I posted about the Jewish Futures Competition a few weeks ago. It asks how Jewish life, living and learning will change as we move to a society in which individuals are not only consumers of information and culture, but also producers of their own and others’ experiences. I think the question has it wrong. There never was such a divide between Jewish consumers and producers.
If you tried to picture the upbringing of a Jewish producer, it wouldn’t be mine. My formal Jewish education consisted of synagogue supplemental school, one year of Jewish Summer camp, and one college class. I have been an active participant in Jewish programming wherever I’ve lived. Does this make me a Jewish consumer?
I was elected to a synagogue board of directors at the age of 26. How did someone in the famously non-joining age group get on a synagogue board? They asked me to serve, and I said yes. When I moved to a new city, I helped start parent-led Shabbat services for preschoolers in my new synagogue, using the approach, designed by my previous community. Now that I have a child entering kindergarten, I’ve been working with several other families and Jewish professionals to organize a 4-5 day per week Jewish afterschool program that will provide robust Jewish learning (mixed in with a lot of play time) during hours when many children are already in supervised afterschool programs. More than fifty families in our community have already expressed interest in this program.
So when did I switch from a consumer to a producer? The answer is the same as it has always been. A Jewish consumer is someone who hasn’t (yet) found the motivation and outlet to produce. If you chose to be involved in a Jewish community you are a producer. You don’t need any title or degree to lead prayer. The lifeblood of Jewish organizations from Federations to minimally structured minyanim are the volunteers who step forward to inspire and organize.
So, what inspired the original question? Most Jewish producers have been hyper-local. Our synagogue walls are filled with plaques honoring our predecessors, whose devotion, ideas, and energy created these communities. Sadly, few people outside their own communities would recognize these names. Technology is shrinking the barriers that kept local voices local and expanding the types of communities that are possible. A good idea, adapted by one community, can spread well beyond the word of mouth of the members of that community. What looks like more consumers becoming producers is really local producers starting to grasp the possibilities of a larger network.
So, take my collaborators’ efforts to create an aftercare program as an example. We’ve identified and compiled detailed information from similar establishedandemergingprogramsacross the country in just a few months. We’ve gotten advice from Jewish educators working across the country and down the block. People I’ve never met are writing to me offering to help or asking about potential jobs.
Personally, I’ve gone from the biography above to a commentator and published author on Jewish institutions and education in half a year.
Even though individuals can do more, institutions still matter. To launch our aftercare program, we’re collaborating with threelocalsynagogues who have offered classroom space and we’re trying to collaborate with others. People inside and outside the professional Jewish world have given us their time and money. Our local Partnership for Jewish Life & Learning is giving us advice and a small grant for our preparatory year. Programs like ours can’t succeed in a vaccuum.
What does this mean for the future? The increasing number of voices bringing innovation to national Jewish living and learning is a good thing. Good ideas don’t all need to come from our Federations, academic programs, and other Jewish institutions, but our institutions will need to adapt. They must figure out where centeralized support is needed and where networks of local producers can do things better and cheaper on their own. This will require the broader Jewish community to significantly re-evaluate the ways we distribute and share resources and to better understand the technology tools that are strengthening our producers. I can’t tell you the best way to do all this, but I look forward to being part of what happens next.
The Jewish Futures conference is holding its second annual competition. The basic idea is that you create a 4-minute YouTube video or written document that addresses their topic of the year. This year, that topic is: “The Jewish Prosumer: The Move from Consumer to Producer in Jewish Life and Learning.” They want people to address, “How will Jewish life, living and learning change as we move to a society in which individuals are not only consumers of information and culture, but also producers of their own and others’ experiences?”
I figure some of the readers here might have opinions about this topic, why the shift is happening, or even if it is happening.
Beyond the warm feeling you get from sharing ideas with others, the winners will get $1800, an expenses-paid trip to the Jewish Futures Conference at the General Assembly of Jewish Federations of North America in Denver on November 7-8, and the chance to pitch your ideas to a high profile room full of potential donors and supporters at the conference.
You can read the competition guidelines and rules here. The submission deadline is August 27th.
The contest is sponsored by the Jewish Education Project and JESNA’s Lippman Kanfer Institute, and hosted by Jewish Federations of North America. I’m curious to see what comes out of this and might submit something myself.
