TL;DR: Global Jewry is rethinking the word “collaboration” because it doesn’t fully capture what we do. Instead of just creating partnerships or projects, we are focusing on building connections and creating the conditions for organizations to find each other and work together. With a network of over 500 organizations across over 40 countries, our role is to connect, convene, and strengthen the broader Jewish community. We’re exploring better language to describe this work and inviting members to share ideas and actively participate in growing and energizing the network.
We’ve been thinking a lot lately about the word collaboration. It’s been part of how we have described Global Jewry since the beginning — and it still captures what we care about. Bringing Jewish organizations into relationship with each other, across denominations and geographies and organizational sizes, really is the heart of what we do.
But lately we’ve been wondering whether it’s the most useful word. Not because the idea is wrong — but because of what happens when you say it out loud. Collaboration tends to conjure something specific and finished: a project, a partnership, a deliverable. And what Global Jewry actually creates is something different and, in many respects, more valuable. We create the conditions to help the breadth and depth of cooperations and collaborations among Jewish organizations flourish.
Think about what Global Jewry is today. We are more than five hundred organizations in over 40 countries, with a thousand of the most influential Jewish leaders as advisors. Institutions that have been around for generations sitting alongside groups that are just finding their footing. What we do is make sure they can find each other — through convenings, introductions, shared programs, and the simple fact of being in the same network. We make it possible; it is up to them to make it happen.
So, rather than focusing on collaboration, we’ve been playing with different language. Words like connecting, convening, bridging. Phrases like building the network or strengthening the field. These feel more clear about our role — and they open up a more interesting conversation about what a healthy, well-connected Jewish organizational world actually looks like, and what we are doing to help achieve that goal.
We don’t have a final answer yet. Language evolves, and we want to get it right. But we’re genuinely curious what resonates with the people who know our work best — our members, our advisors, our supporters. Does connecting feel true to what you’ve experienced? Does convening capture it? Is there a word we haven’t thought of yet that fits better?
We’d love to hear what you think. This is, after all, a network — and the best thinking tends to come from inside it.
And while we’re on the subject of what makes this network work — the honest answer is: you do. Here are a few ways to make your presence felt:
- Introduce us to organizations that should be here but aren’t yet. Personal introductions are still the most powerful way the network grows.
- Show up to a convening. You can find a schedule of our upcoming programs at GlobalJewry.org
- Make a connection. Introduce two members who haven’t met. The network is only as alive as the people in it.
- Ask us to help start a global roundtable on the subject of your choice. That is a great way to meet other partners and begin making an impact in your chosen field of interest.
- Talk about Global Jewry when you talk about your own work. Your voice carries further than ours when it comes to describing what membership actually means.
As always, we’d love to hear from you — about this, about the language question, about any of it.
Shavua tov,
Sandy Cardin
Founder, Global Jewry
Have an achievement (e.g. publications, awards, appearances, etc) you would like highlighted in a future GJ Connections? Let us know by emailing sandy@globaljewry.org.
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