Category Archives: About Us

About the American Diversity Report

Sacred Calendars and Holidays Define Us — by Deborah Levine

Religious diversity and holidays are challenging regardless of the time of year with deeply held beliefs regarding food, sacred texts, and worship traditions. Yet, there is no season like the end of the year for demonstrating cultural differences linked to religion. The differences can be glaring, giving rise to culture clashes and political controversies. It’s astonishing that there was ever a planetary-wide agreement on a calendar that named the months, determined their length and decreed when one year ends and the next begins. How did that calendar happen and can we capture the global mindset that created it for today’s “Holiday Season”?

Continue reading Sacred Calendars and Holidays Define Us — by Deborah Levine →

The Green Divide – by Olya K-Mehri

 How History and Social Identity Shape Unequal Environmental Access

Environmental inequality in the United States did not emerge randomly. The “green divide”. in which affluent, less diverse neighbourhoods enjoy parks, cleaner air, and sustained environmental investment while marginalised communities face pollution and neglect, is rooted in long-standing social, political, and historical patterns. Understanding this divide requires looking at how identity, policy choices, and cultural assumptions shape the environments different communities inherit.

Continue reading The Green Divide – by Olya K-Mehri →

The Blue Economy: Sailing Through Youth, Oceans, and Leadership – by Ayse Oge

In an era defined by environmental urgency and economic transformation, a new tide is rising—one that aligns the ocean’s vast potential with global innovation, sustainable development, and the unstoppable force of youth—the Blue Economy: A Sea of Opportunity.

The blue economy is more than maritime trade and tourism. It envisions an ocean-driven future that is renewable, inclusive, and regenerative. From offshore wind farms to seaweed cultivation, sustainable fisheries to marine biotechnology, this trillion-dollar frontier invites bold thinkers to reimagine the future. 

Continue reading The Blue Economy: Sailing Through Youth, Oceans, and Leadership – by Ayse Oge →

The Art of Resilience. From Pain to Promise: Book Review – by George Simons

  Far from being abstract research on the dynamics of resilience, Deborah Levine has provided us with a life story, and highly relevant biography, an ethnography if you will, of the struggle for resilience lived out, day by day. It is filled with the challenges to resilience from health, work, environments, and relationships. Today we speak of the cost of intersectionality on oneself. The term is extremely relevant here, as Deborah herself is bundled into her white female identity, her Jewish ethnicity, the cultural marks of her places of upbringing, her immigrant status, her health vulnerability, and her religious belongings. Each of these shows up repeatedly both as a liability and an asset in her resilience narrative.

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A Zionist for Zohran, Sort of… by Rafaela Amrita Crevoshay

Counter intuitive? It certainly sounds incongruent. But dig a bit deeper and you’ll discover that Z and me share some unconventional complexities that match up. We both live in the cultural orbit of North India, and the Middle East. It includes language music, food, and politics. These things unite us more that they separate us yet superficially,  we don’t match up. He’s a partisan Muslim, I’m a Zionist Jew. Reconciliation would seem off the table. But I like this guy and that motivated me to excavate his background and his character despite an apparent ideological gulf that separates us. 

Continue reading A Zionist for Zohran, Sort of… by Rafaela Amrita Crevoshay →

UNTOLD Stories of a World War II Liberator

EDUCATION TOOL &
AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARY
(scroll down for links)

Holocaust education is a vital element to counteracting the  antisemitism and Holocaust denial as they grow world-wide. Educators and students, community leaders and activists should  hear the first-hand Untold stories of WW II and the Holocaust. Deborah Levine, daughter of a World War II military intelligence officer, has created this documentary as a tool for counteracting hate and for Holocaust education. Her father, Aaron Levine was a ” Ritchie Boy” trained at Fort Ritchie, the U.S. secret military intelligence camp focused on training men, often Jewish immigrants who spoke German, to interrogate Nazi prisoners of war.

 

Hear the wartime perspective of Aaron Levine as he liberated death camps, served as a spy, and wrote letters about his experience. Be inspired by the love letters of Estelle Swig Malloy, a Special Education pioneer whom Aaron married after they graduated from Harvard. Then hear the memoirs of Polish Holocaust Survivor, Leon Weisband who documented the Nazi invasion of his hometown.

   “Many liberators such as Levine’s father kept their experience largely secret So this is an important resource for Holocaust education and research…and a very engaging introduction to the journey of the Jewish community over the past century”
~ The Rev. Dr. John T. Pawlikowski: Founding member of the US Holocaust Center, Prof of Social Ethics/Catholic Theological Union

     “No student of history can come away from this without a deeper understanding of the sacrifices that were made to end the Holocaust and of the power of storytelling to heal the human heart.”
~ Dylan Kussman, Hollywood actor/producer

     “Deborah Levine’s work continues to be of utmost importance for students of all ages. The specific story of ‘UNTOLD’ MUST be told today and forever, so that the words ‘Never Again’ never lose their meaning!”
~Avi Hoffman, CEO Yiddishkayt Initiative, Inc.
Religion Communicators Council names Wilbur Merit Awards:
American Diversity Report and Untold, Stories of a World War II Liberator:
Deborah Levine , Dennis Parker , Michael A. Levine , @Dylan Kussman, Charlene White , Trish Ross , Joel D. Scribner , Greg Glover, @George Hoctor, Chase Parker.

