Uriel Heilman writes about the Summer Institute for Creative Zionism in the JTA:
Horwitz, of the Creative Zionism Institute, said Israel should be the creative platform for the Jewish people. As the co-editor of BlogsofZion.org, he also was one of the ROI fellows."Israel is a hub for the Diaspora. In Israel we have the spirit, wisdom, knowledge and social capital to take the next step forward in Jewish collective life," he said.
Beyond all the argot and hype, it appeared as if something indeed was being accomplished at 3 HaRan St., where the Creative Zionism Institute is housed in an apartment turned dormitory with a broadband Internet connection.
Wires crisscrossed the floor where one fellow sat tapping out computer code for an easy-to-use Web-based publishing system, while another, Matt Barr, worked on Bible-inspired rap music (http://mattbar.com/music-43.html).
Horwitz said the institute is modeled on high-tech incubators, where people with promising ideas are given the resources they need to succeed and make money for their investors.
In this case, he and Beery said, the dividend is new and improved Jewish life.
"We're trying to create 360-degree solutions for Jewish problems," Beery said, speaking rapidly and peppering his monologue with the latest buzzwords.
"The Jewish world is at a crossroads right now, with the information age affecting entire humanity, but specifically the Jews, who are spread around the world," he said. "We're trying to unify the Jewish world and create new ways for the Jewish world to think, act, work and program."
Nice.
PICZ Fellows come from all over the religious spectrum; Creative Zionism holds that the Jewish collective should not be segmented according to style of worship or relationship to God. In that regards, we are one of the few pluralistic programs that are actually pluralistic: from secular to Haredi, our fellows span the spectrum.
Meet here Eliezer Israel, a PICZ Fellow, who is also the Executive Director of the Bat Ayin Yeshiva. And here are his words of wisdom, a short dvar torah for shabbat.
Shabbat Shalom!
This is the first vlog keeping track of Matt Bar's Jewish Bible Rap Album that is to be used as a platform for Jewish education. As he comes up with the jams he will be sharing them and loving any feedback. Here is an introduction to the project and then a version of Cain and Abel. If you want to hear more or read lyrics press here.
They're here! These past two weeks, the PresenTense Institute for Creative Zionism rocked and rolled--and now we're getting to rock some more: five interns have arrived at the Institute from the Yavneh Olami summer internship program. These Interns will be working on a variety of projects, and encouraged to help out Fellows get the data they need in order to carry out successful projects. Here's our intro video--enjoy.
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