TL;DR: What started as an idea in the GJ Arts & Culture Roundtable became an in-person micro-event. Deborah Fishman, GJ Leven Fellow for Partner Engagement, shares how Global Jewry and four of our partner organizations strengthened our relationships beyond the screen, and how this could become a blueprint for future immersive experiences around the world.

I just came back from co-leading a very unique retreat in France. Twelve participants gathered to connect with one another and share a group immersive experience at Tempo Latino, an Afro-Cuban music festival in Vic-Fezensac, France. Beyond being an exciting opportunity in its own right, the retreat sparked something bigger for me: the idea that it could be a model for immersive micro-events, where members of the Global Jewry network come together around shared experiences in particular places.

We represented five countries – Mexico, Spain, France, USA, Belgium – and four GJ partner organizations, including working in partnership with a local cultural organization, JewSalsa. Over four days, the group immersed itself in the shared cultural experience. We celebrated Shabbat, experimented with creativity and collaboration, and built connections through informal experiences—including, of course, the vibrant festival atmosphere of music and dance at Tempo Latino. Participants covered most of their own costs, with the option for a partial subsidy from Global Jewry.

Why This Model Works

In-person connection has unmatched power for Global Jewry’s purposes. It’s the best way for participants and their organizations to build the foundation of trust and relationships so that they can work more effectively together to advance the Jewish world. At the same time, a large-scale conference comes with real costs — it can be expensive to run, time-intensive to plan, plus it’s hard to figure out the best and fairest place and time to hold it when attendees will be flying in from Australia to Argentina and everywhere in between.

Immersive micro-events offer a different path. Instead of bringing the whole world to one central location, a small group enters a specific place to have a specialized experience together. A few distinctive advantages of this model include:

• It’s a lived and tangible experience of global Jewry. Rather than discussing global Jewry in the abstract, participants understand firsthand the lived experience in a particular place, through genuine human connection with people already rooted there and with the international group.
• It’s topical and adaptable. This retreat grew out of the Arts & Culture Roundtable, but any GJ Roundtable could build a version of it around experiencing the subject its members care about.
• It asks for real buy-in. When participants and/or their organizations contribute to the cost of their own experience, the dynamic changes: they move from passive attendees to invested partners. After all, we tend to invest our time, energy and resources in what we truly value.
• It creates deeper relationships. Small groups sharing meals, creativity, culture and unexpected moments builds the social capital that can later translate into collaboration and support for one another’s work.
• It energizes the network. A local immersive gathering can spark interest in Global Jewry, strengthen relationships between people who might otherwise only know one another through Zoom, and create excitement and momentum that carries back into the wider network.

Where This Could Go Next

Any Roundtable could design its own version of an immersive micro-event: all it takes is identifying a compelling experience in a particular region, and inviting members to gather around it. A Roundtable could consider any activity or gathering that’s relevant to the topic they organize around — whether that’s advocacy, education, entrepreneurship, or something else entirely. GJ members could step up and identify experiences they are excited about, so we can create opportunities for others to discover their region through their eyes. What’s an idea you can’t wait to make happen?

Shavua tov,

Deborah Fishman

GJ Leven Fellow for Partner Engagement

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