Get a signed copy of There Shall Be No Needy

Mik Moore

Imagining Our Community (in two hours)

by: Mik Moore

Tue Feb 03, 2009 at 02:17:17 AM EST

Two weeks ago i had the priviledge of spending a bit more than two hours with twenty of so "top Jewish thinkers, activists and journalists." I'm not sure if I was there as a thinker or an activist. Maybe both? For sure I am not a journalist.

Anyway, the session was part of an ambitious effort, led by The Jewish Week and JInsider.com, "to collectively design the potential of our Imagined Community." In other words, the Jewish community has problems so let's imagine our ideal community and then figure out how to get there. 

JInsider put together a one page summary (pdf) of our two hours together. You can see me in the picture (I'm wearing a blue shirt and sitting between Michael Jesselson and Edith Everett).  

There have been a good number of conversations like this in recent years. Gary Rosenblatt, the editor of The Jewish Week, has been responsible for many of them through his annual weekend of open space for Jewish leaders called The Conversation.

I think what JInsider is trying to do here, while admirable, is too ambitious. And in its ambition, it is missing out on some good food for thought.

The one page summary more or less acurately pulls together the various strands of thought in the room that day. But once together, they don't form a clear, unified message. Lots of big ideas, some not so big ideas; all together they form a mush.

Yet with that many "top Jewish thinkers, activists and journalists" in the room, there were bound to be some provocative ideas. And there were. Exploring, probing, debating those ideas could lead to some breakthroughs.

For example,

There's More... :: (0 Comments, 285 words in story)

Fear and the Jewish Vote

by: Mik Moore

Wed Nov 26, 2008 at 13:18:09 PM EST

Those of you who are regular readers of jspot may have noticed that, for the past five months or so, I have not be blogging. For those of you who are not regular readers... well, you'll have to take my word on it.

My hiatus came about when I was given leave from Jewish Funds for Justice, started a political action committee with Ari Wallach called the Jewish Council for Education & Research (JCER), and threw myself into the task of increasing Barack Obama's support in the Jewish community. When I left JFSJ for JCER in July, Obama was polling at around 60% vs McCain among Jewish voters. On Election Day, Obama won 78% of the Jewish vote. There have been numerous explanations put forward to explain this dramatic shift; in this post, I'll share my thoughts on why the number started out so low (for us Jews, 60% is low for a Democratic candidate for President) and why it ended up so high.

There's More... :: (8 Comments, 691 words in story)
Blog Roll

Grassroots Orgs

Indy Sacred Communities

Jewish Blogs

Jewish Learning

Jewish Orgs

Notable Press

Progressive Blogs

Spiritual Progressives

Think Tanks/Public Policy

Menu

Make a New Account

Username:

Password:



Forget your username or password?

Front Page Contributors
RSS Feed Links
Subscribe to JSpot in a feed reader!


Subscribe to JSPOT by Email!
Search




Advanced Search

The views presented on jspot.org are solely those of their authors and do not necessarily represent the views of Jewish Funds for Justice. Jewish Funds for Justice and jspot.org do not support or oppose candidates or political parties.
© 2008 Jewish Funds For Justice. All rights reserved.

Site Design: Articulated Man
Powered by: SoapBlox