Vibrant pockets of Jewish life are sprouting up around the world. We are committed to helping these clusters of relationships grow and connect to each other in service of our larger collective vision: building inspired, enduring Jewish communities.
CLSFF believes that by facilitating stronger connections and relationships between the individuals, organizations and networks that comprise Jewish life today, we can ultimately achieve our greater common aspirations. In doing so, we hope to inspire and empower large numbers of young Jewish adults to take ownership of their Jewish identities and live rich Jewish lives in the 21st century.
We are exploring how to help connect and strengthen networks of Jewish life together in ways that match the dynamic and evolving nature of today’s world—fast paced, rapidly changing, hyper connected. Currently we are focused on:
Identifying, animating and linking existing and emerging networks of young Jewish adults and their leadership to resources that will enable them to create personally meaningful Jewish experiences for themselves and their peers;
Supporting a complementary mix of programs and partnerships designed to help as many young Jewish adults as possible connect with one another and work together to build vibrant Jewish communities; and
Engaging with individuals who are personally and collectively weaving the tapestry of Jewish life in ways that will enable our communities to respond to the ideas, interests and experiences that will inspire even larger numbers of young Jewish adults.
The South African Jewish community, like all Jewish communities, is filled with knowledge, creativity, chesed and, of course, complexity. It is one that has a rich and proud history, bringing its unique Jewish spirit to a continent that is rife with challenges and ripe with opportunity.
Within the community, there is an array of individuals as vibrant and varied as the African fauna that surrounds them. From the exceptional community of Johannesburg, a city of commerce and insight near the great goldmines of South Africa, to the community of Cape Town, which started out as a Dutch veggie patch and now is known worldwide as an amazing center of creativity, and every point in between—innovators, activists and entrepreneurs are reshaping the South African landscape to reflect the Jewish and universal values that drive their work. Read More »
Following the gathering, eJewishPhilanthropy ran a series of reflections from gathering participants.
Jewish South African Innovation: From the Goldmines to the Garden PatchBy Seth Cohen
The South African Jewish community, like all Jewish communities, is filled with knowledge, creativity, chesed and, of course, complexity. It is one that has a rich and proud history, bringing its unique Jewish spirit to a continent that is rife with challenges and ripe with opportunity. Read more
Boldly Going Where No Jew Has Gone BeforeBy David Jacobson
Perhaps the greatest innovation of the South African Young Jewish Innovators Gathering was in actually gathering young South African Jews together. After all, 10 Jews make a minyan; 50 Jews from different spaces and different places make a “Metzuyan”—a space of excellence. Read more
The Cradle of Human KindnessBy Sarah Sassoon
I woke up with a beat-bopping, racing heart. It wasn’t Monday morning, having to face the week, although it could have been that, too—rather, it was the adrenalin still running through my system from 24 hours of attending the South African Young Jewish Innovators Gathering. Read more
Innovation for AfricaBy Benji Shulman
There is an oft repeated narrative about the South African community that talks about a small, conservative, aging group of Jews stuck at the bottom of the Dark Continent. The South African Young Jewish Innovators Gathering blew this conception out of the water.Read more
Jubuntu: Innovation comes to South Africa By Michalya Schonwald Moss
All it took to propel the South African Jewish community into the global Jewish conversation of the 21st century was 24 hours with a “dream team” of visionary orchestrators. The result was an event that truly catapulted the 50 participants at the South African Young Jewish Innovators Gathering into a whole new realm of possibility. Read more
Sparking the FlameBy Devorah Perkel
The South African Young Jewish Innovators Gathering was a cocoon for meaningful connection and a catalyst for powerful action. From the start after Shabbat right through to the conclusion Sunday night, the gathering created a transformational space in which creative ideas could be shared openly. Read more
ThePower of Networking from a Far Off LandBy Nicky Newfield
Last summer, at the 2011 ROI Summit, Guy Lieberman met Seth Cohen from the Schusterman Family Foundation, and the idea for bringing together young Jewish innovators in South Africa was born. It seemed to be serendipitous that the timing was at a point when my new innovation, Jewish Interactive, was about to go global. Read more
Inspiring Jewish ConnectionsBy Wendy Kahn
A weekend devoted to innovation; 24 hours devoted to stretching the mind, broadening experiences and challenging assumptions. A space in time to think differently and be exposed to diverse individuals from different backgrounds, with rich experience and perspectives. Read more
LiveStreaming
Key parts of the gathering were livestreamed to audiences around the world!
Opening Reception – Guy Lieberman & Seth Cohen with Keynote Address from Shaka Sisulu
This post first appeared on Working Wikily, a blog devoted to exploring how network tools and approaches are creating new opportunities for powerful social impact.
Watching the unfolding events related to the Susan B. Komen for the Cure’s decision (and subsequent reversal) to stop funding Planned Parenthood, one couldn’t help but realize that we were watching our own revolution of the masses.
Unlike Tahrir Square and the Occupy movement, however, this latest chapter in our era of mass mobilization never really moved from cyberspace to the streets. It didn’t have to. As the nation of pink ribbons turned into a sea of red faces, Komen realized the rebellion in its midst and decided to change course.
