“Museums can be universal and all-embracing or, like Jewish museums, particular in their focus. Each has the potential to place the material heritage of individual cultures into a broader context, producing powerfully illustrative stories of communal connection with special meaning in their own time as well as for us today.”

Related Grantee: SAPIR: Ideas for a Thriving Jewish Future

“Resisting the temptation to respond to words and ideas we hate with hatred of our own, whether in the form of a raised fist or through the ink of a red pen, is a burden of chosen-ness, of being a light unto the nations. However difficult, it is the right — and dare I say, the Jewish — thing to do.”

Related Grantee: SAPIR: Ideas for a Thriving Jewish Future

“Whether as a nation that dwells apart or a nation on a mission, Jews generally share the conviction that Israel should stand for certain ethical principles — and be judged according to them. For this issue of Sapir, we asked 13 diverse thinkers and doers to offer a brief comment about what the phrase ‘a light unto the nations’ means to them when it comes to Israel today…”

Related Grantee: SAPIR: Ideas for a Thriving Jewish Future

Maimonides Fund is pleased to announce two exciting new additions to its New York-based programming staff. Chanan Weissman will join as Director of the new SAPIR Institute, and Zackary Wainer will serve as Director of Special Initiatives.

“We are excited for Chanan and Zack to join our growing team,” said Maimonides Fund President Mark Charendoff of the new hires. “They both come with considerable expertise that will add new and important dimensions to our work, enabling us to grow our impact and the positive change we can make for Jewish communities and the State of Israel.”

Beginning April 1, Weissman will conceptualize, launch and lead the new SAPIR Institute, which will develop a suite of programmatic efforts inspired by the quarterly journal SAPIR…

This year’s Forbes Israel 30 Under 30 features two alumni of the Future Scientists Center Odyssey program:

“At the age of 14, [Keshet Shavit] was accepted into the academic studies programs for high school students at Ben Gurion University – Odyssey (of the Center for Future Scientists and the Ministry of Education) and Marie Curie, and began her first degree. She came to Professor Amir Sagi’s laboratory and carried out research there, the results of which were presented at conferences and published in an academic article when she was only 18 years old.”

“In middle school, [Avraham Barbi] says, he got bored and used to disrupt classes….”I wanted to find another place to gain knowledge, so I enrolled in the ‘Odyssey’ program at the Technion (of the Center for Future Scientists and the Ministry of Education). There I realized that the field of physics fascinates me.” Currently, Avraham is a member of Escola – the alumni network of the program, and is about to finish his master’s degree in the track for quantum information at the Hebrew University.”

Related Grantee: Future Scientists Center

“Should we fund art simply for art’s sake, for the sheer quality of it, or should we fund art in an instrumentalist way, toward particular ends? The former might seem like more of a luxury, while funding art that’s intended to educate or shape hearts and minds in particular ways might seem more necessary and urgent. But does the instrumentalist approach compromise the artist’s autonomy and authentic artistic expression?”

Related Grantee: SAPIR: Ideas for a Thriving Jewish Future

“‘The Devil’s Confession: The Lost Eichmann Tapes’ is a three-part documentary series that combines interviews from Holocaust survivors, key witnesses at the Eichmann trial, historians, and experts on the Holocaust with reenactments of the historical events. The series, which first aired on Israel’s Kan public broadcaster last year, tells the story of Adolf Eichmann’s role in orchestrating the Final Solution during the Holocaust.”

Related Grantee: Gesher Multicultural Film Fund – The Jewish Story Film and Media Collaborative

“Ne’emanut for Buzaglo indicates trust rooted in your connection to the speaker(s)—a unique and distinct voice among many, that you hear differently from all others because it is speaking specifically to you, in the context of your relationship with them…. The relational act of transmission is what carries moral weight. When one is ne’eman, one sees oneself as a link in a chain and takes on the role of continuing the chain into the future.”

“The very act of impact evaluation requires narrowing down the problem to make it legible and, in the process, other complex and unwieldy problems, that might be more pressing, will be left out. Impact evaluations only encompass the highest impact philanthropic efforts that we can measure and publish with confidence. Halfway into comparing air pollution and malaria, I had a renewed appreciation for James C. Scott’s ideas on the tradeoff between legibility and complexity. Air pollution mitigation institutions don’t make it to the top five of the GiveWell list because both the causes of air pollution and the interventions to mitigate pollution are complicated.”

“One cannot really understand the truth if one does not understand the arguments and views that can be urged against it. Just as we appreciate our blessings when we feel the lack of them, we sharpen our perception of truth when we are confronted by arguments that appear to contradict it…Openness to others, including those with whom we might vehemently disagree, is also essential for creating a robust and living culture.”

Related Grantee: SAPIR: Ideas for a Thriving Jewish Future

“Bombach is the driving spirit behind a new Israeli network of schools that provides ultra-Orthodox children not only with a comprehensive religious education, but also requires them to study a core curriculum of math, English, science, history and civics.”

Related Grantee: The Netzach Educational Network

“The Digital Storytellers Lab of the Jewish Writers’ Initiative has selected thirteen digital media writers/creators for its inaugural program….The fellows hail from a variety of professional backgrounds – including journalists, filmmakers, novelists, songwriters, game designers, and more – and were chosen via an open call for proposals that brought in over 260 applications.

Related Grantee: Jewish Writers’ Initiative Digital Storytellers Lab