Are People in the Midwest Stuck?

Richard Florida is one of the more influential thinkers about the trends in City development, having penned such influential books as, "The Creative Class" and "Who's Your City".  His premise is usually that the creative class of people are driving city growth and when creative people have a choice, they want to be in a place with more opportunity and a lot of other creative people.

A recent Florida article posits that folks in places that aren't trendy are stuck, and are falling behind because of it.  Julie Zimmerman, Editor of Cincinnati Magazine had a few things to say in response to Florida's assumptions.

She starts out by providing her bona fides, namely that she lived in the more 'creative' and desirable markets before ending up in Cincinnati, and that she has remained there, not because she is stuck, but because she found the quality of life she was looking for.  The low cost-of-living, ability to have your parents take your kids for the night, and ability to reconnect with childhood friends are true of many Midwestern cities like St. Louis, Milwaukee, and Indianapolis.

While her view is likely shared by many of her age cohort, it is undeniable that many younger adults, unburdened by mortgage or child care costs, find major markets to be a draw.  The real question for the future of 'stuck' cities is whether these young adults will return from the 'creative' cities to their places of birth to raise their own children.

If you've recently made a move, or are thinking about moving home, what is motivating you?  Is it the sex appeal of a New York, Chicago, or Austin, or the affordability and pace of a Cincinnati, Kansas City, or Tulsa? Read More......

Rise of the Meta-

As the internet started proliferating, a number of sites developed to try to make sense of the chaos.  Yahoo gained pre-eminence by warehousing links to all sorts of sites, and starting to group them together.  Webcrawler and other early search engines allowed you to go beyond browsing links and start finding specific content.  Google introduced advanced algorithms to refine those search results and help you find what you wanted faster and more precisely.  None of these technologies actually created content, they merely provided tools to help the average user to make sense and navigate the vast information already available.

This rise of the meta-, that is, not providing the direct content but cataloging it, reorganizing it, and synthesizing it, has bled over into many other facets of society.  And it has real consequences. Take media for example.  With the proliferation of share-able news via twitter, facebook, and other platforms, people are far less interested in the original source of the content, and are likely instead to find the content through an intermediary, either a friend or account they follow, or a news aggregator like Google News.  Sites like the Huffington Post, which creates only a fraction of the content it lists, have found popularity in instead curating the content that is most visible. Because each news site has its own webpage, facebook, and twitter accounts, the information is easily accessible, but the channel is increasingly saturated.  As such, the power has moved away from those who actually create the content to those who aggregate it and curate it, in other words, those functioning at the meta level.

In the Jewish organizational world, we seem to be seeing this trend as well.  As organizations like Moishe House proliferate, and as philanthropists and communities continue to put more resources behind young adult engagement, the amount of content (in this case, programming or events), has generally risen.  Many communities now have professionals working exclusively on engaging young adults, fully outside of a development context.  That is to say that communities are starting to try to connect to young adults without the immediate goal of asking them for money.  In major markets like Chicago, where the organizational landscape is quite robust, there are often several nights a week in which more than one young adult group is hosting something.  But even in Chicago, there are large numbers of young adults, even those who express interest in community involvement, who know little about the actual events and opportunities taking place.  This discovery gap creates a market opportunity for an organization to play the meta role, amassing the information and categorizing and curating it in a useful and share-able manner.

At a time with more and more consultants, and fewer and fewer people actually doing the work, those in the meta role are crucial for the discovery process, but also risk diverting resources from the work that must actually be done on the ground.

The danger in playing in the meta field is relatively simple:  If you rely totally on others to create the information you re-purpose, you have to be sure that there is sufficient high quality content to pull from.  As more Jewish organizations seek to play at the meta level, it is crucial that the landscape not become top heavy.  In other words, if we imagine the relationship between content (or program) providers and aggregators to be such that there must be many providers to one aggregator, we should be wary that there aren't more aggregators to the detriment of fewer providers.




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Can you love Israel and still criticize it?

A central challenge has emerged in the American Jewish community's relationship to and support of Israel: How can we as American Jews, embodying an often secular and universalist worldview, support Israel without compromising our ethics or ignoring a complicated reality?

Many American Jews, particularly under 30, have solved this by simply ceasing their support.  Some have taken it upon themselves to prove their ideological credentials by actively working against the State of Israel through the BDS movement.  A middle ground, of sorts, holds that one can be 'Pro-Israel' without being Zionist, that is, that one can simultaneously support Israel and work for peace.  The recent move to the right by the Israeli government has challenged this view.

Jews have always had a sense of connection to the land and the people of Israel, but only in the past 63 years have we had a state as well. Recently, I came across a piece by a friend that recasts the issue in an interesting way.

Zoe Jick, who works with the World Zionist Organiztion and MASA, wrote an article in which she reframes the conversation by suggesting that Zionist means believing in the Utopian ideal of a Jewish homeland that is a light unto the nations.  Pro-Israel, she argues, is a measure of support for the government of Israel's policies.

