The Birth of Jewlicious
From the very beginning of our planning almost two years ago, the Jewlicious blog was highlighted in our business plan as one of the prime innovative projects emerging from a new generation of communal entrepreneurs. It would be much later before I would meet the man behind the project, ex-Montrealer and Shuk resident, David Abitbol, who would become both a friend and connector to many of the innovative programs popping up here in Israel.
This morning (it’s already Monday here in Jerusalem) and just in time to welcome in 5769, David (aka ck) is featured in the Jerusalem Post. May the publicity go to his head!
Back in the early days of the new millennium, the “cool Jew” movement was just warming up, thanks to ironic, self-deferential, post-traditional brands like Heeb magazine, JDub Records’s flagship recording artist Matisyahu, a big-screen release called The Hebrew Hammer and the Jewcy line of cheeky apparel. The elder generation decried the movement’s rejection of dogma, but mainstream pop culture was amplifying the buzz, and Jews in their early 20s were finding new tongue-in-cheek ways to express their cultural identity.
Smack in the middle of the generational gap was Montreal-based web designer David Abitbol.
I think we need to make David an honorary member of Cool People!