Securingthejewishfuture.ning.com is the address to go to if you want to contribute to the
Israeli's government's "listening campaign." Starting this Sunday and
running through the 18th the Israeli government is structuring an online
marathon for Jews around the world. Input from the conversations will
influence the government's funding to accelerate connections to Israel and
Jewry. The conversation will be around 7 key topics and will be crowd sourced.
I registered to participate. And it got me
thinking. Two words popped into my head when thinking of our Jewish future: Pods
&Palladiums
1. Pods..small self-generated
interest groups. Jews come together in person, online, in intimate spaces to
meet a perceived need. Pods rise and fall as needed. When they capture interest
and inspire they develop. When the desire goes so does the pod. A pod has
little infrastructure and may need some outside support to function for its
life span. Professionals are still in the picture but they are guides, supports
and advisors to the self determined bricoleurs who want to shape a Judaism in
their image ..until another need arises.
2. Palladiums..(The Palladium was a 3000-capacity major venue in New York for rock bands).big spaces for those
who don't know how or have the drive for the customized do it yourself version.
These spaces are the fixed addresses that still meet fixed needs. Palladiums
are characterized by edutainment and consumerism. They are staffed by the big
personalities that draw. There is always room for charisma. They have the
budgets to do the wow's because there are enough folks who want that need met,
and met well. They'll pay for it.
Less prominent in this picture of the next
decades is the mid size organization that requires membership to sustain it.
Mid-sized places can't afford to meet the diversity of needs. And members
can't afford dues that meet so few needs.
What will fill the pods and
palladiums?
Social--The
next decade's world will stand on three things..three core needs.
1. Social: Core
need: to smile. We all need friends and Judaism is powerfully good at
celebration, food, and wine. The future of the lansmen, the space and the
ritual to connect will define the pods and palladiums. Children want friends and they want to do stuff with their friend and they want to do the things their friends do.
2. Social action: Core need: to heal others and to heal the earth. The
world doesn't look like it is getting any better with time. The need to save
the world is only growing stronger and Judaism is a path to do mend.
3. Social emotional health: Core need to heal one's self.
Spirituality. Self-care. Physical well being. Psychological equilibrium. Making
it day to day. Taking a breath. Just as the world is not getting healthier
neither is every day life. The next decade promises more stress. Judaism is a
path to wholeness and healing.
And to the Israeli government we ask..if this is
an American landscape.. then what does it have to do with Israel?
Worth exploring: the three "socials"
for Israel. What connections are fostered when the three big ideas connected to
Israel are social, social action, and social emotional health?
Pondering: pods and palladiums. Will you register for the online conversation? Would love to hear what you think.
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