I collaborated with Professor Gil Troy (McGill University) on the above video in honor of Israel’s 60^th Birthday. It is my artistic rendition of the updated version of his article “Why I Am A Zionist” first published in 2001.

As you know, the 60bloggers project involves 60 bloggers blogging about Israel’s 60th over 60 days. The latest post is by Inbal Freund, our current issue’s “Woman to Watch” for her work with Mavoi Satum. She wrote it in honor of Israeli Memorial Day and in memory of loved ones lost, and it’s incredibly moving. If you’ve ever wondered about the juxtaposition of Memorial Day with Independence Day, and about the shift that happens between those two occasions of opposing emotions, this is the piece to read.

[…] The generations which came before us are embedded within us. They escort us as we celebrate our holidays – on Yom Kippur or University graduation, their eyes are watching, examining our actions, giving advice and meaning to mundane life. We are expected to relate to them. The glory of their memories commands us to better the world. To improve what they have given us. To carry their greatness to our inheritance. To create the next part of the chain, day by day.

I study what my forefathers studied. I study what my foremothers did not always have access to. I have the freedom to wonder around beloved texts, I have the freedom to walk in ancient pathways. I live in a world which reinvents itself with every passing day, where technology dictates an ever growing pace of life. I live in the liminal space between old and new as I try to make my own way forward.

[…] The sad, heavy, choking, patched blanket of ceremonies is lifted. We can never really take some pieces back as we return to our homes to prepare for our Independence Day. The shift is so dramatic. Like a transformation from a long fast to the festive joy of Purim. Like a great light that blinds eyes which dwelled in much darkness. By the evening, the sky is lit with fireworks. My head is still pounding from the sun. From the distance the fireworks sound like shots, and I have to look up to remember that this is an expression of joy which is not taken for granted. It’s an expression of freedom.

To read the whole piece, click here.

In the above clip, PresenTense Magazine Editor & Publisher Ariel Beery speaks of what Israel means to him. Part of the My Hatikva program from Israel60.org, a project from the Conference of Presidents and the Israel Ministry of Tourism. See here for more videos.

PresenTense has been a Matt Bar fan for some years now–featuring him as an artist to watch in PresenTense’s Issue Zero, and then enabling him to develop his initiative as a premier pathbreaking Jewish educator through the PresenTense Institute last summer. And it seems we caught him at the right time, too, because here’s Bari Weiss on the Forward in a wonderful article portraying what our artist now has become:

It’s Saturday night in Jerusalem’s Talbieh neighborhood, and a crowd of 50 is gathered to hear Matt Bar rap about the Bible. The lanky Iowa City native has achieved a kind of celebrity among young Anglos in Jerusalem with his Bible Raps project, a phenomenon he’s hoping to repeat this summer when he travels to Jewish summer camps across America.

If someone had told Bar, 28, that his future would be in writing rhymes about Torah stories, he probably would have called the person crazy. As a kid, he pleaded atheism as a way to get out of Hebrew school. Now, he waxes poetic about his interest in prayer.

Bar manages to string together words like “neophyte” with “dat’s dope.” He counts Eminem and Rashi among his most powerful influences. Nietzsche is “the greatest poet of ideas,” and gangsta rapper Lil’ Wayne is “the most compelling character in hip hop today.” Of course, these unlikely pairings — Hebrew meets hip hop — are precisely why Bar is so appealing.

For ear candy and brain food, check out BibleRaps.com.

If you had to name 26 terms, one for each letter of the alphabet, that were instrumental in shaping today’s Zionism and the contemporary state of Israel, what would those terms be? Our new issue of PresenTense, available now here, and on this site and in print very shortly, examines one answer of what “Zionism: A to Z” includes.

But you probably have a different list of must-include terms. Some of the things we selected you might find completely extraneous… How would our lists differ? Would a cohesive Zionist mission statement emerge?

Even among our staff members, there were disagreements over which terms were included or not included. And we expect that you, as our committed readers, have your opinions too. So read the list, learn a thing or two, and then continue the discussion. Weigh in here…consider this your space to make your case.

