ROI is a diverse community of young Jewish innovators and leaders from around the world. United by their participation in the annual ROI Summit in Jerusalem, members of the ROI Community are representative of the new DIY, can-do spirit sweeping the Jewish world. Find out more about us or keep up with the latest ROI Community news below.
The ROI Summit has recently concluded. You can read all about it below and in the next coming days and weeks. Stay tuned for more exciting ROI related developments!
Jen Kraus served as our Tikkun Olam/Service track facilitator at this summer’s summit. Shortly after she arrived home in Washington, DC, her longtime boyfriend popped the question, and the lucky pair are now engaged!
Mazal tov, Jen…ROIers everywhere are happy for you!
When ROIers come to town, the press goes mad for the imported stories of how young Jews are connecting to Jewish identity and values. We’re like celebrities. Or כאילו. משהו כזה.
In three separate articles in the Jerusalem Post, Michelle Citrin, William Levin and Josh Martin were given the paparazzi treatment:
The first thing that strikes you about Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Michelle Citrin isn’t her tiny 5′1″ frame, her trademark dreadlocks or the huge sound that pours out of her mouth when she sings. Rather, it’s how incredibly warm, welcoming and effusive she is, even when approached by complete strangers. She has an engaging smile, a ready hug and an openness about her that is instantly reflected in her music…
As Josh Martin painted bomb shelters and helped replant burnt forests in northern Israel after the 2006 Lebanon war, he wondered what it would be like to do something similar in Lebanon. Six months ago he found out when he took a group of 10 New York University students - Christians, Muslims and Jews - to Beirut to pair up with Lebanese students on community service projects across the country.
He had never been selected for jury duty, but he knew the process could be lengthy. So when William Levin, 36, of New York was called up in Brooklyn eight years ago, he took a book with him to kill time. For the next eight hours, the computer consultant and University of Delaware graduate poured over the book of how to animate in Flash, which he said was like the “Flash-animation bible,” reading it from cover to cover. By the end of the long day, he had not been selected for jury duty, but when he went home he created his first computer animation.
June 29, 2008 at 4:31 pm by Esther · Filed under Israel
As founder of the Alma Home for Hebrew Culture in Tel Aviv, Ruth Calderon has encountered a unique challenge: to find a way to interest secular Israelis in classical Jewish texts.
Calderon explained her motivation in founding Alma. She wanted to be both parts of who she was—‘gam v’gam,’ as she put it—a secular Jew who wanted access to the texts. She had studied in the kibbutz movement with classical Jewish studies for secular people, but she wanted to be with religious people also. Studying in the Talmud Department at Hebrew University, she remembered it being a good school, “but I was the only one without a beard and a wife. They used to make me sit with the wives. They were very nice wives, but…”
Calderon was amazed that Tel Avivians weren’t embracing the texts of their history. “Why doesn’t anyone say that it’s such amazing material? Imagine if the people that I came from in Tel Aviv, the people who make movies, art, music and dance, will know this stuff. But it was two different galaxies.” She explained the difference in perception between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem: Tel Aviv was considered “like the wild west, secular people had no values. Jerusalem was a Jewish option.” But to Tel Avivians, their city was a noble Jewish city with good coffee, good shopping” and, Calderon hoped, good study. She wanted to build a place of Jewish study in the heart of Tel Aviv. She bought a townhouse and began teaching, and experienced condescension from community officials.
But despite the challenges she encountered, she realized that the people of Tel Aviv were “much more open and hungry for a depth of content than what I remember growing up.” She cited today’s television professionals who are producing “amazing series using classical Jewish texts; musicians who use words and ideas and visions and heroes from the text, people who are the hardcore of Israeli culture (Adi Nes) and in ‘mainstream Israeliness’ who feel comfortable interpreting the texts” within their medium.
Calderon presented a text from the Babylonian Talmud that she presented as “the ‘When Harry Met Sally’ of the Talmud,” with the caveat that “it’s more tragic, but it’s Judaism. Love is not so easy.”
What did you get out of the text study? Discuss it here.
The sign of ROIers at work–in the heat of the day. They were of all skin tones and worked, and thirsted, and reapplied sunblock under their plastic work aprons. All on behalf of the residents of Mevasseret Zion Absorption Center. (More photos to come.)
