People of the Book, People of the Link

Estee Solomon Gray @estee

May 13, 2010 Erev Rosh Chodesh Sivan 5770 - 45th day of the Omer

The Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco

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“ opens the CJM as a laboratory to explore practical applications for forging new paths in Jewish education.”

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me

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because words matter Tonight

Launch Party D’var Torah

picture of child doing d’var torah

source: Solomon Gray family

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MEME (pronounced /miːm/, rhyming with "cream"[1])

a postulated unit of cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable

phenomena. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme#Meme_maps

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D’VAR TORAH (Heb: דבר תורה) (Plural: Divrei Torah)

a talk on topics relating to a section (parashah) of the Torah – typically the weekly Torah portion. ... Divrei Torah can range in length ... In most congregations, it will not last much longer than fifteen minutes, but in the case of Rebbes or special occasions, a Dvar Torah can last all afternoon.

It is extremely likely that a D'var Torah will carry a life lesson, backed up by passages from certain Jewish texts like the Talmud or Mishnah.

It is also known as a Drasha in Ashkenazic communities. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D'var_Torah#D.27var_Torah

The institution of the d’var Torah--literally a "word of Torah," a lesson or sermon interpreting a text, which can be delivered by anyone, lay or clergy--reflects a fundamental Jewish belief in the infinite interpretive possibilities of Torah. This concept is best articulated in Mishnah Avot 5:22, “Turn it and turn it; for everything is in it,” and in the rabbinic assertion that each person who stood at Sinai saw a different face of Torah.

While the concept of the d’var Torah may be empowering, the prospect of preparing one can be intimidating. However, preparing and presenting a d’var Torah doesn't necessarily demand vast Jewish knowledge or extensive rhetorical skills. It requires only a willingness to explore a text and to share your exploration with others.

Dvar Torah: Preparation

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20001995 2005 20107

People of the Link

The link, not the book, is (and always has been)

the core of Judaism.

practice

value

meaning

concept▲

InterTwined , R. Justin Stewart ( www.rjustin.com )

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From

covenant & commandment to

community, commentary & conversation,

the most basic acts of Jewish life are all

forms of linking.

InterTwined , R. Justin Stewart ( www.rjustin.com )

textrituallearningprayerpracticepeoplehood

.....

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which means

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This is a great time and place to be & do Jewish !

“The #1 predictor of success in students today is the ability to organize study groups.”

John Seely Brown, When Push Turns to PullThe Churchill Club @the Computer History Museum, May 4, 2010

http://pennhillel.org/files/u64/SNL_brochure_pics__4_smaller.jpg

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Tree of Life, Lynn Silton, Palo Alto, 1997 silk, dyes, threads,paints, beads, stones

Birth of A Meme

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CONGRUITY

Estee’s professional/community life 1970-2010

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1995

1995

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life changing experience the C in MPJCDS

✔mother-in-law support system source: Solomon Gray family

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“Learning is Becoming”Learning is Social

not but

source: Institute for Research on Learning

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“We participate therefore we are.”Work is Social

not but

source:John Seely Brown

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COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE

The organizational development (OD) concept of a community of practice (often abbreviated as CoP)

refers to the process of social learning that occurs when people who have a common interest in

some subject or problem, collaborate to share ideas, find solutions, and build innovations.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_of_practice

“A social history of learning that has become a social structure.” Etienne Wenger, CP Square - Oct 2007

(often pronounced “see oh pea” or “cop”)

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source:John Seely Brown

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CoP = Learning = Innovation = Local Interpretation = Practice

“Wisdom resides in the skills,

understandings, and relationships… as

well as in the tools, documents, and

processes of practitioners in the field.”

participation

reification

meaning

meaning

identity

COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE

source: Etienne Wenger

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source:John Seely Brown

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Three Eras of Jewish HistoryThree Stages of Covenant

Rabbi Yitz Greenberg

[LAY? !

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omg-d moment

‣‘The Jews’ actually skipped the whole pyramid hierarchy thing.

