And Then There Were 5
Waltham, Mass. - The competition for Brandeis University’s new Charles R. Bronfman Visiting Chair in Jewish Communal Innovation has narrowed to five finalists, who will present their proposals for changing the way Jews think about themselves and their community at a symposium on campus February 24. The winner will be awarded two years to develop his or her ideas into a book.
The finalists were announced by Jonathan D. Sarna, Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History, who chairs the committee composed of Brandeis faculty that made the selections. The finalists and their topics are:
- Ariel Beery, founder and publisher of PresenTense magazine, whose project is “Translating Judaism for the Post-Digital Age”
- Shmuley Boteach, founder and executive director of the Jewish Values Network, whose focus is “Bringing Judaism to the Mainstream”
- Anita Diamant, author of “The Red Tent” and numerous other books, whose project is “Minhag America”
- Yehuda Kurtzer, PhD candidate at Harvard, whose emphasis is on “The Sacred Task of Rebuilding Jewish Memory”
- Saul Singer, Jerusalem Post editorial page editor and columnist, whose project is titled “From Survival to Purpose”
The finalists were selected from among 231 people who submitted proposals to the committee of Brandeis faculty. Forty-nine were rabbis, 19 were lawyers and 50 were from outside the US, from countries including Israel, Italy, India, Australia and Sweden.
On Feb. 24, the finalists will be interviewed by the selection committee and will participate in a symposium for members of the Brandeis community and Boston-area Jewish leaders. Each finalist will make a 15-minute presentation and answer questions for 15 minutes.
The idea of holding a competition of ideas to reinforce the vitality of the Jewish community grows from an initiative by Sears Roebuck and Company chairman Julius Rosenwald in 1929. Rosenwald offered a $10,000 prize to the writer of the best answer to the question “How can Judaism best adjust itself to and influence modern life?” Participants had two years to prepare, and the competition was won by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan.
“Judaism as a Civilization,” the book Rabbi Kaplan published with help from the Rosenwald prize money, quickly became the most influential Jewish book of its time. It remains in print and continues to generate creative debate today.
The winner of the current competition, which is supported by philanthropist Charles R. Bronfman, will receive salary, benefits and research assistance for two years.
The winner will be expected to teach one course each semester at Brandeis, and to deliver lectures or seminars based on the project, but the bulk of the chair-holder’s time will be set aside for research and writing. The book that results from this effort will be published and promoted by Brandeis University Press.
Brandeis’ Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program, which is directed by Professor Sarna, will administer the chair.
Kol Hakavod to all five finalists!
for a related post click here
A New Tool From PayPal
PayPal has recently announced a nonprofit donation kit.
We know many of you are looking for ways to either begin an online presence for donations or perhaps supplement an existing program. In this vein, and since they are certainly a household name worldwide, we bring you information on this new product and a limited promotion (information on their site) from PayPal.
Disclaimer: This post is for informational purposes only. eJewish Philanthropy does not endorse any product, or vendor, nor do we accept paid advertising. Additional vendors for Online Fundraising can be found in our Resources section.
More and more non-profits are recognizing the importance of a strong online presence, and that online donations will be a big part of their future fundraising success. In response to this, PayPal has released the PayPal Kit for Non-Profits to help non-profits get set up to accept donations via PayPal within 45 minutes.
The kit is so simple to use that it can be implemented by almost anyone with basic computer knowledge.
It’s a simple 3-step process:
• Create a PayPal account
• Create a PayPal Donate button
• Place the button on your website
The PayPal Donate button is a safe, easier way for people to donate money. Donors can trust that their donation is secure and that their financial information will not be exposed.
“Non-profits have found in the past that making PayPal available increases the amount of their donations and helps them find new donors among our 164 million account holders. The PayPal Kit for Non-Profits will help non-profits tap into the $2 billion in stored PayPal balances around the world,” said Glenn Lim, senior director of alliances at PayPal.
Should Your Organization Use Social Networking Sites?
Are social networking sites like MySpace or FaceBook likely to be a good fit for your non-profit’s goals? In a new post from Idealware, Brett Bonfield explores how you know if social networking is right for you.
