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, is this: when challenged at the Young Global Leaders Forum and asked,

what are you going to do to make the world a better place by 2020?

his life was turned upside down. Shai then asked himself three questions and Project Better Place eventually was birthed. The questions?

1. What are you passionate about? (In other words, what makes you wake up in the morning feeling that you want to do this again?)
2. What are you best in the world at?
3. What is your economic driver?

Shai encouraged all present to dig in, and find our own three answers.

Food for thought for all of us.

BTW, Project Better Place was one of the highlighted entrepreneurial projects that will change the face of Tomorrow from the Tomorrow’s Spaces exhibit at the recent Facing Tomorrow Presidential Conference.

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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.

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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 young adults to spend a semester to a year in Israel on over 150 approved programs. Since its inception, MASA has made it possible for 27,000 people to live, work, study and volunteer in Israel; the goal of MASA is to have the number of Jewish youth studying from abroad or working in Israel reach 20,000 per year.

MASA was a featured program in the Tomorrow’s Spaces exhibition at the recent Facing Tomorrow Presidential Conference in Jerusalem.

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Since the beginning of time, the world’s history has been intertwined with the achievements of Jewish philosophers, visionaries, scientists and inventors who transformed the lives of nations and people through their ingenuity.

These men and women have influenced every aspect of life: social thinking, culture, philosophy, religion, science, medicine, industry, technology. And yet, despite these varied realms of achievement, all these people shared a common link: they all sought a better, more just and more advanced future for all mankind.

And now, today, and envisioned as a laboratory for practical initiatives, Facing Tomorrow, President Shimon Peres’ first annual conference premiered in Jerusalem, May 13-15, 2008.

Intended to nurture the practical initiatives of Israel, of the Jewish people and of humanity, this international convocation examined the trends and developments that are mapping the future with the hope of serving as an incubator for proactive responses.

One component was a featured exhibit, “Tomorrow’s Spaces”, an original exhibition of entrepreneurial projects, designed to provide a stage for leading scientific innovations strategically valuable to our future as a State, a people and member of a community of nations.

eJewish Philanthropy brings you an introduction to this exhibition along with a brief look at the eleven featured projects from the social sector of Israeli society.

Please join us, in our new Symposia section, for a special look at Tomorrow’s Spaces.

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After attending the Facing Tomorrow Conference, being treated to all the press reports (mostly American oriented - even if appearing in the Israeli news), and all the various comments both pro and con about the Conference floating around the blog-o-sphere (the Anglo-Israeli crowd commented heavily on the expense while people are hungry in Israel), here is a view from a U.K. attendee and speaker:

“… Peres succeeded beyond expectations in creating an event so ambitious in its reach, so impressive in its execution, that his countrymen could justifiably feel both proud and reassured about what it said about Israel’s international status…”

and this about our communities leadership:

“Other billionaire “conference trustees” — a long list including Lev Leviev, Daniel Abraham and Poju Zabludowicz — seemed not to see the irony in seminars discussing “the leaders of tomorrow” being dominated almost entirely by men over 55. No matter that, in one seminar, former Rutgers sociologist Chaim Waxman linked declining communal participation to an “increasing perception that the communal leadership is elitist, parochial, self-serving and resistant to innovation”. Pah: the “circle of wealthy old men” he identified as running most major Jewish organisations saw no reason to step aside.”

With our interest, here at eJewish Philanthropy, in the ‘younger generation’, I found these last comments, in particular, relevant. Guess the entrenched leadership of the Jewish communal world is a universal problem; reminds me of the recent Republican party Presidential primary race in the U.S!

Read more from David Rowan, editor of the U.K.’s Jewish Chronicle: Leadership: a billion-dollar question.

image source: thejc.com

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One of the goals of eJewish Philanthropy is to assist non-profit organizations in their use of the Internet so they can more efficiently fullfill their mission. This is why we often post on the newer resources and tools available, such as youtube.com, and provide both links to interesting videos, speak about facebook groups, and provide news and resources about the growing popularity of the new media world. The same can be said for online fundraising along with other facets of the new and continually evolving Web 2.0.

Let’s face it, the established Jewish community is not effectively using this medium. Sure we have some notable exceptions, JNF being one for a deserved reputation increasing donations online. But by and large, just like the organizations that just “don’t get it” re: the younger generations, they also don’t get the importance of where the Internet is going.

The organizations most effectively using the Internet are the ones being established, or at least directed, by the cutting edge young entrepreneurs who are already changing our Jewish future.

For those of you old enough, think back to 1998 and your use, or more likely non-use, of email. A significant part of the non-profit world did not use this medium at all. Fast forward to today; you can’t survive without it. Now think video and social networking; but trust me, it won’t take ten years!

On Thursday, I blogged live from Facing Tomorrow’s presentation, The Revolution of the Internet and the New Media, focusing on Yahoo President Susan Decker’s comments. Today, a few thoughts from some of the other speakers.