AIPAC, the largest Pro-Israel lobby, claims that they support the relationship between the US and Israel and don't take political stances.  However, as the Israeli government's policies reflect an increasingly particularist view, and continue to empower the ultra-orthodox and settler minorities, it could be argued that an apolitical stance is still a nod in favor of the very political status quo.

Given this context, Jick suggests that we should reclaim the idea of Zionism, and use it as a base from which to criticize the policies and practices that are moving the very real State of Israel away from the ideals of the People of Israel.

Obviously, not everyone feels the way Jick does, and she was singled out in a recent opinion piece by Evelyn Gordon.  What you'll notice is that the author of this piece doesn't actually respond to Jick's ideas, merely takes quotes out of context to lament how terrible it is that even Jewish communal professionals can't be counted on to support Israel.  In doing so Gordon lays bare the rift between those who believe that there are legitimate areas for criticism, and that dissent is in fact the duty of those who truly love Israel, and those who believe that absolute support and defense of Israel is a responsibility of all Jews.

As the space for true dialogue contracts, ill-informed zealots from both sides of the isle are allowed to spin distortions, misinformation, and outright lies to an increasingly polarized consumer base.  Given this situation, is it a surprise that so many of us are simply tuning out?

Why don't we create spaces for REAL dialogue on these issues; safe spaces, with intellectual standards, in which we can discuss our feelings, our challenges, and our ideas without fear of recrimination?

In a Jewish world in which people have to take sides on issues of depth and subtlety, everyone loses.  We are too small of a people and the issues are too important to be co-opted by media trends of sound bytes and ad hominem attacks.  This Hanukkah, bring a little light into the world by studying the issues more deeply, withholding judgement in conversations, and engaging in real conversation. Read More......

Iran's nuclear program has been a cause of concern for Israel, who views its Persian neighbor as an existential threat, based on the the views expressed by the ruling regime. Iran's regime feels Israel is a threat, generally based on comments the Israeli's have made regarding the need to keep military options on the table to prevent a nuclear Iran. Sure, there have been a whole lot of cold war type actions going on recently, but the threat of all out war is such that Defense Secretary Panetta recently made explicit statements telling the Israelis not to bomb Iran. No matter how you feel about the saber-rattling between Israel and Iran, which has grown steadily over the past few years, you should know that most people think that all our military options are a bad idea. But don't take my word for it, the Oxford Research group has published a pretty comprehensive study of the potential effects of an Israeli campaign to derail Iran's nuclear program and concluded that it won't have the long-term positive outcomes to outweigh the costs.  You should read it. Read More......

The GA, Who, What, Why.

The General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America is probably the Jewy-est conference of the year. More than one thousand professionals, volunteer leaders, and students massed in Denver this year, but what is the conference about, who does it represent, and what does it accomplish? The GA is a yearly conference that attracts people from all over the world. With speakers ranging from politicians to entrepreneurs, sessions covering the gamut of trends in the Jewish world, and intense networking, it is often seen as a must-do conference, or the belly of the beast, simply a matter of perspective. For ease of reading, let's break this down into a couple sections.


Who Attends the GA?
The GA is not cheap.  For a young adult registering early, you are out $500, plus flights, hotel, and any other incidentals.  Registration can reach almost $1000 if you are late and advanced in years.  For this reason, the vast majority of people attending have someone else footing the bill.  These people are basically broken down into professionals, that is, people working in the Jewish community, for whom their organization (meaning the donors to their organization) have covered the cost, or students, for whom Hillel (meaning the donors to Hillel) have provided a large subsidy.  There are also a number of volunteer professionals or donors who are very involved in their local Federations, who have either merited subsidies through their leadership, or are affluent enough to swallow the cost.  Also, anyone looking to sell anything to a Jewish Federation or Hillel is probably making an appearance, too.


What Happens at the GA?
Officially, there are any number of sessions, covering leadership, Israel updates, ideas on advocacy, trends in philanthropy, and about anything else you could imagine.  These sessions often take the form of single speakers or panels of community experts.  I went to one such panel speaking about how to best leverage the energy of young adults returning from Israel trips.  Interestingly, the audience for the session leaned younger, with many of the questions they asked taking the brazen form of, "why haven't you created X for me or given me the opportunity to do Y".  Several of the questions also acknowledged the vast investments being made in sending young adults to Israels and expressed appreciation for those efforts.

This, however, isn't where the real action of the GA was taking place.  The real action is in the lobby, the lounge, and at the bar.  Many professionals take the opportunity of so many of their colleagues congregating in one place to set up endless meetings.  Ideas are shared, opportunities pitched, and business closed.  When it is all said and done, this is where the value of the GA really lies: the network.

Jewish Geography
It is almost cliche to speak of Jewish geography, but it is also an incredibly powerful shared activity and experience that binds together so many of the participants.  A recent study done by facebook and the University of Madrid found the average distance between two people to be 4.74 'hops'.  At the GA, the maximum was 2....maybe.  Everyone went to school, camp, youth group, Israel, or worked with your friend, your uncle, your sister.  It is simultaneously comforting and terrifying when you meet a former Defense Minister of Israel and end up getting invited to his house for Persian food by his wife because you know his daughter through her boyfriend.