You’ve likely heard of Web sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn. These types of tools, collectively known as social networking sites, allow individuals (and sometimes organizations) to create online profiles, discover others who share their interests, and create an online network of contacts and supporters.
Social networking sites have received a lot of attention from the nonprofit world because they align with nonprofits’ desire to reach out to larger communities. If your local animal shelter could tap into a network of cat lovers in your area, the logic goes, wouldn’t that allow it to find homes for even more pets? Adding to the buzz, there are a number of success stories about nonprofits using social networks to reach new volunteers, locate audiences interested in their cause, build up supporter lists, and even raise money.
Click here to continue reading.
An Invitation To Those in NYC
THE JEWISH BLOGOSPHERE: Can virtual Jewish community replace real Jewish community? Join us on Wednesday, February 6th, for a panel discussion moderated by Jewish Week editor and publisher Gary Rosenblatt. With Shmuel Rosner (Haaretz), Rabbi Joshua Hammerman (author and columnist), Izzy Grinspan (Jewcy.com).
Jewish Community Project, 146 Duane Street, Tribeca, 7:30pm. Sponsored by The Jewish Week. Free, but reservations recommended. RSVP to janet@jewishweek.org.
read what Jewlicious has to say about this event and…
If you attend, eJewish Philanthropy would like to hear your thoughts.
Kid Tested, Rabbi Approved
This post is part of a series on new innovation being created at the Jerusalem based incubator PICZ, The PresenTense Institute for Creative Zionism.
Introducing…
The Bible Raps Project: a new approach to Jewish education
“Therefore, write down this song and teach it to the children of Israel” (Deuteronomy 31:19)
The Bible Raps Project is a new initiative aimed at exciting young Jewish students about Judaism, Jewish Heritage, and Jewish texts. Built around a series of raps that draw on texts from the Bible and Midrash, the Bible Raps Project will resonate with Jewish youth in a way that traditional media cannot by fusing rap music, this generation’s most powerful mode of cultural communication, with Jewish discourse. It is an innovative strategy, consisting of professional grade music and an accompanying curriculum, to express the value of Jewish Peoplehood and cultural relevancy among young Jews while injecting needed excitement into the Jewish educational experience.
In the words of Bible Rapper Matt Bar, about his experience this past summer with PICZ:
“I walked in with an idea that seemed to resonate with people. I walked out with seed-funding, business partners, media attention, significant contacts, direction, inspiration and absolutely endearing memories. In just six weeks PICZ changed the landscape of my future. Time well spent to say the least.”
Do you have a dream project you would like to turn into reality? Time is running out but, there is still time to apply for a Fellowship for 2008 at the PresenTense Institute. Click here for the online application.
updated February 15th with a great story about Matt and his Bible Rap Project in today’s Haaretz,
Bible rapper infuses Jewish education with his rhymes:
“Matt Bar was a fledgling musician in New York supplementing his income as a Hebrew school teacher when he hit on the idea of inventing Bible raps. Now, he’s spearheading a movement based on his raps to fuse popular music with Jewish education. A ‘folk rapper’ by profession, he was trying to keep a group of middle school kids interested in Bible, Hebrew, and yet another lesson on Jewish tradition one Sunday morning when he decided to rap for them as a kind of “carrot” to keep them well-behaved.”
to read the complete story, click here
Calling all Entrepreneurs
Do you have a project you’ve been dying to launch? Are you a socially-minded pioneer who wants to create value for the Jewish People and the world? Or are you a hacker who wants to spend a summer in Israel at an incubator and bring your project to market? If the answer is yes, consider the PresenTense Institute for pioneers — a six-week, intensive inter-disciplinary launchpad for socially-minded entrepreneurs running this summer from June 23rd until August 3rd in Jerusalem, bringing together innovators from the fields of hi-tech, business, social action, education and the arts. Read more about the Institute below or here and Apply today.