Two Jews, three definitions of Zionism, right?

What’s your “Zionism: A to Z”?

How does our generation experience Israel at 60? For many Jews older than us, Israel at the ripe old age of 60 reminds them of stunning victories in the face of almost certain destruction, of new hope for a Jewish People emerging from the furnaces of the Holocaust, of a desert that was irrigated and made to bloom.

But for many of us, Israel at 60 is different. Our generation cannot authentically share in the memories of existential crises diverted, or of the miracle of rebirth. We are the generation born after the great victories, and during a time of much more complexity and confusion. For us, this birthday
presents an opportunity to explore what Israel means to us in the here and now—and what our role can be in shaping, advancing and improving Israel as we look towards the future.
In this special Israel@60 edition of PresenTense, contributors as diverse as Israel herself seek to process the country’s complex facets and effects in order to understand how we relate to Israel—and how Israel relates to us.

Here is what our generation has to say:

And now it is your turn — comment below, and order this issue for your group, Hillel, congregation or community center — spread the word and spark the conversation by clicking here or emailing simi@presentensemagazine.org.

While PresenTense is a volunteer organization, there are opportunities out there to get paid! Here is one stellar one:

MyJewishLearning.com is proud to announce the creation of its Editorial Fellowship program. The inaugural two-year fellowship will begin in September 2008, concluding in August 2010.The fellowship is open to recent college graduates interested in writing, editing, Jewish life, and new media.

MyJewishLearning.com, a transdenominational source of Jewish information, is currently undergoing a major site redesign, ramping up technological capacities and integrating new features, including video and an Ask-the-Expert function.

The Editorial Fellow will work closely with the site’s senior editors to shape MyJewishLearning.com’s editorial vision, solicit material from freelance writers, write and edit articles, and contribute daily to our popular blog Mixed Multitudes.

More info here.

Margie Klein, the editor of Righteous Indignation, alerted PresenTense to a (progressive-social justice) star-studded casted conference coming up in May:

Building on the success of the groundbreaking anthology of Righteous Indignation: A Jewish Call for Justice (Jewish Lights), 15 Jewish justice organizations are co-sponsoring a national conference that will prepare young Jewish leaders (age 21-40) from across the country to help mobilize their communities to voice social justice and environmental issues as Jewish priorities in the 2008 elections. In return for free admission to the conference and heavily subsidized travel to Boston, participants will pledge to put their skills to work by helping to organize voter education, registration, and media events in their home communities in the months leading up to the 2008 elections. There are also plans to take a large cohort of Jewish activists to one state the week before the presidential election to aid with voter mobilization, transportation, and observing polling stations.

Read more here.

Most of our readers — and possibly you reading this — don’t have children, let alone grandchildren…and that means we have time, and obligation, to build the world we’d like them to live in.

As such, PresenTense ran an amazing event last night in Jerusalem, focused on the future of education in the Jewish State. And you didn’t have to be in Jerusalem to participate (I’m in New York at the moment): all you had to have is a connection to the internet. Here’s one example of a remote-participant, Gabby Schoenfeld:

I want my grandchildren to know how to ask questions. I want them to have strong Jewish and secular knowledge bases, but more importantly, I want them to understand how to ask questions in order to gain more knowledge. As a group leader for many kinds of Jewish trips and programs, my most satisfying moments are those in which I am able to set a tone and atmosphere in which the participants feel comfortable to constantly ask me questions–about Israel, about Judaism, about Shabbat, about me, and my life choices. Sometimes the questions are amazing, but sometimes people just don’t know how to ask or where to start. I want my grandchildren to be educated in a nurturing but challenging environment, one in which they learn how to ask questions about anything and everything

Read more — and contribute — online here.

Can’t wait to get your hands on the next PresenTense? Well have no fear — we’re hard at work on a special edition to celebrate Israel’s 60th year of youth.

And what’s that? You even want to pre-order? Sure! Order right here–discounts for bulk orders (cause we want to share the here and now).