Empowering Communities Through Kindness and Support
Together we create change and foster understanding to counter hate and division.
Building Bridges Forever: Our Mission and Impact
Our Vision
At Building Bridges, we envision a world where understanding and compassion replace hatred and division. We strive to create connections that foster empathy among diverse communities.
Founded by #1 NY Times bestselling author/award-winning filmmaker/keynote speaker Ian Halperin, whose father is a Holocaust survivor, Building Bridges was initially started in light of how Antisemitism from the far right and left in America endangered an unprecedented period of safety and prosperity for Jewish Americans—and wipe out the liberal order they helped establish. Halperin's goal is to shed light on the positive contributions Jews have made to European and American culture over the past couple of thousand years despite constantly facing the vicious cycle of xenophobia and antisemitism and their disastrous consequences for all. He details how Jews have contributed to the arts, literature, music, medicine, and business. Irving Berlin wrote "God Bless America," and Jewish leaders helped shape the labor and civil rights movements. Jewish Americans helped invent the technology that led to WiFi, GPS, and Bluetooth.
Figuring out how to talk about each other's differences is a giant hurdle, but one that can ultimately bring people together. Building Bridges invites everyone to submit their personal experiences, which will help reinforce the belief that people are more similar than different. Despite our many political differences, we should not allow them to tear us apart. The first step toward building stronger communities and long-lasting friendships is a willingness to connect without losing our cultural, historical, and religious identity.
We are currently accepting submissions for publication about your own personal stories or opinions on building bridges.
Support Our Mission Today
(#1 NY Times Bestselling Author Ian Halperin on his Building Bridges Speaking Tour). Your contributions help us create positive change in our community and help create compassion and understanding. We are producing a 60-part video series of shorts for YouTube to help Build Bridges.
Some Jewish Contributions To The World
Nobel Prizes
Isaac Merritt Singer (1811-1875)
Isaac Merritt Singer (1811-1875)
Jews have won 22% of the world's Nobel Prizes, which is 110 times their proportion of the world's population.
Isaac Merritt Singer (1811-1875)
Isaac Merritt Singer (1811-1875)
Isaac Merritt Singer (1811-1875)
An American inventor who developed and brought into general use the first practical domestic sewing machine.
Marc Chagall (1887-1985)
Isaac Merritt Singer (1811-1875)
Marc Chagall (1887-1985)
A Jewish painter born in Vitebsk, Belarus. The oldest of nine children in a Hasidic Jewish family, he started studying painting in 1906 and moved to St. Petersburg one year later. He lived for a few years in Paris, near the Montparnasse art community, but returned to Vitebsk in 1914. After the Russian Revolution, he moved to Moscow in 192
A Jewish painter born in Vitebsk, Belarus. The oldest of nine children in a Hasidic Jewish family, he started studying painting in 1906 and moved to St. Petersburg one year later. He lived for a few years in Paris, near the Montparnasse art community, but returned to Vitebsk in 1914. After the Russian Revolution, he moved to Moscow in 1920 and back to Paris in 1923, where he became a French citizen. The memories of his Jewish upbringing and Biblical themes are highly featured in his paintings. He is associated with the modern movements after Impressionism.
Barbra Streisand
Isaac Merritt Singer (1811-1875)
Marc Chagall (1887-1985)
Well-known for playing Jewish characters in popular movies, Streisand is Jewish in real life and had a very Jewish upbringing. She was born to Jewish parents and spent her first three years of school attending the ultra-Orthodox girls' Yeshiva of Brooklyn. Her most famous characters—Fanny Brice in "Funny Girl" and "Funny Lady," Dolly Levi
Well-known for playing Jewish characters in popular movies, Streisand is Jewish in real life and had a very Jewish upbringing. She was born to Jewish parents and spent her first three years of school attending the ultra-Orthodox girls' Yeshiva of Brooklyn. Her most famous characters—Fanny Brice in "Funny Girl" and "Funny Lady," Dolly Levi in "Hello Dolly!" and Yentl, the teenage Jewish girl disguised as a boy in the film of the same name—were all based on real-life Jews.
"A Must Read" - Sirius XM
AMAZON SELECTION! A groundbreaking, seven-year investigation that uncovers widespread evidence of the rise of extremist and neo-Nazi harassment against Jews today all over the world. Drawing on thousands of previously unpublished sources - including emails, letters, and court transcripts as well as original interviews
Thanks to the following for Their guidance and support
