Macro Greenberg, the brains behind a number of marketing and PR efforts--and the founder of Reel Biographies and now Thunder11--came to speak with PICZ and relay his vision for a new paradigm of Israeli public diplomacy:
Keep watching episode 2, episode 3, episode 4, episode 5, episode 6, episode 7, episode 8, episode 9, episode 10, episode 11, episode 12, episode 13, episode 14 and episode 15.
A key point that resonated with me is that one can think of Israel as a successful company that requires positive image in order to encourage investment; that is, a positive Israeli public stance is not only good for its own good--it has an instrumental purpose that overcomes politics and can improve the lives of all of Israel's citizens.
Enjoy.
PICZ went on what we lovingly termed the anti-Hasbara Fellowship on Thursday--instead of beaches and historic sites, which seem to be the main content of many tours, we made our way straight into the, eh, garbage of Israel: the Dudaim Refuge plant to be specific. Nothing like meeting Israel's trashy problem face on to give the Fellows and our assorted guests from the Pardes Institute a good understanding of the challenges that face the Jewish People as we get used to sovereignty.
After Dudaim we were lucky enough to be hosted by two amazing projects, both started by, and run by, young Israeli social entrepreneurs: Or and Ayalim. It was like out of a dream--young communities developing a whole new world down there, under the broad desert sky. Romantic--and awesome.
Bambi Sheleg, the founder and editor-in-chief of Israel's leading magazine, Eretz Aheret, came to speak with PICZ fellows and members on Sunday--and it was a riviting experience.
Israel, according to Bambi, is at a crossroads. The Jewish People have been pulled in opposite and conflicting directions by extremist elements from all sides--leaving many Israelis feeling as if there is no common ground, no basis for the State.
But there is a common ground, she asserts--more than we think. Since the extremist groups are getting more and more extreme, the moderates in each camp end up having more in common with one another than their extremist brothers; a national-religious woman, and Haredi man and a Tel-Avivian secular Jew sometimes have more in common with each other than with the fictionalized, sensationalized versions of themselves they see on TV. This common ground is another Israel, an Eretz Aheret, one that Bambi works hard to portray by bringing together leading voices from across the ideological camps to write about issues from all sides of the spectrum.
We filmed the talk--here is the first chapter, and the rest is online on our Creative Zionism Channel on YouTube.
Enjoy
Nir Kouris, who was on the first team of the successful Israeli start-up WeFi, came into the Institute on Wednesday June 27th to share with us his experiences in being with WeFi from the beginning and his vision for developing a technologically-focused summer camp for Jewish youth from around the world called E-magination Israel. Here is Nir's introduction (the Hebrew announcement is followed by an English one):
Nir is also a Member of PICZ, and an inspiration to us all: his hard work, unbelievable success and social entrepreneurial vision drives us all to new heights as we explore the connection between informal Jewish education and technology.
Check out the rest of the videos here.
On Monday the PresenTense Institute for Creative Zionism community's paradigms were busted, as Tsvi Bisk, noted Futurist, lectured on themes in his soon to be released book, the Optimistic Jew.
One of Tsvi's most controversial statements--and the one that rang the most true--was that Israel shouldn't just live to survive, it should live to economically thrive. That is, Israel should strive to have the highest Median income in the world--thereby ensuring that as many Israelis as possible have the economic power of the Middle Class. Check out more here:
See the rest of the talk on our YouTube account. Enjoy.
There isn't much Benny Levin has not done; as one of the fathers of Israel's NICE Systems--the godfather of the Israeli Hi-Tech industry--he has now moved on to found what one of the PICZ fellows described as the "most revolutionary social-value creating project on the scene": Israel Venture Network.
IVN is working on a number of different levels to create real systemic change in Israel--and blending public and private spheres in one of the most wise ways we've ever seen: by tying those who have succeeded in the private sector directly to the heart of the public sector, IVN is helping people learn how to help themselves--teaching people how to fish instead of just giving fish.
Here are snippets of the talk, broadcast on YouTube (we can only load up 10 minute segments, unfortunately) and the pocast will come soon. Enjoy.
See the rest of the videos as they're uploaded, on our YouTube account: CreativeZionism.
One of the leading Hi-Tech movers and shakers in the world--and a Zionist leader and example in his own right--spoke to an overstuffed house tonight: Jacob Ner-David.
The talk was wide-ranging and superbly executed: Jacob reviewed the revolutionary transformations that have affected human society and especially Israel in the past fifty years, and showed, very convincingly, that Israel and the Jewish People have competitive advantages in a number of ways, most importantly concerning connections and risk-taking abilities. Check out the presentation that went along with his remarks here.
As for the Video--well, Windows decided to play a little trick on us...and disabled the microphone for some reason. And that is why the video below has no sound. But do check it out--it looks nice!
Have no fear, however--all has been taken care of: Here is the podcast from the lecture. If you'd like, you can sync it up with the video. Or, better yet, just listen to it in the background and share in the mindblowing experience of learning from Jacob Ner-David. Enjoy.
Today we were honored by three leading young Israeli social activists at the forefront of the Israeli social-justice sector, brought to us by steering committee member Dyonna Ginsburg:
1. Asaf Baner, founder, B'Maagaleh Tzedek - dedicated to bringing business practices in line with Jewish Ethics and Judaism.
2. Roy Folkman, founder, New Spirit, a group of young activists working to make Jerusalem a younger, more prosperous and attractive city for young people, and president of the Hebrew University Student Body.
3. Tal Cohen, founder, Teach for Israel, a new initiative whose mission is to minimize and even eliminate the existing educational inequities by expanding the educational opportunity of the students in the Negev and Galilee by making higher education attainable to them.
And the community turned out in droves (we literally had people sitting all the way up to the second floor of the Institute to get a look.) Here, below, are some vids of the intro talks.
You can listen to a full audio of the session ("minus some off the record comments") on the player below or subscribe to our Creative Zionism Cast feed for our regular podcast updates.
Here is a clip with Ariel Beery's introduction to PICZ, Dyonna Ginsburg's introduction to the panel, and Asaf Baner's introduction to B'Maagalei Tzedek:
Here is the introduction to "Young Spirit" or Ruach Chadasha by Roy Folkman:
And here is the introduction of Teach for Israel by Tal Cohen:
The panel was literally awesome and inspiring. It is amazing all of these guys are only in their early 30s. More clips to come once we learn how to video edit. Till then, enjoy.
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