Returning to Not Knowing
In order to genuinely learn about the needs and experiences of others, we must put aside our own assumptions, agendas, [...]
Lessons from the Bronx
This article first appeared on Jewish Futures.
My father grew up in the real Bronx a world very different from the pseudo-Bronx of Riverdale where he raised his children. He played stickball on the streets with the Italian kids, who called him Luigi The Jew, and came home regularly with torn pants, skinned knees, and the fear of facing his mother, who would inevitably say to him: If youd been the first child, you wouldve been the last! Then hed have to suffer shopping for new pants at Barneys, where he was an irregular husky, a size that weighed on his identity. His family was a member at the Young Israel of Parkchester, an Orthodox community composed of the lower-middle class workers of the East Bronx, many of whom were immigrants and did not have any Jewish education or background. (Professor Jeffrey Gurock, who also grew up in that community, writes about this synagogue, and my grandfather, in the introduction to his book Orthodox Jews in America). The youth were the hope and the pulse of the congregation. And when children became Bar or Bat Mitzvah age, they became responsible for ensuring the continuity, relevance, and vibrancy of the community.
Introducing: The Jewish Day School Collaboration Network
Originally published on eJewish Philanthropy
In his eJewish Philanthropy post last month, Toward Creativity: A Theological Goal for Jewish Education, Rabbi Daniel Lehmann raises the question of the overarching purpose of Jewish life. He argues, Judaism calls on the human being, and the Jew in particular, to emulate Gods creative nature and to become a creative being. He then explains that if we take this theological proposition as a fundamental goal of Jewish living, it becomes a necessary focus of Jewish education. Meaning, our institutions of Jewish education need to foster and train individuals to achieve the ultimate purpose of Jewish life, in this case, they must help train people to tap into and unleash individual and communal creativity.
While we are not convinced that creativity is the ultimate goal of Jewish living, we do agree with Rabbi Lehmann that it is a necessary tool toward achieving the array of potential answers to the questions that face us as a community: What does it mean to live a Jewish life in the 21st century? What does it gift us? What does it demand of us? And we agree that it is critical that we think very deliberately about the concrete links between the relationship the next generation will have with Jewish life, and the environments of growth we foster for them. This is no small challenge, and we could benefit, as Rabbi Lehmann suggests, from increased creativity as we tackle it.
The Covenant Foundation Awards its Pomegranate Prize to Five Young, Promising Jewish Educators
The following article appeared on November 12, 2012 on The Covenant Foundation website.
Baltimore Nov. 12, 2012 Five promising Jewish educators are the 2012 recipients of The Covenant Foundations Pomegranate Prize for their exceptionalism as emerging professionals in Jewish educational settings across the country.
Recipients, representing a range of educational venues, activities and approaches, are: Maya Bernstein, Strategic Design Officer at UpStart Bay Area in San Francisco; Rabbi Eliav Bock, Founding Director of Ramah Outdoor Adventure at Ramah in the Rockies in Denver; Rabbi Nicole Greninger, Director of Education at Temple Isaiah in Lafayette, CA; Rabbi Barry Kislowicz, Head of School at Fuchs Mizrachi School in Beachwood, OH; and Sarah Lefton, Founding Executive Director of G-dcast in San Francisco.
The Foundation named the newest recipients of the Pomegranate Prize at its annual award ceremony here today during the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America.
We know that encouragement early on in a persons career can make all the difference in their success, said Keating Crown, a member of the Foundations founding family, as he introduced the Pomegranate Award recipients to hundreds of Jewish lay, communal and educational leaders gathered at the event.
Our goal with this Prize is to provide the means for these already remarkable educators to further develop their skills and interests, and have the chance to get to know others who, like themselves, are bringing fresh new ideas and abundant energy to the field of Jewish education, he said.
Introducing the Slingshot Class of 2012-2013
We were thrilled to host Slingshot at our office the first weekend in November as they launched their 2012-2013 Slingshot guide on the West Coast.
The following is an article from eJewish Philanthropy.
Slingshot presents the eighth annual edition of Slingshot: A Resource Guide for Jewish Innovation, featuring 50 inspirational organizations, in Jewish life in North America. Fourteen additional organizations have been identified as the Standard Bearers, having been previously listed in at least five editions of Slingshot. These Standard Bearers continue to exemplify Slingshots core criteria of innovation, impact, leadership and organizational efficacy.
