Congratulations to Ariel Beery, our own Bronfman finalist, for making the top five list in Charles Bronfman’s big idea contest for Jewish communal innovation at Brandeis University.
UPDATE: Ariel’s proposal will soon be joined by the proposals of Yehuda Kurtzer and Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, who have kindly agreed to share them on this blog!
Among his illustrious competitors are:
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, author of Kosher Sex and television’s “Shalom in the Home,” and founder of the Jewish Values Network– project: “Bringing Judaism to the Mainstream”
You can read more about Rabbi Shmuley’s idea here where he says: “Why have we failed? I believe the principal reason is the false choice that the American Jewish community has imposed upon its constituents. In essence, one is always forced to choose between the Jewish and the mainstream community… We can make Judaism and Jewish values so central to American life that wherever anyone turns to TV, radio, the Internet or print, they will bump into something Jewish.”
Anita Diamant, author of The Red Tent and founder of the Mayyim Hayyim mikvah– project: “Minhag America”
Note Diamant’s use of the term “minhag America” in this Jewish Standardarticle. She says, “We are creating a new Judaism, minhag America, a strong, healthy, creative American Judaism”
Minhag America is the 1847 prayerbook created by Max Lilienthal as a national American prayerbook
Yehuda Kurtzer, instructor at Hebrew College’s Rabbinical School and Harvard PhD candidate– project: “The Sacred Task of Rebuilding Jewish Memory”
Saul Singer, columnist and editor for the Jerusalem Post– project: “From Survival to Purpose”
You can read more about Singer’s idea in his own words here, where he says: ” We have forgotten that our purpose is not to survive; our survival is to advance our purpose”
Ariel Beery’s proposal, as featured in our Bronfman Big Idea Series, is entitled “Translating Judaism for the Post-Digital Age: Creative Zionism and a Renewed Jewish People.”
Keep reading to learn what the finalists have in common.
I try to avoid politics in this blog, but this is a land where our very existence is considered a matter of opinion.
As I wrote yesterday, I am ensconced in a discussion about the crisis in Gaza over at Global Voices Online. I wanted to move the discussion over here because I respect your opinions and want to hear what you have to say. (I also respect the opinions of the commenters and my fellow authors at GVO, but I suspect that the opinions expressed here and there will differ.)
Wafa Sultan on Secularism
Lee Cornfield of the Tidbits Nuggets and Brainbabies blog sent me a video of Arab American psychologist Wafa Sultan being interviewed on Al Jazeera television. I was most struck by her ideas regarding secular humanism. I’ve excerpted the conversation below (starting at 3:13 in the video).
Sultan: “I am not a Christian, a Muslim, or a Jew. I am a secular human being. I do not believe in the supernatural, but I respect others’ rights to believe in it.”
Host: “Are you a heretic?”
Sultan: “You can say whatever you like. I am a secular human being who does not believe in the supernatural.”
Host: “If you are a heretic, there is no point in rebuking you since you have blasphemed against Islam, the Prophet, and the Koran.
Sultan: “These are personal matters that do not concern you. Brother, you can believe in stones, as long as you don’t throw them at me. You are free to worship who[m]ever you want, but other people’s beliefs are not your concern. Whether they believe that the Messiah is god, son of Mary, or that Satan is god, son of Mary. Let people have their beliefs.”
Israel and Palestine: Solving the Conflict Secularly
I find Sultan’s discussion of secular humanism really appealing. Not in the sense that the secular is pitted against the religious, but because I believe that approaching the Israeli Palestinian conflict from the perspective of religion taints it and plunges it deep into an historical quagmire from which we will never escape.
Am I saying that the Israeli Palestinian dilemma can only be solved from a secular perspective? Yes. Must the people engaging in discussion be secular? No, but they must approach the conflict from a modern, practical, and future oriented perspective that takes us to where we want to be– on both sides of the conflict– rather than relying on the dysfunctional relations of the past.
