Daniel Lubetzky

Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and families from yesterday’s attack at the Boston Marathon. Our hearts our filled with sadness at the loss of 8 year old Martin Richard, and we hope that his wish for peace in the world comes true.

Rabbi Herschel Schacter, the first rabbi to liberate Jews from Nazi concentration camps, lived a tremendous life filled with leadership, teaching, and compassion. We are saddened by his death yet inspired by his work and contributions to the world.

Spotted by Daniel Lubetzky, by Julianna Storch

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It’s encouraging to see Palestinians adopting text books that present both the Israeli and Palestinian narratives. Read more after the jump.

Spotted by Daniel Lubetzky,  by Julianna Storch

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I requested permission from a friend to reprint the message he sent me. It is so depressing yet so prevalent among most people across the world, the vast majority of whom are just fed up with the Israeli-Arab conflict, and with Israelis and Palestinians in particular. And what is important to note is that this guy is a progressive thinker who has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars and countless hours trying to make a difference for Israelis and Palestinians. I reprint his words not to depress people, but to awaken them. In particular, I print these words to awaken the Israelis and Palestinians who think they can just hide under their shells, or who think they can continue to dream of a Greater Palestine or a Greater Israel and that somehow miraculously they will delivered heaven instead of hell. If we don’t mobilize – each and every one of us – across the political spectrum and across religious, national and ethnic lines – to come up with a comprehensive solution, my friend’s perspective will become even more prevalent. And nobody will be better off. Except perhaps arms dealers.

“I think it’s time to just give up. Those arrogant schmucks who choose to live there and those too dumb or desperate to leave will either all kill each other or just run out of energy… We, however should stay as far away as possible from the inevitable blow up… I do not want my children killed in THEIR WAR! We should not waste resources which can rehabilitate American slums… Stop ignoring infant mortality in Africa… Preserve OTHER things in life that are sacred. Save what we can!

People are people. The Middle East is just a small area full of even smaller minds. We’ve been victims, so have others… We’ve also been tormentors. We’re not special or chosen. We’re just another group of corrupt, prejudiced people… with media, money, tribal motivation… and guns.”

We tend to feel our generation invented so much, but the truth is most of what we do has been done before.

I was wondering this morning at Holidays as a community exercise: why does society organize itself so everyone has the same break at the same time? Why not celebrate rugged individualism and permit each person to take a break when they need it, rather than all at once? Is it part of how modern society is organized with work at the center of our lives, and the need to create moments where we all take a collective rest? But I then realized Judaism institutionalized religious holidays thousands of years ago, and I assume ever since society started to coalesce with any communal beat, with kids being taught at the same time, they figured out the benefits of this coordinated rites.

Then today I was reading this article by Walter Isaacson about Benjamin Franklin, and it reaffirmed that the more things change, the more they are the same. Or at a minimum, that much less than we imagine has been totally freshly invented.

I tend to think of mentors and friends like Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry’s and Howard Schultz of Starbucks as the fathers of social entrepreneurship. And certainly in our generation, and with work from groups like the Skoll Foundation, SVN, Business for Social Responsibility, Net Impact, and just overall historical trends and social imperatives, social entrepreneurship has gone from a neat exception into an increasing and irreversible trendline.

But Benjamin Franklin, more than 200 years ago, was already creating innovation that we think we are discovering today! From Isaacson’s Op-Ed:

These Rotarian instincts were nurtured in a civic-improvement club that Franklin founded as a young printer in Philadelphia. The Leather Apron Club was composed of enterprising tradesmen, artisans and shopkeepers, what he proudly called “we the middling people.” Instead of replicating the rigid hereditary class system of England, America should have as its backbone, Franklin believed, a middle class whose success came from hard work.

The Leather Apron Club discussed civic and political issues, devised schemes for self-improvement and formed a network dedicated to “doing well by doing good.” Its members helped launch a flotilla of civic associations, including militia and street-sweeping corps, volunteer firefighters, tax-supported neighborhood constables, health and life insurance groups, a library, a hospital, an academy for educating youth, a society for sharing scientific information and a postal system to help connect everyone.

Also:

Franklin also understood the beauty of diversity. During his lifetime, he donated to the building fund of every church constructed in Philadelphia. When a hall was being built to accommodate visiting preachers, Franklin urged his fellow citizens to donate “so that even if the Mufti of Constantinople were to send a missionary to preach Mohammedanism to us, he would find a pulpit at his service.” On his deathbed, he made one of the largest donations for the first synagogue built in Philadelphia.

