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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What's Good for Jewish Young Adults in April

Got Passover Plans?

Passover starts Monday night, April 18th, do you need a place for Seder? Chabad is hosting young adult seders both nights, Rabbi Shafner of Bais Abe is opening up his house, and Central Reform is placing young adults with families. For some light reading, check out NEXT Dor's idea for a '5th Question' on Birthright NEXT's webzine, Alef.

The Main Event(s)

Thursday, April 14 - Next Dor's Organic Garden kicks off and you can help. From 4 PM until it gets dark, help dig, plant, and make the garden bloom. If you have access to spades, wheelbarrows, or tillers, let Next Dor know: info@nextdorstl.org or RSVP here

Thursday, April 14 Young Adults at Bais Abe (YABA) in conjunction with Next Dor St. Louis and JGrads St. Louis presents the 2nd Annual Pre-Passover Wine Tasting (back by popular demand)! FEATURING *A choice variety of kosher for Passover wines for your tasting pleasure *An assortment of cheeses and fruits to cleanse the palate (and because... we like cheese and fruit) 7:00pm - 10:00pm at Bais Abe 6910 Delmar Boulevard Saint Louis, MO

Saturday, April 16 · Moishe House is hosting a Shabbat Brunch. Begin your Saturday the best way possible...with Moishe House STL for Shabbat brunch. Appetizers, drinks, and desserts are always welcome! 11:00am - 2:00pm at 915 Concordia Ln Clayton, MO

Sunday, April 24th, Moishe House is hosting a Rock-a-Thon to raise money alongside Mizzou's AEPi for charity. 1:00PM at 915 Concordia

Wednesday April 27th - YPD hosts Benyamin Cohen, the Atlanta-born son of an Orthodox rabbi, traveled around the Bible belt visiting various places of worship to find out why Christians seem so excited about Christianity. He wrote this humorous yet sincere account of how this transformative experience impacted his own spirituality and Jewish identity. 7 PM at Fallon's Bar and Grill in Olivette. Contact Lee’at Bachar at lbachar@jfedstl.org or 314-442-3817 to RSVP or with questions.

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Emerging Adulthood: Sense of Possibility

The NYTimes recently published an article looking at Emergent Adulthood, a 'new' developmental period characterized by continued dependence. For many young adults the article hits close to home.
As a result of the economic downturn, the ubiquity of college education, as well as some large cultural attitude shifts, a lot of us young adults aren't rushing into careers or marriage and family life as quickly as many of our grandparents and parents did.

In the Jewish community, this has produced a crisis, as many organizations are built around a now outdated family and life cycle. This is witnessed by the falling numbers of young adult representation in synagogues, Federations, and the collapse of more and more well established Jewish institutions.

While many in the organized Jewish world are kept up late at night worrying about the future of the Jewish people (or at least their beloved institutions), there may yet be a great source for optimism.

One of the pieces of this Emergent Adulthood phenomenon is a 'Sense of Possibility', an entrepreneurial and positive outlook that isn't beset by an acceptance of the harsh reality of life. If we look around us, we find young adults are already solving many of the problems and filling many of the needs they have identified for themselves. The independent Minyan movement is one such indicator of this, as are the number of interesting and innovative start up ventures popping up all around the country.

The challenge, at this point, is the cross generational cultural differences between young adults who are solving their own problems in unorthodox ways, and members of previous generations who are seeking to reinforce or maintain the status quo to which they have grown accustomed.

For many outside of the Gen Y and Millennial cliques, these innovative approaches don't make sense and seem redundant. Also, for someone who has been doing things a certain way, change can seem pretty terrifying.

So how do we come together and leverage the experience and resources amassed by those with a few more years under their belts with the new ideas, approaches, the 'Sense of Possibility' that we as 'Emerging Adults' bring to the table?

The solution lies in not seeing ourselves as pitted against one another but to realize that we are looking to solve the same issues, and have complementary resources that we bring to the table. Seeing this as a balanced yin-yang situation is as (hopefully) easy as not focusing on the two parts, but on the whole which they combine to form.


