If you are like me, you’ve got more books, podcasts, e-newsletters, and movies/series recommendations than you can keep up with.  So much content; so little time.  There is still some summer left, so in case you are seeking for a few choice nuggets, here are a few suggestions.

Books:

The Warmth of Other Suns, by Isabel Wilkerson – In the wake of George Floyd’s murder and the ensuing social protest, and especially after numerous heartfelt and deep conversations about race and equity issues with our young adult daughters, I needed to do more reading.  This book had the greatest impact on me related to issues of race.  After my earlier posts about The Upswing someone asked me what I thought about Critical Race Theory, and I must confess, I didn’t know what she was talking about.  Wilkerson’s book taught me what a stupid debate is being had over CRT.  Her tracing of the Great Migration through the journeys of three families provides a compelling and comprehensive historical analysis.  The debate over CRT has become a distraction but the sooner we face our reality (yes, there is institutional and systemic racism in the US), the sooner we might start doing some things that address the problems.  This book was published in 2010 but is no less relevant today.  I’ll be reading Wilkerson’s newer book, Caste, soon.

 The Coddling of the American Mind, by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt – If you worked in the Jewish communal world and were anywhere close how issues related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict played out on American campuses during the past decade, you saw a growing trend toward an increasingly toxic environment.  What you might not fully grasp is how interrelated that dynamic was to various intersecting trends – the ubiquity of social networks used by youth and young adults and the psycho-social impacts they appear to be having, the loss of academic rigor and objectivity in college and university settings, and the echo chamber other media channels have become.  This book was not only useful in unpacking what is happening among young adults in our society, it also left me thinking about thinking about how these factors play out in my own family.

 Podcasts:

“99% Invisible”, hosted by Roman Mars – The rest of my suggestions are fairly serious; this one is just for fun! I got introduced last summer by a young friend and I’ve been hooked since.  Mars curates and produces stories about how much of our physical and social environment is shaped by design – sometimes intentionally, and often not.  If you are looking for a podcast that is exceptionally well produced, extremely interesting, and provides great information about so many things you never knew about before, this is a great choice.  Through 99% I listened to the series, “According to Need”, unpacking the doubling in the rate of homelessness in Oakland, CA and the failure of the system that’s in place to manage it.  And I found my way to a small Chicago company that repurposes used furniture to create new pieces, extending the life of the wood that’s already been harvested, and from which I bought my new home office furniture (my own personal brush with the pandemic-related lumber shortage).  My favorite new bit of trivia was learning about “Knocker-uppers”.

 “Israel From the Inside”, hosted by Rabbi Daniel Gordis – This is really a double header – both podcast and e-newsletter.  I know Danny a long time, having been introduced in 1998 when I was working with the Mandel Foundation, and when Danny was living and working in Israel for a year on a fellowship with the foundation.  A few months ago, I noticed that Danny had a new series of posts as well as a podcast unpacking contemporary issues in Israel through various lenses – historical, linguistic, religious, cultural, political.  At a time when everything is presented as black and white, Danny is finding ways to peel away the onion layers, and to help you understand just how many layers there are beyond what you see in the headlines.  Sharp and pungent, it can bring you to tears.  To access all the content, you’ll actually have to pay for a subscription. Do it – it is worth reading and listening!

Mailing Lists:

Springtide Research Institute, Led by Josh Packard, Ph.D –We all need to be on another mailing list, right?  But if you are concerned about what is happening with youth and young adults (specifically 13–24-year-olds), you want to be on this one.  The institute conducts research for people who care about young people and want to help them to provide better help.  This population needed better help before the pandemic hit; they need it even more now.  There isn’t a single conversation I have recently with Jewish communal leaders about the future that doesn’t focus on this population with great anxiety.  This is material everyone should be reviewing.

Critiques:

Jews With Money - Tablet Magazine, by Felicia Herman in Tablet.  Her piece on Lila Corwin Berman’s new book on Jewish philanthropy was a deep, thoughtful and on-target critique.  But Felicia didn’t just provide a cogent critique; she also provided the most concise and comprehensive overview of American Jewish philanthropy I’ve seen.  Far too little has been written about the extraordinary philanthropic network the Jewish community has built over the past 300 years.  Felicia’s essay should be required reading for anyone working in any corner of Jewish philanthropy or advocating for social policies that sustain and nurture of the broader American philanthropic scene.

Happy reading and listening.  If I’ve given you just one new piece of content you appreciate, I will be very, very happy!