The BJENY-SAJES together with JESNA’s Lippman Kanfer Institute, are very excited to launch the Jewish Futures competition: Rarely, does an opportunity present itself for unheard voices to take center stage before the movers and shakers of an entire community. This competition provides you with the opportunity to share your ideas about how to shape the Jewish educational landscape of the 21st century. You are encouraged to seize this moment to be bold, brave and visionary as we stand at the crossroads of what have many have claimed to be a new era of Jewish life. To participate, and present your idea at JFNA’s General Assembly in New Orleans, you need to answer the following question: As we move toward a world where learning happens anywhere and everywhere, authored by anyone, what could … Continue Reading
Post-Startup Nation
For several years now the organized Jewish community has rallied around the innovative work of social entrepreneurs and the programs that support them. Hundreds of new projects and organizations have been launched as a result of this movement, which has been spearheaded by organizations like PresenTense, ROI, the Joshua Venture, Bikkurim, The Natan Fund, Jumpstart, Upstart [Bay Area], and the Lippman Kanfer Institute at JESNA. And the flow of startup projects shows no sign of abating. If the recent past is any guide, however, we will soon see some restlessness about the continuing focus on startups, and a desire to move on. That happened after “continuity” was heralded as the most urgent priority; it happened after day schools were favored. And it happened again after Jewish camping moved … Continue Reading
Reimagining What Might Be Possible: The Innovative Spirit of Today’s Jewish Life
During December, 2009, a consultation on Jewish innovation and social entrepreneurship was convened in Toronto. The goal, to begin a process to address the key issues that will affect the success of the Jewish innovation sector. Dr. Caryn Aviv has prepared an analysis of the consultation, Haskalah 2.0, that Jumpstart's Joshua Avedon describes as "both an interesting reflection on what happened and meaningful to the development of the field as a whole." Since the innovation subject is so relevant to many of the participants in this week's ROI Global Summit, it was only fitting the analysis was released here. Following is an excerpt from Dr. Aviv ... the complete Haskalah 2.0 analysis is available for download. The Emerging Paradigm for Jewish Innovation Jewish innovation is often … Continue Reading
Growing Jewish Education in Challenging Times
For the past year, or so, the cost of Jewish education in the U.S. has been at the fore-front of many communal discussions. Op-eds have appeared in numerous publications; the Jewish Federations of North America hosted a session on the subject during last fall's GA and various conference dialogues have ensued. Discussions, and studies continue, but solutions still seem to be elusive. And, while panic has been replaced with a level of calm in the philanthropic world, the combined issues of attractiveness, accessibility, and/or affordability in Jewish education, continue to be a major topic of concern. With the aim of propelling the discussion forward, eJewish Philanthropy and JESNA’s Lippman Kanfer Institute, have invited a cross-section of communal educators and thought leaders to address the … Continue Reading
JESNA Celebrates Jewish Women in Education
A special JESNA series: 31 Days of Jewish Women in Education … Continue Reading
Technology and Jewish Education: A Revolution in the Making
JESNA's Lippman Kanfer Institute would like to invite you to the launch of JE3, a new website devoted to the growing impact of technology on Jewish learning and teaching. The JE3 (Jewish Education 3.0) website grows out of a year-long process in which thought leaders, visionaries, and activists in the burgeoning world of Jewish educational technology met together both face-to-face and virtually to share ideas about the future of Jewish education in the age of Google, Facebook, Twitter, Web 2.0, and beyond. Contributors to the site include individuals like My Jewish Learning.com's Daniel Septimus; Rabbi and author of thelordismyshepard.com: Seeking God in Cyberspace Joshua Hammerman; Jewish Television Network founder and Los Angeles Jewish Federation CEO Jay Sanderson, and Darim Online founder … Continue Reading
Nurturing Jewish Innovation
from The Canadian Jewish News: Toronto hosts think tank on social entrepreneurship Last week, UJA?Federation of Greater Toronto hosted a two-day international think tank on Jewish innovation and social entrepreneurship. About 30 people - social entrepreneurs (people who use a business model to address societal issues), researchers in the field, and funders - took part in the event. Approximately a third were Canadian, and there was one participant each from Sweden and from England. ... The recent Toronto meeting was co-sponsored by its lead organizer Jumpstart - The Network for Jewish Innovation, which is based in California; the New York-based Lippman Kanfer Institute, a think tank for innovation in Jewish learning that is part of JESNA (Jewish Education Service of North America); … Continue Reading
FutureTense NY Launches With Focus on Jewish Education
What is more important for a Jewish informational web site - being on the first page of Google search results or having credible, high quality content? Is the Internet just another tool in the arsenal of educators, or does it fundamentally change the way in which learning takes place and the power relationships between students and teachers? Is online learning over-hyped, or is it the future of Jewish education? These were some of the questions discussed at the first New York FutureTense Roundtable session held last week. Developed by PresenTense, the FutureTense Roundtable convenes a diverse group of young Jewish pioneers, or “disruptors”, to talk about what is to come in a specific field. The goal of FutureTense is to provoke and spread new thinking about key issues affecting the future of … Continue Reading
Moments That Transform Jewish Consciousness
What motivates someone to become an engaged and seeking Jew? What events, conversations and experiences change someone's life direction from indifferent to observant, uninvolved to engaged, unconcerned to committed? Was there a moment that lit a spark for you? The High Holidays encourage us to think about our Jewish journeys and how we got to where we are today. For many of us that journey has included a transformational experience, a trip, an encounter, a moment in time and space that opened us up to new possibilities and set us on a different course. The Lippman Kanfer Institute's Monica Rozenfeld was intrigued by this idea. She set out to gather stories about such transformational experiences, what we came to call "Jewish sparks." Piecing together these stories from friends, mentors and … Continue Reading
Mapping Jewish Social Entrepreneurship
The past decade has seen an upsurge of new energy being brought to bear by individuals and organizations seeking to foster positive change both within and beyond the Jewish community. The impact of these individuals and organizations is already being felt in Jewish education, spiritual life, arts and culture, technology, human services, and in efforts aimed at achieving social justice and preventing environmental catastrophe. These Jewish social entrepreneurs and emerging leaders are being encouraged and supported, in turn, by a growing number of programs and funders through incubators, fellowships, training programs, grants, and other vehicles. The potential of this nascent global field of Jewish social entrepreneurship and new leadership development to strengthen and transform Jewish life and the … Continue Reading
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