Reboot Ideas Conversations

Reboot, with Detroit Public Theatre and Detroit Public Television, invites you to celebrate the most famous Jewish monster, the Golem, its history and contemporary lessons. This Reboot Ideas conversation, hosted at Third Man Records in Detroit, featured New York Times bestselling author Adam Mansbach and Dr. Justin Sledge, a Detroit-based professor of Ethics, Religion, and Social-Political Philosophy whose research has an emphasis on Jewish esotericism and the occult. In a conversation moderated by Angelique Power, president & CEO of The Skillman Foundation, the two discussed the historical and contemporary connection between the legend of the golem and Jewish links between the supernatural, creativity and tikkun olam (repairing the world). Presented together with PBS Books. Learn more and watch the conversation here.

Photographer Gillian Laub, whose exhibition Family Matters is currently on view at The Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco, joined curator Maya Benton at the museum on March 12 to explore two decades of Laub’s work and what it means to be an artist in this moment of increasingly polarizing politics. This conversation is the first in a 2023 Reboot Ideas series of three events in the San Francisco Bay Area, supported by the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund. The series, “Art as Counterpoint to Antisemitism” foregrounds the role of arts and culture as acts of resistance to a rising tide of antisemitism. Watch the event here.

Bestselling author Rebecca Soffer (Modern Loss) joined renowned music journalist Pete Paphides (Broken Greek) on Oct. 19 at JW3 in London for a candid, warm, and even humorous conversation exploring Rebecca’s new book, “The Modern Loss Handbook,” and the global movement to destigmatize the universal experience of grief while encouraging people to find meaning and live richly. This program united two best sellers from opposite sides of the pond to explore the common themes of loss, renewal and transformation. Watch the recording here.

Welcome to Web3, the decentralized internet built on the utopian promises of open access and ownership of technology, currency and power. But we wonder if we as Jews and as citizens of the planet are prepared for Web3’s implications and unintended consequences in both digital and physical spaces. Reboot Ideas invited our technology experts, award-winning journalist Laurie Segall and tech entrepreneur and artist Aza Raskin, to decipher this critical platform, its seemingly secret corners, how it is informing and transforming our lives and how it might impact our interactions. Watch here.

Join Amy Spitalnick, executive director of Integrity First for America, which successfully sued the Charlottesville neo-Nazis, and Ilyse Hogue, author of bestselling book The Lie That Binds, President of Purpose, former President of NARAL Pro-Choice America as they uncover and connect the dots between the assault on our democracy and our rights, discuss how we can fight back, and consider what it means to live as both Americans and Jews.

Last month, Reboot Ideas partnered with the creative team behind Jewish American Heritage Month to produce a virtual panel featuring Anne-Marie Grey, Executive Director and CEO of USA for UNHCR, and Sloane Davidson, founder and CEO of Hello Neighbor. The two were in conversation with Juliet Simmons, creator of the “What Would You Bring?” Refugee Storytelling Initiative, and Noam Dromi, Managing Director of Reboot Studios. During the chat, they explored the ways in which the American Jewish community has taken an active role in refugee resettlement and support services, as well as the challenges and opportunities that lay ahead. Learn more and watch it here.