June 24, 2008 at 12:50 pm by Esther · Filed under Israel
Facebook is a tremendous tool for people to organize around any issue–practical, social or just for fun. Of course, pre-ROI, the ROI120 2008 group went up, followed shortly by the Arts & Culture track group and the Environmental Activism track group, featuring a lovely photo of the group.
As time goes on, there will be others. Do you have an issue or a project with a Facebook presence, inspired by or involving members of the ROI community? Let us know, and stay tuned to this ROI channel.
June 22, 2008 at 4:53 pm by Esther · Filed under Israel
Check out videos from ROI, including our new “Meet the Video Team” video. Other conference videos are being edited and will be posted when ready, but stay tuned.
June 22, 2008 at 3:33 pm by Esther · Filed under Israel
The other day, I spun a plate on a stick. Believe me, it’s not as easy as it looks.
It all started with a skill session called “Juggling for Jewish Leaders,” led by fellow ROIer Lisa Appel, an acrobat and juggler who combines circus skills with Jewish eduation. The name of the skill session implied the way that Jewish leaders find ourselves juggling many different responsibilities and goals at the same time. Personally, I often refer to myself “spinning many plates” and have said that I need to figure out how to keep the plates spinning. Of course, I had never imagined that I might actually spin a plate – you know, in the physical sense.
That’s where Lisa’s session came in. We were all surprised to discover that her session involved actually lessons in juggling and plate-spinning, as a metaphor for life as a Jewish leader. More actual doing than metaphor, though. We began the session twirling ribbons, and before long we were tossing oranges in the air. (And, in my case, usually splattering them all over the floor.)
The plate spinning was a unique challenge for me. Others seemed to get the hang of it relatively quickly. They started out dropping the plates, but before long, their plates were spinning gracefully on their sticks. I found myself asking them questions: how do you get it to stay on? How to you get it spinning? Why are we doing this again?
At the end of the session, as Lisa was packing up her bags, you could find me standing alone, rocking a plate on a stick – and picking it up from the ground as several onlookers offered advice. One told me that I needed to be more gentle, starting with just the effort of turning the plate around on the stick. As I continued to do this and continued to knock the plate down, others gave suggestions. Finally, Lisa herself came by to give me an “easier” stick on which to spin the plate, and she stood watching me as I continued to drop it on the ground. “I know your problem,” she said. “You need to be more aggressive. You need to believe it’s going to happen.”
Just at that moment, Yoni Gordis came by. “Did you hear that?” he said. “It’s a metaphor, Evonne. Be more aggressive.” Interesting advice for me, since I find myself often struggling with whether I am being too aggressive or too passive, trying to find the line that is groundbreaking while also being appropriate.
I took the stick and spun the heck out of it. And guess what? To the applause of several onlookers, my plate spun.
June 20, 2008 at 5:06 pm by Esther · Filed under Israel
If you were at ROI and are anything like me, you’re feeling a combination of exhaustion, depression and encouragement that’s really hard to describe. On the one hand, we had an intense five days of conversation and passion–and yes, even a little partying–while we tackled local and global issues affecting today’s Jewish community. On the other hand, we are now charged with returning from the fiery epicenter of inspiration and applying what we’ve learned as we try to resume our lives, all the while knowing that we’re different, altered now by the experience.
If you’re around and in Israel, join us in Liberty Bell Garden for an ROI picnic this Saturday at 12:30pm-about 4pm. Everyone’s invited, summiteers from past summits, community-at-large, etc. Just come.
And stay tuned next week for more posts from ROIers about this year’s summit, a better organized list of posts from the Summit, and news about where we go from here.
June 20, 2008 at 3:49 pm by Esther · Filed under Israel
Matt Bar is the creator of the BibleRaps project, which may explain why his posts are rendered in a humor and style all their own. If you don’t understand all of his references–and you may not…I’m not sure I do, and I’ve known him for a while–feel free to drop by his website and ask him via email. And now, without further ado, “Monday Night and Tuesday at ROI” as rendered by Matt Bar.