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The Well, a New Group for Women

As part of our efforts to showcase new and exciting things in the Jewish community, we give you 'The Well'.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

The Well: New Women's Group at CRC

Central West End - August 10, 2010

This exciting new group will explore topics such as body image, female rituals, Jewish baking, our connection with nature, celebrating our creativity, moon cycles and the Jewish calendar.

Additionally, this Rosh Hodesh group will be an opportunity for women to learn, discuss and grow together through Jewish teachings and rituals.

Each month on the evening of the new moon we will laugh and learn together while building a network of women who can support each other through different phases of life.

First New Moon: Tuesday, August 10th from 7:30p-9:00pm in the CRC library

Contact:
Elizabeth Tucker
elizabeth [at] alivemag [dot] com Read More......

Reflections On Israel

It has been a while since we were able to update the St. Lou Jew. Between the intensity of the last week in the PresenTense Institute, as well as the difficulty of trying to cram in time with everyone before I left Israel... well.. you get the picture. Readjusting and Re-acculturating always helps you to appreciate the differences between where you were and where you are. Read on for a few thoughts about Israel and what St. Louis can learn.

Israel has a way of changing people. The country makes secular people religious and vice versa. The problems are both mindblowingly complex and maddeningly simple. The culture can make you want to scream in frustration (that no two cab rides between the same points are ever the same price) and cry in appreciation. The smells, sights, sounds, and tastes are all more vivid, and everything is often in sharper focus. But can an experience in Israel change St. Louis?

After 6 weeks in Israel, learning how to write business plans, executive summaries, how to navigate public transportation, sharpening my Hebrew and soaking up the local culture, I have a few ideas about what the tiny nation-state can teach St. Louis.

1. Transportation
In Israel, you can get nearly any where without the need for a car. Sure, you are reliant on a network of buses, shared cabs, and trains which may not arrive on time, may not be clearly marked, or make much sense to the casual traveler, but once you master them, they are quite powerful and mostly convenient. St. Louis used to be the street car capital of the world, and while those days are long gone, the city has finally made some small strides in reinstating public transportation funding. The bigger issue is that most people in St. Louis view public transit as a people mover of last resort. We take for granted the relative affordability of cars and gasoline and look at the Metro and buses as less dignified or convenient way to get around. Because of the range of our cars we move further and further from the urban core, making public transit even less relevant. If young adults took the lead in starting to ride the bus around the city, more people would be convinced of the safety and convenience of this form of transit, it would go a long way towards reviving activity in the city. See, on public transportation, we are forced to interact with and acknowledge each other, something from which cars conveniently remove us. In a city like St. Louis, the most precious resources are the young creative people who will create jobs and opportunities, but without a density of these people, their talents will merely dissipate. The Jewish community can take a leadership role in championing expanded use of public transportation and can encourage community members to stop moving to the exurbs.

2. Hospitality
A few weekends ago, I stayed with two different families, each of whom implored me to feel at home. In Cincinnati I'm close with the parents of almost everyone of my good friends from growing up. In St. Louis, although I know a lot of people whose parents live in town, I have barely met (let alone know) anyone's parents, and rarely get to experience home hospitality. Granted, in Israel, I'm a visitor, and I'm fortunate to have a large network here, but the hospitality is unreal. I've been offered places to crash by people I've met once and invited to more dinners than I have time to attend. Hospitality isn't just a matter of meeting parents, though, it is also how you treat people, how you welcome them into your space, and make them feel at home.

If St. Louis wants to be a comfortable and welcoming place for Jewish young adults, people need to start making extraordinary efforts to make them feel comfortable and welcome. Did you just meet someone new? Invite them over for a meal with friends, introduce them to your crew, make them feel like St. Louis is a place they fit in. One of the primary purposes of the Next Dor house is to provide that home for people in St. Louis and to tap into that hospitality.

3. Innovation
Israel has more start ups per capita than any other place on earth. The country has fostered a sense that there are no barriers. St. Louis is known for a conservative culture that tends to smother new ideas. There is a certain way that things have been done and a certain order that people wish to maintain. In order to create the jobs that will bring people to St. Louis, and entice them to stay, that culture has to change. The easiest and lowest cost way to do this is to simply be open to new ideas and new ways of doing things. If organizations can align their massive connections and resources behind innovative ideas and people, both the old and the new will win. St. Louis can also start community innovation funds (like PresenTense's CEP model, or giving circles) in which young adults with ideas are connected to resources like seed funding and advice from business professionals on how to launch their ventures. Individuals can share business connections and help people network and everyone should be helping to showcase young adults who are doing interesting things and make sure their ventures are supported.

