Blog - Page 14 of 39 - The Jonah Maccabee Foundation

Rabbi Jen Gubitz: Ten Years Later (Part 6)

June 12, 2019 Billy Jonah, What's Happening? No comments

Jonah’s death ten years ago commenced a journey for many of us that has been filled with sadness (of course) but also with love — so much love. With this campaign, “10 Years Later,” you’re invited to spend some time with some of Jonah’s best friends and teachers.

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Meet Rabbi Jennifer Gubitz.

Jen serves as a rabbi at Temple Israel of Boston where she runs the Riverway Project, whose mission is to connect 20s and 30s to Judaism and to each other. She is a proud product of Indiana University’s Borns Jewish Studies Program and URJ Goldman Union Camp (GUCI). In 2005, she was co-songleader at URJ Kutz Camp with Chana Rothman where they had the pleasure of knowing Jonah Dreskin. Jen lives in Boston with her partner Matan.

Amanda Battaglia: Ten Years Later (Part 5)

June 10, 2019 Billy Jonah, What's Happening? No comments

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Meet Amanda Battaglia.

Having just wrapped up her time working for URJ Youth in New York, Amanda is a soon-to-be graduate student at the University of San Diego studying Social Innovation. Amanda is an alum of NFTY NAR, Kutz Camp, and University of Virginia.

Lexi Milford: Ten Years Later (Part 4)

June 6, 2019 Billy Jonah, What's Happening? No comments

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Meet Lexi Milford.

Lexi lives in Queens, NY. In her spare time, she illustrates on commission and works on personal projects, practices guitar, brews beer, hikes and camps and goes on bike tours. She loves cooking, coming up with new recipes and sharing a good meal with friends. In the last year, she and her partner went on a statewide bike tour, cycling from NYC to Buffalo. Lexi’s future aspirations involve moving her career to align moreso with her passions and interests. She hopes to continue going on bike tours, aiming to someday cycle across the United States and across other countries.

Dan Reichenbach: Ten Years Later (Part 3)

June 3, 2019 Billy Jonah, What's Happening? No comments

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Meet Dan Reichenbach.

Dan is a third-year student at HUC-JIR in New York in the Masters in Religious Education program. Until recently he lived in Israel after making aliyah and joining the IDF in 2012. Dan served for two years in the Nachal brigade and then traveled the world before he began his studies at HUC, taking a year to learn Talmud at the PARDES yeshivah in Jerusalem. Dan lives now on the Upper East Side with his dog Chewbacca.

Thanks to all who have contributed to our Summer Campaign 2019!

May 31, 2019 Billy Thank You No comments

We are so grateful that you take the time and dollars to support our work. It’s so incredibly gratifying. This list of Summer Campaign 2019 donors is a small but earnest way to thank you. May our efforts bring ever-increasing goodness into young lives!

The Dreskins and Boonshofts

Roberta and Lloyd Roos

Randy Markey … in honor of Billy and Ellen and mishpocha

Laura Bernstein … in honor of Dylan Max, my first grandson!

Julie Newman … inspired, as always, by the work that JMF is doing — and by the amazing resiliency of the human heart.

Cantor Tamara Wolfson: Ten Years Later (Part 2)

May 31, 2019 Billy Jonah, What's Happening? No comments

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Meet Cantor Tamara Wolfson.

Tamara was born and raised in New York where from an early age she fell in love with music, theatre, and Judaism. After receiving her Bachelor’s Degree in Jewish Studies from American Jewish University in Los Angeles, Tamara began her cantorial studies at the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. After her ordination in May 2018, Tamara moved to London and began serving as Cantor of Northwood and Pinner Liberal Synagogue and as Spiritual Leader of Kehillah North London. She is the first female cantor in the Liberal movement in the U.K. and is a proud member of both the American Conference of Cantors and the Conference of Liberal Rabbis and Cantors.

Abby Fried: Ten Years Later (Part 1)

May 29, 2019 Billy Jonah, What's Happening? No comments

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Meet Abby Fried.

Abby is 27 years old. She is the Youth Program Director for The Cliffs Climbing + Fitness, working with kids and adults in the wonderful world of rock climbing. She and her boyfriend, Matt, live in Long Island City, Queens, with their dog Bunny and their two cats Simba and Nymeria (the true Queen of the Iron Throne). Along with running and rock climbing, her recent hobbies have been growing basil and strawberries hydroponically, and fermenting everything she can get her hands on (much to Matt’s dismay). She would love to have you try her kombucha some day. Her beers are pretty good too.

Ten Years Later … A Very Special Campaign Begins

May 28, 2019 Billy What's Happening? No comments

As we begin our annual Summer Campaign, we do so with mixed emotions. It’s been ten years since Jonah died. As you can imagine, our hearts were broken that night in March 2009, commencing a long, arduous journey to say goodbye and to mourn the loss of our son and brother. But from day one, your love has surrounded and held us, and we healed (and are still healing), for which we are forever grateful and endlessly inspired.

We started The Jonah Maccabee Foundation to remember our beloved boy and to try and bring into the world some of what we believe he himself would have brought to it. Along with our continuing love for Jonah, we felt that there was something that you and we could do together … to continue healing, to continue loving and, frankly, to do something good for the world because together you and we constitute a formidable force for kindness. As you have loved us and we have loved you, we think the world can benefit from us joining hands to do some real good together.

JMF Awards Grant to KIND (Kids in Need of Defense)

May 23, 2019 Billy Grants No comments

As we continue to witness both a surge in immigration from Central America and a hostile response from the White House, we’ve found an organization that has devoted itself to assisting the children, especially those traveling alone, who have been caught up in this mess.

KIND works to do the following: a) ensures no child appears in immigration court without high quality legal representation; b) lobbies for legislation that ensures children’s protection and their right to due process; and, c) promotes in countries of origin solutions to child migration grounded in the best interests of the child, to ensure that no child is forced to involuntarily migrate.

The Jonah Maccabee Foundation feels privileged to be able to support this most worthy work. Learn more by visiting Kids in Need of Defense website or their home on Facebook.

Thank YOU for making our support possible.

Ten Years

March 5, 2019 Billy Jonah 12 comments

Dear Jonah,

Well, difficult as it is to believe, today marks ten years since you died.

Ten years. It’s on days like these that I wonder about the human impulse to make things fit into neat containers. It’s not that I’m not deeply affected by this anniversary. I am. But why should ten years be any more consequential than nine or eleven? Oh well. Somehow it just is.

I remember when I was in college, I’d begun bracing myself for turning twenty-one. That was going to be a big one, the transition from childhood to true adulthood. But then I turned twenty and, without any warning whatsoever, got thrown for an immense loop. My teens were over. Why didn’t anyone tell me this would be bigger than twenty-one?

Rabbi Jen Gubitz: Ten Years Later (Part 6)

Amanda Battaglia: Ten Years Later (Part 5)

Lexi Milford: Ten Years Later (Part 4)

Dan Reichenbach: Ten Years Later (Part 3)

Thanks to all who have contributed to our Summer Campaign 2019!

Cantor Tamara Wolfson: Ten Years Later (Part 2)

Abby Fried: Ten Years Later (Part 1)

Ten Years Later … A Very Special Campaign Begins

JMF Awards Grant to KIND (Kids in Need of Defense)

Ten Years

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