The Legend of St. George and the Dragon

The Legend of St. George and the Dragon
Via St. George Day Festival Staten Island

St. George traveled for many months by land and sea until he came to Libya. Here he met a poor hermit who told him that everyone in that land was in great distress, for a dragon had long ravaged the country.
'Every day,' said the old man, 'he demands the sacrifice of a beautiful maiden and now all the young girls have been killed. The king's daughter alone remains, and unless we can find a knight who can slay the dragon she will be sacrificed tomorrow. The king of Egypt will give his daughter in marriage to the champion who overcomes this terrible monster.'
When St. George heard this story, he was determined to try and save the princess, so he rested that night in the hermit's hut, and at daybreak set out to the valley where the dragon lived. When he drew near he saw a little procession of women, headed by a beautiful girl dressed in pure Arabian silk. The princess Sabra was being led by her attendants to the place of death. The knight spurred his horse and overtook the ladies. He comforted them with brave words and persuaded the princess to return to the palace. Then he entered the valley.
As soon as the dragon saw him it rushed from its cave, roaring with a sound louder than thunder. Its head was immense and its tail fifty feet long. But St. George was not afraid. He struck the monster with his spear, hoping he would wound it.
The dragon's scales were so hard that the spear broke into a thousand pieces. and St. George fell from his horse. Fortunately he rolled under an enchanted orange tree against which poison could not prevail, so that the venomous dragon was unable to hurt him. Within a few minutes he had recovered his strength and was able to fight again.
He smote the beast with his sword, but the dragon poured poison on him and his armour split in two. Once more he refreshed himself from the orange tree and then, with his sword in his hand, he rushed at the dragon and pierced it under the wing where there were no scales, so that it fell dead at his feet.

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Running Through the Maze: Women Leading with Social Media

Running Through the Maze: Women Leading with Social Media

In the past century women have gone from being barefoot and pregnant, under the cement ceiling and below a glass window to navigating through a complicated maze to become a leader in business and government today.   Given the facts, in order to move women up the corporate ladder; they themselves have to take charge and make change.  It seems that women are reluctant to embrace their innate skills and take the seat at the head of the table.  Thanks to technology, revolutions are taking place all over the world, yet women in business still fail to take top rank in C-suite positions. The many reasons for this paradox are known.  It is up to women to find solutions and take steps to endeavor today.  

American women are increasingly praised for having excellent skills for leadership.  Research has shown that women, more than men possess leadership styles associated with effective performance as leaders. However, it is well known that there are significantly fewer women in leadership roles than men. 

Leaders are individuals who are change agents, social activists, and catalysts in their disciplines. Leaders employ varying leadership styles which can change with corporate cultures. The collaborative, transformational, and context-driven leadership styles are interpersonal leadership styles thought to be feminine.  They are in contradiction to characteristically male leadership styles that are driven by authoritarianism and swift decision making.  

Women are continually challenged with accommodating conflicting demands of their roles as women and leaders. Generally, society expects women be communal, showing kindness, concern for others, warmth, and gentleness.   And that men be agentic, manifesting traits such as confidence, aggressiveness, and discipline.  Agentic displays of confidence and assertion are not considered communal and so women leaders become targets of prejudice. Many people view women as not having what it takes to lead—that is, as not being tough enough or not taking charge. They dislike female leaders who display these very directive and assertive qualities because such women seem masculine.

Today’s successful women are expected to be strong, smart, independent and leading, without giving up the social moirés of past generations.  Often, women leaders are viewed as neglectful mothers, uncaring wives & rigid.  They appear conflicting with societal expectations.  For women who aspire to top leadership, routes exist but are full of twists and turns. Today women are faced with obstacles but can persevere.  Women should know that there are walls all around but they can find their way through and effectively lead.

The intricate maze of issues that surround today’s woman in business can be daunting, leading many young women leaders give up.  It is impossible for today's women to meet all the expectations put upon them by our multicultural society and business structures.   The prejudice of past towards women increase resistance to leadership because the traits associated with leadership are thought to be unbecoming or masculine.  As women struggle to get ahead, the general fact is that men as a group still have the benefit of higher wages and faster promotions.  Women’s ideals still reflect back to generations past and demands of family life are the responsibility of women.  Even though men increasingly share housework and child rearing, the bulk of domestic work still falls on women.  And because many women balance professional and domestic life there is a lack of social capital.  As women struggle to do it all there is less time to network.  Networking with other professionals is the most important way to move ahead in business.  And lastly women are waiting to be asked.  Women wait to be asked to take a leadership role, while men actively pursue them.

Women don’t get to climb up the corporate ladder one rung at a time.  The climb is convoluted like the game Chutes and Ladders. There are ways to shape change and promote women leaders.  

As communication through the internet is evolving rapidly, it is leveling the field for women to rise up and take their place as leaders.  With the real time web and social applications, women can keep in touch with professionals, while still caring for family.  Social networking does not replace live networking, but makes time spent live networking productive.  The use of job websites to break up the good old boy network, objective performance goals which utilize measurement and family friendly benefits help women move to the top.  Online education has also played a role as women can develop professionally faster and easier.  The majority of Social Media and all of its applications are being utilized by women who are naturally communal. Making your way through the leadership maze has become simpler because getting your message out is at your fingertips. Change is here for the game changers, social media for the social activists and new methods of communication for the catalyst.  The internet and social networking are powerful tools for women to lead. 