4. Local fresh food
In Israel, you don't have to go to the shuk to find amazing produce. Not only can you find fruit stands everywhere, but even the supermarkets carry high quality local produce.

St. Louis has a number of farmer's markets, including Soulard and Tower Grove but what about putting pressure on Schnucks and Shop 'n Save to include local produce and other products in their selections? How many people are growing mint on their windowsills or tomatoes in their backyards? A people with roots in the land is a people on more firm ground.


5. Local solutions to local issues
Israel has no gas or precious metals, scant supplies of fresh water, and is surrounded by hostile neighbors. Due to this, Israel has always relied on its most valuable resource, the intellect and creativity of its citizens to come up with innovative solutions to its problems.

St. Louis has continued to squander its most important resource, its young people. The city has done little to attract or retain this talent and between larger market cities, and the suburbs, the City of St. Louis is getting its butt kicked. For St. Louis to succeed, and for the Jewish community to be viable and vibrant, it must look to its young adults and empower them to create the future.

The Jewish Federation of St. Louis has recognized many of these issues and is beginning to align resources around young adult programs like Next Dor and Moishe House, as well as to look to national and international models of Jewish social entrepreneurship. For these efforts to succeed, the Federation will need to not only put money into the issues, but also be willing to change their modus operandi in order to encourage young adult innovation and participation. Read More......

Birthright Israel Brings Israel to St. Louisians

There's no place to meet Americans like in Israel. Particularly during the summer, the Birthright trips stampede through the country. I was able to catch up with Jason, a St. Louis native and participant of a recent Birthright trip to hear his thoughts mid trip. Check out what Jason had to say, and excuse his exhaustion, Birthright works you pretty hard.

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Interview with David Lizzo Part One

David Lizzo is a native of St. Louis who moved to Israel and lived for 4 years, getting citizenship and going into the army. Find out why he did it, and what he learned.

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Let's Get Street (Car)

In the wake of the Metro Prop A win, and in anticipation of Aaron Woolf's visit conjunction with the debut of 'Beyond Motor City', it seems particularly pertinent to shout out Cincinnati for its progress on an urban street car line.

That's right, Cincinnati, the city that makes St. Louis look progressive on most issues, has taken major steps in bringing back the street car.
In moves that come right from the top levels of local government, a Cincinnati city council committee has recommended approval of $64 million in bonds to create a street car line. Not to say that they are going to make this happen overnight, but this shows that the city is really committed to making something happen. From the article:

Most public speakers encouraged the council members to, after several years of often contentious review, forcefully move ahead on the streetcar project, which has become a political flashpoint inside and outside City Hall alternately seen as a linchpin of the city’s future or a symbol of ill-conceived government spending.

“The question isn’t whether we can afford to build the streetcar,” said David Cole of Westwood. “The question is whether we can afford not to.”

Dear St. Louis... are you paying attention?
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Vince Schoemehl: Roundtable on Racism and Segregation in St. Louis

Monday night, a small group sat down with former St. Louis Mayor Vince Schoemehl to discuss segregation in St. Louis and to answer one of his nagging questions, "Why don't my kids have any Black friends?"

Schoemehl, now President and CEO of Grand Center, was hoping to gain some insight into this question from a group of young adults.

The conversation jumped from the Metrolink, and lack of viable public transit in St. Louis, to the history of housing covenants, the public school system, the city/county divide, and more.

Schoemehl wanted to know how we get different people interacting across these constructed boundaries. The first step to integration, is interaction, and in St. Louis, without even knowing it, most of us step into segregated bars, clubs, and restaurants every day. In fact, one attendant remarked, the only place you see people interacting are at the large outdoor festivals like Live on the Levy, the jazz shows at the Botanical Gardens and the Festival of Nations, all of which occur in public spaces. Because so many neighborhoods are segregated, particularly between the city and the county, citizens of St. Louis aren't as exposed to heterogeneous populations and so aren't forced to interact with them.

