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Ben Bochner on Following the Soul
Ben Bochner, 56 Austin, Texas Job: Singer-songwriter Previously: Video production and songwriting on the side This fall, Bochner left steady work as a videographer in his longtime home of Eugene, Ore., to pursue music in Austin. Why Change?: “I fell in love with Texas nights. I felt I understood why cowboys wrote songs. There’s a…
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Esther Merves on Regrouping and Coping
Esther Merves, 54 Springfield, Va. Job: Adjunct professor at George Washington University and standardized medical patient, both part time Previously: Full-time staff research scientist at GWU A doctor of sociology, Merves was laid off from her full-time position several years ago. After fruitlessly searching for another fulfilling full-time job, she is “still in the process…
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Gail Pierris on Unending Determination
Gail Pierris, 62 New York City Job: Executive assistant to the business manager of DC9, the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades Previously: Executive assistant at the New-York Historical Society Pierris has degrees in museum education and art history, and has worked in everything from travel and publishing to finance. She enjoys the perks…
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Burt Gitlin on Calling on Community
Burt Gitlin, 58 North Bergen, N.J. Job: Actively looking Previously: CEO of Bond Bedding, a small custom mattress and box spring company Gitlin was CEO of Bond Bedding in Hudson County from 1999 to 2012, when it closed due to the economic downturn. Since then, he has volunteered in the wake of Hurricane Sandy while…
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Jane Trigere on Switching Gears
Jane Trigere, 64 South Deerfield, Mass. Job: Textile artist and community volunteer Previously: Director of the Hatikvah Holocaust Education and Resource Center in Springfield, Mass., now closed. After leading the Hatikvah Center from 1997 to 2000, Trigere earned a master’s degree but was unable to find another job in the museum/arts administration field. She has…
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ZOA Regains Tax-Exempt Status After Yearlong Hiatus
The Zionist Organization of America has regained its tax exemption more than a year after its failure to file financial disclosures led the Internal Revenue Service to revoke its nonprofit status. The 116-year-old Jewish group’s tax exemption was reinstated on May 15, according to a statement from the ZOA. “We’re delighted and gratified,” said ZOA…
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Summing Up Your Jewish Dad in Six Words
Everyone has something to say about the Jewish mother, but the Jewish dad is a harder character to pinpoint. In film and television, he often plays the meek foil to his overbearing wife. But for those of us with a Jewish father or grandfather in our lives, we know he’s so much more: fiercely family-oriented,…
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Magen Tzedek, Ethical Kosher Seal, Stalled Amid Orthodox Opposition
Robert Kaiser, a science teacher from New Hampshire with an interest in finding ethically produced kosher food, was excited when he learned of Magen Tzedek, a seal that would combine Jewish values and social justice in food production, spanning from the treatment of workers to environmental impact. But almost four years after the Magen Tzedek…
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Palestinians Mourn Neighborhood Razed by Israel in Shadow of Western Wall
Many Israelis marked the 46th anniversary of Jerusalem’s reunification, as they see it, with the fanfare that has become a staple of Jerusalem Day, the holiday first declared by the government in 1968 to mark the historic event. The May 8 celebration, which Israel’s chief rabbinate has also declared a religious holiday, was punctuated by…
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Tzedakah Ain’t Just for Jewish Millionaires
Whether it was implicitly or explicitly taught to me, I don’t remember, but somehow, I always knew: The people who hold the Torahs during the reading of the Kol Nidre prayer are the congregation’s big machers. A few years ago, as I stood at Kol Nidre, my eyes swept over the bimah. Even I, a…
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Baby Boomers’ Rocky Road to Jewish Love
On a chilly evening in March, a crowd of 40- and 50-somethings — dressed in everything from power suits and long fur coats to metallic bows and oddly sequined pants — descended upon a Murray Hill restaurant for a night of speed dating with HurryDate, a 12-year-old dating company based in New York. The Manhattan…
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