Fashion designer Zac Posen adjusts orthodox teen contestant Esther Petrack before one of the final runway competitions on ANTM
If you’re anything like me, you’re just dying to hear impassioned opinions on ANTM (that’s America’s Next Top Model, for the non-cognoscenti among you) from someone who has never once watched the show.
What follows is based on a controversial clip featuring an Orthodox–or more specifically, a Modern Orthodox–Jewish contestant from the recent cycle of the CW reality show and the virtual ruckus it caused among the online community, Orthodox and non-Orthodox alike.
In case you have not seen this yet, here are some…visuals:
18-year-old Maimonides alum Esther Petrack was recently eliminated from the popular CW reality television show and has finally spoken out to dispel the rumors about her and to address the damning insinuations circulating among the blogosphere and beyond. In a Nov. 3 article in the Jerusalem Post, for example, the Orthodox Jewish reality TV star responded to a rumor that she had lived in Mea She’arim and was excommunicated by explaining that she had never lived there, and adding: ““How did they even find out about me? The video was on the Internet, which they’re not fans of, anyway.”
Indeed in that same interview, Petrack explained that she is not, nor has she ever been haredi. Yet despite this, the media persists in sensationalizing her story by describing her as haredi or ultra-orthodox.
Example:
Amusingly, the Israeli news reporter here also describes the school she attended in Boston (Maimonides–one of the bastions of so-called Centrist/Modern Orthodox Jewish education in the U.S.) as “haredi.” Haredi or not, Petrack’s appearance on the show created a stir among many in both the US and Israel who self-identify as “frum.” The infamous clip of the show went viral in the Orthodox community over a month ago, causing outrage and declamatory, self-righteous tongue wagging wherever it raised its scandalous head. One can understand why such provocative television might elicit a raised eyebrow or two but, in all honesty, I think such righteous indignation is misplaced. In all of the online discussion of this admittedly rather ridiculous episode, search though I might, nowhere could I find condemnation of what seemed to me to be the most shocking moment of all: an instance of blatant religious discrimination. In the video clip above, Tyra Banks makes clear, in no uncertain terms, that all contestants, irrespective of their beliefs or practices, are expected to conform to the show’s 24/7 work schedule, religious observance be damned.
While the norms and mores of civilized life are often suspended in ironically titled “‘reality” TV moments like these make me squirm more than scenes of so-called survivors consuming their own feces in order to prolong, for just another glorious week, their “15 minutes of fame.”
If an employer in the US today denied work to a prospective employee based on her/his religious practice, the almost automatic result would be a job discrimination lawsuit with an expectedly grim outcome for the employer . While, just under a century ago, pious Jewish immigrants, fresh-off-the-boat from Europe would routinely lose their jobs and face poverty and even starvation if they did not work on Saturday, thankfully times have changed dramatically, and now religious tolerance is a blessed norm in the US: no longer does a Jew have to choose between starvation for him/herself and his/her family and Sabbath observance. (Thanks is of course also due to courageous labor unions for more humane work hours and weekends off.) The apparent demand of the show’s creator and hostess, Banks, that Petrack chose between “honoring the Sabbath” and being part of the show, would seem to be a throwback to “bad old times” before anti-discrimination laws established norms of fairness and equality in hiring.
As to the “case” itself, we can hardly blame an 18 year old for the offenses of a crassly sensationalistic, heavily edited, celebrity-powered televised competition. While the wisdom of entering such a competition might be questioned at the outset, what Petrack does is her personal choice; she is not forcing anyone – Orthodox or not — to watch or to sanction or imitate her actions.
Much of the online uproar surrounding Petrack’s supposedly hypocritical activity as an Orthodox Jewish young woman is actually misinformed. We later learn, via a blog comment posting by Petrack’s mother (or someone posing as Petrack’s mother. However you please), that her daughter’s statement, “I will do it,” (viz., desecrate the Sabbath by working) was actually edited out of context. Upon re-watching the clip, you can see the response, indeed, was edited. Despite the remaining tsniut (modesty) issue, Esther’s Shabbat observance may very well have been ‘technically kosher’—contrary to the way several articles (even some sympathetic) suggest.