Faces of Israel: Israeli Consulate at College of Staten Island 2/29/2011

 FACES OF ISRAEL is a panel of people from all walks of life, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Druze, Ethiopian, who will speak about being Israeli, and life in Israel. It will be an evening of open discussion highlighting Israel as a diverse and democratic country, with lots of time for questions and answers. 

Religion in the State of Israel has played an immeasurably integral role in shaping the country’s traditions, culture, and way of life throughout history. Because Israel is the Holy Land of three of the world’s great religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, it attracts both immigrants and visitors from all over the globe.

CSI President Tomas D. Morales, who recently travelled to Israel with the JCRC, is scheduled to offer welcoming remarks and there will be a question and answer period after the panel discussion.  “This is an opportunity for Staten Islanders and CSI students to learn about the diversity of Israeli society,” said Ms. Amy Posner, Executive Director of Hillel at the College of Staten Island.  “It should be an interesting evening of open discussion between people of all faiths and backgrounds.” 

The event is free and open to people of all faiths, cultures, and backgrounds who are interested in learning more about one of our staunchest allies in the Middle East. 

This is a program of the Israeli Consulate and the Jewish Community Relations Council, sponsored by Hillel at CSI, Inc. 

 For more information, please contact Amy Posner, Executive Director, Hillel at CSI, Inc. 

718 982 3006 amy.posner@csi.cuny.edu

These are the Faces you will meet :

Roei Ben Tolila

Roei served as an officer in Israel’s elite Maglan unit.  He was injured in an offensive attack and is now confined to a wheel chair, however he refuses to let that claim his life.  He is the founder of the “More than Basketball” project, an educational project where youth, new immigrants, soldiers, and students compete against the wheelchair basketball team of BeitHaLochem Jerusalem.  Roei is also an accomplished and professional life coach, the founder and Chairman of “Salt of the Earth Educational Activity,” a non-profit preparatory course for youth in the periphery, as well as a key member and creator of other established organizations in Israel

Miri Shalem

Miri is an ultra-orthodox woman from Beit-Shemesh. After incidents of discrimination against women in her city she organized a grand flash-mob event holding 200 women dancing on the street. She brings an energetic and vibrant perspective of the religious world in Israel.

Dan Tiomkin

Dan was born in the Soviet Union, and at the age of 5 immigrated to Israel with his family. At the age of 18 was recruited to the army and served for 5 years after volunteering for officers training. After leaving the army as a lieutenant, he went on a delegation led by the Jewish Agency for Israel to be a counselor in summer camps in the US. On his return Dan started studying for B.A. in Digital Communication & in the Ariel University Center in Samaria. Dan is an expert on digital media and he's a representative of the new generation of social networking and the New-Media world.

Dina Lakao

Dina served in the Israeli Defense Force as part of the Druze Brigade working on the border with Lebanon.  After finishing her service, Dina went to study in university and is currently a third year law and government student as well as a first year Business Law Master’s candidate.  Dina has taken her work from the army a step farther by now volunteering for “Tebeka,” a legal aid for the Ethiopian Israeli community as well as having participated with delegations to the United States to help promote a better understanding of Israel. 

Shimon-Gal Levy

Shimon grew up overseas as the son of a career diplomat residing in Nepal and Australia from the age of 10-16.   Returning to Israel, Shimon finished Secondary School with honors and joined the IDF Navy.  Shimon spent the next eight years in the Navy as a graduate of the prestigious Israeli Naval Academy. Since completing his service, Shimon has been active in founding and working in various NGO's and young leadership programs to better promote Israel Advocacy abroad and young Jewish innovation.  Shimon is currently an MA student at the IDC Herzliya International School, majoring in Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution and pursuing his ambition for graduate studies abroad.

Yochai Hadad

Yochai was raised in a family of seven boys.He left his high school yeshiva studies in the tenth grade  and in 1998 enrolled in the army. He served for six years in the Shaldag unit as a combatant, commander and combat guide. Later on He studied Jewish Philosophy at the Hebrew University, with an emphasis on Kaballah studies. As for his artistic passions, He have been writing poetry for the past 18 years, and have been involved in documentary film making for the past five. Two years ago He completed a project he had been working on for two years: A film named "Thou Shall Not Dance" that tells the story of a group of religious men who decide to establish a school for modern dance. Yochai is currently a screenwriting student at the Sam Spiegal Film and Television School and is working on his next project, a documentary TV series on the Yom Kipur War.

Emmanuelle Elbaz

Emmanuelle is the foreign news reporter for one of the largest news channels in Israel, channel 10. She worked as the vice editor of the Jerusalem Post in French. She's an alumni of Tel-Aviv university, both B.A and M.A specializing in Middle Eastern affairs. She speaks fluent Hebrew, English, and French. Emmanuelle provides an in depth view of a reporter in hectic Israel.