MY URBAN KVETCH

Approaching “Innovation”: Verbicidal Tendencies

 

Infographic on Innovation Burnout from Wall Street Journal (via creativityland.ca)

If you know me, you know that I am not a violent person. But then, the other day, a murderous thought came to mind. Not quite voices in my head, more like a clarion call, a seasonally appropriate shofar from within the realm of my professional work.  “Kill. Kill the word. Innovation. It needs to die.”

Troubling, to me personally, a heavy user of words, to advocate for the death of a word; not to mention the fact that I work part-time adjacent to the Partnerships & Innovation department at the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, and as a consultant for the ROI Community of Jewish Innovators. Most of my professional work involves being in and around what I once explained to someone was “the emerging Jewish innovation sector.” (The person’s response: “Huh?”) My attempt to name projects in this sphere as explanation – G-dcast, Birthright Israel, PresenTense, ROI, Jewcology, Hazon, Sharsheret – didn’t seem to help. I must have sounded like Hagrid, describing mystical creatures at Hogwarts.

A few years back at LimmudLA, I presented on the state of Jewish innovation, citing
G-dcast, the Mission Minyan, Kehilat Hadar, Moishe House and Challah for Hunger as examples. A voice of dissent in the room claimed that these projects were not innovations. G-dcast is “just” the weekly Torah portion; independent prayer communities are “just” the reinvention of havurot; Moishe House is “just” group living, like a kibbutz and a fraternity combined; Challah for Hunger is “just” a bake sale. My argument back was that the sum of the product itself might not be innovative, but the lens, venue or methodology used to produce it is creative, in some way “alternative” to the mainstream culture of Jewish life, or directly reflective of contemporary needs and concerns, and that it was that kind of work that was emerging under the term “innovation.”

Passover Holiday Reading: New Israel Issue of PresenTense

Since posting will not resume until after the holiday Monday night, I wanted to leave you with this reading material for the chag: PresenTense's new Israel issue.

Chag sameach!

PresenTense Issue 4: Emerging Communities

The new issue of PresenTense Magazine is out! See below for a sample of the laid-out magazine, or check here for a link to the TOC, to access individual articles. We're churning out another issue for Israel's 60th, so if you're interested in advertising in that issue, or distributing either Issue 4 or the upcoming 5, let us know!

Boteach, Diamant and Beery Among Top 5 for Brandeis Professorship

I kind of still don't believe it, but my friend and PresenTense Magazine editor/publisher Ariel Beery was named a finalist in the Charles R. Bronfman Visiting Chair in Jewish Communal Innovation competition run by Brandeis University, alongside Anita Diamant (author of "The Red Tent") and Shmuley Boteach (author of everything else). This certainly goes under "Friends Doing Cool Stuff," in addition to a host of other categories. You can read Ariel's proposal, "Translating Judaism for the Post-Digital Age: Creative Zionism and a Renewed Jewish People," here. These additional details are from the JTA.

Applicants were asked to come up with an innovation in Judaism and develop it with proposals for changing the way Jews think about themselves and their community. The winner will receive a visiting professorship at Brandeis and two years to develop the idea into a book that Brandeis will publish. The finalists are Jerusalem Post editorial page editor and columnist Saul Singer; Harvard doctoral candidate Yehuda Kurtzer; author Anita Diamant; Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, the founder of the Jewish Values Network; and Ariel Beery, the publisher of PresenTense magazine. They were selected from 231 applicants, including 49 rabbis and from such countries as Israel, Italy, India, Australia and Sweden. The five will present their proposals Feb. 24 at a symposium for members of the Brandeis community and Boston-area Jewish leaders.

Ariel, together with Aharon Horwitz, also created the PresenTense Institute, which is now also seeking applicants for this upcoming summer. Applications available--in Hebrew and English--here. Kol Hakavod, Ariel! And best of luck with the symposium...

"Esther, What's a Balagan Boogaloo?"

Someone asked me that yesterday. And balagan, I had no problem explaining. But a Boogaloo? Best I could come up with was, "It's like boogieing, sort of. It's the same root. You know 'Breakin''? That movie about breakdancing? Well, there was a sequel called 'Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo'..." but that didn't seem to help.

But about a hundred people found out last night what a Boogaloo can be, as they attended a Hanukkah party/Sephardic Film Festival event/community synagogue celebration at the with the partnership of PresenTense Magazine and the 14th Street Y.

All the partners united to create an original atmosphere with an eclectic sound, and the party's guests matched the hosts' enthusiasm and originality. Wine flowed, and drinks sponsor He'brew provided the beer, while heaps of donuts and latkes aplenty made sure that visitors kept their energy high (sugar and music can do that). Shemspeed was in charge of the music, with DJ-mixed tunes and a surprise live performance from Y-Love after midnight. One visitor called it "an awesome jam with a relaxed atmosphere and no-pressure, no-sleaze dancehall," noting that only at Jerusalem's famous "Boogie" is there an experience like this.

