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

The Lower East Side is rising. High rise luxury condominiums and hotels now overshadow the old tenements of the area – the cradle of American Jewry.

For the community left here, the roof has caved in – quite literally in the case of the First Roumanian-American Synagogue, formerly on Rivington Street. An empty plot attests to the vacuum left by its collapse in 2006, one year short of its 150th Anniversary.

Looking to pursue your dream of a professionally enriching, religiously and personally rewarding life in a community with affordable homes in a friendly, supportive neighborhood, where you can be a key person, helping to bolster the Torah environment?

Then come and meet with representatives from a dozen up and coming North American Jewish communities.

We're always interested in news that the Jewish community is seeking to expand its breadth -- so were pleased to see that Rabbi Ethan Tucker, a founder of Hadar, was recently awarded the first Harry Grinspoon Social Entrepreneurship fellowship. According to the materials we've recieved,

New York Rabbi Ethan Tucker is the first recipient of a new fellowship that gives young Jewish entrepreneurs a boost to realize their creative innovations for the Jewish community.

Congratulations to PresenTense’s founder and editor, Ariel Beery who made the top 5 finalists in the Charles R. Bronfman Visiting Chair in Jewish Communal Innovation competition!

Here is the JTA announcement:

A contest for the next big idea in Judaism is down to five finalists.

By Evonne Marzouk

Evonne Marzouk is the director of Canfei Nesharim (www.canfeinesharim.org), an organization which provides Torah-based resources about the importance of protecting the environment.