Creating Positive Jewish Experiences

Former lawyer and Web mastermind David Abitbol was born in Israel and raised in Montreal, and says he has a love-hate relationship with Jews. A product of 11 years of Jewish day school, one year at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and far more University education that (he thinks) is heathy, he still is fascinated by Judaism. In addition, David is an epitome of Zionist with his love and devotion to Israel, with a special relationship and love for Jerusalem. In this exclusive video, Abitbol talks about Jewlicious.com, the blog he created with a few friends years ago, simply to talk about and discuss Jewish issues. Over the years, Jewlicious became a phenomenon and trend in the Jewish world for young Jewish adults. The idea of Jewlicious, was personified, morphed to an adjective, noun, and even a live,... Continue Reading

The Many Faces of the ROI Community

Yesterday I had the chance to, once-again, sit with 120 hyped-up, caffinated, sleep-deprived young adult movers and shakers of our Jewish world at the 5th annual gathering of the ROI Global Summit. And while perhaps I spent a bit to much time catching up with friends from around the globe, it is clear that this group not only ‘gets it’ they are actually ‘doing something about it’. For not only are they creating cutting edge projects on multiple continents, they are trail-blazing a new level of collaboration among themselves and spurring a growing interchange of ideas between ventures such as JHub, Joshua Venture Group, Jumpstart, PresenTense and UpStart Bay Area. Here are just a few of the many faces of the global ROI Community: From Florianopolis, Brazil, meet community leader... Continue Reading

The Many Faces of ROI Community: Argentina, Israel, Belarus and Copenhagen

Israel, especially during the summer months, is a melting-pot of innovation. And one of the real pleasures of living here is having the opportunity to meet, and interact, with young adults from around the world who are involved in these new endeavors. As we have in previous summers, over the next month or so, we will bring you snapshots of just some of the many, people and projects, that are shaping our collective future. With the ROI Global Summit opening on Sunday, we introduce you today to four who are a part of this growing, vibrant and important community. Evelyn Goldfinger is Creator/Director of El Toratron Jewish Educational Theatre in Argentina, for which she received an ROI Community grant in May. She is an actress, playwright and director. Together with Hillel volunteers, she directs a theater... Continue Reading

Sephardic Music Festival NYC 2009

Yallah Chabibi! The Festival that could is back again this year and the line up is, as always, outstanding! Taking place from December 12 to December 19th, New York’s Sephardic Music Festival includes performances by Matisyahu, Y-Love, Pharaoh’s Daughter, DeLeon, Kosha Dillz, Eprhyme, DeScribe and a whole host of more traditional Sephardic musicians. Every year, the Yemenite artist known as Diwon aka Erez aka DJ Handler, the man, no, the force of nature behind Shemspeed and more parties, events and concerts than I can possibly keep track of pulls this Festival together out of fumes, sweat, hard work and I don’t even know what… a love of quality Jewish music and happenings that transcend denominations, fostering unity and booty bumpin’ good tunes. If you are in or near the NYC area, check out... Continue Reading

G-dcast Does Chanukah

The crew at G-dcast has been hard at work. Having produced 55 episodes featuring the weekly parsha, this innovative group has now tackled Chanukah. Sit back, enjoy and watch the dreidel spin. And, if you’re an educator – as with all their videos – a free teaching guide is available. Parshat G-dcast Spins Chanukah! from G-dcast.com More Torah cartoons at www.g-dcast.com Production support provided by the ROI Community. [Translate] Bookmark:  Read More →

Innovation, By the Loaf

Last week, at the General Assembly in Washington DC, ROI, PresenTense, Jumpstart, the Center for Leadership Initiatives, Bikkurim and Jewlicious Festival, all official fans of challah, innovation, and Eli Winkelman, sponsored an event in honor of Challah for Hunger’s fifth anniversary. The event drew ROI, Kivun, and Reality Israel alumni as well as Insight Fellows; was hosted by founder Winkelman and volunteers from five Challah for Hunger chapters, and featured a gourmet and diversely flavored challah-tasting. The ROI Community asked Eli, the original “Challahback Girl,” to provide some reflections. Innovation, By the Loaf Bagel traditionalists often proclaim, “There is no such thing as a blueberry bagel!” I hope that one day, I’ll be blamed for spawning ridiculous... Continue Reading

From Daring Shall Come the Reward: The 2009 PresenTense Institute

Last night, at Jerusalem’s Bible Lands Museum, the third summer of the PresenTense Institute drew to a close. The outdoor tent was alive with energy as this summer’s fellows pitched their projects to over 200 invited guests. They came from Beijing and New York; Washington, D.C. and down the street, juggling school, families and careers to devote six weeks to projects that will change the future of the Jewish world. In the words of Institute coordinator Brachie Sprung, “These daring entrepreneurs are our inspiration at PresenTense – pioneers who break new ground in the face of great uncertainty, and who work tirelessly to improve the world and strengthen the Jewish people… They have clarified their vision and purpose, strengthened their business models to maximize earnings... Continue Reading

Happy (Belated) Birthday to Jewlicious

Deep inside Jerusalem’s Machne Yehuda market sits the international headquarters of Jewlicious. And, one week ago tonight, hours prior to Jewlicious celebrating five, good years, I sat with founder, friend and community influencer David Abitbol, aka “ck”, for an update on Jewlicious and their various projects. The plan was a post the next morning. Sometimes, though, life gets in the way. So today, a belated mazel tov! You might ask, what is Jewlicious / who is Jewlicious? A Website; a festival; a community? All this and more. Centering around a dynamic Internet presence with 220,000 unique visitors/month, Jewlicious is geared to a varied audience; tech savy, plugged in and almost completely divorced from the organized Jewish community. Not just unconnected, but a significant number... Continue Reading

The Jewish Liturgy Project: A Toolkit for Custom Liturgy

from Haaretz: Prayer ala carte Aharon Varady always dreamed of putting together his own prayer book. Realizing that many people – including himself – often see prayer as a dull and robotic exercise in the fulfillment of a religious duty, he thought for years about ways to enable people to create their own prayer book, or siddur, in order to make the most of their experience. A fellow at this year’s PresenTense Institute, Varady earlier this month finally embarked on a daring project, creating a tool for “individuals and groups to build the siddur they’ve always wanted,” as his Web site explains. Varady’s Open Siddur project aspires to funnel all different regional traditions, translations, commentaries and instructional notes that Jews from the four corners... Continue Reading

Short Term; High Impact; Empowering; Reputation Changing

Did you know that 50,000 Israelis visit India each year? Without guidance, they can display a lack of cultural sensitivity, engage in drug-use and partying and soon establish an unfavorable reputation for Israelis and Israel. After a few months of freedom and rest from the army, many start to look for ways to get the most out of their time there. All this takes place in a country which is crying out for support for its millions of malnourished children who do not have good opportunities for education and a way out of the cycle of poverty. Enter Project Be a Kli: from the Hebrew, haKol Lemaan haYeledim – All for the Kids – Helping to feed and educate some of the most impoverished children in the world by forming partnerships with [Israeli] backpackers who are looking to get more meaning... Continue Reading

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