Full image Gabrielle Orcha, leaping for joy. Photo credit: Pete Wishnok.
Gabrielle Orcha is a freelance writer, choreographer, and performer. Artistic Director of her Boston-based company, Orcha Dance Theatre, she is an exuberant and spirited woman and spends much of her time in the studio creating and collaborating or in the air, leaping for joy (see picture). She is fond of fiddlers, good prose, and good people (see mensches). A fervent believer in the concept of beshert—which means fate, destiny, or one’s soul mate—she aptly named the new and exciting arm of her company, which performs at weddings and bar mitzvahs, The Beshert Brigade of Dancing Celebrants (see brazen plug). Also: she identifies with the word “chutzpadik,” loves how it just rolls off the tongue.
If you’ve followed this blog over the last nine months (the time it takes for new life to come to term), you may have been privy to my special journey here at JWA.
It’s Presidents’ Day. And I find myself thinking about her, the woman who came closest to presiding over our nation, taking up temporary residence (for the third time) at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. I am fascinated by our nation’s changing perceptions—and altered reception—of Hillary Clinton.
JWA doesn’t just live online. Occasionally, we do things in real time, with real, flesh and blood people. Just a little less than a month from today, we will hold our Annual Awards Luncheon where we will honor three women, whom we fondly refer to as “troublemakers”: Rachel Sklar, Rachel Cohen Gerrol, and Bel Kaufman.
Equal pay for equal work—an all-too familiar demand. Last week the Forwardpublished its annual survey of salaries in Jewish organizations, and yesterday the New York Times published a piece by Jessica Bennett calling on women to ramp up their negotiating skills.
As we approach this year's Thanksgiving, I asked some of the JWA staff members how far they've come—personally or politically, culturally or collectively—and how that's inspired a sense of gratitude. Here is a sampling from Etta King, Michelle Cash, Stephen Benson, and Ellen Rothman.
I was struck by the Jewish spirit (neshama) and the Jewish ethos that wound its way through the words of Obama’s acceptance speech last night. The emphasis on cooperation, on tenacity in the face of adversity, on individual responsibility and personal action, while underscoring the interconnectedness of the nation all rang clearly with Jewish ideals. Perhaps what I found most satisfying was Obama's return to hope. Hope.
