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So far UpStart has created 251 blog entries.

Appetizing challah app for kids from G-dcast

2019-06-24T21:47:56-05:00In the Media|

BAchallah_app_small_sizeAn article from the Jweekly
June 20, 2013

G-dcast announced this week that its latest animated app one that teaches kids how to make challah and partake in the Jewish rituals surrounding it is available to download for free in the App Store. 

Lets Bake Challah! is the S.F.-based nonprofits fifth app, but the first designed for 3- to 6-year-olds. Kids using their parents smartphone or iPad get to interact by doing things such as dragging ingredients into a mixing bowl, rolling out dough and braiding the challah. Optional parental settings include prayers, lessons about rituals and a male or female voice.

New UpStart groups blaze trail of Jewish innovation

2019-06-24T21:47:57-05:00In the Media|

An Article from the Jweekly
June 13, 2013
By Emma Silvers

UpStart Bay Area, the S.F.-based nonprofit that supports up-and-coming Jewish social entrepreneurs, welcomed three new groups into its cohort this month, while transitioning five current UpStarter organizations to alumni status meaning theyve proven to be sustainable organizations on their own. The new groups cover a wide scope of interests.

Innovation Mindsets for Successful Schools

2018-12-17T19:20:59-06:00In the Media|

innovation_road_signSome of the most exciting developments on todays Jewish landscape come from the innovation sector, which encourages people to take an idea and run with it. Bernstein applies its principles for Jewish education.

Introduction

Why is innovation in Jewish education so critical? To reframe the question: if we believe that a Jewish education has something to offer our own community, and that individuals granted this education have something important to offer society at large, isnt it our most important responsibility to ensure that this education is vibrant, creative, inspiring, relevant, thorough, and profoundly meaningful?

What Does Collaboration Look Like?

2018-12-17T19:21:29-06:00In the Media|

collaborationAs a sector-within-a-sector, the Jewish innovation space must work together if we are to achieve maximal impact. Important conversations about growth, sustainability, and impact cannot take place exclusively behind the closed-doors of boardrooms or within the four walls of any one organization.

Israel’s Emergence Intersects With Global LGBT Struggle

2018-12-17T19:24:21-06:00In the Media|

LGBT-Star_of_David_FlagToday, Israels 65th Independence Day, it is appropriate that we stop and take pride in the many strengths of this young nation, and what its existence and growth has meant for Jewish people not only in Israel but around the world. 2013 offers much for LGBT people to take pride in compared with 1948.

Today marks the end of a three week period on the Jewish calendar that begins with Passover, in which we tell the Biblical story of our peoples exodus from bondage in Egypt, and ends with Yom Ha'atzmaut, on which this year we mark the 65th anniversary of the establishment of the modern state of Israel. We mark these two connected episodes of liberation, an ancient miracle and a modern one. The creation of the free and independent state of Israel is perhaps the most profound miracle of the 20th century, the reconnection of the Jewish people with our historical roots.

The Structures that Set Us Free

2018-12-17T19:24:40-06:00In the Media|

Structure In a recent article in the Sunday Styles Section of The New York Times entitled The Family Stories that Bind Us, Bruce Feiler notes a surprising correlation between the resilience and health of children and their fluency in their familys stories: the single most important thing you can do for your family may be the simplest of all: develop a strong family narrative. He quotes research that has identified that the more children knew about their familys history, the stronger their sense of control over their lives, the higher their self-esteem.

UpStart on the Radio!

2019-06-24T21:47:57-05:00In the Media|

Originally Aired on Westerchester On the Level on January 23, 2013

Ms.Maya Bernstein, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Ed.M., Columbia Colllege, Columbia University, B.A. graduate, and present Strategic Design Officer at UpStart Bay Ares, San Francisco, CA. Curiculum writer, designer, and evaluator with international teaching experience, replete with work in Russia, Israel, Germany and China. Joining her is Rabbi Ed Harwitz who earned a Masters of Arts Degree and Rabbinic Ordination at the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1997, a Masters Degree in Hebrew Letters from the University of Judaism and extensively studied at the Schechter Institute of Judaic Studies in Jerusalem, Israel. Rabbi Harwitz has taught students of all ages in Jewish text, philosophy and theology, with particular experience teaching Talmud in Jewish high schools. 

We welcome the opportunity they afford us to follow their respective backgrounds in the passion and promise they bring to education and their continuing quest to better define and destill the best function and methodogy in dispensing  education. To that end, we learn of the catalyst that drives them to continue to explore for a ever more effective manner and find out what drives them to think outside the perrenial box, what influence the IDEO concept had in finding the answer of the day, and so forth. It will be an exploration of learning the process and celebrating their adventure.

 

 

"Leviticus!" no sacrifice to play

2019-06-24T21:47:57-05:00In the Media|

February 27, 2013
By Eric Hal Schwartz 

The cow rose gently into the air, looking robust and healthy until, with a brief spray of blood, its head separated from its body and both parts fell. Moments later a second cow flew up. This cow, sickly green and with a bandage on one leg, fell unmolested, not worthy for sacrifice to God.

Learning the rules of sacrificing digital cows popping up and down on the iPhone screen along with doves and bags of oil and flour may not be quite the same as how the ancient Israelites did things but there's a lot of Torah in this brand new game, the first from G-dcast Entertainment, aptly named "Leviticus!"

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