Day School Collaboration Network
“We really want [students] who can collaborate, take initiative, be creative, think outside the box. It’s really the skills that [...]
Innovator Spotlight: Jewish Plays Project
Innovator Spotlight: David Winitsky & the Jewish Plays Project David Winitsky calls himself a "late in life Jew." Raised in [...]
UpStarter Spotlight: JLens Lands $5 Million Investment
Three years ago, Julie Hammerman launched JLens as a channel for Jews to apply a Jewish values lens to investing. [...]
Enabling a Culture of Innovating
How might we change our robust Jewish communal landscape by changing our innovation culture as well?
Living and working in Silicon Valley, I hear the word innovation on a daily basis at the grocery store, at the gym, even at Friday night services. Companies are hiring Chief Innovation Officers and foundations are creating new grants specifically for innovation. The word is used so much, but Im not sure we all define it in the same way. Is it innovative because its new? Not necessarily. Is it innovative because it utilizes technology? Im not so sure. The overuse of the word, perhaps, is a product of the misuse of the word. As all educators know, its not about the destination; its about the journey. And, in this case, its not about innovation a product or outcome; its about innovating a process of building, measuring, and learning.
Seizing Our Opportunity
Dear UpStart Community, It is with tremendous excitement that I write you today as UpStart's new CEO. Over the last few weeks, I've had the privilege of sharing UpStart's work with family, friends, colleagues, and community members. To me, UpStart's mission boils down to a simple notion - that we must seize the central opportunity presented to the Jewish community today: How might we foster the creation of new access points to the gift of Jewish tradition in ways that provide a deeper and more relevant sense of meaning for our community?
Shaping Our Future
The soul of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur liturgy is the netaneh tokef prayer, when we come face to face with the reality that we have so very little control in life. Who shall live, and who shall die? Who will become wealthy, and who poor? Who by fire and who by water? Who in his time, and who not in his time (or, in Leonard Cohens words, Who in the merry merry month of May and who by slow decay?)
Venahafoch Hu – Need We Re-Write the Narrative?
Purim is a reminder that we must live in the complexity of conflicting narratives. Tapestry by Smadar Livne; courtesy. Rabbi [...]
#RedesigningJewish
Have you ever picked up a small pitcher of milk for your coffee only to have half of the contents dribble down the side and pool onto the counter? Often, design is something we dont think about unless it is really bad or really good. And yet, there is a remarkable and nuanced history behind the shape and construction of almost everything we touch, a story behind the design of each object even the container holding your milk. Once, I thought design meant the funky looking chairs that I couldnt afford from Soho furniture shops. Then my cousin, a textile designer, explained design to me in very different terms. Design, she said, is making everyday objects that are both beautiful and functional. She viewed a well-designed object as art and until that conversation I had never thought of everyday objects that way.
Ignite, Accelerate, Impact: Upstart’s Recipe for Building the Jewish Future
Steve Jobs once said, "to turn really interesting ideas and fledgling technologies into a company that can continue to innovate [...]
Eating Bugs
When we begin to talk about new models, new structures, new leadership, new programs that replace the old, we inevitably have associations, and often those associations are negative.
I recently attended a workshop as a guest designer at Stanford d.schools K12 Lab Network. The network is in its first year, training teams of teachers from public schools around the Bay Area to use the tools and mindsets of Design Thinking to tackle their challenges. Excitingly, this network was informed by Upstarts work with the Jewish Education Project on the Day School Collaboration Network (DSCN), the first such network of schools in the country using the tools of Design Thinking to address problems across schools. Melissa Pelochino, the networks lead designer and facilitator, was a coach for DSCN in its inaugural year.
The focus of the workshop was to help schools introduce World Language courses to their students in innovative ways. The day was designed to help the school teams arrive at prototypes they could take back to their schools. The kick-off activity was designed to help the teams develop empathy for their students, for whom learning a foreign language could be very daunting and challenging. It was led by Monica Martinez, the founder of Don Bugito Prehispanic Snaqueria. Thats right; the opening activity of the day was eating bugs.
