Cross-posted from eJewishPhilanthropy. This piece was co-authored by Seth Cohen, Director of Network Development for the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, and Shoshana Boyd Gelfand, Director of JHub in London, an initiative of the Pears Foundation.

“Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement … get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted.
Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually.
Abraham Joshua Heschel

On a recent Shabbat evening in Uppsala, Sweden, a group of over fifty Jewish young adults from across Europe gathered together to welcome Shabbat. A discussion ensued in the spirit of Heschel’s conception of radial amazement and how it might apply to them individually or as a group. As the discussion circled the room, one particular Romanian woman who had been quiet during much of the past two days spoke up. She looked around the room, at the faces of young, laughing and dreaming Jewish Europeans from London to Krakow to Istanbul (and every point in between), and then she smiled. “This,” she said, “is amazing. There is energy in this room; there is possibility.” Read More »