Contact Spring 2018

The Spring issue of CONTACT explores the past, present, and potential future tapestries of Jewish life in communities spanning the globe.

Contact Spring 2016

The Spring issue of Contact explores Jewish community, diversity and expression in worlds ranging from a Russian Jewish festival in New York to an artistic interpretation of the Talmud in London.

Contact Spring 2015

The Spring issue of CONTACT focuses on the Jewish experience in lands as disparate as Moscow and the Catskills, and in contexts as diverse as communal living in New Orleans and New York narratives woven together in the Hebrew language.

Contact Spring 2014

The rumblings could be heard far and wide. Ominous chatter, faint at first, then building in frequency until it became an overwhelming and all-consuming cacophony. There was no longer any hope of denying it: We were being treated to another Study.

Contact Spring 2011

On its surface, Hebrew might seem to be irrelevant to the American experience. Despite America’s status as a beacon to immigrants from all parts of the world, the nation was born and persists in the English language. Even recent efforts towards bilingualism focus naturally on Spanish, the language of the country’s largest contemporary immigrant population. Hebrew would seem to be peripheral to the idea of America.

Contact Spring 2010

As the global economy lurches fitfully back from the precipice of disaster, many in the Jewish philanthropic community might expect a slow but unwavering return to normalcy: a steady influx of resources, renewed funder commitment, and reliability of near-term as well as long-term giving.

Contact Spring 2009

In a recent piece for The Washington Post, Naomi Klein argued that an overlooked cause of the current economic crisis was “Brain Bubbles.” Running down a list of highly regarded presidential economic advisors in the current and former administrations whose theories and prognostications turned out to be decidedly wrong, Klein wrote that in a Brain Bubble, “the intelligence of an inarguably intelligent person is inflated and valued beyond all reason, creating a dangerous accumulation of unhedged risk.”

Contact Spring 2008

As the most recent buzzword occupying the minds of Jewish professionals — replacing “continuity,” “renaissance” and “Matisyahu” — the term “Peoplehood” has been given much attention lately as the newfound rhetorical panacea in Jewish life.

Contact Spring 2007

As Jewish camping has achieved almost universal recognition as a top-notch arena of informal education, the camping movement is increasingly focusing on ways it can maximize camping’s potential and broaden its appeal.

Contact Spring 2006

The most revolutionary innovation of the Internet is arguably its democratization of information and of communities. Not since the advent of the Gutenberg press have the barriers between people and data been so widely traversed. As China’s recent dealings with Google and Yahoo reveal, it is this open access to information that terrifies repressive regimes.