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.
Jerusalem is a fertile breeding ground for creativity, action and change. Its energy, dynamism, different faiths and colors, the fact that everyone grasps it tightly and is unwilling to let go, its history, but especially its future – all these create a unique expanse that encourages young people with that social spark to get off the fence, take responsibility and shape the future.”