Category: 400 thoughts
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Hear o’ Israel, it’s never too late for an old school prayer.
I hadn’t said the Shema in earnest or even in unearnest in over a decade. Like riding a bicycle or worshipping a childhood god, the words are not forgotten once you start to move your mouth. The מ’s are plentiful; an exercise for the lips. The ך’s, too, are plentiful; an age-old exercise in patience…
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We cast our lot.
When people ask me why I came here, my answer is that no matter what I believe religiously I’ll always accept the fact that by being born into what I was born I have no choice but to cast my lot with the rest of my people. So even now, as there is this man…
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The Prime Minister makes a PowerPoint
It’s night three of my daughter’s cough and it’s gotten much better. I’m sitting uncomfortably on the Hello Kitty stool next to the crib, with my forefinger making lines in her palm, my phone on ‘play’ in the other hand, and in my left ear, an earbud is loosely holding on. The prime minister is…
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At 70, you get your own Snapchat filter.
Independence is affording the time to celebrate your existence. Independence is getting your own Snapchat filter. Independence is being proud of someone you never met named Netta. Independence is the freedom to openly mourn your dead on your terms. Independence is enjoying making choices on a global scale. Independence is watching your kids grow up…
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Thoughts on another Israeli Memorial Day
All around, kids pick up bits and ask their parents… “What is בן האבוד בלבנון?” “What is מבצע אנטבה?” “What does רומנטי mean?” “Why is that kind of flower everywhere?” “Did that שיר really happen?” “Why do they put the flag down?” On a walk through Har Herzl (Israel’s national cemetery) this morning, hearing about…
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Tell-All: 4 team management lessons from Summit planning
I recently, ahem, was part of a core team running one of the biggest events in startup-Jerusalem each year, in its 4th year. It’s a production put on with a lot of demands, a lot of resources, a lot of professionals, but the core team from within the company are not necessarily production careerists (though…
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The last week.
This isn’t how I thought it would end. I didn’t think the end would begin with a deep soreness, tiny stabs of pain, highlighted by stinging tears; the added torture of me trying to hold all this in and stay strong for you, to avoid the chance you’d feel unwhole, to acknowledge your instinctual longing,…
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#metoo, #hetoo, #shetoo: for the boys
Everyone’s talking about Harvey Weinstein; even the white board at the entrance of my office, where usually someone scribbles the name of the day’s delegation, even the white board yesterday was #metoo. And everyone is talking about women being afraid to talk, and women now talking, and how women can protect themselves, and how women…
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Why do you get out of bed and go to your workplace every morning?
Is it a sense of personal responsibility to your commitments? Is it driven by the requirement to be paid in order to live your life? Is it because you believe in what you do? Or what your organization is aiming to do? Are you looking forward to some major event, and each day is a…
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‘Where are they now?’ edition
Is it a getting older thing? A life experience thing? Years pass, before you know it, decades pass. Then you start to enjoy the thought of meeting up with old friends. Old bosses. Old acquaintances. Old teachers. People who taught you. Who, today, still wouldn’t laugh at you for when they knew you as a…
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Oh, Jerusalem: High impact presentation of a high impact city
Every day I wake up, get myself and what feels like 3853075 other people ready for our routines, drag my ass to my car and eventually end up on the road into work. The thing about that road is, it’s the road to Jerusalem. And not just the road to Jerusalem, but the road to…
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Answer any question, honestly.
If we’re being cynical, the propaganda machine is running in full force at my house. If we’re being honest, I’m just trying to protect my offspring. If we’re being optimistic, the hope is knowledge will lead to creative, original and practical solutions. This Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, hit me hard. Harder than in years…