A Day in the Life: 248 CAN Do-a-thon

248 CAN is a Partnership2Gether program of the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Minneapolis Jewish Federation.

Last month, the third Twin Cities 248 CAN (Community Action Network) cohort visited Israel, where they took the next steps to put their Big Jewish Ideas into action. On the last day of the trip they participated in a do-a-thon (it’s like a hack-a-thon, but for putting Jewish plans into action.)

The Do-a-thon is integral to 248 CAN, but can be hard to envision if you’ve never been. We asked Emma Dunn, Twin Cities Young Adult Engagement Manager, to give us a play by play of the heart of the 248 CAN Israel experience:

7:30 am – Our group of 40 Jewish doers from North America, Europe, and Israel enjoys the never-ending Israel hotel breakfast and conversation about our communities, our passions, and our happy exhaustion from the full schedule of the last 2 days. We’ve been discussing aspects of Jewish identity and Jewish doing, sharing our ideas for our initiative or project we want to implement in our community, and getting feedback from our peers and program coordinators. Today at the 248CAN Doathon we will be sharing our initiatives with Israeli and Jewish professionals who have come from around the country to hear from us.

8:30 am – We’re off to Kibbutz Ginosaur for a full day and night of programming! We’ve packed our Doers Thinkbooks which we’ve filled with ideas already and have plenty of room to jot down ideas and feedback during our upcoming day.

9:00 am – To start, we tour the impressive center we’ll be based in for the day, Beit Yigal Allon. The center itself is a testimony to the contributions of Israeli initiatives, from historical artifacts and art, to a virtual reality set-up that allows patrons to steal a glimpse into both Jewish and Arab living rooms with unique families and cultures—but an undeniable shared sense of humanity.

10:30 am – Let’s get doing! We kick off the Doathon off with Jewish Doing Labs led by P2G volunteers and 248CAN alumni across the 3 floors of the center. Each workshop was buzzing with excitement. Some of us use Jewish text sources to discover ourselves in the mosaic of Judaism; others hear from Cleveland lay leader Scott Simon on “The Power of Passion, Perseverance and Positivity.” Those that want to dig into the details of their initiative spend time mapping their networks and the people and resources needed to advance their project.

Throughout the morning a drop-in Global Initiatives room features some of the social initiatives that have modeled the successful growth and replication 248CAN seeks to cultivate. These include programs like Zikaron BaSalon and The Shabbat Project, and even some local projects like Heritage Judaica and the Cousins in the Living Room curriculum the Minneapolis-Rehovot P2G includes in all their delegations.

11:30 am – Rotation time in the Jewish Doing Labs as Doers continued to get inspiration for their work. Jewish Doer TED talks offer the opportunity to give quick presentations on the initiatives. A Jewish Feminism discussion session weaves stories of biblical and family matriarchs into lessons of resilience and strength for the modern day.

12:30 pm – Lunch time. If you’ve ever been on an Israel experience, you know the drill! We pause to fill up on another endless Israeli buffet and connect with our friends on our experience so far. Some of us enjoy a brief walk after lunch. Did I mention it’s 70 degrees and sunny on the Kinneret today?!

2:00 pm – The day is half done and the best part is just getting started! It’s time to launch into the heart of the Doathon. Our fellow Minneapolis/ St. Paul participant, Jesse Bronson, leads a fantastic Creative Naming Workshop. He offers ideas for coming up with that clever, illustrative name for your initiative (and if you want an extra challenge – a name that makes sense in both English and Hebrew!). A 248CAN alumni provides attendees with entrepreneurial thinking tools to bring back home and continue to power their innovation.

3:00 pm - Throughout the afternoon we drop in on Speed Dating sessions where 248niks pair with experts and P2G volunteers for rapid-fire pitching and feedback on their initiative. In the Board Room, a 248nik has 15 minutes to give a Shark Tank-like presentation on their initiative to a board of professionals. This group of young leaders is engaged in conversation with their peers and their mentors on how to make their idea a reality. Some are even aided by a VR exercise to help visualize their initiative at work in groundbreaking ways.

5:00 pm – Whew! Our brains are whirring from the day and now we get a chance to sit down and reflect. An Israeli 248CAN alumni presents on “What comes next?” giving us valuable advice as we look towards the next few months of the program. Each 248nik must return home and start implementing their initiative. This includes reaching out to community leaders or potentially interested participants, understanding what financial resources are available for them, or just prioritizing the time to make it happen. Our speaker ends with the tip “start small” and the reminder that “connections lead to more connections.” These thoughts sum up a lot about 248CAN. As impactful Jewish Doers, we need to start in our network and grow our idea to inspire our “glocal” (global and local) Jewish communities.

6:00 pm – We head to a place where we started the week, a co-working space on the kibbutz called HaKaveret designed to bring professionals from across the Galilee region together (it’s not just Tel Aviv that can be a center for networking and entrepreneurship!) We settle down with our local cohort and share our thoughts on the transformative day.

7:00 pm – Our last night together. We eat, we laugh, we cry. We enjoy a play back theatre troupe which has us learning more about each other and the complicated narratives that guide our lives…and the funny ones too. We keep talking until very, very late trying to avoid the inevitable goodbyes with our new family of fellow young Jews committed to writing our beautiful Jewish story.