Category Archives: Transforming

Projects that are making a difference, improving lives, and building communities.

Authors A-H, Religious Diversity Kit, Social Issues

 Judaism’s Meltdown or The End Result of the American Melting Pot – by Miriam Hoffman

Since Abraham, forefather of Judaism smashed all the idols in his father’s  lucrative idol showcase business which consisted of wooden deities, fertility gods, big and small idols promising provisions, as well as idols that assured health and wealth, this was the precise time when Abraham decided that there is no man-made visible god, but one who dwells up above, in the Celestial Heavens, the God that promised to protect and demanded of his Chosen People loyalty, humanity, wisdom and above all knowledge of their past history.

As time was overlapping one another, his people obeyed and disobeyed, were loyal and betrayed Him, stuck by Him through thick and thin not to mention those who abandoned him altogether.

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Advisors, Politics, Social Issues

Debunking 4 Major Myths of Assault Weapons Ban – by David Grinberg

During the first week of September, the latest mass shooting tragedy occurred at a high school in Winder, Georgia. This has thrust the issue of gun safety reform squarely into the 2024 presidential campaign.

Thus far, there have been more mass shootings than days in the year (385 according to the Gun Violence Archive). Here are a few other shocking statistics to consider:

Advisors, Social Issues

One 9/11 Victim’s Positive Impact Posthumously  – by David B. Grinberg

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As another annual 9/11 observance has come and gone, I want to pay tribute to those lost, including a close childhood friend who was working in the Twin Towers as a financial trader on that tragic day.

President Roosevelt (FDR) called the bombing of Pearl Harbor during World War II: “A date that will live in infamy.” The same can be said of 9/11. 

Even though it’s been 23 years, we must be mindful year-round of all the families, friends and relatives who lost loved ones. The memories and pain of loved ones lost never goes away.

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Authors R-Z, Social Issues, The Arts

Waymakers: Celebrating and Protecting Diversity in Appalachia – by Joe Tolbert Jr.

The Waymakers Collective is dedicated to supporting community arts and organizations in the heart of Appalachia that are historically underfunded: those led by BIPOC (Black, indigenous, and people of color), youth, LGBTQIA+, and non-English speakers/immigrants. Earlier this month, we held our Annual Gathering to celebrate our community of Appalachian artists, culture workers, organizers, activists, doers, and creatives who are committed to building a just and equitable Appalachian future.

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Academic Articles, Authors A-H, Politics

Campus Jews on Trial – by R. A. Crevoshay

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Opinion: American Jewish Education
Fails Israel

What I offer is an unapologetic defense of the Jewish People. Oh yes, we are indeed a People. Not an ethnicity, though we have many ethnicities within our general culture. Not a religion, though we do have numerous and competing variations of theology among our ranks. It ain’t about religion.

Jews are the indigenous nation of the Land of Israel.

We’ve been separated from our land for a couple thousand years.

Jews are indigenous under the definition provided by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Where we differ from virtually every other dispossessed indigenous culture is that we have honored the memory of our roots. Through a couple of millennia of suffering the brutality visited upon us by most of our foreign hosts, we not only remembered our homeland, but we’ve had the unwelcome chutzpah to recover and resettle it. 

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Authors R-Z, Social Issues

A Closer Look Inside India’s Cleanest City – by Yana Roy

If you can discern the presence of disproportionately more temples than public toilets; wide streets; tri-segregated waste bins lining the intersections of lanes and roads; the selling of meat concealed by humongous black cloths; mannequins, automobiles, absolutely any entity at all being adorned with orange flags depicting the Hindu God, Ram, you have successfully reached Indore. Welcome. Officially known as the cleanest city of India, this city boasts being free of open defecation, of possessing a minimal Air Quality Index (AQI) ranging from 50-80, source segregation of waste, and the list is interminable.

But, what does it mean to be the cleanest city of India? What are we cleaning? And for whom? Who gets to reap the benefits and who is burdened with the colossal task of cleaning? Let us find out.

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Academic Articles, Advisors, Authors A-H, War

Comparisons of Anti-Vietnam War Protests and Pro-Palestinian Protests – by Marc Brenman

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Recently I was asked to compare and contrast the Anti-Vietnam War Protests of the mid to late 1960’s and early 1970’s with the current Pro-Palestinian, Pro-Gaza, and Anti-Israel protests, largely on college campuses. I was very active in activities against the War in Vietnam while in college and graduate school. I have some regrets at some of the stupid things I said and did. Therefore I try to understand the current demonstrators. I had a ox being gored—fear of being drafted. Thus, I had a personal stake in the actions. Today’s students have no such stake. It is especially notable that most of the groups opposing Israel’s stance in the Gaza War have no stake whatsoever in that part of the world. 

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Levine articles, Social Issues, USA Culture

Tracking our Terrorist Destructors – by Deborah Levine

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I used to write about terrorist destructors in the U.S. every spring. My articles began with the domestic terrorism of the Oklahoma City bombing more than thirty years ago on April 19.  That’s when I became the community/media liaison for Oklahoma’s Tulsa Jewish Federation. It was shortly after the bombing destroyed the Murrah Building and so many lives were affected. I felt compelled to investigate what led to the deadliest bombing, prior to 9/11, on our native soil.  The violent hatred that I saw has not only continued, but has expanded globally, and now, it  encompasses the entire year.

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