So you missed it. Don't beat yourself up. Shemspeed's got more Sephardic Music Festival if you're down for it (see schedule here). Light another candle for Hanukkah and promise that next time, you'll be with us. Because really, how many times in your life can you say you were at a Boogaloo?

Shabbat shalom and hag Hanukkah sameah!

Thursday Night Hanukkah Balagan Boogaloo (NYC)

The 14th Street Y, Sixth Street Community Synagogue, PresenTense Magazine and the Sephardic Music Festival present:

The Balagan Boogaloo!

The Sephardic, Freestyle, Afro Beat, Bhangra & Israeli Hip Hop Party on Hanukkah… Featuring DJ Balagan (Modular Moods) and dj handler (Shemspeed) who will keep you dancing all night!

* THIS Thursday,December 6th at 9pm
* @ the Sixth Street Community Boogaloo
* 325 E. Sixth (b/w 1st and 2nd)
* $10 in advance ; $15 at the door– includes drinks, eats and beats!
* RSVP in advance (www.acteva.com)…or just show up.
* More info: Eastvillageshul.com
* Join our Facebook ” Community” group to find out more

** We need Hanukah Helpers to set up and knock down. Time slots Weds and Thurs. Email indicating eagerness to help…beer included.**

Sponsored in part by the Second Avenue Deli, He’Brew Beer.

Drunken Brainstorming

The details on origin are sketchy. But it became a night to remember, which turned out to be remarkably productive.

A group of about twenty people gathered in someone's apartment for a night of "drunken brainstorming" of ideas for the next issue of PresenTense Magazine. It started off slow, with people trickling in, and not really so much taking advantage of the "drunken" part. When the brainstorming began, people switched on, and started generating ideas of their own and adding on to the ideas of others (while consuming a few beers or vodka drinks). After some small-group brainstorming, we pooled the index cards/ideas and read them out loud; then people suggested ways we could refine or expand the ideas in print, which we scribbled down on post-it notes (see photo at left) and posted on an impromptu whiteboard/door.

No one was really drunk. But a drink or two (or even the option of drinking) certainly freed us all up creatively, made us less inhibited about expressing our opinions and our interests and made the whole process a more collaborative one that flowed rather amazingly...

Stay tuned for more, and if you want to become involved in PresenTense, we're always happy to have the help; from editing to advertising, from subscriptions to content creation, from PR to website/blog management, many opportunities are available, so just let us know what you'd like to achieve and we'll help!

Living Life in the Here and Now

Now that the holidays are finally over, we are all starting with a blank slate. And the great thing about having a blank slate is that there's all this space you can use to scrawl all over. Like the whiteboards I just cleaned in my "office", the space represents potential for conversation. You bloggers and blog-commenters already know about potential for conversation, though...

But in the interest of discussion, dialogue, communal issues, and out of just plain pride, I am pleased to officially share with you the new issue of PresenTense Magazine.

Check out   the new table of contents here, with links to the other articles about sex slavery in the Holy Land, Jews by choice and of color, and a trio of articles about everyone's favorite topic, the crisis over dwindling Jewish numbers and the issue of intermarriage:

• Fetal Attraction-Why Orthodoxy May Save the Jewish People
• More Orgies, More Babies- A Modest Proposal 
• And this article about the Biblical Case for Intermarriage

There's an       article about crazy Israeli advertising/translation, and a piece about         converts using blogs as a form of community. And while the Facebook founder is too busy to talk to anyone, we have an interview with    Facebook's sister. Beyond that there's Ethiopians in Israel, reports on the Israel Baseball League, and much more.

Questions? Want to know how PT can work with your organization/institution/creative endeavor? Let's talk! Print copies are also available for $5 a copy which includes postage (subscribe here), and we do do bulk rates beginning with a box of 50 for $150, a $2 per-issue savings off the cover price (contact us via this page).

What? You want to advertise with us, online and/or in print? We have advertising partnerships available on all levels, so contact us and we'll schmooze!

First Look/Facebook

Here's your first look at the new issue of PresenTense, still being edited and therefore do not just my book by this cover. Still, exciting to have a "look" to share. For more about this upcoming issue, check out PresenTense.org.

Also, can anyone tell me how I amassed 571 friends on Facebook? If I write a book, do you think all of them will buy copies? How about ten copies each so I could justify a print run of 5000? (And does any of this theoretical discussion mean I'm any closer to having finished the book?)

The Faces of New Jewish Media

We're small-time now. But if you come see us at the Y, you can say you knew us when. Join us before we get too big-time famous to acknowledge the people who got us here. Sunday night, 8pm. Free. Details here.