Last night we witnessed an illustrious ceremony of Israel’s 60th, 13 meters in front of Herzl’s grave. Fireworks sprayed as Lynn Schusterman’s protégé grabbed the beard of Rabbi Nachman’s wizened Rebbe announcing “there has never been an innovator like her!” ROI participants read from Zionist heroes of old in 613 different languages and Herzl looked on astonished at how far he came. 60 years and we struggle with our struggles with the same diligent preoccupancy as our heroes of past. No doubt I’ve met a few heroes of tomorrow on this ROI120 trip. It is a strong breed with plenty of bread but with a tapeworm in their restless ambitions. I’m proud to be a part.
June 20, 2008 at 3:40 pm by David Abitbol · Filed under In the Media
Some of the goings on at the recent ROI Summit in Jerusalem were covered in Haaretz:
A communications overload brought down the internet connection on Tuesday at Jerusalem’s Hebrew Union College. The surge came from room 104, where the summit’s 20 computer fanatics were trying to simultaneously connect their laptops to the Web to demonstrate their online inventions. After finally connecting, the computer lovers pitched ideas on how to eclipse online anti-Semitic content, use Anglo blogs to have fun in Jerusalem, help organizations maintain a more professional-looking online presence, and use computer animation to get African-American rap singer and retired drug dealer 50 Cent to teach about Passover… The session was part of the Third Annual ROI Global Summit for Young Jewish Innovators - a week-long conference for 120 people from 28 countries deemed to be “engaged in projects with potential to change the face of the world,” as stated in the invitation.
The article featured projects by Harry Rubenstein and Jerusalemite.net, William Levin and his Web site Shabot6000, Ori Neidich who does Web consulting for small non-profits and Dr. Andre Oboler, an expert in combating online anti-Semitism who talked about Google search engine optimization and how it can be used to combat hate sites on the Internet.
Our Environmental Track presentations continued with presentations from several new Jewish innovators. Our first presenter was Yishai Fuchs, who coordinates a program called Bike for Jerusalem “Ofanayim B’shvil Yerushalayim”. His work is supporting bike paths and biking movements in the city of Jerusalem, including safe bike trails for children.
Baruch Rock created an organization called Mitzor Dvash (honey from the rock), which is taking undergraduate and graduate students and helping them recognize the human and growth aspects of leadership. He provided a beautiful meditation on the making of bread, which helped us each think about the stages of our own leadership development.
It seems as though all conferences and programs revolve around numbers. The numbers attending, the number of programs (no too many, not too few, but a good Goldilocks number), the number of minutes allotted for each program/activity, breaks in between, moving time, and bathroom time…etc. It kind of sucks having to think about numbers constantly, but that’s the nature of the beast…and so today’s blog is dedicated to the numbers of the day.
120: The number of attendees at ROI.
15: Is the number of minutes late we were in starting, but hey, with 120 adults I consider that good!
45: Was the number of minutes that the brains behind PresenTense, Ariel and Aharon, had to raise some questions with us about what is ‘Creative Zionism’ is through song, Torah and Gemara.
90: Was the number of minutes we had to meet in our tracks.
20: Was the number of minutes given to the three presenters in our track…although obviously we ran over with each one, they’re just too interesting!
3: Was the number of presenters today. In order of appearance…
* Inbar presented ‘Project E.S.A.T,’ (Every Student is Also a Teacher). This project is designed to empower students to break the mold of traditional formal education and to teach each other in a hands-on setting. On a fun note: Inbar gave us clay to use during the set induction that became a track favorite.
* Inna presented Ezra Olami, a campaign to work with the Russian-speaking Jewish community in the United states. Inna spoke of the need to provide the Russian-speaking Jewish community in New York with a viable and attractive Jewish community. She told us of her staff (mainly volunteers!) and their work with Taglit-Birthright Israel and phenomenal follow-up programming (karaoke, mega event…and more!). Way to go, Inna!
* Lisa, our very own Shomer Shabbos Showgirl, has incorporated herself and developed ‘Miss Lisa, Inc,’ an interactive and acrobatic experience that is fun for all ages. But it’s not just for the secular world! Using her vast experience and imagination Lisa provides Jewish educational programming in a fun way. She taught all about Shavuot whilst standing on her head! We all had fun during her presentation as Lisa taught us to balance feathers and spin plates! (On a personal note: I’ve been taking circus classes, taught by Cirque Du Soleil performers, in Las Vegas for almost two years now and it is AWESOME!!!