While we are deep into a discussion of Jewish identity, Israel, Zionism, and our Jewish future, I would like to introduce you to a project that will help us think more broadly about these ideas.
The Jewish Reconnection Project features a series of 6 video conversations between four Jews in New York and five Jews in Israel on:
Israel– Diaspora Relations
Intermarriage
Religion
The “Promised Land”
Occupation
Conflict
Sponsored by the Nathan Cummings Foundation to promote conversations in the Jewish world, these videos remind us of the salon, cafe, node, and think tank models we have been discussing. The names vary by author and details, but the ideas are in essence the same.
Jumpstarting the Conversation
One thing I’ve noticed going through the Project’s press section is that everyone seems to think it’s a good idea, but no one really has much to say about it.
The videos conclude with the recommended, “We want to know what you think” message, but I don’t think we have enough information about the project, either through the videos or on the website, to start our own conversations. We understand the idea in general, but don’t know what to do with it.
Even the longer articles listed from sites that are more formally news oriented than blogs lean toward quoting the video’s participants rather than forwarding the discussion themselves.
Let’s think about how this could be remedied. (Keep reading below)
What can we as modern Jews learn from the social networks created in the Diaspora? What does being part of the collective Jewish system add to an individual’s life? What is the Jewish role in the Information Revolution? How can Jewish social entrepreneurs create a value-added system for being Jewish in the modern world?
Ariel Beery is the editor and publisher of PresenTense, co-founder and director of the PresenTense Institute for Creative Zionism, director of strategy and design for MavenHaven, co-editor of BlogsofZion. He was a co-founder of the Creative Zionist Circle together with Aharon Horwitz in 2003.Ariel lectures and writes on topics pertaining to the Jewish People, its future, and Creative Zionism.
Ariel is a full time graduate student at NYU’s Wagner School doing two master’s degree–one in nonprofit management and the other in Judaic Studies. Ariel is a graduate of Columbia University, where he majored in economics and political science, served as President of the School of General Studies Student Body, and was co-founder and co-coordinator of a lecture series on Minorities in the Middle East at Columbia.
You can learn more about Ariel and read his writings here.
Translating Judaism for the Post-Digital Age: Creative Zionism and a Renewed Jewish People by Ariel Beery
Introduction: Technology & the Search for Meaning
The advent and spread of information technology has irrevocably transformed the means of communication, and therefore the form communities will take until the next great leap in technological abilities.
The capabilities we as humans now have to develop relationships with others and to plan and execute collective actions have been exponentially impacted by the spread of the internet.
These capabilities will only be expanded in the coming years, as mobile broadband becomes just as accessible as AM radio, as data storage puts near infinite bits on a keychain, and as battery life becomes measured in days and not hours.
What has not changed, however—what has even increased in recent years—is the human need for meaning and the search for others who share a common conception of meaning and values. Hence the rise of the evangelical movement, hence the increased focus in business on social return on investment and social entrepreneurship, and hence the valuation of social networks such as Facebook for sums in the billions of dollars.
It makes sense that the Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley should be our best practice leader in using technology, doesn’t it? It’s their area of expertise after all.
Check out the Federation’s new video to explain how the federation uses fundraising dollars. Consider it an answer to Gary Tobin’s remark:
“The conclusion I draw is that Jewish organizations are not effectively making their case. Whether that is in terms of not asking for enough or not making compelling arguments or getting access to the donors.”
Yashar koach on a job well done. Thanks for setting an example for the rest of us.
Photo by Yaniv Ben-Arie, Western Negev a Week After the Rain
How can we re-awaken the Jewish pioneering spirit with strengthening Israel and helping to make the Jewish future more secure? Dr. Jason Goodfriend’s proposal for the Bronfman Big Idea contest presents the possibilities.
