Wise Mourns Loss of Disability Rights Advocate Judith Heumann
The Stephen Wise Temple and Schools community was saddened to learn last week of the passing of Judith Heumann, widely regarded as the mother of the disability rights movement. Heumann passed away in Washington, D.C. on the afternoon of March 4, 2023. Having just marked Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance, and Inclusion Month, this loss is particularly painful. Heumann, who contracted polio at 18 months old, was at the forefront of major disability [...]
Rabbi Sari Laufer Featured on Purim Episode of Tov! Podcast
Stephen Wise Temple Rabbi Sari Laufer was featured on a special Purim edition of the "Tov!" podcast this week. To coincide with the festival of masks and costumes, "Tov!"—which discusses Jewish ideas and the beloved NBC sitcom, "The Good Place"— brought on the show's costume designer, Kriston Mann, as a special guest. Rabbi Sari, Rabbi Ilana Schachter, and Rabbi Jon Spira-Savett spoke with Mann about how themes, ideas, and character development [...]
Daily Kavanah – Friday, February 24, 2023: Rabbi Yoshi Announces Sabbatical
“Six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield; but in the seventh you shall let it rest and lie fallow. Let the needy among your people eat of it, and what they leave let the wild beasts eat. You shall do the same with your vineyards and your olive groves.” —Exodus 23:10-11 The tradition of the sabbatical year dates all the way back to the time of [...]
JDAIM at Wise: Wise School Meets IPSC Athletes
February is Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance, and Inclusion Month (JDAIM), a unified effort among Jewish organizations worldwide to raise awareness and foster acceptance and inclusion of people with disabilities and mental health conditions and those who love them. Each week this month, we will share with you a feature about how Stephen Wise Temple and Schools have put those values into action as we strive to become an even more inclusive, welcoming, [...]
Wise School Parent Sivan Zakai Wins National Jewish Book Award
Last month, at the 72nd Annual Jewish Book Awards, the Jewish Book Council presented Wise School parent Sivan Zakai with a first-place award in the category of Education and Jewish Identity for her 2022 book, "My Second-Favorite Country: How American Jewish Children Think About Israel." Zakai, a Ph.D. and a professor at HUC-Jewish Institute of Religion, is an expert in curriculum design and teaching controversial issues. Her book sheds light on the [...]
Wise Leadership Statement on Pico-Robertson Shootings
Our hearts go out to those affected by the senseless shootings in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood over the past 48 hours. The three victims were Jewish, and were shot from moving vehicles as they were leaving synagogues, places that should be refuges of peace and sanctuary. The latest information indicates that the perpetrator, now apprehended by police, held antisemitic motives. Such acts of violence serve no other purpose than to instill fear in the hearts [...]