There is no question that there are many lessons to be learned from Komen’s unplanned Planned Parenthood experience. Politics aside, even while assessing all of the steps and missteps Komen has made (and, we hope, continues to learn from), the Pink Ribbon Rebellion demonstrated one thing Komen actually did right: it built a social network of activists bound together by a collective identity built on education, empowerment and interconnectedness. Read More »
Leaders and creators of Jewish life are embracing a networked mindset, and in an effort to help initiate a community-wide shift, we convened some of the best and brightest minds working in Jewish life today to discuss the implications of networks and network theory for the future of the Jewish community.
From Nov. 8-10, 2011, in Boulder, CO, our Foundation hosted NetWORKS: Exploring the Power & Possibilities of Networks in the Jewish Community, which brought together leading thinkers, experts, innovators and activists to discuss how we can harness the power of networks to empower Jewish young adults to strengthen both the Jewish community and the broader world.
We partnered with Leadel.net, a Jewish media hub showcasing the rich variety of contemporary Jewish voices and expressions, to create a series of videos that we hope will our community continue to expand the networks conversation.Read More »
Thank you to everyone who could join us for the first-ever TextWORKS: A Clay Shirky Webinar! Your overwhelmingly positive feedback suggests it was extremely well received. For those who want to revisit the insights Clay shared, and/or could not make, we have posted the webinar here for your viewing pleasure.
Before you dig in, I wanted to take the opportunity to share five key thoughts and takeaways from his presentation, many of which found their way on to the Twittersphere, under the #jnets hashtag, thanks to our collective efforts.
1) The capacity of people to use their social capital to achieve social transformation is innate and can, when properly engaged, be activated by various means. (Check out the Clay Shirky/Malcolm Gladwell debate on this topic in Foreign Affairs.) Read More »
“There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.”
Albert Einstein
“Daddy, how do we know it REALLY was a miracle, not just that somebody counted the oil the wrong way?”
Morgan Cohen, age 9
For the serious adult student, Chanukah presents interesting questions about Jewish history, the challenge of heroic narrative and the complexities of a Jewish authority. But for a nine year old, a simple question belies its profound impact: was it really a miracle that the oil burned for eight nights? This question, asked last week by my daughter Morgan, has been burning in my head ever since, especially as I prepared my annual list of predictions for the coming year. Read More »
“Jewish geography” is a favorite game among Jews who meet up anywhere—conferences, social gatherings, work meetings, street corners. You know the game questions: “So where are you from?” “No kidding, New Jersey! Do you know my brother (son, daughter, sister), who went to school (camp, college) there?” “Sure, I know your brother (son, daughter etc.) We were really friendly at school (camp, college etc.)! I actually just connected with him (her) again through Facebook (Twitter, LinkedIn).”
Jews have been master networkers since the Babylonian exile 3,000 years ago—our survival as a people has depended on the ability to stay connected with fellow Jews wherever they were scattered across the globe. Our networking helped us hold fast to our shared values, texts, behaviors and religious traditions.
Growing up in St. Louis, it seemed like every Jew was either a doctor, a lawyer or a social worker. Kiddush was always a room full of doctors consulting lawyers consulting social workers. Even though I didn’t want an MD, JD or MSW, I liked that these professionals were able to make connections and help each other.
The synagogue served as an open space to bring separate communities to work together outside of work. Like many communities, that of doctors and lawyers and social workers are complex, but it was this spark of connectivity that got me interested in the power of networking.
Participating in the NetWORKS Gathering felt like a continuous series ofsparks. The conference was boundless. I expected the conversation to be controlled, but it was fluid and open-ended. A non-facilitated facilitation-of-connections. Read More »
On November 8-10, I traveled to Boulder, CO, for a unique post-GA event: the NetWORKS Gathering, organized by the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation. According to the organizers, the event brought together “a group of exceptional innovators, activists and network curators pushing the boundaries of the most vibrant organizations, projects and communities comprising Jewish life today.” It was an honor to participate and to represent a network that I’m quite fond of—the global Jewish environmental community as gathered together on Jewcology.
In addition to being—as you might guess—an excellent opportunity to network with other Jewish leaders, the event had a specific purpose. In sessions ranging from panels and talks to participatory opportunities using models like World Cafe and Open Space, we had the opportunity to explore what networks are, how they work and what they can offer to us as a Jewish community. Read More »
The Jewish community has changed dramatically over the past decade, as the rapid adoption of new technologies has expanded the number of ways people connect, create and even congregate. Networks, which have been part of the Jewish tradition for thousands of years, have taken on even greater importance as we identify, affiliate and express ourselves in ways once unimaginable.
On November 8-10, the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation brought together leading thinkers, experts, innovators and activists in the Jewish community to discuss the implications of networks and network-thinking for the future of the Jewish community.
@ROICommunity, @SchustermanFoun will be there! MT @repairlabs: Are Jewish orgs sending folks to SXSW? Would love to hear who and why. #jnetshttp://tinyurl.com/6u76udx
Great opp for educators: social media boot camp from @DarimOnline! Online webinars and coaching. Apps open! http://t.co/CEbR6Cca #jnetshttp://tinyurl.com/78ty258
Learn more abt South African Jewish Community! Check out reflections from its bright young minds on @eJPhil http://t.co/M7AM318E #jnetshttp://tinyurl.com/78kj78n