A good part of me empathizes with Petrack. How many of us can readily recall certain decisions and activities undertaken at the tender age of 18 that we would not exactly wish to immortalize on video? Especially for those of us raised in Modern Orthodox milieus, the eternal saga of rationally reconciling the two (modern and orthodox) is a plight that strongly resonates. Granted, at least in my line of work, this doesn’t generally involve lifting one’s shirt on television…..at least not as far as I can remember, anyway.
One day, when I host a Jewishly-observant-themed talk-show entitled Halakhically Incorrect, I think Petrack should be a guest.
Anyone who has, at some point, lived a genuinely modern and Orthodox existence knows that certain actions, on paper, (or, in this case, video edited out of context) could easily baffle others. Or, as one of my good friends from college whom I recently visited remarked while laughing with a glint in his eye, “Remember when I used to sin for you on Saturdays?” referring to my Shabbat observance in which several of my more keyed-in non-Jewish friends and living-mates knew to flip the bathroom switch on before I ducked in on the seventh day of the week.
In short, the real judgment in this case should be against Banks for issuing such a shockingly intolerant ultimatum, not against an 18 year old struggling to reconcile traditional religious observance and modernity. But Banks is “nit fun unzere” (translation: not one of the “tribe”). So why attack her, right?
I don’t begrudge all the earnest folks who do good work for the jooz. I even like when they are all named to important lists. Like Slingshootz. And the Forvertz 50. And the Joozish Week 36-24-36. Etc. Etc. Etc. But I begz your pardon, what’s with this Jewish Community Zeroes thingy? All the issues of teh femalez aside teh questionz iz, ‘Wasnt this whole thing just a clever tactic for JFNA* to collect several hundred thousand emailz of teh young Jooz? *(not their real name, which is much longer and is never to be abbreviated even to save space)
Honoring movers and shakers doing good work on behalf of (or for) the Jooz in the areas of:
Social and economic justice and do-gooding
Peace (in Israel and elsewhere, except Iceland)
Jewish culture (whatever that is)
Spirituality (‘specially the touchy feel-y sort)
Inclusivity (Pluralist, Racial, Gender and all that ‘faggy’ stuff)
Media (it is the message after all, liek this blog)
Other things we hate but have to include.
Step one: We announce the contest and make it sticky on the site. (check)
Circulate it via email, blogosphere and intertubes. (need your help here)
Develop snarky but slick logo that looks Obama-esque (uh, check?)
Step two: Nominations accepted via form submission on the website
Post facebook event/app/group/widget to redirect voters to jewschool.com
Be sure that heads of major Joowish organizations and entities iz nominated.
Also, anyone with a huge email/twitter/facebook following…
Note that femalez iz welcome to apply but will not be winnerz
(cuz they iz too stoopid… naw, cuz they all already iz heroz- hi mom!)
Step three: Inform all nominees they are finalists. Because they are all special.
To be named a 36, they must encourage their supporters to vote for them
(and be popular).
Votes are accepted via hosted form, which collects their name, locale,
email, etc.
Step four:
Announce winners of the cheerleading squad via press release, youtubz
and facespaces.
Compile voter list into email database and announce winners via email list
Solicit their financial support, just for shirtz and gigglz
step five:
Use the email list for our own purposez: to give all teh kittehz cheezburgerz er- Kosher tofu-parve cheezburgers..!
Muuuuhahahahahaha!!!! I eatz it up. I laffs at u. More »
Mazal tov to Prof. Elon Lindenstrauss of Hebrew University and Princeton University, who just became the first Israeli to win the Fields Medal! The Fields Medal, awarded this week in India at the International Congress of Mathematicians, is often called the Nobel Prize of mathematics (there is no Nobel in math), but unlike the Nobel Prizes, it is only awarded every 4 years, and only to people age 40 and under.
Lindenstrauss won the prize “for his results on measure rigidity in ergodic theory, and their applications to number theory”. “Er-WHAT-ic theory?”, you may ask. The official release explains:
Women of the Wall needs a logo. From their Facebook page:
Women of the Wall is looking for creative supporters to design their logo! The logo must be in both Hebrew and English (Women of the Wall, נשות הכותל). The winner’s logo will be used as our official logo! Be creative! We can’t wait to see what you come with. Please submit all entries by May 31st to media {at} womenofthewall {dot} org {dot} il. WOW will announce the winner the first week of June.