75: Was the number of minutes devoted to meeting your innovative soulmate, I mean, your partner innovators in ‘Speed Networking.’ This was an awesome way to meet some new people not in our tracks…and come on people, isn’t the point of all of these programs to ultimately make more Jewish babies? =)
75: Was the number of minutes devoted to skill sessions in the afternoon where we had the opportunity to learn more, in subject specific settings, about various ways to help our projects become viable realities.
46: This was the number that stood out most in my mind today. Lynn Schusterman took a minute this morning to share with us that today would have been her 46th wedding anniversary. In today’s transitory world, where my generation is often still trying to figure ourselves out let alone make a life commitment to another person, it truly amazes me that there are still people out there who’s love and commitment to each other continues. It actually made me think about two very personal numbers:
40: Is the number of years my parents have known each other. And the number of years that we have had a unified Jerusalem in modern Israel.
64: Is the number of years my grandparents were married before my grandfather passed away.
With all these numbers, the last ones specifically, I can’t help but think of Herzls words; “If you will it, it is no dream.” There is hope for all of our dreams and projects yet!
Laila Tov from Jerusalem,
Elizabeth
Elizabeth currently resides in Las Vegas and is a teacher at the Adelson Educational Campus.
June 20, 2008 at 12:39 am by Esther · Filed under Israel
Today on the Environment Track, several of our participants presented on the projects that they are working on. We have quite a diverse and interesting group of leaders in our track!
Eli Winkelman and Emily Freed were involved in Hazon (www.hazon.org), an organization based in New York City which aims to invigorate Jewish life through projects in two areas: food and outdoor adventure. Some programs that Hazon offers include a food curriculum, a program for Jewish community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs, and a blog called “The Jew and the Carrot” (jcarrot.org). Hazon is organizing its next Food Conference in December in California, and Emily invited everyone to join them for the program. Eli is working with Hazon on “Challah for Hunger,” a unique social justice program that she created: students on college campuses bake challot and proceeds from challah sales go to local and international charities. Currently there are chapters on 7 campuses, raising $20,000 for good causes this year.
Esther here, with an opinion piece about Open Space. Open Space is always really interesting, as it gives the controls over topics of discussion to the participants, and reveals what people are really thinking about. Some of the topics included Aliyah, How the Media Portrays Jews and Israel, Judaism and the Body, and others…but it will surprise none of you who know me from my non-ROI life that I ended up attending three groups merged into one with the mega-topic, “Should I Marry a Jewish Partner?”
If you’re looking for the answer to the subject’s question, you won’t find it in this post just like you didn’t find it in the circle during the open space session. But if what you’re looking for are sound bytes and subtopics, here you go: Read the rest of this entry »
June 19, 2008 at 8:24 am by Esther · Filed under Israel
Roi Summit thus far: They saved the best for first when the big boss, Shai Agassi, told his remarkable story of how, in the last year, he found his ‘calling’ - which happens to be saving the world from both World War III and natural apocalypse while reclaiming Isaiah’s vision of Israel being the light among nations (or at least the electric grid among the nations). I may sound facetious, but on the real, it was the most convincing and humble speech whose subject matter was: ‘how I’m saving the world.’ Very inspiring to say the least. For the most part he managed to make his life trajectory relatable to the capeless wonderers in the auditorium, and even when a few of his suggested life lessons seemed a bit out of my stratosphere, I’ll never get sick of watching Neil Armstrong fly to the moon in front of my face even if can’t get a hold of one of them spacesuits. It dulls the fangs of gravity just a bit. And this is important to do for us innovators.
We played some ice breaker games at night, but it wasn’t until we all got to do some physical labor together that the sun rose on burgeoning relationships. We went to the Ethiopian absorption Center about 15 minutes outside of town. We split up into tracks and painted a big wall most pretty together and got to know one another while doing a little good. We also got to do some work with some of the local newly absorbed Ethiopian community which was filled with warmth and polka-dotted flowers.
This Matt Bar, your trustee ROI blogger, giving you up to date real-time ROI coverage.