Google’s Sergey Brin, despite all the talk we hear about Internet use and connectivity already being so intertwined in our lives, said: “the evolution of the Internet age has changed our lives, but this is just the tip of the iceberg, a hint of what is to come. Most people are still not connected, and going forward, easier accessibility to knowledge finding, as well as social communicating, is what will drive the future.”

Maurice Levy, of the Management Board, Publicis Groupe echoed both Segey, Susan and Terry Semel by saying; “It’s all about creating connections that are emotionally relevant, and this is one of the main challenges for Internet search engines Yahoo and Google.”

And lastly, this from Rupert Murdoch, News Corps CEO: “We’re on cusp of a golden age of information. Once, older people and young people did not want to share the same content, but today there is technology that makes it possible to provide everyone with a personal experience.”

So, there you have it; the word on high from the top media gurus around. Only Mark Zukerberg of Facebook was a no-show. He was expected until the week before the Conference and was then unexplicably found to be in India.

You can read more about what Rupert Murdoch had to say in Globes.

Also be sure to check out our Resources section. We have posted many new links in our Recent Article categories dealing with Marketing Online, Video, Online Giving and Website tips. We’re certain you will find some relevant to your organization.

updated May 26: Some brief remarks by all the participants in this plenary can be found on the official Conference website.

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We’re still not finished with our look at Facing Tomorrow; we have more to come including a special look at some of “the entrepreneurial projects that will change the face of Tomorrow.”

For those interested in Aliyah and Israel-Diaspora relations, a session review by Ezra HaLevi for Arutz Sheva.

“The questions asked of the panel were: “Do current trends necessarily widen the gap or is it possible to cement relations between Israel and the Diaspora? What can be done to bring two geographically separate societies together so they can understand each other, share a single Jewish identity and work for common goals? What role does Aliyah play in this relationship?

Moderated by Dr. Ruth Calderon of the Alma Home for Hebrew Culture, she began by saying, “Israel is too important to leave to the Israelis,” explaining that the relationship between Israel and the Jews of the Diaspora is like that of a husband and wife, who must work together as equal partners.

Ezra’s complete article is here.

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One of the downsides to Conferences such as Facing Tomorrow is with the huge amount of ground the planners need to cover, it is just physically impossible to attend every session one would like. And so it was with this session, Grooming the Future Leadership of Israel and the Jewish People, which ran simultaneously to Jewish Education in the 21st Century: Is it Important? which I was particularly interested in.

Never fear, we’ve got you covered. EstherK, who has become a legend in multi-tasking at events, has written a great post on the Leadership session. And eJP will have the audio of both of these sessions for you shortly.

“Leslie Wexner noted the importance of mentorship and good values as the basis of leadership, and pointed to morality’s roots in Judaism. “We began ethics and justice, and believe in a collective reality. It’s important to have moral compass of humanity and civilization.”

Read Esther’s complete post here.

A reminder, you can find all our Conference related posts here; and the official Conference newslink here.

updated May 26: Read some brief remarks from the panelists:

GROOMING THE FUTURE LEADERSHIP OF ISRAEL AND THE JEWISH PEOPLE

JEWISH EDUCATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY: IS IT IMPORTANT

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We know many of our readers have different interests and this is why we have posted below the complete set of Background Policy Documents from Facing Tomorrow.

The Table of Contents can be found on pages 5-6; for those of you particularly interested in the various areas of Jewish Identity discussed at the Conference, here are the six policy documents from that section along with the beginning page numbers:

• Jerusalem as the Civilization Capital of the Jewish People, Prof. Yehezkel Dror (page 159)
• Jewish Identity and Identification of America’s Young Jews, Prof. Chaim I. Waxman (page 173)
• Jewish Identity and Identification of Israel’s Young Generation, Dr. Shlomit Levy and Dr. Hagit Hacohen Wolf (page 179)
• Jewish Leadership in the 21st Century, Prof. Yehezkel Dror (page 195)
• Tikkun Olam: Basic Questions and Policy Directions, Dr. Yehuda Mirsky (page 213)
• Jewish Demography and Peoplehood: 2008, Prof. Serglo DellaPergola (page 231)

Facing Tomorrow_Policy-Documents

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Ever since Professor Chiam Waxman’s statement last week on the ‘elitist’ leadership of the American Jewish leadership, the Jewish organizational world has been in a tizzy. This session has received more news and blog coverage than anything else emerging from Facing Tomorrow besides President Bush’s visit.

If you missed the roots of this controversy, see our previous post, ‘Elitist’ Leadership Alienating American Jewish Community.

Meanwhile, you can find Dr. Waxman’s full paper, Jewish Identity and Identification of America’s Young Jews (see pages 173-178) along with the entire range of Conference background policy documents below.

There are many additional papers we think you, our readers, will find of particular interest. We will put up an additional post with the titles and page numbers. In the meantime, happy reading!

Please note: the file is huge; it may take a few minutes to download.

Facing Tomorrow_Policy-Documents

A reminder, all of our Conference related posts are here; and the official Conference newslink, in English, here.

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