Thanks to all the folks who came out last Wednesday for the NYC premiere of Srugim. We had a blast watching it in a big group and then meeting up for drinks afterward.
Mazal tov to everyone who entered the Srugim “Name that drink” contest.
First place: Naughty Nati (Chocolate Martini)
Second place: Ani Ekadesh (Champagne with blueberry essence)
Third place: Katamonster (Sam Smith English Ale)
Honorable mention: No Sex On the Beach
Folks will be gathering once again at the JCC in Manhattan tomorrow (Wednesday, Feb. 10) for the 3rd and 4th episodes of season 1 (yes there will be English subtitles).
Not in NYC? Host your own watching party & catch it on the Jewish Channel on Saturday nights. [Note: TJC is available on cable -- iO Optimum ch. 291, Time Warner ch. 528, RCN ch. 268, Verizon FiOS ch. 900, and Cox Cable ch. 1. For more information, visit tjctv.com.] Send some photos to editor-at-jewschool-dot-com & we’ll post them on the site. (Or just share them with us on facebook)
Editor’s note: The following is a guest post by Dvora Meyers. She usually blogs at Unorthodox Gymnastics.
I saw Srugim for the first time over the summer. Ever since then I’ve been hooked on the Israeli television show that follows the romantic travails of four Modern Orthodox singles in Katamon, Jerusalem’s equivalent of the Upper West Side, as they search for partners and meals on Shabbat.
Since the program does not air on any channel in the U.S., I was forced to download it illegally on the Internet thus opening my computer up to a whole host of viral threats. But it was definitely worth it.
Apparently, I am not alone in my fandom. The [spoil alert]Jewish Week has just run this cover story about the show’s popularity stateside. The show has just begun its second season in Israel (and on my computer in Brooklyn). If you’d like to watch it without endangering your hard drive, the JCC in Manhattan (in conjunction with Jewschool) will be screening the first season (two episodes a week) starting Wednesday, Feb. 3 at 7:30pm.
In addition to being entertained, it’s the perfect opportunity to sharpen your Hebrew comprehension skills. Or if you are seated next to a particularly cute man/woman, you can pretend to not understand what’s transpiring on-screen and ask for help. I’m sure that the show’s characters would approve. Or you can tally the number of halachic inaccuracies you can find throughout the two episodes. Sounds like a good idea for a drinking game to me… Though I suppose the alcohol part will have to wait ’til afterwards, when the Jewschool crew heads next door to Amsterdam Alehouse. Join us! Bloggers and readers alike will be toasting pints and sipping cocktails in the back party room.
SRUGIM COCKTAIL CONTEST: We’re taking suggestions for drink specials in the comments field of this post. The only rule is that you must include the name of the drink, its ingredients, and, of course, the name of the drink must be related to a character, place or theme of the show. The top three favorites will be served at the Jewschool after party on Wed. Feb. 3 – and those three lucky winners will suck down their first drink on Jewschool. RSVP on Facebook now!
We’ve beenreporting about the contest to name the planets Uranus and Neptune in Hebrew, as part of the International Year of Astronomy.
As ADDeRabbi reports, the winners were announced today at a ceremony at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. (As a finalist, I was invited to the ceremony, but was unable to attend since I was in the wrong country.) And the winners are…. “Oron” for Uranus, and “Rahav” for Neptune! Mazal tov (as it were) to ADDeRabbi, who was one of the entrants who submitted Rahav! My submission, Shahak (for Uranus) had to settle for runner-up; I suspect that Meretz stuffed the ballot box.
Back in January, we posted about the contest to come up with Hebrew names for the planets Uranus and Neptune, as part of the International Year of Astronomy. Some of you may have submitted entries. The finalists have now been announced!!!
The two contenders for the planet hereunto known as Uranus are:
Oron – “The name means ‘little light’ , and it hints at the faint light of the planet as seen from Earth due to its great distance from the sun. The name Oron sounds similar to the foreign name [Uranus] and helps in remembering it.”
