Jewlicious Festival will present the eighth annual world-famous Jewlicious Music and Culture Festival from February 24-26th on the historic Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA. The nation's largest Jewish weekend cultural event, the three-day festival will bring a hip modern approach to Jewish culture through world-renowned musicians, artists, speakers, activists, and change makers. The eclectic and transformative celebration has been described as a special blend of TED, Burning Man and Jewish summer camp. In past years the popular festival has attracted more than 1,000 Jewish students and young adults from 20 states, six countries, and more than 60 colleges and universities. Special performers for the 2012 Jewlicious Festival include the phenomenal actress and PhD in Neuroscience Mayim Bialik (Blossom, … Continue Reading
Gender Balance in the Jewish Spotlight
by Naomi Less My fans and readers are familiar with inspiring pieces I share that are written by others about gender, sexuality and girl empowerment. But recently, I have been blogging with discouragement about women’s under-representation in Jewish communal endeavors and initiatives. (Click here for the original blog post). Based on four events in the last six months, and the unsatisfactory responses I have received, I am committed to working on this, even as my speaking out comes at some risk to my own musical career. Here is a round-up of recent communal lapses of judgment on the gender front, the suggestions I offered, and the lack of follow-up from some of our communal leaders. Episode 1: November’s Jewish Futures Conference (sponsored by The Jewish Education Project, JESNA's … Continue Reading
Identity and Structure: The Delicate Balance in the Jewish Agenda
by Robert Hyfler, PhD. The identity advocate says: “Our goal is to promote 21st century options for Jewish living”. The structuralist replies: “Our challenge is to create a Jewish community worth living in”. Of course the two statements are not mutually exclusive and are indeed mutually reinforcing. A compelling vision of the joys of Jewish life must go hand in glove with a commitment to building those agencies and institutions that embody Jewish values and ensure an organizational framework for the future. Yet our communal and philanthropic world is seldom good at nuance. From generation to generation, decade to decade, one strategy over the other has often held sway. For the past two decades the identity advocates have been ascendant. The questions they ask and the … Continue Reading
Camp Jewlicious Wrap Up
Better late than never, eh? It’s been a hell of a week. We never really thought that we’d actually pull it off. I mean Camp Jewlicious. Four days at the breath taking Brandeis Bardin Institute, 130 participants, endless activity and discussions, music … whatever. We’ve all been in a daze this week so cut us a bit of slack ok? It was beyond. Just beyond. Here are some stand out photos because without photos, it didn’t happen! David Abitbol is the creator of Jewlicious.com. For more on the vision behind Jewlicious, see our post Creating Positive Jewish Experiences. … Continue Reading
Creating Positive Jewish Experiences
Former lawyer and Web mastermind David Abitbol was born in Israel and raised in Montreal, and says he has a love-hate relationship with Jews. A product of 11 years of Jewish day school, one year at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and far more University education that (he thinks) is heathy, he still is fascinated by Judaism. In addition, David is an epitome of Zionist with his love and devotion to Israel, with a special relationship and love for Jerusalem. In this exclusive video, Abitbol talks about Jewlicious.com, the blog he created with a few friends years ago, simply to talk about and discuss Jewish issues. Over the years, Jewlicious became a phenomenon and trend in the Jewish world for young Jewish adults. The idea of Jewlicious, was personified, morphed to an adjective, noun, and … Continue Reading
New LA Grants Expand Five Innovative Programs
The Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles (The Foundation) has awarded a total of slightly more than $1 million in Cutting Edge Grants to five nonprofit organizations whose programs seek to address social issues, strengthen Jewish identity and add vibrancy to local Jewish life. Programs receiving funding span arts and culture festivals for young, unaffiliated Jews; free children’s books with Jewish themes for families with youngsters; an independent living program for young adults with special needs; and a community-wide effort to address the issue of hunger in Los Angeles. Recipients include the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles’s Fed Up with Hunger/Netiya program, $250,000; Six Points Fellowship for Emerging Jewish Artists, which provides funding for artists to create their … Continue Reading
Jewish Identity Among My Generation (of Ladies) in the U.S.
by Vicki Boykis Here’s a study Peter Beinart can use in his next article. Pete, call me! I was recently asked by a friend to participate in a study conducted by Ariella Goldfein of JTS on Jewish identity among Jewish women of North America. She writes in the results, Over 400 women participated in the study, which yielded more data than my initial analysis was able to incorporate. My focus for this first analysis was childhood and adolescent synagogue experiences and perceptions as a factor in self-defined Jewish identity among Conservative, Conservadox and Modern Orthodox emerging adult Jewish women. As there is much more that can be gleaned from the high number of responses, I hope to utilize this data for future study. As a little bit of preface, almost three quarters of the women … Continue Reading
Jewlicious Cool
Jewlicious: Celebration of Jewish Cool Letter From Long Beach, CA by Gordon Haber I’ve just spent my entire weekend at the sixth annual Jewlicious Festival in Long Beach, Calif., and I’m exhausted. Between sundown Friday and Sunday afternoon, I have eaten Jewish food, exercised with a Jewish boxer, laughed at Jewish comics and listened to Jewish music. I have talked about the Jewish past and argued about the Jewish future. I have met Conservative Jews, Orthodox Jews, Persian Jews, African-American Jews, Sephardim, Hasidim and people who converted to Judaism. All weekend, every single conversation was in some way related to Jews, Judaism or Jewishness. I feel like an over-stimulated child, or maybe like I’ve spent 48 hours in a mikveh. Which is exactly how the festival’s … Continue Reading
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 challah varieties. … Continue Reading
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