It was agreed that we could throw around theories until we were blue in the face, so we decided to try to take action (this action is still being discussed).

Clearly, this isn't just a St. Louis issue, but as Schoemehl pointed out, St. Louis is a city that faces irrelevance if it can't move towards a more dynamic, post-racial culture.

What do you think? Have you make friends across the 'great racial divide'?
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What we can learn from Philly

After spending a weekend in Philly, it's clear that we are doing some things pretty well already, but STL can stand to learn a few new tricks.

Philadelphia seemed a bit like a Canadian New York City; not quite as big or rich, but cleaner, quieter, and more comfortable. Which is parallel number 1, STL plays little indignant brother to Chicago, and Philly does the same for New York.

One of the largest similarities I found between St. Louis and Philadelphia was the number of people from Philly who stay there.

The city itself doesn't take up that much space, but makes up for it in the sheer density of buildings. You can walk from place to place without too much trouble, and the buses, trains, and trolleys take you further faster when you are feeling on the lazy side.

MetroLink scores a surprise victory over SEPTA, both on price, and because on SEPTA, you have to actually, physically buy a ticket of an employee who walks down the aisle (This concerned me when I arrived and realized I had neither cash nor debit card on my person).

The city is still heavily segregated, with large minority majorities in West Philadelphia. Center City reminded me of parts of downtown Denver, great infrastructure, but few people on the streets for such a big city.

St. Louis City may be suffering from a large number of vacant lots, but it has nothing on Philly's 30,000, more than any other city. Urban guerrilla gardening and mural making has helped with some of the eye-sores, but it still leaves much to be desired.

On the topic of urban gardening, Philly is all about it. Everyone grows something in their backyard (and not the California type of growing something). We could definitely stand to benefit from more urban gardens in St. Louis, both as a beautification measure, as well as a community building and educational measure.

This is why we are so excited to create the urban garden at the Next Dor house. It will serve many different needs at the same time.

I was able to stay at the Moishe House in Philly, and had the opportunity to see a bit of what they do. I think the probably beat us in terms of organization, but they have also been around a few more years and have had more time to establish themselves and connect with people.

After an erev Shabbat service at the Moishe House, we had an awesome potluck, which was kicked off with an activity called "pimp my dish", in which each person had to describe the food they brought and try to make it sound as tasty as possible....it worked.

For a city known for its cheesesteaks, there sure were a lot of vegetables coming out of the concrete jungle.
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Update from the Next Dor Front Lines

Last night, a group of community leaders including Rabbis, representatives of Jewish Federation, Nishmah, Hillel, Gesher City, the Jewish Community Center, and notable others gathered in a multi-purpose room at the new JCC to talk about Next Dor.

While it might have felt at times like stump the chump, even the most pointed questions were asked from a level of interest.

Representatives of YPD asked if Next Dor would produce its own programming (we'll try to avoid that), and whether it would push existing organizations to increase their own offerings (we'll encourage but not push it).

There were questions from other leaders about how we plan to attract new people to Next Dor, as well as if we are going to target people from St. Louis who may be elsewhere in an attempt to bring them back.

I mostly found myself facing these questions alone, as the vast majority of our committee was unable to attend. As someone not from St. Louis, some of the questions were things I hadn't thought about, but that fit well into our vision.

Another question asked about the need for something like Next Dor. The train of thought went something like this, "we have research showing that Jewish 20's and 30's want to be met where they are, which is why we do events at bars. You want to create a central space in which people come together, which seems to run counter to this.."

It's a interesting point but there are models (places like 6th and I in DC, the 92nd Street Y in NYC, etc.) that have been proven to attract people.

When the question of models for this type of organization came up, a representative of Gesher City asked about the other Next Dor, a program of Sacramento's Federation. While its demographic target and approach are similar, it doesn't revolve around a central gathering place.

While we hope that a lot of questions were answered, we know even more were raised.

If you want to be involved in the next round of discussions, or know someone who might be, feel free to email thestloujew@gmail.com and we'll be sure to make sure your voice is heard.