Jason H. Goodfriend is a senior forecast analyst for a major corporation. He holds a PhD in Systems Engineering (decision sciences) from the University of Virginia. He has held a variety of posts in industry, government, and academia, and he is the author of the textbook A Gateway to Higher Mathematics.
Dr. Goodfriend has volunteered within the Jewish community on numerous occasions. He has always been deeply concerned for the Jewish people and for Israel ever since his parents played Yiddish and Israeli folk songs to him when he was a young child.
The Executive Summary
The goals of the proposal for “Renewing the Jewish Pioneering Spirit by Volunteer Work in the Negev” are the following:
Establishing a large-scale volunteering program for Jewish young adults and teens to help the Jewish National Fund, the Daroma Association, and other organizations working to develop the Negev region of Israel
Creating programming for and trips to biblical sites in the Negev and other parts of Israel as part of the volunteer experience
Designing a marketing and outreach program to the Diaspora to promote the Negev volunteer experience and to make the Jewish community worldwide aware of the efforts being made to develop the Negev
Creating programming that focuses on the central importance of the desert and the pioneering spirit in Judaism
The Proposal by Jason Goodfriend
Introduction
The Desert as a Place of Spiritual Rebirth for the Jewish People–
The desert has played a central role in the history of the Jewish people. The patriarchs and matriarchs sojourned in the Negev. The Israelites received the Torah in the desert, and then wandered there for 40 years as they fused into a people. Moses and Elijah, as well as countless others, fled to the desert to “find” themselves.
The narrative history of the Jewish people is infused with stories of the desert as a place for finding ourselves and developing our connection with G-D. There is something about the desert that fosters a spiritual reawakening.
The results of a recent survey by the Institute for Jewish and Community Research show that Jewish organizations aren’t doing enough to harness the power of Jewish donors when it comes to mega-giving.
“This study tells the story of a fully assimilated Jewish community making significant contributions to the well-being of American society and causes around the globe. It also shows that Jewish institutions do poorly in attracting mega-gifts from Jewish donors. Jews make many more mega-gifts than they receive.” (p. 4)
Among authors Gary Tobin and Aryeh Weinberg’s findings were the following:
In the field of philanthropy, Jews gave 12% of all gifts over $1 million, but Jewish organizations received only 9% of that total
Of gifts over $10 million given by Jewish donors, only 5% of total donations went to Jewish groups
Of gifts between $1 million and $9.9 million, Jewish groups received 19% of the total
Of all gifts to Jewish organizations, Jewish federations received only 1% (the largest being a $6 million gift in 2003 to the Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore)
The question we have to ask ourself is: “Is this a problem?”
If you work in Jewish philanthropy in Israel, you know that there are two categories of donors: those who care for Israeli Arabs and those who don’t.
If your organization works with Israeli Arabs, you promote those efforts with vigor to pro-Arab donors, hoping that their interest will take root. If your potential donors are anti-Arab, then you don’t breathe a word of it, silently sectioning off that work.
In this post, I will tell you some truths about Israel with Hebrew, Arabic, and some Greek thrown in.
Jewish Philanthropy and Israeli Arabs
Jewish donors from Europe and the United States visited Israel this week to learn more about the challenges facing Israeli Arabs in Israeli society. Seventy Jewish organizations were represented.
The trip is part of an ongoing effort to strengthen Israeli Arab integration and leadership in Israel. More than ever, there is a strong interest in improving the quality of life for Israeli Arabs– but not everyone is happy about it.
Ameer Makhoul, the head of Ittijah, an umbrella organization for Arab non-governmental organizations in Israel, refused to meet with the donors and cautioned others against it as well.
Makhoul’s complaint? He didn’t want to speak with anyone who saw Israel as a Jewish state. “Meeting with them means legitimizing and accepting their agenda and the framework of the State of Israel as a Jewish state. This is a multipurpose and diverse group that is trying to dictate our future,” he said.
Are you serious?
