In his article How PresenTense Defines Success for Ventures Launched, Ariel Beery explains that when PresenTense claims that 11 out of the 27 ventures that PresenTenses summer Institute launched in the first two years of existence are successes, we mean that 11 of those 27 ventures have received follow-on funding or merged into other organizations. Rigorous methods to determine and measure desired impact is critical for the overall growth and ultimate health of the Jewish community.

UpStart Bay Area, whose mission is to advance early stage non-profits that offer innovative Jewish engagement opportunities, applauds PresenTenses work, and encourages the Jewish community at large to think more about the elements of success for our communitys innovative ventures. If we use our burgeoning Innovation Eco-System, tapping into organizations such as Bikkurim, JumpStart, Joshua Venture, the Pears Foundation, and others that, like UpStart, offer ongoing support during these organizations identified vulnerability stage, we can work together to further increase PresenTenses impressive statistics.

The Jewish sages have given four predominant answers to the question of why we read Jonah on Yom Kippur. The first is that the book reminds us of Gods infinite mercy. SY Agnon, in his work Days of Awe quotes the Psikta DRav Kahana, which says: Israel said to God, Master of the Universe, if we repent, will you accept it? God responded would I accept the repentance of the people of Ninveh, and not yours? We read Jonah to be reminded that if God could forgive Ninveh, of course God can forgive us.

Gary Rosenblatt, in his article The Push & Pull of Jewish Philanthropy in this weeks Jewish Week, writes:

Start-ups look to federations and foundations for funding but dont want to be associated with federations (too old school for them); federations may support the new start-ups as part of their effort to attract younger donors and be innovative, but resent that the start-ups keep their distance; and family foundations may play in both camps but are seen as unpredictable, and maybe too independent. Meanwhile, these three key groups are interdependent as well at times, relying on each other for funds, ideas and/or credibility. And the dance goes on.

Its that time of year again the days are shorter and colder, and across cultures people huddle together with family members, and brighten the dark evenings with orbs of light. Chanukah is upon us. We eat latkes and jelly donuts to remember the oil that miraculously lasted in the ancient temple. We light candles each night, increasing light and holiness in the world. We remember the miraculous victory of the few against the many, and celebrate our religious and cultural freedom. And, of course, we play dreidel and teach our young and tender to gamble.

A recent article in the Business section of the Sunday New York Times, entitled 6 Months, $90,000, and (Maybe) a Great Idea, described the phenomenon of the Entrepreneur in Residence(EIR). In Silicon Valley, there is a growing trend amongst venture capital firms to give business entrepreneurs, many of whom have successfully started and sold companies in the past, the opportunity to use their office space, benefit from a generous stipend, and put on their thinking hats. The hope is that they will come up with the next Google or Facebook.

Michael Bauer is one such entrepreneur the article highlights: While the expectations are high for his ideas, Mr. Bauer maintains that the E.I.R. programs work precisely because failure is allowed in Silicon Valley. In other parts of the world, there is a big stigma on your rsum if you try and fail, he said. That doesnt happen here. Instead, people like the E.I.R.s are ready to keep on taking swings.

In the field of innovation, there is an inevitable spectrum of success and struggle. Entrepreneurs must balance and then thrive in a continuum of experiences that range from wild successes to setbacks and even failure. This is true in the general world, and it is true in the field of Jewish innovation as well.

Lisa Lepson, the Executive Director of the Joshua Venture group, writes in her piece Where Yesterday Meets Tomorrow:

The Judaism that is evolving before our eyes isnt really new or innovative. In fact, the whole concept of evolution is at the core of Judaism. What our social entrepreneurs are doing is making tradition relevant to us once more, fusing them with contemporary values and bestowing upon them new life. They are leading a vibrant re-generation of our cultural and spiritual heritage

The holiday of Shavuot, a pillar in the Pilgrimage Festival series that also includes Passover and Sukkot, illustrates the Jewish dance between innovation and tradition, and embodies the concept of making tradition relevant to us once more.

The holiday has multiple names, revealing its multiple identities. Shavuot, which means weeks, refers to the fact that the holiday takes place seven weeks after the beginning of Passover (Deuteronomy 16:9 12); the Torah tells us to count from the time of the barley, or Omer, harvest, until the time of the wheat harvest, which we celebrate on Shavuot. The holiday is also called Chag HaBikkurim (Numbers 28:26), the Festival of the First Fruits. This time of year marked the ripening of Israels first fruits, and the Mishnah in Tractate Bikkurim describes how people from all over Israel marched to Jerusalem with their fruits in beautiful baskets to give to the priest in the Temple. Shavuot is also known as Chag HaKatzir, the Festival of the Harvest (Exodus 23: 16), since Shavuot marks the summer harvest in Israel.

In an article in a recent The New York Times Magazine entitled "Does Your Language Shape How You Think," Guy Deutscher writes about a remote Australian aboriginal tongue, the Guugu Yimithirr. He explains that while English speakers use "egocentric coordinates," using our physical selves as the reference-point to describe the space around us, pointing left, right, in front, and behind us, a Guugu Yimithirr speaker uses "cardinal directions" - fixed geographic directions, north, south, east, and west - even in intimate spaces. "For example," Deutscher writes, if they want you to move over in the car to make room, they'll say move a bit to the east.'" He continues,

"If you saw a Guugu Yimithirr speaker pointing at himself, you would naturally assume he meant to draw attention to himself. In fact, he is pointing at a cardinal direction that happens to be behind his back. While we are always at the center of the world, and it would never occur to us that pointing in the direction of our chest could mean anything other than to draw attention to ourselves, a Guugu Yimithirr speaker points through himself, as if he were thin air and his own existence were irrelevant."

This awareness of the transience, even irrelevance, of the self, is a very Jewish idea. A Hassidic saying teaches that in each individual's pocket, at all times, there should be a little slip of paper that reads: anokhi afar va'efer - I am earth and ashes. This is a reminder that we are not at the center of the universe, that we are but a speck in a wide world, and that we should learn to speak and think accordingly, like the Guugu Yimithirr, in cardinal directions, more aware of how ultimately insignificant we are. And generating this awareness is one of the primary purposes of the High Holidays.