Dear Readers,
Last week, I got to visit my two grandchildren. One is aged two and the other just a month old. The logistics of being able to see them safely was not easy but I will not bore the readers with the details.
I watched the two-year-old play. The dialogue in his mind was constant. His motor was non-stop. We sang songs and I made him giggle with my Donald Duck imitation.
On the four-hour drive home, I had a chance to think of the responsibility that we all have to the young children. We owe them a better world but what does that mean?
We owe them a society free of hate. The Black Lives Matter movement is a wake-up call to all of us to make sure that our society faces and corrects its own sins.
The protests in our cities offer a true moment in time to make real progress on racial equality.
Let us not miss the moment.
We owe them clean air and a stable environment. Let us grab the moment to push for aggressive climate action. We can have a strong economy and be environmentally conscious. The moment is now.
We owe them a great education. The cost of a college education is appalling. Great societies provide great opportunities. The discovery of online education offers an opportunity to reformat higher education and reduce costs. A Yale or Harvard or UMBC could provide their great education to more students online with a bit of re-engineering.
We owe them a stable government and the protections of the Constitution. No politician should be allowed to forget the basic tenets of our society.
Justice is not a political tool. Children are not pawns. The Bill of Rights still matters.
In November, we will have a unique opportunity to return to normalcy. Let’s not miss the opportunity.
It could be six months or more before I can see Daniel and Benjamin again. I hope when I do, I can be proud of the progress we have made in our society.
We owe them. I owe them.
Scott Rifkin, MD, Publisher
Jmore Editor-in-Chief Alan Feiler remembers Temple Emanuel's longtime spiritual leader, who passed away earlier this week at age 91.
Camp and youth group experiences have the ingredients for true, deep, lifelong transformation, writes Rabbi Jessy Dressin.
Proposed legislation in Israel would transfer authority of the entire Kotel to the Chief Rabbinate, writes Rabbi Robyn Fryer Bodzin.
In Italy, the Jewish Brigade's flag has unfairly become a flashpoint in today’s battles over Zionism and anti-fascism, writes Dr. Ginaluca Fantoni.