Let’s have some basic common sense on this issue. Someone wants to hear your concerns and priorities. They want to know how they can help you, your community, and those you serve improve to their lives. And you tell them you’re not interested?
Birthright Israel– we’ve all heard the hype and some of us think Birthright lives up to it while others don’t. As Birthright’s unofficial poster child, I’m here to offer three suggestions for how Birthright could improve its stickiness by increasing its outreach and maximizing its impact on program participants.
“Stickiness” is a word we use a lot in blogging and that is only just beginning to be used in the real world. In blogging, our blogs are sticky if a user comes to a site and then returns or subscribes. In other words, something about the concept of the website is attractive to the viewer, making her want to learn more. I hope that we will soon come to think of our nonprofits, foundations, and programming the same way.
Birthright’s Stickiness
Let’s use Birthright as an example. The key to Birthright’s success should be stickiness. Get those kids to Israel and make them care. Caring will change their Jewish identities, Jewish communities, and eventually Jewish continuity. Right?
But so far we’ve only gotten as far as to get them here and cross our fingers that the rest will happen. We’re so happy that we’ve managed to do that, that the philanthropists who have made it happen and those of us it’s worked for are busy sitting around congratulating ourselves instead of thinking about what needs to be done to make Birthright better, to maximize its effect for full impact.
I challenge the Jewish community to do more.
Keep reading for three ways to improve Birthright and my suggestions for follow up programming.
What is the future of the Jewish people and Jewish identity as we advance into the 21st century? What unites us as a people? What changes will we need to make socially, psychologically, and religiously to adapt to the challenges that this century will bring? Tsvi Bisk has some answers.
Tsvi is also this week’s featured guest on Ha’aretz’s Rosner’s Domain, where he answers questions about Jewish identity and continuity. After reading his proposal here, head over and check it out.
Covenant with the Future by Tsvi Bisk
Rationale
Two polls have justifiably alarmed the Jewish people.
In Israel, about 50% of young people polled identified themselves as primarily Israeli rather than Jewish
In the United States, close to 50% of Jews under the age of 35 indicated that they would not view the destruction of Israel as a personal tragedy
These two indicators taken together cast doubt on the very future of the Jewish people. This being the case the formulation of concepts and practical programs dealing with how Jewish life might look in the future must be our top priority.
The project I envision– Covenant with the Future– will attempt to do just that. That Jews need a covenant with their future if we wish to survive and flourish. We must “futurize” Jewish civilization and in order to do that we must “futurize” Jewish thinking.
The working assumptions of this proposal are that:
The Jewish past and Jewish tradition are no longer identifying elements of Jewish identity and might even be divisive for ever-growing numbers of young Jews in Israel and other communities around the world
Two objective trends are serving to exacerbate Jewish identity: globalization and ever increasing rates of change (where real time change constantly erodes the unifying force of tradition)
Only visions of a common Jewish future can be a unifying force– visions that contain practical projects (modern mitzvot) that enable young Jews from every part of the Jewish identity spectrum to work together on projects that have universal human consequences, but are yet unframed within a Jewish value system. This would be our Covenant with the Future
For some time now, I have been trying to decide whether to start a blog following the Jewish and Israeli issues in the 2008 US presidential elections. It would observe and analyze voters’ and candidates’ priorities, behaviors, and values on key issues of concern.
Therefore, I have two questions for you:
Is this something that you add value to your life? Would you read it? Is it something you feel we need or that you would want to have?
Would you be interested in collaborating on such a project?
Let me know. If I start one, I want to do it fairly soon while we are still just starting the primary season. As far as I am aware– and I have done significant searching– no blog like this exists, only bloggers posting intermittent posts and official news sources.
UPDATE! I have decided not to go in the direction of creating an Israeli/Jewish US elections blog. Since this posting, the JTA has released its Election Central 2008 website and the Jerusalem Post has made their election coverage much more complete, which accomplishes the same purpose, but with significantly more resources. President Bush’s visit to Israel has additionally spurred on more election coverage from the Israeli blogosphere.
