Fall is here and we are ending the Jewish year with a bold beginning. We are bringing Reboot into its next phase of existence with the release of our new strategic plan. We have updates on that, highlights from our network and information about how you can join our projects below.

Reboot’s CEO, David Katznelson, shares his thoughts and enthusiasm about our new strategic roadmap in a brand new blog post that was recently featured in eJewish Philanthropy. Take a look and learn more about our audacious vision for the future.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM OUR NETWORK

Our network of inventive change agents are making waves in the Jewish world and beyond. Here are some of their bold projects that we’re excited to share with you this month.

Marking World Refugee Day with Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish

This summer, Reboot teamed up with Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish and to welcome a theater full of refugees to their June 20th performance in honor of World Refugee Day. The event kicked off a project that uses theatre to talk about the immigration crisis, called My Fiddler Story. Our network members were deeply involved in the event: Photographer Gillian Laub and illustrator/journalist Christopher Noxon photographed and “live-sketched” a group of refugee attendees, and many answered a series of questions by Nicola Behrman (founder of 10Q). Additionally, attendees explored After Anatevka: Jewish Immigration and American Reaction, an exhibition designed especially for Fiddler curated by author, Yiddish scholar, and Reboot Faculty Eddy Portnoy. Following the performance, Fiddler hosted a Town Hall event hosted by Luis A. Miranda, Jr. You can find some amazing video highlights here!

The Power of Unplugging – 24/6 and Character Day

Tiffany Shlain, Emmy-nominated filmmaker and a member of the original group of Rebooters, unplugged with her family on the first NDU ten years ago – and they’ve done it nearly every week since. She has written a book about her decade long practice of Technology Shabbats called 24/6: The Power of Unplugging One Day a Week. You can pre-order the book here (out September 24) and check out the tour which starts in NYC at the 92nd St. Y on Sept 24.

Tiffany also co-founded Character Day, which last year had over 200,000 groups participate in schools, organizations, congregations, and homes. This year’s theme is the relationship between character (empathy, social responsibility, presence) and screen use in today’s world. When and how does technology enhance our character and when should we turn it off? Character Day provides engaging short films, discussion materials, and a Global Live Stream featuring live events and speakers from all different fields. Signing up is free. Leading up to the book launch and Character Day, Shlain and her team are rolling out a series of weekly Tech/Life Balance challenges, all building up to the ultimate challenge of doing a regular weekly Tech Shabbat.

An Important Primer about Death

Shoshana Berger has written an incredible book with esteemed palliative care physician, BJ Miller, called A Beginner’s Guide to the End: Practical Advice for Living Life and Facing Death. The book explores how we cope with the inevitability of death and also make better decisions for ourselves and our families. In the book, Berger (IDEO) and Miller (UCSF) answer the questions about end of life we’re all afraid to ask.

Soul Searching with Sarah Hurwitz

How could there be such a gap between the richness of what Judaism offers and the way so many Jews understand and experience it? After a decade as a political speechwriter, Sarah Hurwitz set out to explore that question for herself in Here All Along. She was the quintessential lapsed Jew – until, at age thirty-six, she happened upon an advertisement for an introductory class on Judaism. She attended on a whim, but was blown away by what she found. That class led to a years-long journey, all in dogged pursuit of answers to her biggest questions. What she found transformed her life. In this entertaining and accessible book, she shows us why Judaism matters

Coming Up Soon

The High Holidays are just around the corner and that means that the 10Q vault is getting set to open again. 10Q is our digital platform for self-reflection and introspection for the ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. You can sign up to answer our 10 questions privately online or bring the framework to your community and host an event, big or small.

Reset your system with our modern spin on a 600-year-old Rosh Hashanah ritual called tashlich. This custom of ridding ourselves of all our bad vuggum (karma) from the previous year and getting a fresh start for the new one is traditionally enacted by tossing crumbs into the ocean. Join us in San Francisco for an engaging ritual and joyful noise accompaniment from shofar blowers, members of the Jazz Mafia and the Ministers of Sound of the Saint John Will-I-Am Coltrane African Orthodox Church and more!