What are you doing for Jewish Social Action Month 2009?

Cheshvan – Jewish Social Action Month (JSAM) has started, and with it hundreds of events will be taking place around the world bringing together individuals and organizations doing Tikkun Olam and creating Jewish Peoplehood.

An initiative of KolDor, a global network of young Jewish activists, JSAM is described as, “ an annual, month-long event whose goal is to strengthen Jewish Peoplehood worldwide through positive social action, connecting the Jewish People beyond borders and communities. To date, JSAM has successfully involved thousands of people around the globe in common cause of social action, and has garnered the political support of the Presidents of both Israel and the United States of America, and legislators in the UK, US, and Israel.“

Find more videos like this on Jewish Social Action Month

The Jewish Social Action Month (JSAM) website lists dozens of volunteer opportunities and social action events posted by organizations around the world, from the Jewish Climate Change Campaign’s launch at Windsor Castle, to a L.A. Clippers vs. Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv Basketball Game in San Diego on behalf of Migdal Ohr, to a series of supermarket drives organized by the Jewish Federation of Central New Jersey.

The centerpieces of Jewish Social Action Month, inspired by Mitzvah Day UK, will be a network of Mitzvah Days around the world, including the UK, New UK, Israel, Chicago and more.

The organizers say that the popularity of these social action events are so great that, for instance, those organized by the Jewish United Fund/ Jewish Federation of Greater Chicago, have filled up so quickly that there is a waiting list for those who want to volunteer!

Anyone can post their event on the Jewish Social Action Month website and invite others to take part, or tweet it on Twitter by adding the hashtag #JSAM and @JSAM2009.

A great idea  for JSAM is to contact your favorite project on JGooders and ask what you can do for them this month. Let us know how you helped in the comments box below!

Jewish Choice Awards 2009 Sponsors

Have you found a nonprofit tremendously helpful or inspiring?  Or have you found one that needs a little improvement? Take a time-out and do a little online Tikkun Olam, by reporting on your experiences with nonprofits, both US and international, for the 2009 Jewish Choice Awards.

Launched by GreatNonprofits in partnership with the Jewish Funders Network, JTA, Natan, Slingshot Fund, Jewish Jumpstart, Upstart Bay Area, and our very own JGooders, the contest will recognize the top-rated Jewish nonprofits making a difference in your communities. During October, the organizations with the most positive reviews will be featured on GreatNonprofits and Guidestar, the premier site for philanthropic research on the Web, and will receive a complimentary one-year membership on the JGooders site.

This is a powerful and easy way to help your favourite organizations and boost their effectiveness.  And if you post a review of one of the winners, you too are eligible to win an awesome prize!  Click here to participate!

We’ll keep you updated on the winners, so start writing!

Sukkot - A Tikkun Olam opportunity to pray for rain

In honor of the Sukkot holiday, here’s a guest post from Carmi Wisemon, Executive Director of Sviva Israel.

A friend in Atlanta recently posted Facebook photos of the dramatic floods behind her home.  This set me thinking about Sukkot…

The Mishna in Tractate Rosh Hashanah states that the world is judged four times a year.  On Rosh Hashanah all the creatures in the world, including us, are judged for the coming year; on Sukkot the amount of rainfall; on Pesach the grains and Shavuot the  fruits.

According to Jewish tradition, the difference between Rosh Hashanah and the other three main holidays, is that on Rosh Hashanah the individual prays for and is judged regarding their personal allotment of the world’s resources (including life).  Whereas during the other three festivals,we need to focus on the general good of the world, how much food will be available to others and how much rainfall there will be for everyone else.

During Sukkot rather than focusing on ourselves, we do tikkun olam, praying for the resources needed by the global community. Not just for ourselves, or even for the Jewish community, but for all of the earth’s inhabitants.

In Biblical times, during Sukkot the People of Israel made offerings and prayers on behalf of the other nations of the world.  In his commentary on Numbers 29; 18, Rashi, one of the foremost rabbinical commentators, explains that the total number of oxen offered during the seven-day Sukkot holiday came to seventy, representing the seventy nations of the world.  The special ceremonies and prayers at this time were intended to bestow on the peace and prosperity.

