communal Service.
Cincinnati isn't a top tier city, and its Jewish population is a bit below 30,000, but it is a central location within the Midwest and ordains more rabbis then either of the other campuses. The Cincinnati campus is also home to the Klau Library, the largest library of Jewish works outside Israel, which is currently undergoing a multi-million dollar renovation and expansion, as well as the American Jewish Archives.
It is relatively easy for someone in New York or Los Angeles to look at Cincinnati and say (with disdain), "who wants to be in a fly-over state?" But for the hundreds of thousands of Jews who live across the Midwest and South, the Cincinnati campus of Hebrew Union College is an important beacon, a symbol that indeed Jewish life and thought thrives, even outside of the coasts.
Throughout the years, my life has been influenced by faculty and students of HUC in Cincinnati. From all of the congregational rabbis, to the youth group advisors, to camp directors and counselors, the vast majority of them had been directly influenced by Hebrew Union College.
I urge you to check out www.savehuc.com, and to write to HUC President David Ellenson.
Ideally, we could help HUC to raise the funds necessary to overcome these tight times.
I worry that in trying to get out of this immediate crisis, HUC will create for itself a much larger one down the line. One shuttered, these losses cannot be regained.
Please HUC, in your attempts to allay financial crisis, don't bankrupt your core purpose!
Read More......
Friday, June 20, 2008
From sea to sea
There is a rumor that has spread around the Middle East for decades that the Israeli flag, with it's Star (or shield) of David flanked on either side by a blue line, is a symbol of the Jewish state's intention to have a Jewish presence from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates (a terrifying notion, to be sure).
While certain religious Zionists have declared that a the State of Israel should contain all of the land of Israel, its clear to me that the majority of the Israeli have no intention of even hanging around the Jordan river. In fact, the majority of the Israeli population lives right on the Mediterranean coast.
Let me now make a comparison, if I might, to the US, where most of the Jews also live on the coasts (especially the post-college, pre-marriage demographic). In fact, if you were to judge by the way many Jewish organizations (especially a certain well-respected reform theological seminary that I love very much) behave, there aren't any Jews between the coasts at all.
Kanye said, ". .The Mid-West is Young and Restless." You certainly wouldn't know it from the media. Jewish images in the media are generally restricted to New York, LA, or Israel. To be fair, those may or may not be three of the largest Jewish populations on the planet, seeing as how there aren't that many of us left in Cairo, Morocco, Spain, or Iran. So whats the deal? Every sitcom that doesn't involve Jews seems to take place in the Mid-West, or at least somewhere outside of NYC or Cali (exception being of course the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, but seeing as how the whole thing was basically making fun of bougie JAPs anyways, it doesn't count).
Beyond that, half of us 'fly-over-state' Yids end up in NYC, DC, LA, etc. I feel the pull too, I just can't give up on STL yet. So what if people don't hustle the same way here (CSM points out that you can't spell hustle without 's-t-l'), the conditions exist in the Mid-West for a spark to really make some things happen. Not just in STL, but in areas like Cincinnati, Louisville, Memphis, NOLA, etc. (the last two aren't MW but count, you don't like it, get yer own soapbox). But we are here, the young and the restless of the coast-less, but certainly not hopeless.
This brings me to Moishe House, a pretty cool concept for those of us on the front line of Generation Y(id)™. Basically, they help you turn your spot into an urban (hopefully) JCC. A non-denominational open house for post-college Jews to come, kick it, maybe have a meal, and connect.
There is a lot of potential in this idea, and if you have some feedback regarding feasibility and interest on the local level, shoot it our way.
Perhaps one day, those rumors of a well represented young Jewish community can apply to the areas between the coasts of the US as well.
Read More......
While certain religious Zionists have declared that a the State of Israel should contain all of the land of Israel, its clear to me that the majority of the Israeli have no intention of even hanging around the Jordan river. In fact, the majority of the Israeli population lives right on the Mediterranean coast.
Let me now make a comparison, if I might, to the US, where most of the Jews also live on the coasts (especially the post-college, pre-marriage demographic). In fact, if you were to judge by the way many Jewish organizations (especially a certain well-respected reform theological seminary that I love very much) behave, there aren't any Jews between the coasts at all.
Kanye said, ". .The Mid-West is Young and Restless." You certainly wouldn't know it from the media. Jewish images in the media are generally restricted to New York, LA, or Israel. To be fair, those may or may not be three of the largest Jewish populations on the planet, seeing as how there aren't that many of us left in Cairo, Morocco, Spain, or Iran. So whats the deal? Every sitcom that doesn't involve Jews seems to take place in the Mid-West, or at least somewhere outside of NYC or Cali (exception being of course the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, but seeing as how the whole thing was basically making fun of bougie JAPs anyways, it doesn't count).
Beyond that, half of us 'fly-over-state' Yids end up in NYC, DC, LA, etc. I feel the pull too, I just can't give up on STL yet. So what if people don't hustle the same way here (CSM points out that you can't spell hustle without 's-t-l'), the conditions exist in the Mid-West for a spark to really make some things happen. Not just in STL, but in areas like Cincinnati, Louisville, Memphis, NOLA, etc. (the last two aren't MW but count, you don't like it, get yer own soapbox). But we are here, the young and the restless of the coast-less, but certainly not hopeless.
This brings me to Moishe House, a pretty cool concept for those of us on the front line of Generation Y(id)™. Basically, they help you turn your spot into an urban (hopefully) JCC. A non-denominational open house for post-college Jews to come, kick it, maybe have a meal, and connect.
There is a lot of potential in this idea, and if you have some feedback regarding feasibility and interest on the local level, shoot it our way.
Perhaps one day, those rumors of a well represented young Jewish community can apply to the areas between the coasts of the US as well.
Read More......
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