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The Anatomy of a Decision

Being that I am a product of a philo-Semetic, Zionist (in the classic sense of the word) upbringing, it seems fitting that I am in the position have having to choose between Jewish community building in St. Louis, and Jewish community building in Israel.

On the one hand, has been my desire to be in Israel, which has been with me since graduating college. Most of my friends tease me that, with as much as I talk about it moving to IL, I'm still in St. Louis. But recently, and quickly, the situation changed.

I was (as of Tuesday) accepted into Otzma, a 10 month program that focuses on volunteering and leadership development.

The decision should be fairly straight forward right? Here is the opportunity I have been looking for to be be in Israel, have an impact, and potentially set myself up for something long term ba'aretz.

Unfortunately, it's not that simple. Not only are there the financial concerns of leaving a situation in which I make money for one in which I pay for the opportunity to volunteer, I also want to be able to see the next phase of all of the projects happening in St. Louis.

For example, the Next Dor Project is moving forward.. racing forward more like it. Demolition and landscaping work is starting this weekend, and grant proposals are being written and considered.

And what about Moishe House? It is in very capable hands, but who will be the third roommate? In light of a soon-to-be-ending lease, what position would my absence put them in?

Last but certainly not least, who will take over updating The St. Lou Jew? Sure, updates from Israel will be interesting, but they won't be local, which is something that we have really tried to bring into the mix.

So here I am, with a lot of great things that I get to be a part of, trying to figure out which way to jump. At least I'm lucky enough that I don't think I can make a wrong decision.
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Passover anticipation - Are you Jewish?

Passover is perhaps one of the most culturally relevant holidays for Jews around the world. It's not just a matter of the Exodus, freedom from slavery, and generational continuity. It underscores the passion for social justice, for family, and for education.

There has been an incredible amount written about Jewish people-hood and identity, but it is rarely so succinctly put as it is in the phrase, "Am Echad, Dam Echad," meaning, "One People, One Blood"

The St. Lou Jew has written a fair deal about lost Israelite tribes in Africa and Black Jews in America. It turns out that we aren't the only Jews in St. Louis to have taken the concept of 'One People, One Blood' to heart.

Shlach Amee is an organization based in St. Louis, dedicated to helping people find their Jewish roots. Offered by a team of "genealogical experts, researchers, business men, lawyers and rabbis, Shlach Amee is a free service dedicated to helping 'lost Jews' substantiate their rightful identity." Shlach Amee is particularly timely in that it means 'Let my people go'.

How does this growing number of people, who may have Jewish ancestry and decide to return to the faith and culture, impact more mainstream Judaism?

What if, hypothetically, large numbers of people were to convert (or revert as the case may be) to Judaism? Do larger demographics pose an existential threat to Jewish identity, which has always been based on a small, but close knit population?

How will demographics, the next major conflict driver impact Jewish identity?

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Steals and Deals

Looking to save some money? (Rhetorical question, I know)...

For those of us looking to save some money (i.e. everyone reading this blog) there is a great new website on the Post-Dispatch, called Steals and Deals. Basically, the blog hunts down all the best coupons and deals in the area and broadcasts them to the Frugal Nation. Is it just me, or is this just screaming our name?

This week, she highlights SavingsAngel.com, a website that indexes more than 1,800 manufacturers coupons and tracks sales at local supermarkets. She also points out a deal at the Y waiving the membership fee, and a 40% off sale at New York and Company. Certainly pertinent information to a young Jewish professional living in St. Louis I would say.

Here is the address for the site: http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/steals-and-deals/

Shop on!
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A Beacon of Hope (for MidWestern Jews)

A lot of Mid-Western Jews (myself included) like to bitch and moan about the fact that all the young Jews graduate and move to the coasts, or Chicago. Communities like Detroit reported that there are more Detroit-born Jews living in LA than Detroit itself (who would wanna leave Detroit?).

It may seem bleak for those of us who remain more than a 5 hour drive from a beach, but all is not lost.

A recently released report from the Cincinnati Jewish Community Study had a few surprising results.