‣ We’ve been living & evolving radically linked architectures for millennia.

So that’s why ...

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“People of the Book” NOT

“eglise” NOTmind freeing pair of facts

9th c. Quran Napoleon

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stopped-me-dead-in-my-tracks question

Why didn’t you tell me ?!

about what, John?

The TALMUD, of course

JSB

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Earth, Lynn Silton, Palo Alto, 1997 silk, dyes, threads,paints, beads, stones

So what does it MEAN?

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Link

NODENODE

link

TIE

relationship

connection

person G-dperson selfperson person

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Covenant

covenant

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Commandment on Shavuot

covenant

commandment / commandedness

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Commentary Community

Conversation and so on ..

commentary

community

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Connection Ruth

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Rabbi Lavey Darby Congregation Rodeph Shalom, Marin, @ Wexner Shabbaton

Relationship is the Jewish core

How do we know ?

Ask yourself ..

Why did OneGod not preserve peace and perfection? Why did OneGod create multiplicity ?

In order to be in relationship.

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Arnold Eisen, Chancellor of Jewish Theological Seminary, speaking to MPJCDS board, c 1997

To see oneself as a Jew is to see oneself as part of a conversation.

A conversation that extends over time, space, media, generations ..

In fact, Judaism IS the conversation.

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Jewish learning arises from & creates

Communities of Practice two ‘proof’ phrases

We learn, therefore we are.

and

“Lo ba’shamayim he” (It is not in heaven.)

source: Sacks, 1993 in Plaskoff, 2008

source:Talmud

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1. Learning is inherent in human nature.

2. Learning is the ability to negotiate meaning.

3. Learning creates bounded emergent structures.

4. Learning is fundamentally experiential and social.

5. Learning involves a transformation of identity thru trajectories of participation.

6. Learning involves social energy and power.

7. Learning involves engagement, imagination, and alignment.

8. Learning involves the interplay of the local and the global

source: Josh Plaskoff, PhD Thesis University of Indiana School of Education

Etienne’s Wenger’s 10 Principles of Learning in 8

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Babel, Lynn Silton, Palo Alto, 1999 silk, dyes, threads,paints, beads, stones

Ok, so what does it look like in practice?

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Learning

http://pennhillel.org/files/u64/SNL_brochure_pics__4_smaller.jpg

chevruta

va’ad

beit midrash

.....

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Chevruta Assignment On Arrogance

Social Talmud

+ ++

Mussar Institute Chaburah Program, Chevruta Study on Arrogance : Tractate Sotah pages 4b and 5a

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The Social Talmud

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Peoplehood

http://pennhillel.org/files/u64/SNL_brochure_pics__4_smaller.jpg

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“The network is emerging as the

signature form of organization

in the Information Age, just as

bureaucracy stamped the

Industrial Age.”

2001

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NETWORK STRUCTURE

(source: Connected, Christakis & Fowler)

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NETWORK CULTIVATION

(source: Patti Anklam)

NETWORK

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The Jewish Innovation Sector

“ Where the unity-focused system of the twentieth

century sought to bring together a diversity of

individuals in a single organization, the innovation

ecosystem fosters a diversity of organizations that

serve specific interests, or niches. The health of

each organization is not dependent on its size or

scale, but rather on the quality of its interactions,

the nature of its specialization, and its ability to

adapt. Organizations do not need to become large to

have impact. In fact, many participants prefer more

intimate settings.”

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Upstart Bay Area

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BLOGOSPHERE Source: Esther Kustanowitz

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BBYO

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Worship

‣ “A community that asks all Jews to take hold of Torah”

‣“A grassroots movement” Kehillat Hader ->

Machon Hadar ->Yeshivat Hadar

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Not new Rabbi Elie Kaunfer, Empowered Judaism

Judaism has always been a religion of grassroots organizing ...

The real question is not how are independent minyanim new, but how are suburban synagogues - a product of early to mid-twentieth century - a departure from a Jewish organizing heritage shared by minyanim, havurot and dozens of Jewish communal structures of years past.

