Joshua Bloom is a consultant to Rabbis for Human Rights and B’Tzedek’s LIFE Program. He currently lives in Jerusalem. He submitted a series of great ideas. These are just two of them.
Free JDate for Birthright Alumni
So you returned from Taglit-Birthright Israel without finding your “bashert” (b’sheret), but you feel more Jewish than you’ve felt since, well…your bar or bat mitzvah. Now what?
This idea comes from Jennie Starr, the director of Tarbuton, an Israeli cultural center in San Diego.
Existing centers for dialogue about Jewish education should invite local innovative programs to participate in their forums, in their newsletters, in their meetings.
A novel concept. Open the doors of existing Jewish organizations like JESNA, PEJE, other official organizations for Day Schools, Synagogues, etc. to alternative programs in your city.
Having worked with over 350 non-profit organizations, with a major emphasis in the Jewish community, we see wonderful acts of kindness every day; however, there seems to be a strong sense of division among our community. While we commend all participation within the Jewish community, we believe that our community needs an immediate call to action…part of the ‘new normal!’
Read about a suggestion for a community-wide call to action day. From EHL Consulting, on eJewish Philanthropy.
This idea comes from Julia Levy, the NYC-based Director of Advancement for Cornell Hillel.
I was a skeptic of meetup.com for years. Until I attended a meet-up with 400 attendees and 10,000 members in the wings on their mailing list.
Suddenly, I understood its power: the ability to self organize in your community around a shared interest.
Within a matter of minutes, you can find topics of interest, from food to nature to art to music. Enter your zipcode and an instant community is at your fingertips with twenty to hundreds of people to meet per group.
What if we created a meetup.com for the Jewish community?
Now that 28 Days, 28 Ideas has run its course, we’re opening up the blog to even more ideas from a variety of folks throughout the community who have been in touch over the last month asking to share their ideas. So be on the lookout, and be in touch with an editor at one of our participating sites or contact me directly if you’ve got an idea to share.
Writing at Jewschool.com, David A.M. Wilensky proposes the creation of what he dubs Beit Cafes. By day, it’s just a (kosher) coffee house. By night, it would be a center of Jewish culture and learning. For the Jews who live in the neighborhood, it would become a gathering place. Though all are welcome, you would know that if you’re looking for some Jewish company, some Jewish discussion, you can always head down to the Beit Cafe and strike up a conversation. Read the full post.
Jay Michaelson calls for the creation of Spiritual Birthright, which would subsidized a seven-day immersive spiritual retreat for young people aged 22-30. It would be a way to connect the hundreds of thousands of young Jews interested in spirituality — especially the tens of thousands who leave Judaism in order to find it — to the organizations which can provide them a life-changing experience. Read the full post at Daniel Sieradski’s 31 Days, 31 Ideas blog.
Stefanie Pervos of OyChicago!, an online community launched by Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, shares insights into building an online community that brings younger Jews into the JUF fold with a soft landing by being willing to share the channel with the target audience, rather than speaking to them. Campaigns from the United Jewish Federation of San Diego and the David’s Voice group of the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati are also covered. Read the full post at The Jewish Federation of North America’s Federation Connection blog.
Rabbi Joanna Samuels, director of strategic initiatives at Advancing Women Professionals and the Jewish Community, explains how the community can hold its leadership accountable for gender equity within Jewish organizations. Among other action-steps, Samuels suggests that organizations conduct internal salary audits and publicize the results — and then track their progress — on a new watchdog Web site. Read the full post on The Sisterhood blog.
Perhaps, Robert Hyfler writes, instead of thinking “outside the box”, we need to look inward — examine our long and noble traditions — to see what may be ripe for learning, change and innovation. Read the full post at eJewishPhilanthropy.