First, the community is relatively stable. That is to say that the Jewish population of Cincinnati is stable, sort of. More than 50% of those surveyed were born outside of Cincinnati and decided to move to the City of Cin. Another 16% were born in da Nati, left, and then returned.

This report is important in a few ways.
The first is that St. Louis and Cincinnati are similar. Very similar. I mean like post-industrial-rust-belt-river-cities-with-a-lot-of-large-corporations-who-are -trying-to-figure-out-how-to-attract-young-talent-to-a-place-with-an-image-problem-similar.

Cincinnati has some things going for it that STL doesn't, many more fortune 500 companies that attract a lot of talent, for sevaral.

St. Louis has some things that Cincinnati doesn't, like Washington University/BJC, a rudimentary light rail system (Vote YES on Proposition M if you want to see it become useful), and about 10 more years of investing in lofts and development downtown, made possible by a historic tax credit.

These differences aside, both live in the shadow of place like Chicago, New York, DC, LA, and Boston, to name a few. These are cities in which young adulthood is played out without regard to the future, responsibilities, or savings.

Young adulthood, particularly Jewish young adulthood is difficult in places like Cincinnati, St. Louis (Minneapolis, Detroit, etc.) particularly because you don't have the mass of young Jews that can feed fresh energy into the community.

You end up seeing the same people at every event, which can be great, but can also be stifling (see Rosh's post on dating in STL).

The real importance that I see in this study, however, is that we matter to the current generation. A lot. You can see it in the choice of Rabbi Davids and his speech on Gen Next in the community (which you can read about here). It is apparent when communities like Dotan, Alabama offer Jews $50,000 to move in.


The established federated community is foaming at the mouth to outreach to us, connect with us, and bring us into the fold.

This is the beacon of hope. That the these people are starting to come around and embrace our reality. But they can't do it without us.

Knowing that the interest, and money, is out there.... How do we take advantage of it?
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Living Jews Part 2: Randy and Jeff Vines

Part 2 in our ongoing coverage of young Yids doing something fresh in St. Louis

The Vines twins know a thing about or two about St. Louis, in fact, you could say they are obsessed with the city.

Most people see St. Louis as a generic Midwestern city. Jeff and Randy Vines feel just the opposite.

We like St. Louis because of its authenticity and its no-frills attitude. It is gritty, yet charming. It is old, yet still maintains a progressive edge. A high-quality urban lifestyle is very possible to achieve in St. Louis, and its under-the-radar image only adds to its mystique. We are the type of people who are usually rooting for the underdog.

Judging from the fact that they have been written up in the New York Times as well as a number of local St. Louis newspapers, these guys must be doing something right.

So...what exactly is it that Randy and Jeff do?

The duo are founders of STL-Style, a clothing company that puts St. Louis urban themes and inside jokes on display.

Below are a few personal favorites:





It was just after work when I caught the pair in their studio deep in Soulard (from which they are currently in the process of moving).


It is apparent the the two have a deep love and respect for the City of St. Louis by the maps and references to all of the little neighborhoods that adorn the walls of their studio.

I'm interested how they came to have a level of knowledge and passion for the city that borders on obsession.

Jeff explains that he and Randy have a long history of becoming fascinated with something. . . and subsequently learning as much as they can about it.

"In a city as old and storied as this, it would be impossible to know everything," says Randy.

"It started when we were little kids with VW Beetles," he explained, and then it moved to other cars, then helicopters and airplanes, to the extent that they could look up and identify pretty much anything flying overhead or passing you by in the street instantaneously.

The fascination with St. Louis came when our father took us to his old neighborhood on St. Louis's North Side, which at one time was a thriving, harmonious neighborhood with a sizeable Jewish community. He would point out where all the shops and restaurants were, and how he and his cousins played in the streets and took streetcars all over the city.

They fell in love with the heritage the second their eyes were opened to it, and learned all they could about the history of the city.

As we got older, we found that the entire city was built to have these amazing, self-sufficient neighborhoods, full of vibrancy and density and diversity. These are the qualities that make up an interesting urban place, and it was all here in St. Louis. The more we explored the city, the more we discovered that though it isn't the same place it was in the 1940s and '50s, there are still certain neighborhoods that embody these characteristics, and we are really lucky to have so many vestiges of this history left.

