More in ‘economy’

Israel’s ‘Tech Miracle’ Explained

Credit the IDF, say authors of 'Start-Up Nation'
By Marissa Brostoff | 3:00 PM Nov 5, 2009

What’s behind Israel’s tremendous success in the tech sector? In their book Start-Up Nation, which came out yesterday, Dan Senor, a former foreign policy adviser to President George W. Bush, and Saul Singer, a Jerusalem Post columnist, argue that a culture of innovation has grown from the relatively non-hierarchical structure of the IDF—unusual among militaries. ...

Is Israel at Risk

Of joining the Third World?
By Michael Weiss | 3:00 PM Oct 1, 2009

The most important takeaway from Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics’ latest set of findings on Israel’s socioeconomic condition is one well articulated by Yuval Elbashan, the deputy director of Yedid, a national network of economic advice centers for Israeli citizens. Quoted in Nathan Jeffay’s Forward article on the report, which is due out later this ...

U.S.

Service Charges

How synagogues and their congregants are handling the economic downturn
By Marissa Brostoff | 7:00 AM Sep 17, 2009

The High Holidays will be a little different this year for Lisa Fox, a 47-year-old travel agent and single mother of three in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Because times are tough for her, instead of spending an extra $300 for a membership package that would include premium tickets to Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur services ...

Ritual & Observance

Wheel of Fortune

From the archives: A year into the financial meltdown, the calendar keeps turning, and so does the economic cycle
By Daniel Gross | 7:00 AM Sep 16, 2009

Judaism is a religion of cycles. Most congregations read the entirety of the Torah over the course of a year, though some stretch it into three years. There’s the Daf Yomi, a cycle in which the learned plow through the Babylonian Talmud in a 7.5 year cycle. Its primary and secondary texts describe cycles in ...

Davening Through the Downturn

High Holidays in the recession
By Michael Weiss | 2:09 PM Sep 2, 2009

As the High Holy Days approach, synagogues are feeling the lash of a lousy economy like never before. Rabbi Charles Klein, of the Merrick Jewish Centre on Long Island, told the Associated Press that he’s had more economic hard-luck conversations in the last year than he’s had in 31 years at his congregation. “I’m calling ...

Family

Shock Therapy

How my shrink helped me by becoming my biggest problem
By Hadara Graubart | 7:00 AM Jul 15, 2009

The panic probably came on slowly, but, as one fails to notice the gradual death of a light bulb, I somehow missed its approach. By early last fall, I found myself in a state of acute anxiety in which everything in my life—from my friendships to my magazine subscriptions to the city I live in—became subject to relentless questioning. Of the various irritants, though, none was perhaps as troubling as the growing ambivalence I felt about working for a Jewish publication.

Quarter of U.S. Blames Jews

For financial crisis.
By Allison Hoffman | 10:09 AM Jun 16, 2009

A pair of political scientists has managed to prove what ADL head Abe Foxman was simply able to intuit months ago: thirty-eight percent of non-Jewish Americans hold “the Jews” to some degree responsible for the financial crisis, and almost a full quarter blame “the Jews” a moderate amount or more. The surprising part, as reported ...

Ritual & Observance

Lookin’ Down on Creation

Why making stuff up is getting us down
By Liel Leibovitz | 11:19 AM Oct 24, 2008

This Saturday, Jews all over the world will begin reading the Torah once again. And it’s safe to assume that, as they’ve done since the dawn of Man, pulpit rabbis will look to draw connections between the week’s parasha and current events, making the ancient text relevant to our times.
If they can do ...