Sukkot is also about coming together as a Jewish community for the greater good.  About moving out of the insular walls of  our  homes and opening up our Sukkah to welcome whoever wants to come in.    Many of the ceremonies  that are associated with Sukkot, such as the Hakhel gathering, the Simchat Beit Hashoevah and Hoshanas are not only about praying for water, but also about doing so together with other members of the community.  And again, these prayers are not personal requests for ourselves, or for just Israel or the Jewish People, but rather for the general good of the world.

So this Sukkot, as we relax in our Sukkot, and admire the natural splendor of our lulavs and etrogs, think about the deeper meaning of the holiday.  We can all do our bit to prevent climate change, and that includes a 2,000 year-old tradition of praying for rain to fall – neither too little nor too much – in Israel, but also in the Philippines, Indonesia and even Atlanta.

Carmi Wisemon is Executive Director of Sviva Israel.  Check out their project, Eco Connection: Global Jewish Environmental Partnerships on JGooders.com

Judith Stern Peck sees the website as, "an opportunity for all of us to be part of the larger international Jewish community"

Online social networks are having a significant impact on our lives.  Through serving as a means for communication and friendship, studies show that they are actually influencing our behavior, our thoughts and emotions.  Here are some people’s recent opinions on the matter, that are worth thinking about…

An article in USA Today on Social Networking, quotes Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler, co-authors of the just-published book, “Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives”.

The authors suggest that the world is governed by what they call “three degrees of influence” — that is, your friend’s friend’s friend, most likely someone you don’t even know — who indirectly influences your actions and emotions.

For example, when a friend starts exercising more, “I change my mind about how much I should be exercising or I share stories with my other friends who are influenced to do the same. You either change your behavior or you transmit information about the behavior to others, who change their behavior,” says Fowler.

JGooders founding investor and board member Judith Stern Peck shares this perspective in an interview in today’s Jerusalem Post about online giving, “[Our] website can most certainly be used as an education tool. It’s a chance to transmit Jewish values and an opportunity for all of us to be part of the larger international Jewish community…Philanthropy is no longer just about where you give or how much. It’s about how you give and how you involve your children in the process.”

In an Time Magazine article about “How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live”, author Steven Johnson gets it right when he says of the 140-character micro-blogging tool, “There’s a kind of resilience here that is worth savoring. The weather reports keep announcing that the sky is falling, but here we are — millions of us — sitting around trying to invent new ways to talk to one another.”

Here’s to an ever-increasing and ever more inclusive conversation, to a social networking buzz that influences us to become more involved individuals who will build a better society.

Shana Tova to the JGooders community

In honor of Rosh Hashanah, this post focuses on four social networking ideas for the Jewish community.

Send Holiday Greetings:

When I was a kid, we always saved a space in our Sukkah to stick up the colorful and heavily-glittered Shana Tova cards that my parents received each year from friends and family.  Today, most of these sentimental missives have been replaced by eCards, tweets and Facebook gifts.  My mom and in-laws still mail a few cards, but on the whole, what we send and receive today is virtual (unless you print it out on a piece of paper).

One good reason to send a JGooders Gifting Card is that the virtual greeting (or print – if you choose to have it mailed) actually has a real impact on making the world a better place, because the recipient can choose from hundreds of worthwhile projects to donate the gift amount to on JGooders.com.

Learn from Social Networking:

Writing in the Cleveland Jewish News last month, Lev Gonick presented an eloquent challenge to the Jewish community, “In the next 25 years, tikkun olam needs to translate into repairing our world, right here, as an integrated and intentional effort in making Cleveland and the Jewish community in Cleveland the most innovative, connected, and Internet-aware community we can. If we are to realize the noble goal of repairing the world around us, we need to be able to balance our instincts to improve the lot of others with the more difficult challenge of realizing the deep and profound challenges we face in improving our own communities.”