Iterating on Eden
An article from eJewish Philanthropy
October 26, 2012
By Maya Bernstein
Will Schneider, in his recent eJejewish Philanthropy piece Innovation to What End?, states that Innovation is a strategy toward a larger goal, such as
creating Jewish community, increasing Jewish literacy, or improving the North American Jewish communitys relationship to Israel. It should not be perceived of, or utilized as, an end in and of itself. It is simply a mindset, and set of tools, that allow us to achieve our overall shared purpose more effectively. It can be utilized within and beyond the walls of established institutions, and it should also be handled responsibly; if something aint broke, theres no need to push innovation at it and try to fix it. And therefore, we dont encourage funders to support the new over the necessary provided they dont fund the existing over the effective. Funders and practitioners alike should focus on purpose: what is it that were trying to accomplish? And what are the most effective and creative approaches and methods we can employ?
Iterating on Eden
Will Schneider, in his recent eJejewish Philanthropy piece Innovation to What End?, states that Innovation is a strategy toward a larger goal, such as creating Jewish community, increasing Jewish literacy, or improving the North American Jewish communitys relationship to Israel. It should not be perceived of, or utilized as, an end in and of itself. It is simply a mindset, and set of tools, that allow us to achieve our overall shared purpose more effectively. It can be utilized within and beyond the walls of established institutions, and it should also be handled responsibly; if something aint broke, theres no need to push innovation at it and try to fix it. And therefore, we dont encourage funders to support the new over the necessary provided they dont fund the existing over the effective. Funders and practitioners alike should focus on purpose: what is it that were trying to accomplish? And what are the most effective and creative approaches and methods we can employ?
Start ’em up! S.F. incubator turns great Jewish ideas into savvy operations
The following post is an article from the Jweekly, written by Emma Silvers (j. staff)
On the sixth floor of an office building in San Franciscos Financial District, in a boardroom at the back of a bright, spacious office, Rabbi Noa Kushner is doing something most people dont generally think of rabbis doing: asking for guidance.
You talk, Ill type, a consultant from UpStart Bay Area says to her. Looking ahead six months, what are your main goals?
Kushner is the founding rabbi of The Kitchen, a 16-month-old group that describes itself as one part indie Shabbat community, one part San Francisco experiment, and one part tool kit for DIY Jewish practice. The rabbi has regular meetings at UpStart to talk about where her young organization is headed.
UpStart Bay Area bills itself as a social venture, consulting firm, and incubator for innovative Jewish organizations and entrepreneurs and Kushner is far from the only one who uses its services.
Since 2006, she and a select group of other local entrepreneurial Jews many of them young, all of them with innovative and often great ideas have been chosen to link with UpStart and learn how to translate those ideas into action.
Cover story: Start 'em up! S.F. incubator turns great Jewish ideas into savvy operations
The following post was a coverstory in the Jweekly, written by Emma Silvers (j. staff)
On the sixth floor of an office building in San Franciscos Financial District, in a boardroom at the back of a bright, spacious office, Rabbi Noa Kushner is doing something most people dont generally think of rabbis doing: asking for guidance.
You talk, Ill type, a consultant from UpStart Bay Area says to her. Looking ahead six months, what are your main goals?
Kushner is the founding rabbi of The Kitchen, a 16-month-old group that describes itself as one part indie Shabbat community, one part San Francisco experiment, and one part tool kit for DIY Jewish practice. The rabbi has regular meetings at UpStart to talk about where her young organization is headed.
UpStart Bay Area bills itself as a social venture, consulting firm, and incubator for innovative Jewish organizations and entrepreneurs and Kushner is far from the only one who uses its services.
Since 2006, she and a select group of other local entrepreneurial Jews many of them young, all of them with innovative and often great ideas have been chosen to link with UpStart and learn how to translate those ideas into action.
A Call for Change
An article from eJewish Philanthropy.
Quick, what instrument do you associate with Passover? Matzah? Sorry, not an instrument. With Shavuot? What? Blintzes? Wrong again. You seem obsessed with food. With Sukkot? No, a lulav is not technically an instrument.
We dont normally associate our holidays with instruments, or sounds. And yet, if we were to free-associate about Rosh Hashanah, perhaps one of the most important times in the Jewish calendar, we would immediately think of the blasts of the shofar. In fact, the Torah refers to this holiday not as the Jewish New Year, but as a day of trumpeting (Numbers 29:1). Why does this little rams horn, play such a significant role on this major holiday? And what does it have to do with the overarching theme of the holiday, renewal and growth?
The shofar can be perceived as an auditory metaphor for the elements involved in any change, renewal, or innovation process. Its various sounds, legato and staccato, a constant presence in the month leading up to the holiday, and during the services on the holiday itself, are reminders of the steps involved when we seek to make meaningful change in our personal, communal, and professional lives.