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Not scary, either Rabbi Elie Kaunfer, Empowered Judaism

The crisis is not one of theory...

There is no new “big idea”; there is just investment in the old, but in a serious, meaningful, and thoughtful way.

A different kind of community is possible, and we are capable of building that community.

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Lessons from the Field notes on “Empowered Judaism”

‣Key success factors in founding an independent minyan: ‣an inspirational experience

‣a personal tie with someone else who started a minyan

‣dynamic networks

‣ freedom from organizational ties

‣Operations: ‣no central office

‣ ceding of control to small capable rotating core team

‣google for day-to-day tasks

‣ focus on the substance, not the institution

‣ “the stability of instability”

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Yeshivat Hadar

‣ Focused on building an empowered laity, not on ordaining rabbis

‣ Not limited to one gender

‣ An immersive encounter ; intensive schedule

‣ f2f as the “new” technology (computer free zone in beit midrash)

‣ Fellows, not just students

‣ Reclaiming language, reinventing form

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Shaken AssumptionsNew Realities

notes on “Empowered Judaism”

In a world with no clear answers , what better way to reflect on the assumptions by which we live our lives than to encounter the sometimes foreign and unfamiliar values inherent in our tradition and let ourselves be surprised, shocked and challenged by them? Torah study offers a way to approach the other.

... mixing among those with orthodox backgrounds and those without is very prevalent in the minyanim in a way unthinkable in a previous generation... That Jews are increasingly unwilling to settle for a broad definition is positive ... A world without convenient categories is a world that calls on people to take more ownership of the type of Judaism they want to practice in the world.

Minyangoers report they are affiliated with an average of five different Jewish communities ... a friend’s minyan in another city, an annual retreat ... and very comfortable meeting in non-jewish spaces,

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It is too soon to tell whether we are in the midst of a middle-sized blip in Jewish communal creativity, or the beginning of a major revival. But something is surely afoot, with activity in such diverse quarters as congregational life, social justice activism, experimental philanthropy, music, filmmaking, and other cultural endeavors.

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Jewish Education

http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:iixjTVjJ78tfYM:http://elearning.huc.edu/wordpress/continuinged/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/hebrew-notebook-260x300.jpg

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NY Coalition of Innovating Congregations Networks are the keystone.

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NY Coalition of Innovating Congregations - Social Network Analysis 2009

Documenting & Changing the Sad Reality

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Value Network Modeling - Facing History and Ourselves - ESG, 2009

Capturing & Cultivating the Intangible

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Tree of Life, Lynn Silton, Palo Alto, 1997 silk, dyes, threads,paints, beads, stones

Alright, alright, but SO WHAT?

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2010

2010

‣ Words Matter. ‣ Stories and metaphors communicate complex

wisdom. ‣ Models shape possibility. ‣ Language itself is action, Jewishly speaking.

‣ LINK is happening. ‣ text‣ ritual‣ learning‣ prayer‣ practice‣ peoplehood

‣ “& as we look to the week ahead..” ‣ all: “kneh l’cha kehillah” - Make yourself a

network‣ educators: relationship is your business.‣ entreprenuers & leaders: invest in the mesh.‣ technologists & creatives: sages you shall be! ‣ parents: stop worrying, start praising

‣Body Level Four

‣Body Level Five

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From

covenant & commandment to

community, commentary & conversation,

the most basic acts of Jewish life are all

forms of linking.

textrituallearningprayerpracticepeoplehood

.....

InterTwined , R. Justin Stewart ( www.rjustin.com )

People of the Book People of the Link

Even the Book is Linked.

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!

Please link yourself in !

The Most Famous Meme Map A More Linked Meme Map

(aka “O’Reilly’s web 2.0 meme map”) (aka “Estee’s Brain”)

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People of the Link

InterTwined , R. Justin Stewart ( www.rjustin.com )

www.peopleofthelink.org

@PeopleoftheLink#PotL

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estee@peopleofthelink.org

@estee

SPECIAL THANKS TO Lynn Silton Esther Kustanowitz

Deb Schultz

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