"The world is diverse, and full of Jewish wonder."
This is one tiny quote I remember from Lynn Schusterman's talk to the 120 young Jewish innovators she funded to come here to Israel for the 4th annual ROI (yes, it really does mean "return on investment") Summit. I'm a little overwhelmed to be one of them. Knowing that some of my favorite people in the entire world- Jewish and otherwise- are alumni of this program (Matthue Roth, Leah Jones, Y-Love, Sarah Lefton, Esther Kustanowitz...need I say more?) makes me uber-proud to be here.
Oh, and no pressure.
I'm participating on the so-called Arts and Culture track- other tracks have names like New Media, Bridge-Building, and the somewhat amorphous Networks of Purpose. The sixteen of us or so in the A&C track have been spending some time swapping our fair share of words that are the technical equivalent of "artsy-fartsy" and commenting on one another's choice of beret, as we are prone to do. We're very high-minded. But really, it's an unbelievable group from literally all over the world. 29 countries are represented. Some folks have multiple flags on their nametags, so I'm not sure how that works into the calculation. Impressive either way, I suppose. They are filmmakers and storytellers and rappers and agents; they are people who care deeply about the messages that the arts can, and should, send out into the universe. As a fellow A&C'er taught me- "omanoot, oh namoot." In Hebrew, "art, or we die."
More on them later...
Clearly, though, this is not your typical Jewish conference- although it does have the necesary ingredients, namely a) a sickening overabundance of breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, desserts, coffee, chocolates, and looks of have-you-eaten-yet-you're-wasting-away, and b) Jews. But there really is something unique about the whole concept behind this gathering. Each of us is here because we have something new (or old, dusted off, and repackaged...ahem) to say, to offer to the world. And there is nothing in particular we are expected to take from this little gathering other than, as I suspect our beneficent funder would say, Jewish wonder.
For the next couple days I will be blogging about my time here at ROI. Check back often for more quippy fun!
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