Shahak – “The proposal follows the meaning of the name Uranus, the name of the god of heaven. In Hebrew tradition there is no parallel name for the god of heaven (besides the name of the Supreme God). The word ‘shehakim’, in rabbinic literature, indicates one of the seven firmaments, and is also found in our Hebrew, and thus the singular form Shahak is appropriate as a proper name for the planet.”
And for Neptune:
Rahav – “The proposal follows the meaning of the name Neptune – the name of the god of the sea. The name parallel to it in Jewish tradition is Rahav – the name of the master of the sea. Thus, for example, the Babylonian Talmud explains the verse [JPS translation: 'By His power He stilled the sea; By His skill He struck down Rahab'] (Job 26:12) as describing the victory of the master of the sea. The name Rahav bears mythological connotations like the Latin name.”
Tarshish – “This is the name of one of the stones of the breastplate [Exodus 28:20] whose Aramaic translation (Onkelos) is ‘the color of the sea’ (among other opinions) — and this is also Neptune’s color as seen from Earth — bluish-green. ‘Tarshish’ is also connected to the sea in its other biblical use: the name of a place on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, whose identification is not certain (recall the flight of Jonah the prophet to Tarshish). And on the phrase ‘the ships of Tarshish’, Rashi says ‘Tarshish – name of a sea’. In rabbinic literature and in liturgical poetry ‘Tarshish’ is a synonym for sea, and also a name of angels. Thus the name Tarshish combines the connection to the sea (like the Latin name) and the mythological foundation (angels).”
I was one of 25 entrants (including an 8th-grade class in Netanya) who submitted “Shahak” for Uranus, and congratulations to ADDeRabbi, one of 15 people who submitted “Rahav” for Neptune!
So the next step is voting! The vote is being conducted online. Unfortunately for those of us outside Israel, the ballot asks for a te’udat zehut (ID number), so only Israeli citizens can vote. If you’re eligible, vote!!! The fate of two planets is in your hands. The winners will be announced in December at the conclusion of the International Year of Astronomy.
To enter, answer the following question in blog or video format.
QUESTION:
What keeps you hopeful and/or invested in a two-state solution for the future of Israel and Palestine?
Please choose one of the following as a lens or a focus for your blog/vlog:
A – Social Justice within Israel
B – What it means to be pro-Israel in modern America
C – Jewish values and Israel activism
Round 1: Jewschool editors will choose the top 10 entries (8 blog format, 2 video format)
To enter, answer the following question in blog or video format.
QUESTION:
What keeps you hopeful and/or invested in a two-state solution for the future of Israel and Palestine?
Please choose one of the following as a lens or a focus for your blog/vlog:
A – Social Justice within Israel
B – What it means to be pro-Israel in modern America
C – Jewish values and Israel activism
Round 1: Jewschool editors will choose the top 10 entries (8 blog format, 2 video format)
As hard of a question as this is, it is up to us to share our voices. Enter Jewschool & JStreet Blog/Vlog Competition TODAY and win free registration toJStreet’s first conference!!
Get your writing and or video featured on Jewschool, like these people:
The 58th Annual National Jewish Book Awards, will be held on March 5th at the Center for Jewish History in New York City at 7:30pm. The winners come in 16 flavors of categories, so anyone with an interest ought to find something to like.
The Jewish Book of the Year Award will go to The Torah: A Women’s Commentary
by Dr. Tamara Cohn Eskenazi and Rabbi Andrea L. Weiss
from URJ Press and Women of Reform Judaism
We here at Jewschool can kvell a little, too. Two of our editors appear in one of the finalists:
In the category of Women’s Studies New Jewish Feminism: Probing the Past, Forging the Future
edited by Rabbi Elyse Goldstein
from Jewish Lights Publishing
Rabbis Danya Ruttenburg and Alana Suskin both contributed to this book.
The soldiers’ votes are in, and the Knesset election results are final! Here are the rankings:
Kadima 28
Likud 27
Yisrael Beytenu 15
Labor 13
Shas 11
United Torah Judaism 5
United Arab List – Ta’al 4
National Union 4
Hadash 4
Meretz 3
HaBayit HaYehudi 3
Balad 3
Green Movement – Meimad
Gil
Aleh Yarok (Green Leaf)
Greens
Strong Israel
Tzabar
Koach Lehashpia
Da’am (Organization for Democratic Action)
Yisrael HaMithadeshet
Holocaust Survivors & Grown-Up Green Leaf
Leeder
Tzomet
Koach HaKesef
Men’s Rights
HaYisraelim
Or
Ahrayut
Brit Olam
Lev
Lazuz
Lechem
You can compare this with the results from last time, and refer to this guide if you can’t remember which party is which.
