TL;DR: Global Jewry’s first Open Mic brought together partners from around the world to share innovative projects and ideas, fostering collaboration and helping organizations gain visibility, support, and connections. In honor of this event, we’ve curated a list those partners who spoke to share their stories and ideas. We thank everyone to joined, and we have many more opportunities on the way to collaborate with the GJ Network.
As Global Jewry’s Leven Fellow for Partner Engagement, I have the enormous privilege of working with the dazzling wide array of Jewish organizations who make up our partners. We represent such impressive diversity in geography, size, and mission, each of us with incredibly important ideas and projects with the potential to advance us as a People and revolutionize the Jewish world.
It is also my distinctive privilege to work to innovate ways for all of these ideas to be heard and gain traction within our extensive network. The goal is to allow all our Partners to find the new collaborations and avenues for support that they need for their ideas to grow and achieve their potential in success and scale.
Last week, Global Jewry held its first Open Mic. At this virtual event, 8 partners took the floor to share about themselves, their organizations, projects, and visions. Attendees interested in asking questions and diving deeper visited presenters through the use of breakout rooms. With so many ideas and projects to share, the event was energetic and fast-paced. And yet it only scratched the surface of the GJ Network and the important conversations and connections it can afford.
In the spirit of sharing out across our network, here are the partners who presented and a taste of the ideas they put forward:
Lior Shmueli: How to combat anti-Semitism and reconnect the world with Israel through Shalom Project.
Sarah Bunin Benor: How to tap into language to build connections, raise awareness about Jewish diversity, and document the world’s Jewish cultures before it’s too late through the HUC Jewish Language Project.
Amihai Bannett: How to empower educators and schools to transform Jewish learning through Herzog Global.
Michal Slawny Cababia: How to engage young Jews on Israel and Zionism through WZO Zionist Salons.
Arik Rosenblum: How to bring the first global network of Jewish volunteers to the forefront of marine emergencies through Eco-Ocean.
Brad Pomerance: Why Jewish storytelling is important and how to tell the story of the Jewish people through JLTV.
Ariel Beery: How to align Israel and the Jewish People towards a better future through Prophecy.
Gal Apel Alon: How to rescue healthy, surplus food and deliver it to those in need through Leket.
A round of applause for this impressive line-up! I encourage you to check out the incredible work of all of these GJ Partners, and to connect with them yourself, including through GJ forums. We now have active Global Roundtables on Arts & Culture, Education, Volunteer Programs, and more on the way.
Do you have big ideas and transformational projects that you would like to present to our global network, perhaps at a future Open Mic event? Would you like to convene fellow partners around a particular topic or field, or do you have a suggestion of a new way to connect our partners and spread ideas? Please reach out. We may be spread around the world, but we’re all in this together, or as the Talmud suggests, “kol Yisrael areivim zeh la zeh / all of Israel is responsible for one another.” Mic drop.
Shavua tov,
Deborah Fishman
Deborah Fishman, GJ Leven Fellow for Partner Engagement, can be reached at deborah.fishman@gmail.com.
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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