Deborah Fishman sits with David Brown. This interview is part of the Network-Weaver Series. [David Brown is Social Action Coordinator at JHub in London, working on the Jewish Social Action Forum’s Big Green Jewish and Fairtrade campaigns. He is also the European coordinator of SIACH: A Global Environment and Social Justice network, and was on the core volunteer team recently for Limmud Conference in the UK.] What is a network? I think of connections between people, projects, and organizations. It can be a group of people who happen to find themselves in the same space, organizationally or physically. Either a given area of content can attract people (I think about SIACH), or it can be getting people together and letting them define the content (like the ROI Community). I come to the … Continue Reading
The Power of Network Development
by Deborah Fishman After being a part of the ROI conference for Jewish innovators last June, David Brown, Social Action Coordinator at JHub in London, came home inspired - and filled with questions. How do these young Jews and the initiatives they represent relate to the establishment? And what is “Jewish” about Jewish innovation, anyway? There are many approaches David could have taken to seek answers. Ultimately, I encouraged him to conduct a SurveyMonkey.com survey of around 70 innovators he was in contact with, the results of which he distilled for PresenTense Magazine. By utilizing the power of his network, David learned what his peers were thinking about the issues on his mind - resulting in a new consciousness of the “why” behind what he does that will inform his sense of … Continue Reading
Energy and Possibility: Empowering the Future of Jewish Life in Europe
by Seth Cohen and Shoshana Boyd Gelfand "Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement. .... get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. Abraham Joshua Heschel On a recent Shabbat evening in Uppsala, Sweden, a group of over fifty Jewish young adults from across Europe gathered together to welcome Shabbat. A discussion ensued in the spirit of Heschel’s conception of radial amazement and how it might apply to them individually or as a group. As the discussion circled the room, one particular Romanian woman who had been quiet during much of the past two days spoke up. She looked around the room, at the faces of young, laughing and dreaming Jewish Europeans from London to … Continue Reading
Renewing the Jewish Communities of Europe through European Eyes
by Clive A Lawton I was a little surprised to read Ariel Beery’s response to The Summer of Change and the JPropel programme that he attended in Uppsala Sweden recently. I was there too briefly and have attended other such events in the past. My abiding feeling on leaving them is a sense of buoyant optimism. So many young enthusiasts from so many walks of Jewish life! In contrast, Ariel’s article seemed to suggest that he felt disheartened at the impression he received of an old guard hanging on with dead man’s grip on the resources of the communities of Europe, while the younger generation became increasingly frustrated with the blocking of their creativity and initiatives so that they would eventually give up and leave. So why might our responses be so different? I suggest it’s … Continue Reading
JPropel and Renewing the Jewish Communities of Europe
Over the past two weeks, Schusterman's @Roicommunity, Paideia and the Pears Foundation's JHub have run a series of activities in the classic Swedish university town of Uppsala under the banner of the Summer of Change. @aharonhorwitz and I were privileged to represent PresenTense there as 'staff,' Aharon as part of the incubator, and both of us together at JPropel teaching a few workshops over the course of a few days, from our PTSchool series, and leading a text-based learning on business model development for social enterprise. It was a fun affair. For a little under a week, approximately 50 individuals, the majority from the various countries of Europe, hung out, ate, drank and took boat rides whose main outcome was the bonding of young activist Jews across the world, and an understanding that … Continue Reading
European Social Innovators Connect to Create New Expressions of Jewish Life
Jerusalem, August 3, 2011: As Europe faces an acute identity crisis, 48 social justice activists, artists, environmentalists, media and tech gurus, educators, Israel advocates and intercultural dialoguers will gather for four days at JPropel in Sweden to address the challenges confronting the European Jewish renaissance and to enhance the role of up- and-coming Jewish leaders in shaping a Europe that embraces respect for all religions and cultures. JPropel is a joint initiative of JHub, Paideia and ROI Community to propel forward a new generation of European Jewish leaders. “In the shadow of the horrific massacre in Norway, JPropel shines a light on European Jewish initiatives which combat racism by reviving the spirit and culture of its victims,” said ROI Community Executive Director Justin … Continue Reading
JDub is Dead: Long Live JDub
by Shoshana Boyd Gelfand “Funerals, while sad, are a celebration of a life and the impression that a single life has had on this earth. As such, there is such a thing as a good funeral.” I remember hearing this in my practical rabbinics class at the Jewish Theological Seminary as we were learning how to give a eulogy. These words have come back to me over the past few days as I have read various responses to the news that JDub Records is closing shop. While I appreciate the thoughtful and eloquent comments of my colleagues, my own instinctive reaction has been quite different. Certainly, I share their sadness that JDub is closing its doors, but I don’t share their assumption that JDub’s life should be judged by whether or not it was sustainable long-term. While we are all still … Continue Reading
Paideia Launches 5th Project-Incubator
Twenty-seven innovators and social entrepreneurs from twelve European countries and Israel are being welcomed today by Paideia for its 5th annual Project-Incubator, a two-week intensive boot camp for projects dedicated to advancing European Jewish culture in action. Since 2006, the Project-Incubator has empowered and educated leaders of more than 80 projects in 26 European countries and Israel, from cultural centers to kindergartens, from theatrical productions to environmental campaigns. 2010 resident initiatives include “Traces of Messiah,” a traveling musical and dramatic production at Poland’s Midrash Theatre led by Agata Nowak and Rabbi Tanya Segal; Jeneration, which facilitates experimentation and personal growth for UK Jews in their 20s and 30s, led by Jude Williams; a Moderne … Continue Reading
The Many Faces of the ROI Community
Yesterday I had the chance to, once-again, sit with 120 hyped-up, caffinated, sleep-deprived young adult movers and shakers of our Jewish world at the 5th annual gathering of the ROI Global Summit. And while perhaps I spent a bit to much time catching up with friends from around the globe, it is clear that this group not only 'gets it' they are actually 'doing something about it'. For not only are they creating cutting edge projects on multiple continents, they are trail-blazing a new level of collaboration among themselves and spurring a growing interchange of ideas between ventures such as JHub, Joshua Venture Group, Jumpstart, PresenTense and UpStart Bay Area. Here are just a few of the many faces of the global ROI Community: From Florianopolis, Brazil, meet community leader Deborah … Continue Reading
New Ideas from the Old World
Lisa Capelouto, Director of JHub - a London-based incubator that focuses on Jewish social action and innovation - presents a European perspective to the conversation about innovation, and looks at how the old world is learning from the new (and sometimes the other way around). For Jews in North America, Europe is often seen as repository of memory rather than a source of exciting innovative ideas. On the other hand we Europeans tend to look longingly at the landscape of innovative startups “across the pond” and wonder why our communities lack that creativity and energy, and how we can encourage that level of innovation in Europe. Does the reality on the ground reflect this conventional wisdom? The 30 young people from 16 countries due to attend this week’s ROI/Paideia gathering of … Continue Reading
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