Schmoozer (Audio Edition)

This week, Aaron Herman learned more about the Henna Ceremony.

What’s a Henna? We had an opportunity to speak with Sael Abecassis about this beautiful Moroccan tradition before one gets married. The henna is a mini wedding that showers the bride with gifts and culminates in the henna. The henna is a “mark” which will hopefull bring love, success and wealth.

Hurricane Sandy tore through the east cost leaving hundreds of thousand of people without electricity and water. The Jewish community sprung into action helping those in need by raising money, and brining food, water and batteries to disaster area’s. One of the Jewish communities that was decimated was the Long Beach Jewish Community. Sandy destroyed homes and displaced thousands of people. Rabbi Eli Goodman Rabbi of the Bach Jewish Center showed Sandy’s aftermath and the destruction to the Long Beach community.

To find out what you can do contact your synagogue or check out: WeRepair.org

This week, Aaron Herman sat down with Moyel, Rabbi Paysach Krohn.

How do you become a mohel? We had the opportunity to speak with Rabbi Paysach Krohn international mohel about the intricacies on the mohel process.

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How do you create effective Jewish engagemnt? We spoke with Jeff Seidel about his innovative programs and organization.

Among the thousands of college students who flock to Israel each year for study or travel, many are looking for a reason to be Jewish. But it isn’t easy to tap into Israel’s vast world of Jewish learning. It isn’t easy for a student from New York or Philadelphia to look beyond the stones of the Western Wall and sense their history.

Jeff Seidel and the Jewish Student Information Centers fill that need.

The Old City Center opened in 1986, functioning as a resource center for the student traveler as a guiding hand and a place offering heightened Jewish consciousness.

The second Student Information Center opened in 1992 near the Hebrew University campus offering its students an array of services such as laundry service, e-mail, Shabbat meals, lectures, wide screen Television and much more.

The third Information Center opened in 1994 near the Tel-Aviv University campus. Yearly, the Jewish Student Information Centers are visited by some 20,000 students and travelers. On Friday night you are now able to attend Shabbat Home Hospitality whether you are at the Western Wall, Tel Aviv University, Hebrew University, or anywhere around the world.

Rosh Hashanah is a time for families to come together and eat. Sometimes its hard to find the perfect dish for everyone. We had the opportunity to speak with Doris Schechter author and owner of My Most Favorite Food about innovative kosher cooking during the upcoming holidays.

We had the opportunity to speak with the writers of the Israeli play Dogs. Dogs is a new play presented by TheaterCan, an Israeli theatre company, exploring the creation of an Arab-Israeli Romeo & Juliet musical, will have its New York debut as part of the 16th Annual New York International Fringe Festival

When five men from completely different backgrounds come together to work on a new and extremely controversial show, the production threatens to turn into a spectacular and amusing disaster. As their rehearsal room becomes a demi-battlefield, filled with drama and suspense, the men struggle to keep the production alive. Will one passionate gay director, a heated Arab-Israeli conflict and a confirmed male pregnancy take the production to the next level, or manage to tear everything apart? “DOGS” is an original production exploring the creation of a play within a play. “The show is a biting comedy that was created following a workshop of Jewish and Arab male actors that aims to deal with the mutual alienation and rage that both sides have become accustomed to”, says Ido Bornstein, the playwright responsible for “DOGS” and founding member of the TheaterCan Company. “The result is a comedy that sheds light on the Israeli-Arab conflict from a gender-based perspective while incorporating social commentary in a way that is unexpected and stimulating”

The TheaterCan collective, led by Artistic Director Shlomo Plessner, will arrive in New York for 2 weeks to perform two of their critically- acclaimed plays that have been accepted into the festival. “Honest” and “DOGS”. “Honest”, a play written by acclaimed English playwright DC Moore has undergone a brilliant adaptation by the TheatreCan group, while “DOGS” is an original play written by award-winning Israeli playwright Ido Bornstein.

The cast includes Lavi Zytner (Best Actor, Israeli Theater Awards 2008), Benjamin David Elder, Mahmoud Mora, Rami Kashi and Hai Maor. Directed by Shlomo Plessner. Written by Ido Bornstein Choreography by Ronit Ziv. Original Music by Galit florentz.

TheaterCan is an Israeli dynamic troupe of acclaimed artists founded by Artistic Director Shlomo Plessner and Playwright Ido Bornstein, creators of ‘Sunrise’, ‘Lice’ and ‘Hunger’ (Best Fringe Play award, 2004, presented at the FIND Festival for International New Drama at the Berlin Schaubühne Theater). Many TheatreCan’s plays are written following workshops with the actors from diverse backgrounds. TheaterCan strives to merge the documentary art forms with poetic expression while presenting a fresh, funny and compassionate voice from Israel.

We had the opportunity to attend the NY Intentional Gift Fair and good a first look into some innovative holiday, wedding and bar/bat mitzvah gifts. Drawing 35,000 attendees from all 50 states and 80+ countries, the NYIGF is produced twice annually by GLM Shows and is open to the trade only. Held in January and August in New York City, the Fair hosts 2,800 exhibiting companies showcasing the very best lines across the home, lifestyle and gift spectrum.

How do you learn the skills to build a successful business? We had the opportunity to speak with Simcha Gluck, Senior Facilitator of FreshBiz. FreshBiz is a game that fundamentally changes the way its participants play their business and their life by simulating and then practicing new, creative methods of entrepreneurial thinking, and problem solving to achieve their most vital goals.

Through its game-based learning, participants travel through the game on a mission to win, while gaining skills, understandings and strategies that not only help them to achieve the goals in the game, but also to excel in their lives.

Utilizing common business practices, and years of insight from entrepreneurs, FreshBiz uses tools such as buying/selling businesses, leveraging, negotiations, loans, business opportunities and much more to simulate a business environment. Simultaneously, relationships are forged and the atmosphere of the room buzzes as participants engage with themselves and others in entrepreneurial, multi-dimensional thinking.

Insights gained during a 90-minute game last far into the future, as our participants claim that the game impacts them from the moment they play for the rest of their lives. There is a distinction between change and transformation. Working harder, doing something less, spending more time on something else etc… are change, while transformation through FreshBiz is what shifts your paradigm completely and creates the opportunity for you to play business, relationships, and life in a whole new way.

During the game, and in FreshBiz workshops, the following areas are addressed:

Learn what MDET (Multi Dimensional Entrepreneurial Thinking) is and how to utilize it to achieve quantum leaps in your business and your life!

You have a cause and you want to rally your community. How do you do it in a innovative and meangful way. We spoke with David Kramer, Founder of NU. Nu is an Israeli organization that is using fashion to help promote causes and make a diffrence. NU Campaign supports global causes & charitable organizations through the sale of unique designer t-shirts.

On the inside of every NU shirt, a unique message is printed by your HEART. This way, every time YOU wear your shirt, you feel inspired to carry it close to you and represent it out to the world!”