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For Those About To Fast, Slow Down.

Judaism is, at its core, an agrarian religion. That is to say that our roots quite literally lay in the soil, in the natural cycles of the year, the seasons (at least as they exist in the land of Israel), and an understanding of the interconnectedness of all things.

Many of us wonder about the timing of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Isn’t it odd, that just as the colors are changing, an early sign as to natural decay, that we would start our new year? In Israel, however, the end of the hot summer marks the beginning of the rainy season, by far the most important season for the creation and sustanance of the plant life upon which our forebearers relied.

While Rosh Hashanah and the ideas of renewal and rebirth, sweetness, and beginnings seem upbeat and carefree, Yom Kippur is often more difficult for us to comprehend. If we begin the year with (over)consumption, we somewhat quickly shift to a period of abstention, we literally fast. In Jewish tradition and culture, which is obsessed with food, what is the meaning of this conscious and intentional removal of food from our most important of days?

For us as Jews, recognizing the sources of foods that sustain our lives, must be an intentional act. In our Jewish codes of food ethics, known as kashrut, we are told not to boil a kid in its mother’s milk. While we all can understand the cruelty of this act, most commentators believe that what is most offensive about it is that it mixes milk, a symbol and giver of life, with meat, quite literally the product of death.

If food is necessary for life, then its absence must be necessary for our simulation of death. And this abstention gives us an opportunity to think about our sustanence, spiritually as well as physically. As we repeat incantations and formulations designed to convince our creator to be merciful and grant us continued existence despite our manifold flaws, we may also think about our responsibilities to the systems that sustain us on a day to day basis.

There is a tradition that Yom Kippur is an elaborate ritual meant to be reminiscent of our final moments of life. Traditionally, we wear white, symbolizing the simple garb meant for Jewish burial. We take all of the Torahs out of the ark, leaving it exposed, like a coffin, and we confess our sins and repent. We also refrain from all earthly pleasures, among them, sex, and food. Many Jews refrain from wearing leather belts or shoes. We do this to attempt to approach this moment, simulating our death, absent of the impurities which often keep us from attaining our highest spiritual potential. Ultimately, we recognize death and life as part of the same cycle, but only in the separation, do we find the convergence. In facing death, we hope to inscribe ourselves in the book of life.

In fact, this intense focus on separating life from death pervades kashrut and other Jewish customs, from the laws of slaughtering meat to ensure the transition from life to death is as quick as possible, to the salting of meat to remove any blood, to a prohibition against eating animals that are scavengers, eating other animals that may have been dead for some time.

This focus on separation, comes into play on a larger scale as well. As Jews, as compared to other religions that often focus on life after death, our duty is to impact the world we currently inhabit. We know that our current world often conflates life and death. For an illustration of this, we need not look further than industrialized farming, which literally takes millenia of decomposed organic matter in the form of petroleum to power huge operations that do not have no time or consideration for the animals while they are alive. The resulting waste indtroduced into this system often runs off into our water supply, further tainting the potential for future existence. The first step in repairing the world, is to cause less damage to it.

Yom Kippur offers us an opportunity to step off of the wheel of consumption, to remove ourselves from a system that sustains us with cheap food at an incredible hidden cost, if only for a day. If we take the fast as an opportunity to set an intention for our consumption post-break-fast, we might find we are able to make changes to how we approach our food, our environment, and by extension, our lives.

May your fast be meaningful. Tzom Kal. And may you be sealed in the book of life for a happy and healthy new year, Gmar Chatima Tovah.

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ROI - The Global Young Leadership Network

This Sunday in Jerusalem, 150 of the most innovative young Jewish leaders from around the world will converge to build a global network. This convening, under the name ROI, is a relatively recent initiative of Lynn Schusterman and her foundation, which has grown into prominence in the Jewish entrepreneurship movement.

The goal of the summit is, "to connect and create new tools and novel approaches to shape the Jewish world and beyond."

A recent press release explains:

ROI Community is an international network of 600 social entrepreneurs and Jewish innovators in 40 countries on six continents who are creating innovative ways to connect to Jewish life.

“These young Jewish social entrepreneurs are transforming the Jewish world through their vital initiatives and commitment to tikkun olam, repairing the world,” said Lynn Schusterman, the American Jewish philanthropist who, in 2005, created ROI Community as a partnership with Taglit-Birthright Israel. “As change agents within their own communities, in Israel and beyond, these 20- and 30-somethings are key to ensuring the vibrancy of Jewish life 3,000 years down the road.”

Innovators in St. Louis have played a role in previous years' summits, including Hershey Novack, Chabad on Campus Rabbi, Michael Novack, CEO of Kiosite, and Lindsay Citerman of Omanoot. This year, Yoni Sarason, a founder of Moishe House St. Louis, Next Dor and theStLouJew.com will attend.

Stay tuned to The St. Lou Jew for blogging from the Summit.

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