By Shachar Cohen-Hodos
Due to the ubiquity of the phrase “Start-Up Nation” in my Jewish education, I tend to revert to chuckling when it comes up as the topic of conversation - let alone as the topic of a whole book. However, when one places the idea of a Start-Up in the context of “Jewish Professionalism,” the metaphor becomes more relevant to me.
Before our arrival in Tel Aviv, our cohort was tasked to read Start-Up Nation by Dan Senor and Saul Singer. In a nutshell, the authors explore the way that the small country of Israel has become a hub of innovation in the Middle East. The book cites two main factors which contribute to this phenomenon: compulsory army service and a nation of immigrants. While I spent significant time grappling with these reasons, I have become fascinated by this book's status as required reading for The Nachshon Project.
At face value, this book does not explicitly revolve around a religious identity; there is little-to-no connection to the American Jewish community; and more so, this book focuses on a professional sector that I have no interest in participating in.
So, what even is a “Start-Up Nation?” Start-Ups embody innovation, community building, passion, and integrity. Start-Ups fail, their leaders make the wrong decisions, those leaders learn from their failures and can sometimes even turn them into successes; however, they can only be successful once they have accepted their flaws. This is the frame of mind that I embodied in the week of our Opening Conference and that I will continue to reflect on throughout the semester. This cohort is full of students with aspirations for a more innovative Jewish community. The idea of innovation that is brought up in almost every lecture that we attend directly impacts the work that I want to be part of in the future - hopefully along with these Fellows. This idea of innovation has provided me with a framework to investigate the gaps in my community and explore ‘innovative’ ways to fill them. In our sessions, I want to begin thinking about how these organizations, people, and stories embody these same innovative characteristics. Just as these authors did for these Start-Ups, I hope to analyze what has been successful in our communities and in what ways we have fallen short of our goals. This is the framework I hope to continue using throughout the semester as we envision an innovative North American Jewish future.
