Writing and Consulting by Esther D. Kustanowitz

At a recent event about social media and Jewish community, I spoke on a panel with Leah Jones where we addressed what the future of these social media tools might be. More videos from this event are available on my YouTube channel.

New is scary - who put my friends over there? - because you suddenly feel like you don’t know what’s going on in a territory that you might have known super-well before. But here’s why the new Facebook isn’t all that bad, from tech reporter Sarah Lane over at Current.

Join me for my sessions at this weekend’s LimmudLA conference….

The Innovation Ecosystem: A 21st Century Organic Jewish Community
Joshua Avedon, Yoni Gordis, Esther Kustanowitz, Naomi Less, Scott Perlo
Saturday 12:30 PM–1:45 PM
Identity and Responsibility, Teen Approved

Over the past decade or so, the Jewish world has witnessed the emergence of a new landscape of innovative startups. These enterprises have created new entry points to Jewish life, and new ways of building Jewish community. This diverse and vibrant collective of new Jewish initiatives is evolving into an organic communal infrastructure for the Jewish community in the 21st century. This session is a tour though the diverse and vibrant ecosystem driving Jewish innovation across the globe. Meet some of the innovators and find out how their work is changing the Jewish world.

Jews’ Line Is It Anyway?
Saturday 2:00 PM–3:15 PM
Arts and Performance, Teen Approved

What’s so Jewish about basic improv comedy? This informal, participatory workshop introduces the basics of both improv comedy and Jewish community to Jews and Judeophiles of all ages.

Finding Your Inner Megillah
Monday 11:30 AM–12:45 PM
Identity and Responsibility, Teen Approved

There’s a megillah inside every Jew, not just those named Ruth and Esther. Jews are natural storytellers because our faith is based in oral and then written history. But what makes a story worth telling and retelling, generation after generation? In this experimental writing workshop, visit some noteworthy texts from Jewish tradition and engage in free-writing exercises based on and inspired by those texts.

Hope to see you there…

2010 is right around the corner, and I’m booking gigs in at least four cities. Be in touch to discuss ways in which I can help you improve your relationship with social media and creative content in 2010…

January 21 - invitation-only Skills Building Workshop: Best Practices in Social Media (Los Angeles)
February 12-15 - Presenter, LimmudLA (Los Angeles) - register now - “Writing Your Inner Megillah” (writing class), and “Jews’ Line Is It Anyway?” (basic improv from a Jewish perspective)
March - TBA - (Los Angeles, and a probable visit to San Francisco) / Bay Area
April - TBA - NYC
June - TBA - Jerusalem
July - ROI Summit - Kfar Maccabiah (near Tel Aviv)
August - TBA - Los Angeles

Stay tuned for more events as they’re confirmed. And don’t hesitate to contact me if you have questions about my appearing in a city near you!

When it comes to the intersection between pop culture and spirituality (which sometimes means Judaism, specifically), my posts at Idol Chatter on Beliefnet run the gamut: from TV to music, from books to movies, from the Holocaust to the Family Guy to ABBA. Seriously.

After my making a case in October for Don Draper being a vampire, November brought a slew of varied stories. Ian McKellen started ripping pages out of hotel Bibles, Comedy Central expanded to Abu Dhabi, and that “Family Guy” live special offended lots of people. Reading and watching movies about Anne Frank - and presenting on Jewish pop culture at a local high school - led to both reviews and contemplations of what constitutes teen theology. The Macaroons, a new kids’ band, brought catchy rock hooks to Jewish subjects, just in time for Hanukkah.

In December, ABBA was named to the list of future inductees for the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame, leading people to say, “um, is ABBA really rock?” But forget Swedish pop music and senatorial musical submissions: what’s new with Jewish music this Hanukkah? The NY Times did a short piece, but I had a few suggestions of my own. Also, in the wake of Orrin Hatch’s musical Hanukkah present to the Jews, Conan’s Jewish cast member - Max Weinberg - sang back with a Christmas song for Mormons set to “I Have a Little Dreidel.” Meantime, those creative folks over at G-dcast created a special animated episode for Hanukkah.