Lev’s vision includes, “A networked improvement community…an intentional community working to re-imagine, reinvent, and re-invigorate its members. Not exactly a Super Sunday event or joining a synagogue committee for a year, building a networked improvement community is a journey to a promised land filled with giants. It starts with embracing new language, new ideas, new tools, and being prepared to at least consider questioning some of the received wisdom, language, and ideas that have long represented our own sacred cows.”

Tweet:

Fresh on the heels of the Tweet4Shalit campaign, the JIDF has created the #ShanaTova Twitter campaign encouraging people to tweet the hashtag for the Jewish New Year TODAY, September 16^th, to raise awareness for the children’s cancer charity Chai Lifeline.  They write, “‘Tweet #ShanaTova’ is a 24-hour Twitter event where thousands will use the ‘#ShanaTova’ hashtag to accompany all their Tweets, with the goal of making it a top ten Twitter ‘Trending Topic’ two days before Rosh Hashanah…to remind people to think about those less fortunate than themselves, particularly children suffering from life-threatening diseases such as cancer and other debilitating chronic and genetic conditions.”

Share YouTubes:

YouTube is a great outreach tool for introducing the livelier side of Jewish life. Birthright Israel has taken advantage of this by producing three viral videos just in time for Rosh Hashana.  Their amusing High Resolutions series looks at our addiction to social networking tools like Facebook and Twitter, and  encourages young Jews to get a life and …guess what…visit Israel for free.

To finish, we couldn’t resist sharing with you this cute and quirky short clip that is this year’s hit for Rosh Hashanah YouTubes.  Wishing all of our readers a Shana Tova U’Metuka and great year of goodness, action, involvement and fun!

It's never too late to send JGooders Gifting Cards

It’s not too late to send a Gifting Card to your loved ones for Rosh Hashana, and give them a taste of the sweetness of giving.

Select from our variety of gift designs, choose an amount, and we’ll send your unique holiday card by email or regular mail. And a special offer for an extra-sweet New Year…send five cards and pay for only four!

Or enter one a contest to win a FREE Gifting Card at Isreality and the Jew & The Carrot (more contests launching soon).

Your recipient can choose from hundreds of projects in Israel and around the Jewish world on JGooders and “spend” the Gifting Card by directing the donation to the project of their choice.

JGooders Gifting Cards are:

• Available for any amount from $5 to $500
• Personalized with your own message
• Available in a variety of attractive designs for all occasions
• A secure, safe way to send a gift online
• Tax-deductible, with the gift amount donated to charity

Send a JGooders Gifting Card to friends and family. Make a difference and get involved in Tikkun Olam in Israel or around the world.

Tova Serkin and fellow panelists at the Jewish Bloggers Conference (photo: Jacob Richman)

The day after the 2^nd International Jewish Bloggers Conference, the buzz is still there.   Like most social media events, the workshops, panels and conversation encompassed not only blogs, but also Twitter, Facebook, Video-streaming, social networks and other forms of social media, both existing and in development.  Discussions ranged from Tikkun Olam to the MASA “Lost” Ad to the Iranian elections and LA singles life.

David Horovitz, Editor- in-Chief of  The Jerusalem Post, explained how rather than a threat to this veteran Israeli newspaper, the growth of electronic media has been tremendously significant, “It took us from being a small foreign-language print publication in Israel, to the largest Jewish website in the world.  We had 45 million page views in 30 days during the 2^nd Lebanon War.”

David Kelsey of Jewcy, spoke about how blogging has created democratization in the media, breaking down socio-economic barriers and making it accessible for everyone to report important events to the public that the mainstream media outlets may not spot or prefer to pass by.

One such event with major impact was referred to by Ron Dermer, Director of Policy Planning in the Prime Minister’s Office, when he recalled blogger Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs who discovered that Reuters had published a doctored photograph during the 2^nd Lebanon War.  This created such a public outcry that Reuters was forced to apologize.