February Madness was a hard-fought contest. We had a five-way tie for first place! BZ in New York (I made my picks before anyone else entered, so I couldn’t strategically base my predictions on other entries, but even so, I would have recused myself if I had ended up as the final winner), Daniel L in the United States, Dunash in New York, JXG in Jerusalem, and W Bayer in Petah Tikvah all correctly predicted 111 out of 120 Knesset seats (though not the same 111).
We do have two tiebreaker questions to deal with these cases. However, no one got either tiebreaker question right. No one picked the Green Movement – Meimad as coming in first among the parties who didn’t make it into the Knesset (though a number of contestants incorrectly predicted that they would win Knesset seats), and no one picked Lechem as coming in last.
So, to settle the tie, we’ll see who came closest. For the first tiebreaker question, 3 of the finalists picked Gil (which came in second among the parties that didn’t win Knesset seats): BZ, Dunash, and W Bayer. Among those, W Bayer did the best on the second tiebreaker question, choosing Koach HaKesef, which finished closest to the bottom among the finalists’ picks for this question.
So W Bayer is now the reigning February Madness champion! Congratulations!!!
Honorable mention goes to Brian Rosman in Newton MA and David Singer in Los Angeles, both of whom did the best overall on the second tiebreaker question, picking Brit Olam to come in last.
Thanks to everyone who participated! And if you didn’t do as well as you had hoped, or if you missed the deadline to enter, don’t worry — the way things are looking, you won’t have to wait long until the next one! (To start the speculation now, feel free to leave a comment with your guess for the date of the next Knesset election.)
The Israeli election is coming up on February 10! Following up on Mah Rabu’s successul March Madness prediction pool for the 2006 election, Jewschool and Mah Rabu are excited to announce FEBRUARY MADNESS 2009!!! All you have to do to enter is predict the number of Knesset seats that each party will win in the election.
The winner will receive a book of his/her choice from Ben-Yehuda Press. Entrance is free, but there is a suggested donation of $10 to the organization of your choice dedicated to making Israel the best it can be. Israeli citizens are encouraged to vote in the actual election as well.
To enter, go to February Madness! The deadline to enter is Monday, February 9, 2009, at 11:59 PM Israel Standard Time (4:59 PM EST).
Here is the official list of parties and candidates. Right now it’s only in Hebrew, but we’ll post a link to the English list when and if they post it. Also, in the next few days we’ll put up a post with descriptions of each of the parties and links to their websites.
The winner will be chosen based on who correctly predicts the greatest number of Knesset seats. For example, if the actual results are Men’s Rights 50, Tzabar 30, Aleh Yarok 20, Leeder 10, and Koach HaKesef 10, and you predicted Men’s Rights 40, Tzabar 40, Aleh Yarok 5, Leeder 5, Koach HaKesef 15, and Lechem 15, then your score would be 90 out of 120 (since you correctly predicted 40 seats for Men’s Rights, 30 for Tzabar, 5 for Aleh Yarok, 5 for Leeder, and 10 for Koach HaKesef). Your predictions must add up to 120 to be a valid entry.
Just for fun, there will be two optional tiebreaker questions:
1. Among the parties that do not meet the threshold for Knesset seats, which one will come the closest?
2. Which party will receive the fewest votes?
Let’s take a break from all the Gaza news and remind ourselves that the universe is much, much larger than these conflicts. 2009 has been declared the International Year of Astronomy (sponsored by the International Astronomical Union and UNESCO, along with organizational associates around the world), commemorating the 400th anniversary of the first astronomical observations with a telescope (by Galileo) and the publication of Kepler’s laws of planetary motion, two events that could be considered the birth of modern astronomy. The IYA is being celebrated with numerous events around the world, including a contest to come up with Hebrew names for the planets Uranus and Neptune!