And just yesterday, Roy Disney died, reminding everyone how much of an impact Disney has had on the cultural landscape.

In 2008, I attended the First International Jewish Bloggers Convention in Israel, sponsored by Nefesh B’Nefesh, an organizations that assists people who are making aliyah (moving to Israel). I was interviewed several times on the radio and in print, and one of those radio transcripts is available online. It’s kind of interesting to read it more than a year later (although the transcript is missing a few words - maybe I have to enunciate more next time, so Israeli transcriptions can be more accurate).

Kol Yisrael (Voice of Israel) interview, August 23, 2008

At this point, social media isn’t new. Some people have asked why I would even write something like this, which is so intuitive to people who live their lives in the www’s of the internet. And that itself is the answer: although the use of social media tools is growing in the world at large, not everyone lives their lives via Facebook, blogs or Twitter. And it’s not that everyone should always be on social media. But I do believe that social media can help, especially at traditionally underfunded Jewish organizations - a few hours of training, and the social media can be managed in house, for free.

Jewish nonprofits are beginning to acknowledge the need, but still seem skittish. And that’s why I took to my keyboard - as someone with extensive experience in the Jewish non-profit world, I take pride in and give honor to the fact that I wouldn’t be where I am today without social media.

“Manifesto: Social Media and Jewish Organizations” has been retweeted several times by Jewish organizations and educators, shared with fellowship members and technology staffs. I’ve got meetings set up in New York to talk with potential clients about social media outreach. And I’ve been asked to lead a few groups at the upcoming Darim Online Northern New Jersey Social Media Boot Camp. Plus, the post is beginning to be cross-linked in other locations and cited as inspiration for kicking social media conversation into high gear (see the Boulder Jewish News).

It’s really gratifying to see a conversation accelerate, perhaps because it’s about time, and perhaps because of something you wrote. Thanks to all who shared it, retweeted it, emailed it, circulated it, or otherwise supported its sentiments. Go Team Social Media!

Over the past few months, pop culturistas like me lost pieces of our cultural childhoods one at a time, each one adding to the devastation: no sooner were we moving past Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson, that we lost writer/director John Hughes and dancer/actor/not putting Baby in a cornerer Patrick Swayze. Hughes and Swayze, were two linchpins of my cultural adolescence, sculpting the landscape of expectation for me and countless others in my generation, as we moved forward into an uncertain future.

John Hughes went first, in August, and I thought in movie quotes for days. “Demented and sad, but social.” “Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?” And of course, every single line from my beloved mantra of a movie, “Sixteen Candles.” (”Jake Ryan? But he’s a senior, and he’s taken…I mean, REALLY taken.”) But I felt I had to write about him: this post at Beliefnet’s Idol Chatter is the result.

Then we lost Swayze, and I didn’t have the energy to plumb my own depths for reactions: instead, I went to social media, relying on Facebook status updates and Twitter messages to express the collective sense of mourning.

These pieces were sad to write, but as a writer, I appreciate the opportunity to mourn with thousands of others, virtually, through words, over the internet, because together, we are a community of the affected - in our union over a career’s end, we celebrate the work of the artists and their undeniable impact.

Sure, I’m a writer by training, but I have other skills too. Check out my online video clips, with more to come shortly:

The timeliest pieces first…Rosh Hashanah, Explained on Good Day NY

High Resolutions: Facebook Guy

Blink and you’ll miss me, but I do a dance cameo in the famous “Rosh Hashanah Girl” video.

Esther Gets a Makeover on Life & Style

Let My Parents Go!, featuring my finest overacting skills

Esther interviewed on ParadeTownUSA about the Salute to Israel Parade

If you’ve liked these clips, subscribe to my YouTube Channel, or even better, sponsor my yet-to-be-titled upcoming video show, coming soon in 5770! Got an idea for a show? Wanna be a sponsor? Contact me anytime via the contact form on this site or by email: jdatersanonymous at gmail.com.