The following is by far the most exciting and important celebrity interview we have ever scored: Grover.  Granted, he is my favorite Sesame Street character, and I am the proud new father of a two-and-a-half month old baby boy, but still – I challenge you to think of a more timeless living subject.  Naturally, I compiled a list of the 300 or so most important questions I have always wanted to ask Grover.  How has he sustained his fame?  How often does he wash his fur?  What did he do for Passover this year?  How come the 1983 LP “The Best of Grover” has seven songs on the first side and eight on the other?  Did he realize how mind boggling that was to someone who was just learning to count when he recorded it?  The list goes on…

When I was informed that I unfortunately would not be able to hang out with Grover for the full week I had requested, I decided to focus on Grover 2011.  Enjoy!

Jacob: Who is your favorite celebrity?

Grover: It is so hard to choose a favorite when I have met so many nice and wonderful people at Sesame Street and Rechov Sumsum.  You know who was really funny? Jake Gyllenhaal.  He hid the Afikomen and then forgot where he hid it. Sounds like something your cute and furry pal Grover would do, no? At least we are both loveable.

Who was the tallest celebrity you met?

I would have to say my new friend Amar’e Stoudemire is the tallest celebrity, maybe even the tallest person I have ever met!  Amar’e and I played some hoops in The Arbor at Sesame Street! I am pretty sure I surprised him with my sweet moves. Look out New York. Here comes Grover, baby!

Were you surprised he/she was so tall?

I was very surprised!  And Amar’e was impressed by my beautiful and luxurious blue fur.  Wouldn’t it be funny if I was his height and he had my color fur?

Speaking of which, how tall are you?

It is not the size of the monster that counts. All that matters is that I am very cute, very furry, and very blue. I am a monster of perfect proportions!

If you could have dinner with any celebrity couple, who it be and why?

I would have dinner with Idina Menzel and Taye Diggs and I would take them to my favorite place, Charlie’s Restaurant. And seeing as how I also happen to be a very talented waiter, I would take the pleasure of serving us myself!  I know they are allergic to chicken and shrimp from when they last visited Sesame Street so I will be sure to keep them away.

Has Super Grover ever met Superman?

Hmmmmm, that is a good question. Super Grover has never met Superman, but I am sure that if we do meet, we will have a lot of super important, super-secret things to talk about.

Do you follow any celebrities on Twitter?

You can check me and my furry and feathered friends out in all our 140 character glory, coming to you live from Hooper’s Store. Being a waiter, a superhero, a global traveler and a loveable monster takes up a lot of my time so I have not had time to peruse other pages yet.

Shalom Sesame is now available on DVD.  Check out awesome new clips on YouTube.

All images used by permission, TM and © 2011 Sesame Workshop. All Rights Reserved.

The post Jewcy Interviews: Grover appeared first on Jewcy.

This article originally appeared at E Jewish Philanthropy.

At any given time, the majority of US Jewish households are not affiliated with Jewish institutions like synagogues or JCCs. There are many reasons why, perhaps the most important being that the organized community hasn’t made a strong enough case for the meaning and value of being affiliated. There’s a subset of the unaffiliated, however, who already understand the meaning and value – or who, like most affiliated households, simply want or need the services provided – but do not affiliate because of their own personal financial situations. And the size of this subset has likely grown during the recent Great Recession. What can the Jewish community do to make sure that a financial challenge is not the reason keeping an individual from affiliating?

During the past decade, we at the Jewish Outreach Institute have conducted “environmental scans” of over 500 Jewish institutions in more than a dozen Jewish communities of all sizes, to determine how each looks to potential newcomers. On the issue of financial accessibility, models vary widely but the most common remains a set membership or fee, usually dependent upon household structure, often with accommodations made for age or current lifecycle (for example, most institutions have come to recognize that young adults in their 20s can’t join at the same financial level as their parents).

For others with financial challenges, there is almost universal agreement among Jewish communal professionals that their organizations will make accommodations. However, how that actually works is in no way uniform and in fact represents a serious barrier to participation. In most organizations, those accommodations are not advertised in any way – the impetus is on the financially-challenged to ask for assistance. It is safe to assume that for every individual who does ask, there are many more that don’t, either out of shame or simply because they were unaware it was even an option.

This challenge is currently being addressed by the Big Tent Judaism Coalition, an advocacy initiative coordinated by the Jewish Outreach Institute of over 450 organizations seeking a more inclusive community, in a campaign called, “There’s No Shame In Asking.”

We timed the campaign around Purim because we imagined what the hero of the story, Esther, must have experienced before approaching her husband the king to disclose a piece of her identity that she had previously kept private. She must have feared rejection or being made to feel ashamed. Thankfully for the countless generations of Jews since, she did come forward and she was met with sensitivity and understanding. If there are people today who want to be a part of our community, perhaps to educate their children Jewishly, but doesn’t come forward with their financial challenges because they fear rejection, who knows how many countless future Jews we might lose?