The Jerusalem Post quoted Tova Serkin, JGooders Chief Business Officer, in her caution during her presentation on social media and nonprofits, that that social media is not the magic bullet, but rather a tool that needs to be harnessed.

Here is Tova’s full presentation:

Other JGooders staffers in the media spotlight were COO Eli Shua and Content Manager (and Blog Editor) Tamar Wisemon, who were interviewed by Arutz 7 Hebrew Online TV.

Blogger Yehuda Berlinger provides an excellent, if subjective, account of the entire convention on his blog, Yehuda, although he neglected to mention the exclusive Bloggers Travel Kit, courtesy of the JGooders blog.

And here’s some video coverage from WeJew

If you missed out, make sure to attend next year!

Maya hugs her baby Elay

Name: Maya Abarbanel

Professional role:

Executive Director of Parallel Lives. Previously served as a JAFI emissary in Akron and Canton, Ohio, in the IDF spokesperson’s office and as a Search and Rescue Officer

Age: 31

City: Rechovot, Israel

Interests: Reading, art and travelling around the world.

Favorite Project: Parallel Lives and also Hug an Abandoned Baby

Why did you join JGooders?
Since I truly believe that every donation can make a difference, I registered my project, Parallel Lives on JGooders.com. Our project creates meeting points between people from all over the world and speaks to many people, who through their donations can make a direct impact on Jewish identity and Peoplehood.

While I was posting my own project, I checked out some of the others and saw the Hug an Abandoned Baby project. I have a one-year-old baby, Elay, and this project seared my heart. As soon as I read about their work, I couldn’t stop thinking about it, that there are babies left alone in the hospital who don’t receive the warmth and love they need. As a mother with a baby of my own, I decided to do something. My immediate intent was to volunteer, but I saw that they only accept a few volunteers who can be very committed and it didn’t work out for me.
I decided to make a donation to the project on behalf of Elay’s birthday on July 30th . when he will get older he will know that a donation on his name was made in order to help others.

Tell us more about Parallel Lives:
Parallel Lives is unique in that it involves Israeli soldiers from IDF’s elite units, which are usually highly secret, and young adult Jews from around the world. Global Jews, same age as the soldiers, don’t usually have an opportunity to meet these top soldiers, the future leaders of Israeli society. We see both the soldiers and Diaspora Jews as our future leadership and believe they will have a strong influence on our Jewish world future . it is crucial for them to meet each other: for young Jews abroad, it is not enough to just hear about IDF on the TV, but to meet them in person, to put an individual face to our soldiers. At the same time these soldiers meet other Jews, exposed to Jewish life outside Israel and become aware to the support Israel gets from around the world.

Our programs allowed them to explore each others lives, which are very different due to life circumstance, and conduct deep discourse about their own Jewish identity, mutual responsibly and Israel- Diaspora relations.

In what ways do you do good?
I strongly believe that when you give, you receive back and actually had numerous opportunities to experience it during my life. In 2005-2007 I was a volunteer shalicha (emissary) together with my husband in Akron and Canton, Ohio. We packed everything up and moved to the USA for 2 years of volunteering. We received a lot of warmth and love from the people in Akron and Canton ,as well as personal and professional satisfaction, and it is meaningful milestone in my life.

When we returned to Israel, I wanted to continue working in the Jewish community and was invited to join Parallel Lives. It resonated with me and gave me an opportunity to combine my previous roles as a captain in the IDF and the global Jewish world. I love my work, and see it as a very important task to connect young Jews around the world.

Why do you do good?
I feel good when I do a mitzvah. It makes me feel good to do good for others, to know that I can help others and make things better for them. The best feeling comes from knowing I have helped someone whether in a small way like helping them carrying their shopping baskets, to larger things. It fills me with a good feeling.

Message to the world:
“Kol Israel Arevim ze la ze” – The nature of the world is for us to help one another and to be there for one another. My wish is that everyone does good and together we will make the world a better place.