The goal of any good blog is to find a yet unfulfilled niche and cover it as completely as possible to give your readers maximum coverage. My blog would no longer fit these criteria, so I am excited to be moving on to other great projects– but take note, I’ll be reading and listening. Thanks for your feedback for those who weighed in on this issue.
(Updated Sunday, January 13th, 2007)
Absentee Voting from Israel
To my American readers: a quick reminder that you most likely still have time to register to vote by absentee ballot in the primaries.
You can get more information on the specifics of your last state of residence from the Overseas Vote Foundation.
I try to keep politics out of this blog, but we need to think of Israel’s future relationship with the United States. It’s just a reality.
P.S. Absentee voting means no hanging chads.
President Bush Visits Israel
And lastly, President Bush has just arrived in Jerusalem and the whole city has shut down as a result. Here’s an excerpt of my Global Voices Online post.
“American President George W. Bush is arriving in Israel today and for once, English speaking Israelis have little to say. Views fall primarily into two camps:
Complaints about the short-term discomfort that high security will cause Jerusalemites in their daily routines
Concern about new rockets launched from Lebanon and ongoing attacks from Gaza hailing Bush’s visit
During his two-day stay, Bush’s primary purpose is to monitor and encourage the peace talks between the Israeli government and Palestinian Authority with the goal of establishing a Palestinian state in 2008. While in Israel, he will meet with PA President Mahmoud Abbas and later with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
President Bush’s last visit to Israel was in 1998, shortly before his first term as president.
The visit will cost Israel an unbelievable $25,000 an hour in security and force closings of all main streets for the next two days.”
What does it mean to be a Jew? What does it mean to be a religious Jew? What are the implications of involvement in the Jewish community? How should we go about ensuring Jewish continuity?
This post outlines a proposal submitted to Charles Bronfman’s Big Idea contest at Brandeis University seeking the next big idea in Jewish communal innovation. It is entitled, “The Edah: Embracing a New Definition of Am Yisrael.”
Its author, Rabbi Morey Schwartz, is the Curriculum Coordinator at Hebrew University’s Florence Melton Adult Mini School and the author of the blog Tuesdays with Morey. He lives in Chasmonaim, Israel where he is a rabbi, a mohel, a husband, a father, and an author.
The Premise of the Proposal
This proposal seeks to address the issue of assimilation in the Jewish world. The author notes that while creative and interesting Jewish programming is attracting some Jews unaffiliated Jews back into the tradition, even more are opting out. Judaism today is a religion of choice and we aren’t doing enough to attract unaffiliated Jews back into the community and help them stay involved.
Rav Morey suggests, “I propose therefore that we take a new approach. Instead of repackaging Jewish life, we should focus our efforts on defining Jewish peoplehood… This constructive new lexicon will engender inclusiveness and respect among Jews who will be able to acknowledge their differences in recognition of the multiple components that go into building and maintaining Jewish life in our times.”
Defining Our Terms: Edah and Bnei Yisrael
The ideas of “edah” and “bnei Yisrael” are key to understanding this proposal. The author uses a verse from the Torah to delineate their meanings.
“Take an accounting of the sum total of the edah of the bnei Yisrael, according to their families, after the house of their fathers…” (Numbers 1:2)
Referencing Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, Rav Morey explains that “edah designates a sub-group of Jews joined together for a common calling, and held together by the solidarity of that calling: a congregation. However, bnei Yisrael is the whole Jewish nation, within which the independent bearers and guardians of the common mission, the fulfilling of the Torah, form the edah.”
“In other words,” Rav Morey states, “Jews who choose to be serious about Jewish observance, no matter how it is defined, are choosing to be part of the edah. However Jews who don’t find their place within that sub-group are still bona fide members of bnei Yisrael.”