June 18, 2008 at 1:24 pm by Esther · Filed under Israel
Two Daniels. One Julie. One article. The Canadian Jewish News interviewed Daniel Rattner (2007/2008) and Julie Schneiderman (2006) as to their opinions about participating in the Summit and its potential to impact their work.
[…] Rattner, a Halifax native and graduate student at York University’s Schulich School of Business, just finished working on a television show that aired last month for Israel’s 60th birthday. Titled “Ralph Benmergui: My Israel,” the five-part series explored the present, past and future of Israel. Rattner is now working on a documentary called “Revival,” about the Hebrew language. Read the rest of this entry »
June 18, 2008 at 12:41 am by Esther · Filed under Israel
Agassi realized he had two debts, to the past (Israel) and to the future (his two sons). “There is nothing as important as peace in the Middle East. And my future is the two boys, passing a world to them that’s worse than we had it is passing on our sin to the next generation: climate change.” Agassi determined that his best ability was taking a complex problem and breaking it down, then reintegrating it into another product.
If we could take one country off oil in a sustainable way with no government intervention, we can do something good, Agassi said. Then he asked the third question: what’s the economic driver? Oil today is a four trillion dollar market–the idea is to show the world that there’s going to be more profit in a different kind of energy.
After consulting with a number of friends and considering hydrogen and biofuels, he reached the electric model. He wrote papers and handed them out to governments. He met Shimon Peres at a forum, and handed off the plan, noting to the assembled at that prestigious forum, “You’re all witnesses that the Israeli government got this plan. And not for the first time.” He had also given it to President Clinton, who said he was solving the right problem at the wrong time. He also met Prime Minister Olmert who told him to go find his money somewhere else. “Show me one big five company and find 200 million dollars,” Agassi reported that Olmert said. “I’ll let you spend it in Israel. That SAP thing must be really important if you’d rather do that than save your country and save the world.”
Agassi quit SAP, found a carmaker and had the idea to make it a big peace project with the country of Jordan. He met investment manager Michael Granoff in New York and talked to 200 people in 6-8 weeks. 190 people thought they were nuts, but about 15 people invested. They got 100 million from the guy who owns the refineries in Israel. Then he put in another 30 million. Took four months, and on Jan 21 2008, they got a notice that Israel’s going to be the first country off oil/gas.
June 17, 2008 at 12:13 pm by Esther · Filed under Israel
This is part 2 of the opening program from the ROI Summit, featuring Stacy Schusterman and Shai Agassi. Stay tuned for additional posts on this incredible opener to the Summit. Plus, special video added below:
Stacy Schusterman [CEO of Samson Energy] then took the stage to share her experience touring with a half-Christian group and urged the assembled to take the trip with their Christian friends to see the Christian sights of Israel. She called it a “wonderful bonding experience; all families leave Israel with a feeling that Israel is safe and innovative.” Then she introduced Shai Agassi, noting the irony that her family business is oil and gas.
“Even with that as lifeblood of the foundation, we have a real love for what Shai’s doing with clean tech and energy. Our family shares the vision that if Israel can become oil-free it will really change the dialogue in the region.”
She then introduced Shai Agassi of Project Better Place, announcing that car company Nissan-Renault had recently announced a partnership to work with Agassi to mass-produce electric cars for the Israel marketplace, and lauding Agassi’s passion and business talent.
“I’m never as good as my introductions,” Agassi said as he took the microphone off the podium. Thanking the assembled for the opportunity, he noted that “I stand on the shoulders of many giants who challenge me through questions. Each question became a crucible that helped me change my life. Almost like a tiny spaceship, launched into different directions.”
Agassi shared with the audience the story of his first business negotiation with his father: he wanted an Apple II computer, and his father agreed, if Shai made him a two percent partner for all of his software sales. In 1995 he was hired into Apple to write software–but a year in, his project was terminated because people said the technology he was working on wouldn’t scale—the project was internet browsers. (The audience laughed.)
In 18 months, his company (SAP) was worth 110 million dollars. “You can’t do that anywhere else other than America.” This for him marked the move from a job to a career as he moved up in executive levels and became the #2 guy at SAP, or as Agassi called it, “the most boring software company on the planet.” Every second transaction goes through this software, he explained, and he realized he had become corporate.