"The old Jewish neighborhood was called the Tel Aviv of the West, there were 30 synagogues in Mid-town."

"Every corner is like a museum," I'm told. And the boys really believe that this history is worth preserving and celebrating.

"Our rich history is our greatest competitive edge. Old cities can always build new to keep up with emerging trends, but younger cities can never replicate the authentic urban fabric that abounds all over STL."

Preservation and celebration of St. Louis are themes that come through loud and clear in their designs. Combining images of St. Louis architecture and themes with more contemporary urban style, Jeff and Randy have created some really interesting visuals that say loud and clear, "I'm from the 'Lou and I'm proud."

And pride is a big part of the equation, according to the Vines bros. When posing the question, how can St. Louis attract and keep creative and intelligent young people, a big part of the answer is creating a vibrant urban community that people want to be a part of and see as a destination.

We of course are not naive enough to think that there is any way that St. Louis-- or any city for that matter-- will ever return to its former glory. It's just a completely different world now. What we would like to see is St. Louis become the kind of city we know it can be. There is a lot of work to be done. What we seek to accomplish with our clothing line is rather simple-- we just want to bolster hometown pride. We want to take the elements that we think make the city cool and print them on wearables so other St. Louisans near and far can extoll the coolness of the city in a hip and affectionate way. We think the city is worth much more than just the cliche t-shirts you find at Union Station or the airport. We are doing our part to show St. Louis off in a different light.

The fuel for such a community already exists in the heritage, the infrastructure, and the people who want to see St. Louis return to its former vitality.

Randy and Jeff Vines are definitely two living Jews providing a spark.

So buy a shirt, or a thong, and wear your pride on your sleave, or your chest.

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Jewish in St. Louis

Looks like we made the front page of Jewish in St. Louis! And surpassed 3,600 pageview!
For those of you who are just joining us, this post will serve to explain a bit about why the St. Lou Jew is here. If you have been reading for a while, read on for our next moves.

This blog (like most ideas) came from identifying a need.

That need can be defined as a lack of content for the post-undergraduate St. Louis Jewish community. First, we recognize that this demographic isn't huge, but that it is passionate (even if it doesn't realize it).

There are several different streams of content which we hope to provide.

The first is young adult content. There are some things that simply matter more to us right now. . .and a few things that matter less. If we don't speak for ourselves, someone else will, and they will likely misquote us at best, and misrepresent us at worst.

The second is Jewish. We come from diverse backgrounds representing a rich fabric of collective consciousness, history, and tradition. If you thought this means we gotta provide you with something stale or recycled, go back to the first stream.

We are far too fresh for all of that. And by fresh I mean Def, and by Def I mean ill, dope, fly, and occasionally, funky.

The third stream is St. Louis. There are a lot of St. Louis haters out there. There are a lot of Midwest haters out there too.

My momma always told me that hate can be traced back to ignorance.

So consider this an attempt to find the diamonds in the rough in St. Louis, the people, places, and experiences that are waiting to be discovered.

The truth is that we have the power to evoke our ideals from our environment, which means that if you can't find something fun to do, maybe the blame lies a little closer to home.

We believe that this city (and we are focusing on the city, not the county) has a lot of potential and that we can be positive elements in creating change in St. Louis.

Ultimately, we are aiming for that sweet spot where all three of these streams combine, the center of the Venn Diagram, if you will.

We have some big things coming up, including a continuation of the Living Jews series, which aims to connect with young Yids doing cool things in STL. We may even foray into the depths of J-Date.

So check back frequently, comment on what you like and what you don't, and add your voice to the conversation.
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Big. Free. Weekend.

Tower Grove Park is host to this weekend's 'Festival of Nations'.
The full list of events can be found here, but read on for the highlights.

Knowing from personal experience how mefahgerin' hard it is to plan an event like this, and seeing how much culture is represented here, you better believe I'll be there there whole weekend.

