AllJewishLinks.com Newsletter Issue #54 – October 31, 2012

Bike 4 Friendship is an annual 3,500-mile, cross-country bike ride to raise funds for Friendship Circle International, an organization that serves children with special needs and their families, with chapters all over the globe. The organization connects children with special needs with teenage volunteers who offer friendship and run social events and programs.

13,000 people visited Rachel’s Tomb as the anniversary of the Biblical matriarch’s passing approaches. This year the anniversary of the matriarch Rachel’s passing falls on the Sabbath, when observant Jews do not travel. Those marking the anniversary are compensating by moving celebrations of her life to the days immediately before and after.

Bais Rebbe Junior High of L.A., California, held a mother and daughter brunch in Honor of Yud Alef Chesvan; the yartzeit of Rochel Imeinu. The girls prepared a special presentation of special woman throughout Jewish history. The girls spoke about the unique qualities we can learn from each tzadeikes.

A Canadian Jewish couple is looking for the Israeli man whose name their son bears. The story began when the couple was in Israel for their honeymoon. They offered a ride to a soldier named Lior, and were so impressed with him that after the woman became pregnant, they decided to name their son after him.

Here We Go Again. Add Mourdock to the Akin mixology, shake, and serve on the rocks. Read the article in The Washington Post and hear his words spoken. Is the exploitation and sexualization of girls in the media another form of trafficking? Trafficking to the living room coffee table? Or could this be, in some altered sense, a form of empowerment?

In this week’s Parshat Lech Lecha, we are told of the divine command given to Abraham to leave the land and travel to a new land which God will show him. We are then told about Abraham’s financial status. V’Avram Kaved Meod. And Abram was very rich. Rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.

The Jewish Women’s Archive released its latest online curriculum this fall, in the Living the Legacy series, a Jewish social justice education project that uses primary sources to explore the role of Jews in the Civil Rights Movement, and now, in the Labor Movement.