The PresenTense Institute for Creative Zionism is dedicated to enriching the Jewish People and the culture of Jerusalem through the training and equipping of socially-minded pioneers in the fields of hi-tech, education, social action, and the arts. The Institute engages Jewish pioneers on multiple levels, providing fellowship opportunities to entrepreneurs, open-to-the-public lectures on topics affecting the Jewish here and now, and workshops for up-and-coming leaders in the third sector from Israel and around the world. In the summer of 2007, 18 fellows were accepted, 12 projects were launched from across the disciplines, and six projects are seeing early success less than half-a-year since graduation.
Read about one project, Kid Tested, Rabbi Approved
Taglit: A Strategic Asset For the Jewish People
Describing Taglit participants as such, Israeli Minister Isaac Herzog, led off a session early this afternoon at the Herzliya Conference. Joined by Gideon Mark of Birthright, Professor Leonard Saxe of Brandeis University and Knesset member Professor Menahem Ben-Sasson for a session titled, ‘Trends in the Connection of the Diaspora’s Young Generation to Israel’, the focus was on the young demographic being called, the Birthright Israel Generation.
We did learn a few facts. While 3/4 of all participants to date are from North America, a total of 44 countries have been represented since 1999. Bringing 160,000 to Israel so far, an additional 100,000 have been left behind due to lack of space.
According to Professor Saxe, “Taglit is rapidly moving towards achieving a critical mass, perhaps a ‘tipping point’ in its ability to change a generation.” In North America, an estimated 90,000 individuals are currently in each year’s cohort between ages 18 through 26. For those born in 1995 and prior, it is estimated that 25% will participate in a Birthright trip prior to turning 26. For those born in 1996 and later, based on current resources, it is estimated that 1 in 3 will participate in Birthright Israel prior to tapping out at 26. What an incredible success story. What an opportunity for our Jewish community!
Professor Saxe made a few additional points I found of particular interest:
- Young adults are more connected than previous generations (this is confirmed by survey data and their behavior)
- Young adults are seeking meaningful connections; their interest in Birthright exceeds availability; their social networks foster both interest and engagement
- Person to person encounters are at the heart of Diaspora - Israel connections; by framing interaction with Israeli educators and peers, Taglit changed the dynamic of the “experience”
- This Education must engage the heart, mind and body; Taglit has successfully reconfigured traditional approaches to both the Israel experience and Jewish education. Their success depends on its ability to create education that simultaneously is…
Emotionally stimulating
Intellectually rich and
Behaviorally engaging
thereby successfully adapting an educational strategy to the needs, interests and skills of their target audience
- Young adults today live in a multi-windowed, virtual world; they are engaged in a search for meaning and connection
I am both fairly knowledgeable and a supportive observer of what this new generation is creating. And while on some level I was aware of this, it was Professor Saxe’s closing remarks that resonated the most:
Institutions Must Adapt or Be Replaced
In part, Taglit has been successful because they have created a new organization. The $64,000 question for other communal institutions, are you ready to engage Taglit participants on the 11th day? Those that have failed in this regard prior to the trips will almost certainly remain unable to connect with then when they return.
I hope the Jewish community is paying attention.
for a participants look at Birthright Day 11, click here
for the official conference summaries:
Menahem Ben-Sasson, Isaac Herzog, Gideon Mark, Leonard Saxe
(updated January 27th)
The Changing Face of London Jewry
A little over a month ago, I introduced you to Moishe House London. Now, in his own words, one of the founding members.
by Joel Sameach Stanley
Something is emerging in Jewish London. It’s hard to name as yet but you know it when you meet it. October 2007 was a landmark month. For four weeks running, you could, if you felt so inclined, attend a relatively large-scale alternative Jewish event every Saturday night, from the London JCC’s Balagan Boogaloo to Psychosemitic to the massive opening party at Moishe House London, the new Willesden Green based Jewish community house that happens to be my home.
Besides a genre-fusing openness to try different things and new forms, The House shares with these events and groups a deeply rooted yet non-denominational approach. People vote with their feet and the old models are tired. Our new community is based around our home, and centres on the arts, spirituality and social justice, because these are the most fertile, exciting and important fields of Jewish growth in England today. People ask us why there is a need for this. If you are happy at Aish, Chabad or the Jewish Learning Exchange, perhaps there isn’t. These groups do vibrant Jewish community well, but with a particular religious framework that excludes many people.