You see, the first 5 non-Earth planets in our solar system are visible to the naked eye and were well-known to ancient astronomers. Therefore, they each have long-standing Hebrew names: Mercury is Kochav, Venus is Nogah, Mars is Ma’dim, Jupiter is Tzedek, and Saturn is Shabbetai. However, Uranus and Neptune were discovered in 1781 and 1846, and when Hebrew was revived as a spoken and scientific language, no Hebrew names were chosen; Hebrew speakers (like speakers of most languages) have referred to these planets by the name of a Greek and a Roman god. No more. The science division of the Academy of the Hebrew Language has announced a contest to select authentic Hebrew names. (Pluto has been demoted from planet status, and is therefore not included in the contest.)
Submissions will be accepted any time until Lag Ba’omer (May 12). Finalists will be chosen by a panel of Israeli astronomers and Academy members, and the final decision will be put to a public vote. The winners will be announced over Chanukah.
Be creative! I’ve already put in my submission (though I’m not going to tell you what it is until the finalists are announced). And good luck!
Last month saw the launch of a new venture in the Jewish neighborhood of the web, JGooders. The site aims to make it easier for donors & volunteers to connect with non-profit organizations doing meaningful work in the worldwide Jewish community through attractive and well-organized information with a dash of social networking thrown in for good measure. It’s free for us regular folk to use, although non-proft orgs pay an annual fee to participate. (This fee, it seems, helps pay for outside monitoring of the NPOs.)
The organizations founders describe themselves on the site:
JGooders founders: Ronit Dolev, Smadar Fogel, Judith Stern Peck and Jaap Meijers have been involved, together and separately, in the Israeli and Jewish world for more than 2 decades as social entrepreneurs, leaders and philanthropists: from leading Project Renewal to initiating the incredibly successful Partnership 2000 project. They sit on many boards and consult to many foundations and non-profit organizations. Based on their broad knowledge and experience JGooders was founded, offering a web based platform that can upgrade knowledge, create connections and enrich this rapidly growing marketplace of good deeds and good doers.
Because we live in the future, there’s a requisite blog, facebook group, and online contest (although in a nice twist, the contest winner’s prize is the ability to designate where $1,000 will be donated).
At first glance, it looks like most of the NPOs currently listed are based in Israel, but the site makes it clear that it aims to include organizations from all over the world. Since the organization that runs JGooders is in Israel, I suppose this makes sense.
I’m struggling a little bit to understand who the audience for this website is supposed to be. Those of us who have grown up with the internet presumably know how to find tzedakot online if we’re looking for new ways to give away our money. From the perspective of the NPOs, I’m wondering if the fee structure might be a barrier for smaller organizations (i.e., those who would most benefit from the exposure the site could lend them):
Posting projects costs a minimal yearly fee: $144-180 per project. The fee per project drops as the number of projects posted by the same NPO increases. There is a 1% administrative charge on money transactions (not including the credit card fee).
BTW, if I’m decoding the organization’s lingo correctly, NPOs can’t simply list themselves, they must list particular “projects,” each with its own fee. So, to use an example from the organization I’m closest with, if Keshet wants to raise money for both our education project as well as our proposed poster series of famous queer Jews, we’d have to pay $144-180 twice. Since our last appeal letter listed five different projects we’re trying to support at the moment, those fees could add up quickly. On the other hand, I’m not sure this is the sort of venture that should be advertiser-supported or corporately-sponsored, so maybe this fee structure is the way to go. Personally, I might be more comfortable without the fees and with a slightly larger percentage skimmed from the donations, since then organizations are paying relative to their benefit and there’s less of a barrier to populating the options available to potential donors.
But, the site’s still in Beta mode, so one can imagine that the organization might be as well. At any rate, this came to my attention via someone whose opinion I trust – Tova Serkin, who left her position as Executive Director of Kol Dor to head up business development for JGooders. So at the very least, it’s a site to watch.
But I begz your pardon, what’s with this 
I saw Srugim for the first time over the summer. Ever since then I’ve been hooked on the Israeli television show that follows the romantic travails of four Modern Orthodox singles in Katamon, Jerusalem’s equivalent of the Upper West Side, as they search for partners and meals on Shabbat.
Last month saw the launch of a new venture in the Jewish neighborhood of the web, 
follow us on Twitter
follow us on Facebook
subscribe to our email