“Sages inspire us, elevate us, and motivate us to imagine and realize lives of intent and purpose…”
– Aryeh Rubin, editor of Jewish Sages of Today, director of Targum Shlishi
Jewish Sages of Today: Profiles of Extraordinary People is a book (published by Devora Publishing and Targum Shlishi) that led to two additional companion publications—a comprehensive website and a Teacher’s Guide. The book contains profiles of twenty-seven individuals dedicated to improving the Jewish world. Their names are listed below, and we encourage you to explore the Jewish Sages website, which contains a wealth of material. On this webpage, we discuss the project’s background and Targum Shlishi’s motivation for dedicating substantial internal resources to producing these materials.
In the course of decades of venture philanthropy dedicated to fostering positive change in the Jewish world, Targum Shlishi has had a front row seat in terms of observing the people and organizations who are making a difference. The idea for this book took shape over the course of many years of reviewing grant applications, awarding funds, and observing the successes and failures of well-meaning and inspirational projects.
While working tirelessly for the good of the Jewish world by supporting significant projects, Targum Shlishi’s leadership has nevertheless grown to feel that its work and the work of like-minded philanthropies is not nearly enough. While supporting the good, Targum Shlishi has observed many disturbing trends, especially the growing threats to the well-being of the Jewish world from both without and within.
Jewish Sages of Today was produced out of this climate—its objectives include honoring the work of many remarkable individuals who have and are making major contributions, inspiring readers to follow their example, and in doing so, countering the negativity.
Targum Shlishi’s message to the readers of this book, the teachers and students who take on the challenge of learning from it, and those who explore the many additional materials on the robust website (including audio interviews with the sages and examples of their work) is simply this: be a sage yourself.
The sages profiled are: Yossi Abramowitz; Rachel Azaria; Michael Berenbaum; Mira Brichto; Ruth Calderon; Debbie Friedman; Yitz and Blu Greenberg; Judith Hauptman; Laurence Hoffman; Tobi Kahn and Nessa Rapoport; Aaron Lansky; Daniel Libeskind; Sholom Lipskar; Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi; Hankus Netsky; Robert Pollack; Dennis Prager; Gary Rosenblatt; Susan Weidman Schneider; Alice Shalvi; Michael Steinhardt; Adin Steinsaltz; Joseph Telushkin; Avivah Zornberg; and Efraim Zuroff.
Explore the website, jewishsagesoftoday.com.