Got A Jewish Dad? The Father's Day Gift Guide for Dads We'd CHOOSE Again!

Overall Best gift for your Jewish Dad:

The Amalgamated Menschen International T-shirt celebrates your mensch by declaring him Upright, Honorable, and Decent. On the back, the shirt directs, "Be One!," because, shouldn't we all?

Best gifts for the Zionist Dad

Instead of kitsch, this Independence T-Shirt is design-forward and a serious Jewish t-shirt. California apparel designers, Threaded Heritage, include Israel's declaration of Independence behind the lion of Judea, Atzmaut (Independence), and 1948.

In 66 CE, the Jews rebelled against Roman rule and began to mint their own coins, the shekel, as a sign of their independence. The coins in this pair of cufflinks are cast from a half-shekel that dates to the first year of the revolt!

Best gifts for the Jewish Dad who bucks the trend

Is your dad handy despite his heritage? Then make him a member of the Union of Jewish Handymen with this t-shirt by Jewnion label and accessorize him with tools to get the job done: the hammer bottle opener (that also functions as a hammer!) and the BBQ Tools grilling set which even includes a TAPE MEASURE!

Best gifts for the Jewish Dad who is all about Tikkun Olam (saving the world)

If he had the time, would your dad hug trees and save bunnies? Then he may chuckle at himself represented in Israeli plush: Vigo who frees whales, eats grass, drinks dew, and wears recycled clothes. Plus, any eco-dad can use these: great-looking grocery bags for guys + an ice-worthy eco-cup!

 

Best gift for the absent-minded Jewish professor Dad we all know and love

 Is dad a geek at heart? Speak the inner geek with a Science Quiz clock, an LED Dinosaur Kit, or the Equal Measure measuring cup so he can make pancakes with a tyrannosaur’s brain of flour and sugar equal to the water in a cumulus cloud the size of the bus.

Best gifts for the wandering Jew-ish Dad

Is dad on the go this summer? Equip him with an Israeli designer Funtastic Plastic Passport Cover, a universal plug adapter, and Cohen-hands (Vulcan) USB stick to carry his data.


Whatever you choose for your Chosen dad, enjoy Father's Day with him on Sunday, June 29th, 2011!

What I'm Doing This Weekend: Taste of Limmud -- Join Us!

This Sunday is an event that I and many volunteers have worked long and hard to bring to our Atlanta community: Limmud Atlanta & Southeast's Taste of Limmud.

Our whole family is excited. Even our daughter is excited about Camp Limmud. She goes there while us adults get adult time. Ahhh.

What I'm looking forward to most:

(1) Learning from Jonathan Sarna again -- a wonderful teach from Brandeis is coming to talk about: Jewish Law and American Civil Liberty: Historical Confrontations and Contemporary Implications

(2) Being with my adult friends without kids (How often does that happen?)

(3) Presenting an excerpt from a PresenTense Fellowship training with Shelby Zitelman of PresenTense: Visioning For A Better Future: Your Venture, Your Life, Your Change

(4) Being an Indie Innovator and seeing our wonderful Innovators shine and let Atlanta know about their projects! 

(5) Meeting and hearing Prodezra Beats!

(6) Dancing with my husband and little girl at the after-concert with Naomi Less & Prodezra Beats (brought to us by Atlanta Jewish Music Festival).

Woo hoo. Let's get this party started. If you want to join us, Register Here.

Why I'm Not Giving Money To Atlanta Jewish Federation This Year

Yesterday evening, a young man called to ask for my annual Federation pledge.

I declined.

In Atlanta, Federation mostly raises funds and allocates them to a portfolio of local and international organizations. All of the programs in their portfolio are good, sure. Twenty percent of their allocations go to support Israel through Joint Distribution and Jewish Agency. Plus, one of the 26 organizations they fund, my family utilizes: PJ Library.

However, nearly all of the Jewish programs that make up my family's Jewish life are not funded by Federation: Limmud Atlanta, Jewish Kids Groups, Atlanta Jewish Music Festival, and our intown Atlanta Jewish community. All of these are young organizations, near and dear to me, and I support them with my time and money.

Plus, most of the "Atlanta-based" organizations they do fund are not in Atlanta proper -- where I and my Jewish community live -- but are in different cities North of Atlanta: Dunwoody, Marietta, Sandy Springs.

For me, Federation is like Piccadilly Cafeteria located OTP ("outside the Perimeter") -- it's a smorgasbord where the chicken tetrazzini is ok, but I'm really not into the buttered okra, and they don't even serve my favorite: Indian cuisine. Why dine there?

In addition, customer service at Piccadilly may be fine, but it is not so great at Federation. It's small things, like being told the photos we were submitting for "A Community Snapshot" exhibit shouldn't be from Limmud because Limmud is not Federation funded. Small things, like hearing my friends' frustration with the bureaucracy when volunteering. Unanswered emails. (Federation is not alone with unanswered emails. In 2005, Jewish Outreach Institute did a "secret shopper" experiment and requested program information from 44 Atlanta Jewish institutions; they received 24 replies.) I know, it's small stuff -- but, again, why dine there?

Our limited money needs to go to the organizations that are important to us and are in line with our values (and our geography). Now it will.

One last consideration: today, I had lunch with a former Federation board member and he made a very good point: continuing with my analogy... if I'm not dining at the buffet, I may forget a couple of food groups. Some of the organizations Federation funds are social services that my family doesn't use but are nonetheless important for any community to support, for example, Jewish Family and Career Services and Breman Jewish Home (for the elderly). So, point taken, our family will consider adding these into our annual donation mix, and, of course, donations can be made to them directly.


Do you donate to your local Federation? Why or why not?