Global Stories
By Jane Ginns, 9/01/2020
First, thank you to the WRJ for recognizing HIAS with this award. As a board member, it warms my heart to have the incredibly dedicated and complicated work of our staff be noticed and lifted up, especially in these very difficult times. Second, it is a privilege to share with you my own HIAS story. It’s a privilege because I get to speak both as a former HIAS client and as a current member of the HIAS Board of Directors. I guess you could say I’ve lived the entire gamut of the HIAS experience: from being the stateless little girl awaiting an uncertain fate in between countries to sitting... Read More
By David Maxa, 2/05/2020
I grew up in Prague, the Czech capital, the city of one hundred spires, the Maharal, the Golem, and Franz Kafka. During my childhood, which followed forty years of Communist rule in Czechoslovakia, Judaism held a stigma, surrounded by unbreakable silence. For me, the son of a Shoah survivor, this silence was only occasionally interrupted by stories and yellowed photographs of my perished ancestors. After my father passed away, I decided to explore my roots and deepen my Jewish knowledge. I began attending various Jewish activities and got involved in Jewish life in the Czech Republic. This... Read More
By Lynn Magid Lazar, 11/21/2019
It is a small world! Surely, many of you have had that thought. Perhaps you have read these stories or had similar experiences. “Do any of you know anyone who is a member of a progressive Jewish congregation in Berlin, Germany? One of my cousins will be visiting Berlin during Rosh Hashanah and she'd love to attend services.” “My summer travels this year took me to Paris… my French cousins introduced me to Rabbis Pauline Bebe and Tom Cohen. Rabbi Bebe, the first female rabbi in Europe, was a former WRJ scholarship recipient.” “The Seder (in Lisbon) that my family and I attended... Read More
By Rabbi Linda Henry Goodman, 3/19/2019
We read in Pirkei Avot, “Be among the disciples of Aaron – seek peace and pursue it.” One of our highest aspirations as Jews is to establish peace within our homes, within our communities, and in our world. Sh’lom Bayit – peace in the home – is a core value of Jewish life. For 30 years now, Jewish women have gone in peace to the plaza of Hakotel Hama’aravi, the Western Wall in Jerusalem, to hold a morning service for Rosh Chodesh. At 7 a.m., the “Women of the Wall” begin with Shacharit, proceed to Hallel, and hope to arrive at the service for the reading of the Torah. These services... Read More
By Alyson Malinger, 2/11/2019
Representing 51% of the population, 102 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, and 88 seats in the House of Commons of Canada, women are finding themselves in more and more leadership positions. Nevertheless, we have a long way to go until true gender equality is reached. On March 8, we celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women around the world with International Women's Day. Each year the day also is given a theme around the issue of gender parity; this year’s theme is #BalanceforBetter. The theme focuses on how balance is... Read More
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