 

From her roots in the only Jewish family to have lived in Bermuda for 4 generations, to her role as a Forbes Diversity & Inclusion Trailblazer, Deborah has been dedicated to “Tikkun olam”, Hebrew for “repair of the world”. This latest project is decades in the making, and is broadcast internationally by Jewish Life TV. 

“Untold” in its radio theater, documentary and music formats is a Winner in 17 International film festivals including: 1) Lily Indie Film Fest, 2) 4theatre selection, 3) NYC Independent Film Festival (11th season), 4) Red Moon Festival (8th season), 5) Spring Time International, 6) Bright International, 7)  Dreamz Catcher International, 8) Indie Cine Tube Awards, 9) Lightbox International, 10) Crown International, 11) Delta International, 12) EdiPlay International, 13) Red Wolf Film Festival, 14) Indiefare International Film Festival, 15) FlightDeck Film Festival, 16) Cine Sepia Reels Carnival, KIIFF Kurdistan International Independent Film Festival.

Author: Deborah Levine
Director: Dennis Parker
Music Composer/Performer: Michael A. Levine
Actors: Dylan Kussman, Joel Scribner, Charlene Hong White, Trish Ross, Chase Parker, George Hoctor, Greg Glover.

CLICK to see documentary
UNTOLD, Stories  of a WW II LIBERATOR

 

CLICK for the Jewish Federation of Greater Chattanooga version of UNTOLD

Actors: Deborah Levine, Rabbi Craig Lewis, Rabbi Sam Rotenberg, Bea Lurie, Jed Meson, Dr. John Steinberg, Richard Zachary,

CLICK for TEACHING GUIDE:
Untold, Stories of a World War II Liberator

 

Renewing Diversity Part 11: The Mysterious World of Diversity and Economics – by Carlos Cortés

I’ve always been a bit perplexed when it comes to the intersection of economics and diversity.  Maybe this is inevitable because of the sprawling, multifaceted, and contentious nature of the field of economics itself.  As the old saying goes, “You can stack all of the world’s economists end to end and never reach a conclusion.”

So rather than belaboring you with false certainties and pat generalizations about the economics-diversity nexus, I’ll tell you a story.  It’s a story about one acquaintance and two friends, each of whom contributed to my still-developing thinking about this topic.  Here goes.

Continue reading Renewing Diversity Part 11: The Mysterious World of Diversity and Economics – by Carlos Cortés →

The hurricane of stupidity – by Deborah Levine

originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press

I was surprised to see the Times Free Press article: “Bermuda prepares for hits by hurricanes Humberto, Imelda”. I grew up on the island of Bermuda and preparing for hurricanes at this time of year was the norm. But American newspapers don’t often talk about how Bermuda withstands these storms: “Bermuda is a wealthy British territory with strong concrete structures capable of withstanding serious storms.”

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20 Interview Questions I Should Have Asked – by Sharon Hurley Hall

More than 300,000 Black women have lost their jobs this year. As a Black woman who’s navigated similar systems, it’s made me think about the interview processes I faced: extremely stressful, multiple rounds, and not a person who shared my identity at any of them. I know from my own experience that there are double-takes as you walk in the door. There’s extensive questioning about birth, nationality and my right to be there, and extreme scrutiny of my qualifications. And even if I then get the job, there’s no guarantee it’s a safe place to work. 

I know I’m not the only one to experience this. But what if you could use the interview process to get the answers you really need as a Black person? You might not get the job, but you’d be a whole lot clearer about whether it was the right workplace for you.

Here are 20 questions I wish I’d been able to ask.  Continue reading 20 Interview Questions I Should Have Asked – by Sharon Hurley Hall →

Two Nations, One Climate – by Tor Arne Jørgensen

Along Norway’s southern coast, I have watched the winters change. Periods that once held frost now arrive as rain. What should be cold arrives mild. Not every year, but often enough. In Grimstad, people still talk about the winters we used to have. Snow that stayed. Ice that held. Now cold spells come and break quickly. Rain replaces snow. The pattern no longer holds.

The Norwegian Meteorological Institute has documented this shift. Coastal winters in Southern Norway are warmer now than in the 1960s. The change is gradual but steady. River flows shift. Insurance warnings multiply. Municipal flood plans expand.

Something is changing. Not suddenly, but unmistakably. And it is not only here. Across the Atlantic, America’s coastlines tell similar stories. Miami watches tides creep higher. California counts longer droughts. Two nations. Different politics. Same physics. Both built their modern wealth the same way—on oil.

Continue reading Two Nations, One Climate – by Tor Arne Jørgensen →