By name the Open House, we are now also the “Locked House,” with a security guard checking people before allowing them in.  The decision to adopt this security measure was complex: not just due to the added financial cost, but also because the JOH is home to Palestinian LGBTQ non-profit Alqaws.  Safer, yet sending mixed messages to our public.

It is significant that the attack has drawn substantial attention to widespread homophobia in the country.  Less important is “who” the killer is, or the motives (although these facts will also have an impact).  We must translate this new awareness into an action plan to fight homophobia, in a way that will bring us closer as a society and not further polarize us.

Alongside keynote speaker President Shimon Peres, three government ministers turned up at the Tel Aviv rally a week after the attack.  Can we transform the promises, made by the Education, Culture and Social Welfare ministers that evening, into actions that will fight homophobia and grant our community equal rights?  Israeli society must also contend with our concerns, which will (hopefully) have implications on other issues under national debate.

There can be no doubt that this terrible, unthinkable attack at the Bar Noar (Youth Bar) in Tel Aviv will be a turning point for the LGBTQ community in Israel.  Two young people were murdered, 13 physically wounded, and many more injured by shock and trauma.

The biggest sin of this outrageous murder will be allowing it to pass without bringing change for our community.  The memory of Liz Trobishi and Nir Katz must not be lost through inaction, but should be kept alive through the advancement of civil and legal rights for LGBTQ people and the recruiting of all sectors of Israeli society against the homophobia.

On behalf of the Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance, I wish you and your loved ones a Happy New Year, a year of safety, good health and freedom from the fetters with which others wish to restrain us. Shana Tova – Happy New Year!

Editor’s Note: The Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance has two projects listed on JGooders:  Jerusalem LGBT Community Center and The Open Clinic: free and anonymous HIV/AIDS testing in Jerusalem

Giving Circles are a growing trend

With all the economic challenges over the last year, it seems that there is simply less money to go around. Small gifts have never been as important as they are now, and donors are finding creative ways to do more with limited resources.  One of the growing trends globally is the creation of giving circles.

Giving circles are a unique way of empowering those able to donate smaller sums to have tremendous social impact together. Groups of people together decide what kinds of causes and organizations they would like to support and then pool their funds together to create more impact. In the United States they have becoming increasingly popular – attracting ethnically diverse, if mostly female, donors. According to the most recent studies, there over 800 such groups in the US, and just 40% of them raised over $88 million from their inception in 2000. Most of them are locally-based groups that share a geographical community – but as has nearly everything else in our lives, giving circles are going global.

In last week’s The Jewish Week, philanthropy editor Tamar Snyder writes about the growing importance, and popularity of giving circles in the Jewish community. Snyder, who has written about JGooders in the past, explores a variety of giving circles ranging from groups associated with major Jewish institutions including UJA-Federation of New York, to those geared to Birthright Israel alumni and the Natan Fund’s unique model for deeply engaging younger philanthropists in thoughtful giving. While models may range from strictly formal to very informal – they all give their participants an opportunity to make their giving more meaningful – and social. Within the Jewish community, there are hopes that frameworks like these will keep younger people involved in tikkun olam through a Jewish lens, and engage the next generation of philanthropists, big and small, today.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy too picked up Snyder’s article and gave even wider exposure to this growing trend in the Jewish community.

In many ways, JGooders itself is set up as a series of giving circles, allowing individuals to pool their small donations together for given social causes on the site. But, to allow maximum choice, and to help friends and colleagues work together, JGooders is also launching its own online giving circle pilot to test out the possibility of translating what has been so successful offline because of the personal engagement with giving, to the generally more anonymous online area. The pilot will engage a small group in picking projects from the JGooders site to support on a monthly basis – each member of the group has committed to donating $18/month for a year – the cost of some coffees at Starbucks, or going to the movies – no more.  Our longer term goal is to make it possible for each and every one of  you to use the JGooders platform to create your own online giving circles with your friends, fellow college alumni, or others that share your passionate for the environment, civil rights, Israel, or the arts.

Interested in learning more about giving circles, creating your own or participating in the pilot?  Be in touch with me at tova@jgooders.com