What’s all this about big ideas? How about some regular old good ideas. Andrew Silow-Carroll, the Editor in Chief of New Jersey Jewish News and a nascent blogger, has some suggestions.
You probably heard by now that Brandeis University is holding a competition for The Next Big Idea in Jewish life. Philanthropist Charles Bronfman is backing the competition, whose lucky winner will spend two salaried years at the university developing his or her idea into a book-length project that “aims to change the way Jews think about themselves and their community.”
I was excited when I heard about this, because I am chockablock with ideas about how to change the Jewish world. But then I thought about having to relocate to Boston, and besides, I have enough trouble concentrating on one idea for two hours, let alone for two years.
So instead I have decided to make my ideas “open source,” and by sharing them here I am offering my blessing to anyone who wants to pick up on the concept and enter it in the contest. Just give me a shout out in the acknowledgments.
Bar/Bat Mitzva Registry
Does anyone on planet earth who is not a teenager know what to buy a teenager? Too old for toys, too young for Scotch, b’nei mitzva are gift-giving nightmares. You can go the Judaica route, but just how many Kiddush cups can one 13-year-old use? Books are always a nice idea, because they look good on their parents’ shelves. So how about an on-line registry, where Joshua and Ariella can post their wish list, guests can click on “buy me,” and everyone can focus on the deeper questions of the day, such as “Are they serving sushi?”
Fundraising Dinner Offsets
You know the drill: Cocktail hour. Interminable speech by the president. Ditto by the executive director. Guest choir sings the entire Naomi Shemer songbook. And special guest speaker tells how his experience as a pro athlete/television actor/Washington pundit relates to the work of your school/hospital/research fund. Meanwhile, the Giants and the Packers are in overtime.
So how about this: Announce a fund-raising goal for the dinner and promise to lop off chunks of time for every step closer you get to the goal. Reach the goal before the dinner — everyone stays home and watches the game!
Gary Kulwin’s entry in the Charles Bronfman Brandeis Contest for the next big idea in Jewish communal innovation is a request for recognition of a new denomination within American Jewish life– “Hebrew Americans,” who share a common attachment to the Hebrew language and Israeli culture regardless of where they currently reside.
Gary Kulwin is a computer programmer who lives in South Florida with his wife and 2 year old son. He worked in Jewish communal service for five years in the 1990s, and lived in Israel for two years in the 1980s. He has two degrees, a BA from Norwestern University and a MA from the University of Illinois in organizational behavior.
About This Post
This proposal contains a series of interlocking “big ideas”: ideas about how organizations operate, ideas about the current state of the Jewish community, and project ideas that could be implemented based on those theories.
The purpose of a book, based on this proposal, would be to introduce new terms (like “Hebrew American”) into the vocabulary of Jewish life as a starting point for structural change. This essay paraphrases and, to some extent, tries to explain and expand upon the actual proposal.
Recommended Reading: Original Proposal– After reading the summary of core ideas in this post, please head to Gary’s website to read the full proposal here and to his blog, which further expands upon the ideas and project model.
The Big Organizational Ideas: Theories about Organizational Life
Organizational Survival–
While nonprofit organizations ostensibly exist to serve their formal mission, maintenance activities (i.e. membership recruitment, fundraising) become as least as important as the stated goals. Over the long term, veteran organizations tend to become increasingly conservative or narrowly focused as they refine and perfect their survival strategies.
In other words, groups that have adapted well to a given reality (by gaining support from clients, members, donors, and others) are unlikely to take great risks which challenge that perceived reality. While internally driven change is indeed possible, it usually involves a lengthy, resource consuming process.
Posted by Maya Norton 
Posted by Maya Norton 
Posted by Maya Norton 
Jason H. Goodfriend is a senior forecast analyst for a major corporation. He holds a PhD in Systems Engineering (decision sciences) from the University of Virginia. He has held a variety of posts in industry, government, and academia, and he is the author of the textbook A Gateway to Higher Mathematics .
