Are We Naturally Compassionate? by Ed Boks

Compassion doesn’t have to be taught, but it can be unlearned.

I recently posted the pictures to the right on Facebook with a personal observation that “compassion doesn’t have to be taught; but it can be unlearned.”

It wasn’t long before I was challenged by a friend who countered that “actually, compassion is part of EQ and as such is a learned behavior.”

This prompted me to do a little research. Continue reading “Are We Naturally Compassionate? by Ed Boks”

5 Ways to Handle Criticism and Avoid Crisis

Joan Garry

In a recent blog, consultant Joan Garry, provides some sage advice to board and staff leaders of nonprofits.  In her blog, titled “How to Handle Criticism of Your Organization“, Joan opines on the state of our “strange new world”.  A world she feels is not particularly kind or generous.

She points out that the polarization and incivility we witness in our politics also abounds in the world of nonprofit organizations – where negativity can be found both inside the organization (a staff upset with a change in health benefits) and externally (community members feel voiceless in some kind of directional change.)  And of course we always have the local blogger or wannabe journalist with a big ol’ bone to pick.

Continue reading “5 Ways to Handle Criticism and Avoid Crisis”

Top 6 Ways a Board Can Help Its CEO

In a recent GuideStar Blog,  Bill Hoffman shared the following Top 6 Ways a Board Can Help Its CEO:

Board members have a lot of responsibility to the organization they represent, to the community for which they are stewards of the nonprofit’s resources, and also to the organization’s CEO. The CEO’s success is tied closely to the support he or she receives from the board. How can individual board members support their CEO’s success? Below are the six ways I’ve found that have the greatest impact.  Continue reading “Top 6 Ways a Board Can Help Its CEO”

Kapparot: 9th Circuit argument Tuesday

What is kapparot?

The 13th-century scholar Rabbi Solomon ben Abraham Aderet considered kapparot a “heathen superstition”.

Kapparot or kaparos, meaning “atonements,” is a custom in which a chicken or money may be used.  Kapparot using chickens is practiced by some Jews shortly before Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement.

The ritual begins with selections from Isaiah 11:9, Psalms 107:10, 14, and 17-21, and Job 33:23-24 being recited.  Then a rooster (for a man) or a hen (for a woman) is held above the person’s head and swung in a circle three times, while the following is spoken: “This is my exchange, my substitute, my atonement; this rooster (or hen) shall go to its death, but I shall go to a good, long life, and to peace.” The chicken is then slaughtered and may or may not be given to the poor for food. Continue reading “Kapparot: 9th Circuit argument Tuesday”