The application process for the ROI Summit is simultaneously one of the best and hardest times of the year for me – best because it reinforces the incredible young Jewish talent coming of age in communities around the world; hardest because I’m reminded that the Jewish world still does not have enough compelling opportunities to nurture all of it. Until we do, far too many young Jews who want to contribute to strengthening the Jewish future will be told “no, but” rather than “yes, and.” Faced with a negative response, many will choose to focus their time and talent elsewhere – a loss for them and for our community. Read More »
Hockey legend Wayne Gretzky once said, “You’ll always miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” What is true in sports is also true for our efforts to build Jewish community in the 21st century.
If we want to harness the creativity and passion of young people that want to build our community in their own image, we must take risks. We need to develop a balanced communal appetite for risk, and we need better tools to understand and analyze it. This is central theme of my piece in the latest issue of the Peoplehood Papers, which aims to examine what we as a community can do to better nurture Jewish Peoplehood. A diverse group of Jewish leaders and thinkers were asked to weigh in on the topic and address some of the following questions.
- What are the key changes that need to be made to better the community’s ability to nurture Peoplehood?
- How can we overcome the challenges to a notion of collective Jewish identity?
- What is the role Jewish Peoplehood should play in Jewish life? Read More »
In honor of Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day) on May 20, ROI Community Executive Director Justin Korda wrote about Jerusalem as the epicenter of Jewish innovation. In an article for the Times of Israel, Justin describes how the dichotomies so often used to characterize the city—Jew vs. Arab, left vs. right, ultra-Orthodox vs. everyone else—actually create conditions that make it a perfect incubator for entrepreneurs. As proof positive, ROI recently took an inside look at its own entrepreneurial community and, as reported in The Jerusalem Post, learned that more of its 800+ members come from Jerusalem than from any other city.
“Social innovators see an imperfect world, then take responsibility and immediately look for solutions, trying to fill the half-full glass. From this perspective, Jerusalem is a perfect incubator for entrepreneurs seeking to fix their neighborhoods, their society and the world. It is precisely Jerusalem’s complexities, the very confrontations between clashing populations, that make it interesting, varied, suffused with identities, and most especially, a place where there is space for whomever chooses to act. Read More »
Cross-posted from the ROI Community.
This Pesach, when you are celebrating your freedom, with family and friends, take a minute and think of Gilad Shalit. This year he is in captivity, but next year, we hope Gilad too will be free to celebrate with his friends and family. Why don’t you take a minute to write him and tell him.
Last year, the Shalit family visited us at the 2010 ROI Summit. We spoke about how we could make a difference. Today with your help this Campaign (MeetGilad.com) can realize the vision so many of us had when we met with members of the Shalit family as they marched to Jerusalem last year. So please, join us. Write your message to Gilad, as part of the ROI Community, here. Sign up your own organization in English, French, Hebrew, Spanish, or Romanian (and please list ROI as your parent organization). Once you have signed up you will get a referral link you can share with others. Share the information available here about this campaign with others. See the other ways you can help. Get involved, get others involved, and between now and the anniversary of his capture in June, let’s make this campaign into a global success! Read More »
Cross-posted from ROICommunity.org.
We are very excited to announce the opening of applications for the 2011 ROI Summit, which will be held in Jerusalem from June 12-16, 2011. This will be ROI’s sixth Summit and we cannot wait to meet the next new cohort of young Jewish leaders, innovators and professionals from around the world.
Applications are now open and will be accepted until February 20th, 2011.
Read More »
Cross-posted from roicommunity.org.
It has been three weeks since the fires first started blazing in Israel’s
North. From this tragedy came a very powerful reminder to us all. First, it showed how much we each care about Israel—whether we live in Israel or elsewhere around the world, we united around this cause. Second, we were given the opportunity to show what a difference we could make in a short amount of time.
Together with the matching contribution from Lynn Schusterman, the ROI Community and its networks raised $20,000. There were 120 individual donations, averaging $80. Read More »
Justin Korda is the director of ROI, a global community of outstandingly creative individuals who have a personal vision about how to make the Jewish world a better place.
In a recent article on eJewishPhilanthropy.com entitled “Visionary Leadership: Missing in Action,” Dan Brown asks: Where are the visionary leaders who will guide our community through the next decade, and even further into the future? Where is the next David Ben-Gurion, A.J. Heschel, Mordechai Kaplan, Shimon Peres, Menachem Schneerson or Joseph Solevetchik?
While I greatly respect Brown’s thoughtfulness on the topic, I am far more optimistic about the emerging leaders I see coming up in the ranks to guide our community into the 21st century. Indeed, where Brown sees a lack of visionary leadership, I see a new model of leadership on the rise. Read More »