Meet the Future Today: The Israel-Asia Center

The economic fortunes of China have been front-page news this week. From James Chanos warning that China is “Dubai times 1,000 – or worse” to Thomas Friedman writing in today’s The New York Times, “All the long-term investments that China has made over the last two decades are just blossoming and could really propel the Chinese economy into the 21st-century knowledge age, starting with its massive investment in infrastructure.” With conversations focused on bubbles, economics and Google’s latest China policy, off most people’s radar are the continuing, and growing, ties between Israel and the various countries in Asia. Due to current realities, it is of paramount importance for Israel to strengthen its relationship and understanding of the entire region, not only... 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

Meet the Future Today: Illuminating Jewish Life Through Art

Traditionally, Jewish learning has focused on the written word. This despite so much of contemporary culture being conveyed non-verbally. Now, can you envision the possibilities that might exist through a Visual Beit Midrash? Jerusalemites Elyssa Moss Rabinowitz and Matt Berkowitz did. Kol HaOt was conceived as a weaving together of creativity and aesthetics, arts and inspiration to convey the meaning of Jewish texts and ideas, history and values. Nurtured this summer at the PresenTense summer institute, Kol HaOt is a central address where exploration of Jewish ideas can take place in beautifully conceived environments – whether in their central Jerusalem location, their virtual home or in schools, communities or individual homes. Here’s Matt: “Creating authentic, genuine artistic... Continue Reading

Meet the Future Today: The Open Siddur Project

Imagine an open source software project developing a socially networked siddur crafting workshop for preserving tradition, encouraging creativity and sharing in communal and personal prayer. One who gives participants a siddur to call their own. Well, you no longer need to imagine. Say hello to The Open Siddur Project – an interactive community workspace for crafting personally crafted siddurim that can be adapted to the kavavah of an individual’s practice and which are imbued with the authenticity of Judaism’s diverse communal prayer traditions. Conceptualized by New Yorker, Aharon Varady, The Open Siddur Project has the potential to make praying interesting to those who otherwise wouldn’t bother while providing us the resources needed to engage in this essential creative process. Aharon... Continue Reading

Meet the Future Today: MediaMidrash

The intersection of technology and education is a hot subject in the Jewish world. It manifests itself on blogs, at conferences and seminars, in curricula and research and in new innovation. One of the lessons we’ve learned from these endeavors is that by harnessing new technologies, creative 21st century educational tools can impact Jewish values, make our historic traditions accessible to learners and ensure relevancy for the future. And in building new infrastructure, innovators are continually bridging the gaps between past and present, Israel and the Diaspora. One such newly launched endeavor is MediaMidrash – developed by a pair of young, innovative New York based Jewish educators, Charlie Schwartz and Russel Neiss. Designed to raise the quality of Jewish education by offering teachers... Continue Reading

Meet the Future Today: Kehillah Solutions

Our Jewish Communities Are Being Challenged by a variety of socio-economic and cultural realities that are changing the fabric of our lives. Some of these challenges include: Jewish education is increasingly and prohibitively expensive; Jews are marrying later in life, reproducing less, and endangering population replacement; and Synagogue membership and attendance rates are falling as financial solvency is being challenged. Who best to assist communities solve these challenges but members of their own communities. And seeking to facilitate the dialogue is the newly launched Kehillah Solutions. Developed by New Yorker Karra Greenberg, Kehillah Solutions “creates active networks of Jewish academics, social innovators, and institutions that work within their own communities to solve their socio-economic... Continue Reading

Meet the Future Today: The Level8 Network

Young Jewish American adults represent 36% of all Jewish American adults; yet only 13% donate to Jewish causes. Only 2% donate to their various federations. You might ask, why is this? “In their views, the institutionalized Jewish community does not meet their needs or speak to their interests as young people.” [Reboot study 2006]. With the goal of empowering the next generation of sustainable Jewish giving, Wharton grad and former Philadelphia Moishe House leader Shelby Zitelman has launched The Level8 Network. A project of the 2009 class of the PresenTense Institute, Shelby describes her endeavor as “a grassroots philanthropy fund that teaches the tools of effective philanthropy by utilizing the collective resources of young Jewish professionals to support innovative nonprofit organizations.” The... Continue Reading