To provide a more uniformed message to those with financial challenges, member organizations in the Big Tent Judaism Coalition are being furnished with large-format cards [PDF version here] that they can distribute to potential new members. The cards provide two key pieces of information: encouragement, including a standard sentence to initiate the conversation, “I’d like to learn more about adjustments offered on your organization’s (membership/tuition/program) fees”; and the name and contact information of a specific individual at the organization that is distributing the cards. The contact person is essential because whoever is on the receiving end of that sentence needs to be able to reply with sensitivity and confidentiality, and to clearly articulate the organization’s policies.

We recognize the many challenges in such an advocacy campaign, and why so many organizations have been hesitant to make public their willingness to accommodate those with financial challenges. Many organizations are hurting financially as well, and this approach seems counterintuitive to their bottom line. Others fear that people might take advantage of an organization’s sensitivity by lying about their financial needs. To address these and other concerns, we’ve initiated a conversation among organizations to share best practices, and additional features of the campaign will include a webinar of what we’ve learned from the field.

But we initiated this campaign, especially during these difficult economic times, because we felt strongly that this was a barrier to participation in Jewish communal life that we could address for those who are currently financially challenged; and that by doing so we could showcase our values as a community. We want people inside our tent. We want to serve those who are struggling. Those of us who may have struggled in the past but are in a better place now and want to give back, want to bring more people with us, and doing so together as a community sends a powerful message that we are extending our hands from a position of moral strength rather than withdrawing due to a fear of economic uncertainty.

We invite all Jewish organizations to participate in this campaign by joining the Big Tent Judaism Coalition, which is free and only requires that the organization aspires to the “Ten Principles of Big Tent Judaism”; learn more and sign up here.

Paul Golin is associate executive director of the Jewish Outreach Institute, which serves as the coordinating organization of the Big Tent Judaism Coalition.

The post Including Jews With Financial Challenges appeared first on Jewcy.

American Jewish World Service (AJWS), an international development organization, is hosting a global justice conference for rabbis, rabbinical students and Jewish communal leaders near Baltimore this week. The conference, called the Rabbinical Students Delegation Alumni Institute, will focus on leveraging participants’ power to elevate global justice as a core expression of Jewish tradition, both locally and in the larger North American Jewish community. Over the next few days, Rabbi Vered Harris will share her account of the Institute and the issues it raises for 21st century Jews.

There are times before I lead tefillah when I stand behind the ark in our sanctuary and say a quiet prayer to God. “Please, give me the peace I need to help them find the peace they need.” It isn’t a rote prayer, and I can’t guarantee those are the exact words, but it is a ritual of supplication that helps me to quiet myself and prepare to lead others in prayer. It is a source of spiritual power for me.

I don’t think I’ve ever used that phrase before: Spiritual Power. At American Jewish World Service’s RSD Alumni Institute, I expect to think about how we harness power to make change. But typically my definition of power would revolve around notions of community building, politics, charismatic leadership and financial resources.

Spiritual power, it turns out, is the foundation for me of all other positive uses of power.

Tonight Rabbi Shelia Peltz Weinberg, director of outreach and community development at the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, asked us to consider this quote from Reb Nachman of Bratslav: “If you believe it can be broken, you must believe it can be repaired.” Internalize that thought: anything in disrepair can be mended. Relationships. The environment. Material goods. Food supplies. Water systems.

Traditional definitions of power can make the repairs. Spiritual power connects the repairs to a greater good, to meaning and purpose and the interconnectedness of humanity. Spiritual power means we make change in partnership with God.

So Rabbi Weinberg asked us to consider where we gain our spiritual power. For me, it is in those quiet conversations when I ask God to be with me when others look to me to lead them.

Then she asked us to think about where we lose our spiritual power. I realized that I lose my spiritual power when I suppress my inner voice, when I compare myself to others and doubt my own strength. When I fear my own power and therefore hide behind a façade of weakness, I allow my spiritual power to drain and my foundation to falter.

Jewish social action requires us to locate our spiritual power. Anyone can set out to make the world a better place, a friendlier place, a more peaceful or equitable place. As a Jewish leader it is my relationship with God and my people that brings deeper meaning and purpose to my quest for justice.

An internal strength of conviction allows me to see the broken world and have faith that it can be fixed. That is my spiritual power. It is essential to recognize where it comes from, and to learn to overcome the obstacles that drain it.

If we each nurtured our spiritual power, we would stand on the most solid of foundations. We would harness the hope and the power to fix the brokenness in our world.

Rabbi Vered Harris is the Education Rabbi at Congregation Beth Torah in Overland Park, Kansas. She participated in AJWS’s Young Rabbis’ Delegation to Muchucuxcah, Mexico last summer.

The post Notes From The Delegation: Is Spiritual Power The Most Solid Foundation? appeared first on Jewcy.