“It’s hard to leave a career, because you remember the entire path up to that point,” he observed. “The wings you’re carrying are branded. If you jump off the cliff and your wings are taken away, that’s a hard fall.”
From “career,” the next level is a calling, a mission. He was asked to be the next CEO of the company and he said yes. Then he joined a forum called the Young Global Leaders Forum and was asked a question: what are you going to do to make the world a better place by 2020? “That’s an accelerator to a midlife crisis,” he said.
He encouraged the assembled to “dig in, and find three answers”:
1. What are you passionate about? (In other words, what makes you wake up in the morning feeling that you want to do this again?)
2. What are you best in the world at?
3. What’s your economic driver?
The Environment Track had our opening session tonight, an opportunity to get to know each other and what we would like to get out of our time together. I was really happy to hear that we had the opportunity to create our own agenda, since we have such an interesting and diverse group. For example, our track includes Brian working in China, Renata from Brazil, Valeria from Argentina, and Isaac working in Beer Sheva. We have leaders who love working in the soil, who love working with food, and who care deeply about the spiritual contribution of Judaism to the environmental conversation. We have people who focus on ecology, on agriculture, and on the human impacts of the environment.
Some topics that we would like to cover include:
• getting to know each other personally;
• getting to know each of our projects;
• identifying commonalities and differences and learning from these;
• creating a structure for us to work together over the coming year;
• creating a place for people to support each other with struggles/difficulties in the coming year;
• making practical suggestions to make ROI more environmentally friendly, and
• learning about the spiritual imperative to protect the environment.
My suggestion was the search for people with common interest and common leadership goals who can support each other in our struggles and challenges. When I asked what this is called, someone responded, “a support group.” We all laughed, but I think we all agreed that we needed this. For me, the matter is not just to find solutions, but to have someone to speak to when the grant doesn’t come through, when the speech goes badly, when I feel lost and don’t know where to go next. These failures are a reality of leadership and innovation, but they can feel terrible when they happen. I want a group who can listen, support, acknowledge the failures, and encourage me to pick myself up and keep going. I want someone who can reassure me that I’m not alone, who can say with credence that what I’m doing is truly important – worth the challenges – and remind me that I must not stop even when it gets really hard.
I have been wishing (and praying?) for a community like this for some time, and I realized when I got into the ROI program that this was my opportunity to be part of an extraordinary community of leaders.
This is what ROI is for me. I’m truly honored and thrilled to be part of this extraordinary community.
June 17, 2008 at 3:01 am by Esther · Filed under Israel
Today we had our service day at the Absorption Center in Mevasseret Zion. At the Absorption Center, Ethiopian immigrants (olim) receive 10 months of Hebrew education, and stay for 1-2 years before joining Israel society. After a briefing from JAFI, we began our service, painting murals on the walls.
All of the tracks were assigned mural painting work outside, except, ironically, the Environment Track. We were given a series of murals in the hallway of the school. The artists told us that they had consulted with the leadership and participants at the Absorption Center to design the murals, and the outlines of the murals were drawn for us, so our task was to “color in the lines.”
For me, there was something satisfying and simple about painting: about long, colorful strokes along the walls, about filling within lines that someone else had drawn for me. As an “innovator,” I spend so much of my time trying to create new things. Taking the time to draw purple on the cloak of a man reaching toward the sky is an entirely different type of skill, one that takes patience and some
conformity – skills that maybe I need to learn a bit more of.
Still, the environmentalists were not without our innovations. Some of our group felt that the trip wanted to get to know the community more and hear more of the stories of the olim who had recently
arrived. They wished that Ethiopian olim who had completed the program could have been the one giving the opening presentation. In order to strengthen our connection to the Absorption Center, we tried to meet some of the olim who were being taught at the center. We came into their classroom and tried to speak to them. Unfortunately the olim that we met did not speak Hebrew yet. However, the teacher of the classroom offered to translate for us, and some of the participants had interesting conversations with several of the olim.
When the conversation was complete and the class was over, we offered to let them help paint the mural, and for a short while several women took their hands with the paint. I must say that they really seemed to enjoy it, just as I had. I felt that they experienced that same joy at drawing beautiful colors on the wall. (Next time my three-year-old wants to take a crayon for this purpose, maybe I’ll be
a bit more understanding.)
