We are delighted to welcome Rabbi Yossie Goldman, Director General of Hillel Israel with this open letter on just one of the many programs being implemented at Hillel Tel Aviv. Dear friends, The concept of Jewish peoplehood is moving high on the Hillel agenda, as it becomes increasingly important to build bridges among Jewish communities around the world. The Ami"t project at Tel Aviv Hillel is engaging 25 young Israeli leaders to develop a sense of peoplehood and learn about how they can build connections between Israeli and North American students, helping to shape the future of the Jewish people. In the process, they develop leadership skills and strengthen their commitment to Jewish life. The Ami"t project consists of weekly sessions that include text study and leadership training, and … Continue Reading
Dig In, and Find Three Answers
If you are a regular reader you know this is ROI week here in Jerusalem. Sunday night was the opening session and you can read some great posts by EstherK, who writes so much better than I, here and here. But, just to pull out one small point: the keynote speaker was Shai Agassi, founder and CEO of Project Better Place. PBP's mission, How can we make the world a better place? One electric car at a time. Shai had the audience of (mostly) young innovators spellbound as he recounted his bio: from a deal with his Dad to buy him a new Apple II computer at age 14, to at age 39, being named the CEO-designate of global software powerhouse SAP - the first non-German to achieve such a position in any German mega-company. You can read more from Esther, but the take-away here, that deserves special note, … Continue Reading
HaOlim TV; The Trailer
We introduced you on Tuesday to HaOlim TV, a new reality show about the Zionist Dream in the 21st century. HaOlim TV: where eight young participants will live and compete against one another through various extreme missions that mirror the different challenges Olim face building the State of Israel. Where one will be crowned the Ultimate Oleh. Here, the newly released trailer. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nls8x8xH_Rs[/youtube] Be sure to also check out what Jewlicious has to say about this show. … Continue Reading
Reality TV: The Olim
I met Yana Kutikova last week; a high-energy, enthusiastic recent Olah from Atlanta. And like someone else from the same city, Yana had a dream. Hers, a reality show about the extraordinary olim who have chosen to begin their lives again in this, our extraordinary land. Conceptualized by Yana, and now in the pre-production phase with Highlight Films, the show is described this way: They will live and compete against one another through various extreme missions that mirror the different challenges olim faced building the State of Israel and eventually one will be crowned the Ultimate Oleh. This winner will be granted a golden ticket into Israeli society with a luxury apartment facing the beach in Tel Aviv, a brand new car, a dream job, and many more amenities to make for the ultimate … Continue Reading
Generating a Socio-Economic Leapfrog
Yesterday, The Reut Institute organized the First ISRAEL 15 Vision Conference and I had the privilege of attending. Inspired by the Clinton Global Initiative, and bringing together leading figures from different sectors of Israeli society, the focus was on how to turn Israel into one of the leading 15 countries in the world in terms of quality of life. The necessary discussion: to understand what is needed to move from socio-economic growth to leapfrogging and the type of leadership required to initiate it. Multiple sectors, including mayors, senior civil servants, businessmen, non-profits and social entrepreneurs, philanthropists from Israel and abroad and representatives of Diaspora Jewry, were brought together to harness support. The vision requires a leapfrog: a process that takes … Continue Reading
Israel @ 60 in Words, Pictures, and Music
A video slide show celebrating 60 years of Israel A collaboration between Bonnie Goodman and Professor Gil Troy (McGill University) in honor of Israel’s 60th Birthday. This is Bonnie's artistic rendition of the updated version of Professor Troy's article “Why I Am A Zionist”, first published in 2001. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0LKUMDtowc[/youtube] Shabbat Shalom from Jerusalem … Continue Reading
Facing Tomorrow: The Panels
updated 1 June: The official website for the Facing Tomorrow Conference has posted a list of the various panels, a brief synopsis, the participants, and in many cases transcript highlights. You can locate these here. It appears that videos from most of the panels have now also been posted. This is what is available. … Continue Reading
Making News This Morning
From The Jerusalem Post, Globes and Haaretz, respectively; on-point stories on our core themes. Analysis: Misunderstanding the rich American uncle American Jewish giving, like American philanthropy generally, is based on a culture of personal generosity that Israelis have never encountered and don't understand. The American philanthropic industry is so large and sophisticated that an entire profession of highly-trained professionals, with advanced degrees in economics and management, exists to assist wealthy people (and literally thousands of American Jewish foundations) in giving away hundreds of billions of dollars each year in effective ways. The Haaretz article Haviv refers to in his story is from May 12th: Let's be done with all the Talanskys Jerusalem is full of wheeler-dealers, … Continue Reading
The MASA Mega
Birthright Israel introduced it; now MASA follows suit. More than 5,000 participants of the Jewish Agency's MASA, Israel Journey programs, celebrated the end of their year in Israel at a mega event erev Lag B'Omer. This year, over 8,000 Jewish youth between 18 and 30, from 50 countries, including more than 5,500 from North America, spent a semester or year studying, volunteering or interning in Israel through MASA. "I have been so inspired during my year here," said Master of Ceremony Deborah Laks from Costa Rica to the cheering audience. "And in turn I want to return to my community and inspire others to come to Israel with MASA." about: MASA was established as a joint project by the Jewish Agency and the Prime Minister’s office under Ariel Sharon in 2004 to enable thousands of Jewish … Continue Reading
The Apple Girl, Encore
Yael Naim is back. Here from Israel21c, in honor of Israel's 60th... The Faces and Places of Israel in the 21st Century [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZX7WKsn5QE[/youtube] While you're at it, read all about Yael in this new story from the World Jewish Digest, A New Soul in a Strange World, by Leah Hochbaum Rosner. "On October 22 last year, a self-titled album from a little-known singer hit store shelves in France. Released on the label Tôt ou Tard and featuring a track called "New Soul," the album debuted at number 11 on the French charts - a ranking that more than satisfied Yael Naim, the singer-songwriter behind the disc. After all, even though she'd slaved over it for more than two years, Naim didn't expect much in terms of sales for an album that consisted mostly of Hebrew songs. … Continue Reading
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