And even more remarkably in terms of financial innovation:

In his will, Franklin left the bulk of his wealth to create revolving loan funds so that aspiring young tradesmen and shopkeepers could borrow a little money to get started, then pay it back so that subsequent young entrepreneurs could get a helping hand. These loan funds worked for more than two centuries.

There is a lot of innovation today on mechanisms to fund social enterprises and to do so in a socially enterprising way. Several years ago, friends and I thought we had been so clever to come up with a model that is similar to what Franklin came up with more than two centuries before! Looking back may help us find answers to look forward to.

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Dear KIND Community,

As you know, each month, we ask you to join us in carrying out a signature act of kindness (or what we call a KINDING Mission) with the promise that if enough people Do the KIND Thing, the KIND team will carry out a BIG KIND Act for people that need it most.

Last month, the KIND Community rose to our challenge to give thanks to someone that impacted your life, which triggered our pledge to partner with Philabundance to provide Thanksgiving meals to families facing hunger starting on November 12th.

Now more kindness is urgently needed.

KIND is headquartered in NYC, so our team has witnessed millions of lives being shaken by Hurricane Sandy. We were deeply inspired by the courage from firemen, police officers, paramedics, doctors, National Guard officers, reporters, public sector personnel, utility workers, and others who worked so hard and risked their lives to help others.                     

Join us in honoring and KINDING them.

To us, this was a situation in need of an immediate BIG KIND Act.  We felt that reaching out starting on Tuesday evening would bring the most joy and appreciation to those who were giving aid – and those in need of aid.                     

I am most inspired by my team members – many of whom had no power, or whose homes flooded or had to be evacuated – who took the initiative to distribute so far over 10,000 KIND bars and KIND Healthy Grains at emergency shelters, fire stations, hospitals, utility offices and police departments across the East Coast.

Now, we ask you to join us in either of these ways to show your support for these first responders who’ve demonstrated selflessness and kindness:

• Our team will continue to personally share tens of thousands of bars along with ‘thank you’ cards to emergency personnel across the region throughout the next week – and we’d like to have your words printed on the cards. Simply email a note of thanks or an inspiring quote to KINDAHOLICS@KINDsnacks.com and we will deliver it on your behalf to our local heroes.
• We also invite you to visit KINDmovement.com and post any stories and images of how you are joining in the Hurricane Sandy relief efforts – knowing every act of kindness counts.

We hope you and your families are safe.  Thank you for being part of the KIND Movement.

Sincerely,

Daniel Lubetzky

Founder & CEO, KIND

A friend shared this touching and enlightening expression of the experience of raising a child with a disability by Emily Perl Kingsley. She captures the experience in a way that enables others to understand and empathize with parents like her.

Spotted by Daniel Lubetzky, by Julianna Storch

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability – to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It’s like this…

When you’re going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation trip – to Italy. You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum, the Michelangelo David, the gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It’s all very exciting. After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, “Welcome to Holland.”

“Holland?!” you say. “What do you mean, Holland?” I signed up for Italy! I’m supposed to be in Italy. All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy. But there’s been a change in the flight plan. They’ve landed in Holland and there you must stay. The important thing is that they haven’t taken you to some horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It’s just a different place. So you must go out and buy a new guidebook. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met. It’s just a different place. It’s slower paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you’ve been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around, and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills,Holland has tulips, Holland even has Rembrandts. But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy, and they’re all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life you will say, “Yes, that’s where I was supposed to go. That’s what I had planned.” The pain of that will never, ever, go away, because the loss of that dream is a very significant loss.But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn’t get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland.

Written by Emily Perl Kingsley

Andrés Spokoiny, President and CEO of the Jewish Funders Network, wrote a beautiful piece on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year that will be celebrated next week. Traditionally, Rosh Hashanah presents a time for self-reflection and renewal at the start of the new year. At this pivotal time of year, Spokoiny empowers readers to rewrite their past by altering their future, reminding everyone that “The story of our lives hasn’t yet been written: a single act of courage or kindness can change how the narrative ends.” See the full piece below after the jump.

Wishing everyone a good and sweet new year!

Spotted by Daniel Lubetzky, by Julianna Storch

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A friend forwarded this documentary from Tom Shadyac, the director of Bruce Almighty and Ace Ventura, who goes through a crisis of identity and discovers deeper truths about the forces that power our world. Any further description is probably going to make you want to run away, but if you have the patience, you will grow from the perspective and some interesting insights, including interviews with foremost thinkers and philosophers. It certainly connects to what we try to do at KIND, PeaceWorks, and OneVoice.

הנני from emetaheret on Vimeo.

Cate Blanchett looks stunning as always but what really caught our eye is the attention grabbing Maiyet ring on her finger!

Spotted by Daniel Lubetzky, by Adeena Schlussel