The AVI CHAI Foundation is allocating up to $1.15 million over the course of the next three years to four individuals and one team of two whom it has selected as the first recipients of The AVI CHAI Fellowship. It won’t surprise any of you who follow the Jewish innovation beat to learn that the “team of two” is that of Ariel Beery and Aharon Horwitz. They are sharing the fellowship, with the goal of “expanding PresenTense Magazine and the PresenTense Institute for Creative Zionism to form a corps of forward-thinking social and communal pioneers, specially trained for the Information Age.”
This program constitutes the largest cash award — $75K per fellow or team per year — to emerging communal and educational leaders within the North American Jewish community. The award will go towards their proposed activities, the purpose of The AVI CHAI Fellowship is to advance and promote the individual winners as important forces in building a vital American Jewish future built upon these values.
More than 40 nominations were submitted by twenty nominators (18 located in the United States and 2 in Israel) and the seven members of the selection committee met privately over the course of four months. The AVI CHAI Fellowship was kept under wraps (seriously under wraps; even PT trusted familiars were kept out of the application and selection process, and nothing was announced until today’s press conference).
Mazal tov and kol hakavod to Aharon and Ariel! For a more complete report, see here.
Jews in Socal! Come down and party at Lightning in a Bottle! A green festival out near Santa Barbara! I’ll be there holding a special Shabbotle service! more to follow…:)
“If you want daily objective journalism reporting, go to the NYTimes and then argue over how objective that is. But if you want fresh perspectives from 20/30something Jews from all over the world and cool new stories, give PT a look.”
But if you want a good cheesecake recipe, come to Jewlicious! 🙂
Ever the diplomat. 😉
Thanks so much for the touching post, Esther–and the congratulations. It’s meant a lot to Aharon and I to have the support and friendship of Jewlicious, and we look forward to many more years of collaboration for the sake of the Jewish People.
To those who would like to see an improvement of PresenTense Magazine, be my guests! We’re a volunteer-based magazine that determines its content according to the thoughts and contributions of our growing team, last issue including over 63 people in nearly a dozen countries. Tzemach, we’d love to have a piece by you–and to expand and continually grow our offering to Jews around the world.
But to serious business: Aaron, please submit a formal letter of inquiry — I can assure you we will look at your project with the utmost of seriousness.
Thanks all, and may we all be blessed with many years together, and the strength and courage to bring a new day for a united Jewish People.
Ariel
Kol Hakavod! I know they’re doing something right because if they weren’t, they would have the haters coming out of the woodwork.
Congrats to Mr. Beery and A Horowitz.
75k? Maybe now the PICZQA will greenlight my Jewish Strippers in the PresenTense project.
“20/30something Jews from all over the world and cool new stories” is a PR jingle just like everything Ariel does. But are there really news of note by PT? I have not read anything yet. It is long on chest beating, short on content.
If you want daily objective journalism reporting, go to the NYTimes and then argue over how objective that is. But if you want fresh perspectives from 20/30something Jews from all over the world and cool new stories, give PT a look. Or don’t. But thanks for your constructive comments.
I should say that I’m a Rabbi Linzer fan, and that Elie Kaunfer is a friend who’s also incredibly deserving. I don’t know the other two–I was just especially proud of the PT team.
Esther writes for Presentense. She can be and should be justifiably proud.
Don’t be so jealous.
There were of there recipients besides PT. Esther should stop pimping them.
for realz?
i have read PresTense, and it just wasn’t reporting.
there was no critical eye, no investigation.
all it was was a series of anecdotal reports, more publicity than journalism.
new wave of zionist creativity, hah! feh.
give me the berdichevskys of a new generation, not the mouthpiece of the tired, saying it’s fresh.