PresenTense Institute

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.

With an intensive and stimulating shabbaton behind us, PICZ fellows hunkered back down into project-mode. Here is a glimps at a few of our fellows.

A pre-Shabbat message from PICZ Fellow and Bible rapper Matt Bar while everyone prepares for Shabbat.

Folkrapper and PICZ Fellow Matt Bar regaled the crowd at Thursday's networking event with some of his "fresh off the grill" raps. Matt's project this summer is a curriculum of the Bible and Midrash using raps as triggers. Below are some of his works in progress that he will be developing over the next six weeks. Get in touch with Matt if you have feedback.

PICZ is an incubator -- but what does that mean? See for yourself, in a silent film presentation below:

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.

Our 16 fellows arrived from all over the world yesterday and today, representing communities in Israel, the United States, Europe and South America. (One couldn't come--turns out his company might go public in the next few days, and he's meeting with VCs in New York--and the other is coming a week late for similar reasons.)

After a good dinner cooked by our very own fellow Moises Bassan and our coordinator Yehudit Singer, we had a great introductory session--all web-cam'd and ready for vodcasting once we figure out how to edit wmv vids. Stay tuned.