Dear fellow Jews. We are “awoke” and yet we are asleep. We are woke doing acts of lovingkindness in support of others like BLM; at the same time, we are sleeping through our own anti-Semitic attacks. Assailants call for the rape of our mothers and sisters in England. Jew bating runs rampant in New York. They berate and slander us in LA restaurants. They deface our synagogues in Skokie. And they demonize and degrade our national (Jewish) homeland Israel. “Tikun Olam!” We liberal Jews champion STOP ASIAN HATE, standing up for justice everywhere. And we should. But what about us? Where are we in standing up for ourselves? If we do not speak out for ourselves, who will?
Our Bible teaches us to care for the other. To love the other as ourselves. Rabbi Hillel notes that in this community love, we must ALSO love ourselves too. “If I’m not for myself, who will be for me, if not now, when.” We must be for ourselves. And NOW seems like a pretty good time.
Now. Social media attacks on Jews are rampant. Talk show hosts resuscitate Nazis. Iran is emboldened and has supporters in American politics to degrade Israel and murder Jews. Hamas is committed to a Judenrein Israel and is determined to kill innocent civilians. This is cancerous libel. We know the truth. Hear o Israel. We stand for truth. It is time for us to come together and also stand up for our truth.
Jorde M. Nathan is a former Managing Director at Barclays Capital responsible for distributing and sourcing par and distressed loans. Prior to Barclays, Mr. Nathan joined Lehman Brothers in 1994 to launch a loan origination and trading business.
He has an MBA from the University of Chicago and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Amherst College with a major in Chinese. Jorde has lived in London, Hong Kong and Beijing and speaks Spanish and Mandarin Chinese and limited Hebrew.
Nathan is past President of the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces Midwest Region and serves on the National Board. Mr. Nathan has served on the Board of Directors of Solomon Schechter Day Schools and on the Endowment Committee of the Jewish Federation. He is an alumnus of the Wexner Heritage Foundation and a former member of the United Jewish Communities National Young Leadership Cabinet. Jorde is a Zionist and has visited Israel nearly 20 times…leading missions, bringing first-timers, leading the annual “Nathan Family trip” and participating in the Nachshon missions.
The Nathan Family consists of Jorde, wife of 35 years Helene Diamond Nathan from Vancouver, British Columbia, and four day school children Reeven Earl (32), Sophie Charlat Diamond (30), Chase Chaiim Tzvi (28) and Levy Yitzchak (25). Jorde is an avid fly tier and fly fisherman and spends his days learning Talmud at the Hebrew Theological College and leading opinion regarding the US/Israel relationship.
The Nathans live in Chicago and Park City.
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