June 17, 2008 at 2:51 am by Esther · Filed under Israel
Nico painting Gilad’s shoulders, Lisa talking about “ballwalking,” and Matt rapping about how he’s not white…he’s Jewish. Sound like a normal day to you? Well it does to us as our first full day in the Youth Programs Track at ROI 2008 is off to a big start!
After a morning discussion of Bob Dylan, Torah and Jewish Identity, ROI whisked us off to a “Merkaz Klitah” (absorption center) in Mevasseret Zion. There we were met by representatives of the Sochnut (Jewish Agency) who explained to us the plight of Ethiopians moving to Israel, the challenges they face and how they are becoming a new swirl in the melting pot of Israel. After our introduction the Youth Programs track (replete with our identifying blue ribbons), we spent the afternoon painting a mural on the kindergarten wall. (For another account of the visit to the absorption center, see this post.)
After a short break we all donned our party clothes, met formally in our specific track groups to share our personal vision of ROI 2008 and went to meet Theodore Herzl at the Mount Herzl museum. After a brief introduction to the father of modern Zionism, we attended ‘Café Vienna’ complete with apple strudel and espresso and moved to our formal opening ceremony at Herzl’s grave.
During the ceremony we were addressed by our Mexican leader Beto Maya, new father Justin Korda, Gidi Mark, the new CEO of Taglit, and Lynn Schusterman who reminded us that not only are we are not alone in our ventures, but she loves us too! Our evening concluded with a rather tasty dinner and an at-table survey showing us the true diversity our group embodies.
All in all, a busy rollercoaster of a day that left us eager to know what’s to come…
Elizabeth Corlin lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
June 17, 2008 at 2:28 am by Esther · Filed under Israel
ROI is pleased to announce that we have several people reporting live from the ROI Summit in Jerusalem, bringing you the inside scoop on the people, activities and conversations that make the Summit so special. These posts are written by members of the ROI Summit Blogger Corps: a group of ROI Summit participants who representing their tracks and their opinions.
As editor, I’m hoping to provide these posts in a mostly unedited form, to preserve the voices and the opinions of the participants and create an informational transparency that shows that we’re all sharing things in common and trying to create conversation around the areas where we differ, and make space for various opinions and viewpoints.
June 17, 2008 at 1:17 am by Esther · Filed under Israel
This is the first part of ROI120.com’s reporting of Sunday night’s opening program. More to come, including a video clip of keynote speaker Shai Agassi’s very well-received speech about innovation.
CLI’s Executive Director Yoni Gordis introduced the conference’s purpose: networking to collaborate and the content of learning skills. “What we understood was that you didn’t want to learn top-down in a paternalizing way. Your skill set is so incredible, we just needed to ask, what skills do you have?” We have 21 peer-to-peer skills sessions. “We trust the future of the Jewish world in your hands, we want to train you to be the most effective you can,” he said, noting that the Jewish future “shouldn’t look like us (40s or 50s); it should look like you. It’s new and innovative. That’s what led us to shape the ROI gathering.”
Gordis reported that there were 5 different continents represented at this summer’s ROI, and that the goal is to grow it every year, through yearlong projects with local gatherings “to gather local flavor and local habits.” Gordis also spoke about ROI’s small grants fund, which completed its first cycle of granting 35 grants to projects and ideas from ROIers.
Gordis also noted that ROI welcomes people who are connected to other networks, which helps with “open-source programming”—meaning that participants who are also part of PLP, the Moishe Houses, Kol Dor, WUJS, and others “strengthen the networks in every way possible.”
Then the discussion turned to the language of the conference. “Our hope is that within several years, we hope to have this summit totally in Hebrew,” Gordis announced, switching from English to Hebrew, “but we’re not there yet. It’s really our purpose to find a common language, there are challenges. We’re not giving up on Hebrew. Being here in Israel is vital—this place is central to our identity, all the wrestling and challenging, this is what the conversation is really about in the Jewish world.”
Gordis switched back to English to bless the participants: “Welcome all of you, bless you with a few good hours of sleep. We are going to work you and play you and train you really hard and put our full confidence in you to make the Jewish world brighter, more value-based.”