Tower Grove Park is located between Grand and Kingshighway, Magnolia and Arsenal.
Saturday at the world music stage
12:00 PM Dubtronix Reggae Band
1:30 PM Elsie Parker and The Poor People of Paris
3:00 PM Samba Bom Trio
4:30 PM Farshid & Friends Persian/Latin/Gypsy Fusion
6:00 PM Autumn's Child Native American

Saturday at the forest stage
10:00 AM African American Ensemble West African
Nordic Dancers Scandanavian
11:00 AM OPENING CEREMONY
Fiesta Mexicana! Mexican
12:00 PM Shadi Zarghami Persian
Thai Classical Dancers Thai
1:00 PM Cossack Dancers European
Aalim Belly Dancers Middle Eastern
Bollywood Shuffle Indian
2:00 PM Community Performance Ensemble African American
Hawaiian Polynesian Revue Polynesian
3:00 PM Philippine Art Foundation Filipino
Folkloric Group Colombia Colombian
Djerdan Bosnian Folkloric Group Bosnian
4:00 PM Doorei Traditional Korean Drumming Korean
KidsMex Dance Group Mexican
Bon Odori Group Japanese
5:00 PM St. Nicholas Greek Dancers Greek
Cai's Classic Kung Fu Chinese
Viva Flamenco! Spanish
5:45 PM Psalms African American

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The strength of Generation Y(id) and an update from Mattisyahu

Local Big young Yid, J.J. Flotkin had some interesting words culminating in, "Generational silence will only force the “more experienced" leaders of today to build our future for us." Isn't this why we write?

A recent article by J.J. Flotkin entitled, "A Call for Young Leadership" puts up a pretty good defense to those that would call our generation lazy, uninterested, or unengaged.

His call to action includes the sentence, "It is our job as young leaders to find passion in our community."

Should we tell him? I mean, organizational skills, we may not have. Grammar abilities, neither. But passion! Passion we have.

We might not know what to do with it, how how to use it efficiently, but we have it.

On another note, everyone's favorite Hassidic Reggae Superstar, Matisyahu, was interviewed over at Rolling Stone, and was pretty talkative. Except that he really didn't say a whole lot.

He did say that, "Music and Politics is two different things". Which, according to the article, is a big deal.

Gotta cut this one short, its almost time for Shabbat, and we are packed this time around, we even had to tell guests to bring their own chairs.
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The Jewish Connection

What is the "Jewish Connection?" Do you know who I know? Probably.

Last Friday night, I went to Shabbat dinner at Y’s apartment- my second Shabbat in a month- and it was awesome. I met a couple new people, and saw some new jew friends from the Shabbat I had previously attended. Now that I’ve hung out with a couple of these people, I feel like I’m making some real friends and not just the kind on Facebook. And they’re not all guys! Chicks like me have a little trouble making decent girlfriends, but I met one girl who was very interested in my first blog post. She is a very kind person, and though she seems shy, she invited me to come to synagogue with her one Saturday.

(To be honest, I never went to synagogue on Saturdays when I was “growing up” Jewish) So I’d like to go and see if this tradition is something I’d be into. It’s people like this girl that make any community stronger. To embrace a fellow comrade and invite them to a regular happening purely because of your faith is not uncommon.; to me, however, it reminds me of other religions I may have mocked at one point previously. I see a future post in the works.

Anyway, this brings up my theory of the Jewish Connection. In St. Louis, growing up Jewish means that we all know the same 95 Jewish kids from our days in school- be it Hebrew school or k-12. I hardly knew anyone, even Y, when I showed up to that first Shabbat dinner, but it turns out, we all know (or are related to) the same group of people, the same community. Since we all know the same 95 kids, jumping into conversations like old friends isn’t hard to do.

Funny enough, “Jewish Connection” is what I would say to my friend Josh when I needed a favor. And he’d do the same. We were the only Jewish kids at our high school, but had known each other since we were six years old thanks to Sunday school. Thanks to that bond we shared growing up, I took pride in helping out a fellow Semite. Come to think of it, I still haven’t been able to find him a girlfriend and he called “jewish connection” on that a while ago.

Next time, I promise to blog about something more lighthearted. Something St. Louis. I do plan on going to synagogue to check it out, so I’ll keep you dutiful readers posted. Until then, back to work! I wish I could call “Jewish Connection” at work. It would make my corporate slavery position much easier…

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