Alan Veingrad, an observant Jew, who played for the Green Bay Packers for five seasons, and for the Dallas Cowboys (who won Super Bowl XXVII over the Buffalo Bills) two seasons, playing in a total of 86 NFL games, came to visit our community. He was asked if one can be Sabbath observant in the National Football League. His answer was: it depends how good you are! If you are good enough they will make every accommodation that you need. Here is some news from July 2019 that proves this point once again: Anne Neuberger, an Orthodox Jew, was recently tapped to head the US National Security Agency’s new Cybersecurity Directorate. An Orthodox Jewish woman whose parents were among the hostages rescued by Israeli commandos from Entebbe Airport has been tapped to head the United States National Security Agency’s new Cybersecurity Directorate. Anne Neuberger of Baltimore has worked at the NSA for the past decade. She helped establish the US Cyber Command and worked as chief risk officer, where she led the agency’s election security efforts for the 2018 midterms. Neuberger said her family’s harrowing escapes, first from the Holocaust and then from the hostage situation in Uganda after the Air France flight her parents were on was hijacked by Palestinian terrorists in 1976, had helped shape her worldview. “Threats from those that want to cause us harm are real and not going away. We have a commitment to defending our nation in lawful ways. Our nation needs to remain vigilant when it comes to cybersecurity. The NSA makes critical contributions to protect the nation,” she said. Neuberger, currently an assistant deputy director at the agency, will be one of the highest-ranking women at the NSA since Ann Caracristi was named deputy director in 1980, according to the Wall Street Journal. Neuberger will report to the agency’s head, Gen. Paul Nakasone. She previously was the deputy chief management officer at the US Navy and worked for the secretary of defense. Neuberger, 43, also known as Chani, is from the heavily Jewish Brooklyn, New York, neighborhood of Borough Park, where she attended the Bais Yaakov Jewish day school for girls. She is a graduate of Touro College in New York and Columbia Business School, and has worked in the White House Fellows program. One the side, she runs a charitable organization helping divorced single mothers in the Orthodox communities. In her interview with the Forward, Neuberger said that she had encountered few problems related to her religion at the NSA and that she was extremely happy to be seen as a role model for Orthodox women. “If you are professional in your job and comfortable in adhering to your traditions, everyone will be fine with it,” Neuberger said. “All my coworkers understand that I don’t go out with them for drinks on Friday night and that I observe the Sabbath. In fact, I have assistants who keep their eye on the clock for me Friday afternoons, letting me know that I had better get moving.” “My 17-year-old daughter, who attends an Orthodox school, went to a career night two weeks ago where religious women in a range of fields — doctors, lawyers, judges — came to speak to them. That would have been unheard of 25 years ago, when I was in high school. And now I want to contribute to that movement and participate in it as much as I can.” Mendel (Menachem) Bluming and the JTA
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AuthorRabbi Mendel Bluming also dedicated six years to serving on the board of directors of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, where he received the Matthew H. Simon Rabbinical Award for exceptional communal leadership. Archives
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