We face a challenge, being Jewish outside Israel. How do we live in British culture and live meaningful Jewish lives? We have chosen multiculturalism and the task is to live authentically, from a place of mixedness but Jewishness, proving that our ethnicity, faith, culture - or whatever you want to call it - will not be subsumed into a monoculture. The jury’s still out on where this leads. What I do know is this: if Jewish life in the UK is to mean anything, we want to build one worth living.
This post is part of a series focusing on new Jewish innovation in the U.K.
for a related post on Moishe House London, click here
Online Jewish Non-Profit Management
Gratz Online, the virtual campus of Gratz College, a graduate and undergraduate college of Jewish Studies located just outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, announces a new Spring semester online course, Fundraising in the Organized Jewish Community.
This course will teach the student how to initiate a fundraising campaign, how to manage and promote it, handle the accounting, and allocate the funds within the organization. Topics include Major Gifts, Planned Giving, Transforming Volunteers into Donors, and Prospect Research. Lectures and relevant case studies from Jewish communal organizations, as well as role playing, will be used to teach the material.
This course is offered as a part of an Online Certificate in Jewish Non-Profit Management, a program designed to sharpen the skills of students in the specialized field of Jewish non-profit management. Expertise in this field of study is increasingly important for those pursuing a career in the Jewish communal world.
You need to act quickly; Gratz Online Spring 2008 Semester begins during the week of January 22. Admissions are on a rolling basis.
Physician Aliyah Campaign Launched
NEFESH B’NEFESH AND LEGACY HERITAGE FUND
LAUNCH PHYSICIAN ALIYAH CAMPAIGN
TO ADDRESS URGENT NATIONAL DOCTOR SHORTAGE
Significant grants and supplementary income packages being offered
to North American and British MD’s making Aliyah to Israel
(JERUSALEM) – Nefesh B’Nefesh, the organization dedicated to revitalizing Aliyah from the US, Canada and the UK, is launching a fellowship program for MDs from North America and the UK to help solve the serious shortage of doctors projected to occur in Israel over the next few years.
In response to figures released by the Council for Higher Education’s Planning and Budgeting Committee, suggesting that in the next ten years, Israel will experience a serious shortage of doctors, Nefesh B’Nefesh is teaming up with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption to bring an increased number of western doctors to Israel. According to the report, due to a projected population increase – especially among the elderly – coupled with the noticeable trend of doctors leaving the medical profession, the current ratio of 3.5 physicians for every 1,000 Israelis is predicted to plummet to less than 2.5 per thousand in the next few years.
The Physician Aliyah Fellowship is now being introduced by Nefesh B’Nefesh to encourage North American and British physicians to move to Israel by providing significant grants. The grants, in the form of an initial fellowship upon arrival in Israel, and monthly supplementary income for the first two years, total approximately $60,000. These grants are available for doctors under the age of 40 who have completed their training in North America and the UK and are willing to practice at least nine months a year in Israel.
“Nefesh B’Nefesh recognizes the seriousness of this national need and is honored to be able to leverage our existing infrastructure to strengthen the medical community here,” said Rabbi Yehoshua Fass, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Nefesh B’Nefesh. “While currently many physicians making Aliyah prefer to continue their practices abroad, this fellowship will enable doctors to remain in Israel and sustain their careers domestically.”
Support for the Physician Aliyah Fellowship has been generously made possible by Legacy Heritage Fund Limited – Keren Morasha of New York and Jerusalem, in partnership with Nefesh B’Nefesh, who have helped close to 90 doctors make Aliyah to date.
Israeli Minister of Health, Yacov Ben Yizri, stated “We welcome this vital initiative, not only because of the importance of Aliyah, but also due to the expected shortage of doctors in Israel in the upcoming years.” He added “The Health Ministry will do all in its power to ease the absorption process and assist the doctors with their professional integration in