[An open letter from Ariel Beery, co-founder and CEO of PresenTense.] Dear PresenTense Community, As many of you have known, PresenTense has been in the midst of transition over the past year, one which will ensure the continuation of our movement as a grassroots effort to remake the world through creativity and social entrepreneurship - and ensure our organization is not too closely tied to the personalities of one or two individuals. PresenTense was born of volunteer energies, crowdsourcing content and project development before the term ‘crowdsourcing’ hit the general consciousness. From our start as a magazine, we made it our mission to help the Jewish People realize its collective potential through collective action, and have made enormous strides over the years through our Global … [Read more...]
Can Innovation and Sustainability Go Hand in Hand?
by Smadar Bar-Akiva Aimed at revitalizing the established Jewish community, the wide array of innovative projects initiated by young Jews has recently gone center stage. Yet, very often the question is asked how many new initiatives can the Jewish community sustain over time? One cannot but admire start-up projects that range from tours for individuals with special needs to educational computer games, from educating for peace to Jewish animation. Organizations such as PresenTense, ROI Community, JHub in London, to name but a few, find a way to attract the best and brightest and provide cutting edge tools and a supportive network. As an organization representing the established Jewish community, we, at the World Confederation of Jewish Community Centers (WCJCC), were intrigued by this phenomenon. … [Read more...]
What is Social Entrepreneurship and Social Enterprise All About?
by Caylee Talpert Last year I wrote an article for the American Jewish Committee’s Global Voices Blog, where I shared some of my disenchantment with NGO’s in Nepal. While I believed the organisation I volunteered with was doing some very important work, I felt that many of the traditional NGO’s I encountered where largely inefficient, unaccountable to their recipients and more concerned with keeping donor money flowing than making a sustainable impact. What I didn’t realize then was that this frustration would take me on a journey to discover a new world of which I was only vaguely familiar at the time, the world of social enterprise. Since then I have spent the past year in London, which I discovered is a “hub” of the social enterprise world. Throughout my year I have attended … [Read more...]
The Power of the Collective: PresenTense 2012
In June of 2007, a centrally located religious neighborhood in Jerusalem became the launching pad for what would later become the PresenTense Global Summer Institute. But back in 2007, this low-key initiative with lofty goals was known as the PresenTense Institute for Creative Zionism (PICZ) and its goal was about "harnessing the potential of a global Jewish People rooted in the Jewish state ... to contribute their unique spark of creativity to the Jewish People," according to co-founder Aharon Horwitz. That first summer was a success. Horwitz, along with co-founder Ariel Beery, slept little, worked hard, and like many start-up entrepreneurs, quickly maxed out their credit cards. Steering committee members Esther Kustanowitz and Inbal Freund-Novick were a visible presence and the original … [Read more...]
Growing up in the ‘Jerusalem of Argentina’
by Abigail Pickus Dashing around Jerusalem, despite the heat that has been enveloping Israel like an unwelcome wool coat, Evelyn Gerson could be any stylish young woman with a head of auburn curls and a cute pair of sandals. But Gerson, 30, who spent time in Israel this summer for the PresenTense SocialStart Training Course, in partnership with the ROI Community, is a young social entrepreneur from Argentina who grew up in Moisés Ville, the famous Jewish agricultural colony in Argentina whose members have been dubbed the Jewish Gauchos. One of Baron Maurice de Hirsch’s agricultural colonies - and the first agricultural Jewish colony in South America - its beginnings are legendary. The original 130 families fleeing pogroms and persecution in Eastern Europe came to Argentina in the late … [Read more...]
From the Ashes: Jerusalem Re-Imagined
by Charlene Seidle and Brachie Sprung As we enter the Hebrew month of Av, Jews around the world begin nine somber days of mourning leading up to Tisha Be’av (the 9th of Av), one of the most solemn days on the Jewish calendar. There are many reasons that we mourn on this day, but most famously it is because of the destruction of Jerusalem and the thousands of years of exile that ensued. Today, Jerusalem is showing signs of returning to its innovative roots, and while we are not theologians, this new spirit of social and entrepreneurial energy should be a cause for celebration for all those who care deeply about this city. Jerusalem is a city about which many poems have been written, prayers read and songs sung, all inspiring intense emotions both for her residents and for people the world … [Read more...]
