Mini-documentaries on G-d, Judaism, and spirituality.
Beth Eisenman of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, feels that G-d comes to people in the way they can accept. Filmed at Limmundfest 2011 The G-d Project is the world’s first social media platform dedicated to Jewish spirituality.
Visit www.theg-dproject.org
The G-d Project will be filming at Limmud Chicago on Sunday, February 19th. Also, Patrick Aleph will be leading at least one session on contemporary views of God in the Jewish community.
If you have never been to a Limmud, you are missing out!
Limmud Chicago’s family friendly annual festival of Jewish learning will be held February 19th at the University of Illinois Chicago Student Center East. This all day event includes dozens of lectures, discussion groups, workshops and films on all things Jewish. Participants come from all backgrounds, all ages and all levels of observance. It’s an exciting opportunity to push the boundaries of what Judaism means to you – and your family.
Go to www.limmudchicago.com for more details and registration information. Interested in reserving a time for being interviewed for The G-d Project? Click here to email us.
It has been roughly four months since the start of The G-d Project, and wow, have we learned a lot. Traveling across the country, filming Jewish people about their experiences with the Divine, has lead to some amazing insights. While it’s best to watch these miracles of the human spirit directly on our website, we wanted to share a few interesting “talking points” about what we are learning.
G-d is not a guy on a throne
We have yet to hear someone talk about G-d in an anthropomorphic (human-like) way. Ironically, the people who seem to reject the idea of G-d seem the most interested in talking about G-d in this human-like way. Could it be that we are teaching children early on that G-d is a sky-parent, and that this is planting the seed for doubt which we must overcome in our adulthood (or not at all?)
Mixed ideas about G-d’s role in the world
It seems that there are mixed views about whether G-d actively intervenes in the world. This issue relates a lot to the question of bad-things-happening-to-good-people and especially resonates with people whose families were in some way part of the Holocaust. Whether or not G-d is active in the world, it seems so far that people believe G-d is in control in the end. What do you think?
Loose definitions for terms like “secular” and “Reform”
We have encountered plenty of secular Jews who believe in G-d. On the other hand, we have also met atheist Jews who identify with the Reform movement (which does promote liturgically and organizationally) a theistic view of Judaism. It has shows us the way in which the Jewish people use and adapt terms to meet their needs.
We will have more insights in the coming months. Meantime, make sure to check out our videos and submit your own video!
We had an awesome time in Minneapolis, Portland and Orange County, CA filming so many great people. Some of our highlights…
Minneapolis, MN
Shir Tikvah, a progressive Reform community, held a beautiful Shabbat service. Mazel tov to the lovely couple whose aufruf included blowing bubbles! Very eco-friendly, Shir Tikvah. Rabbi Melissa Simon and her partner ended their interview with, “G-d demands marriage equality.” Well said.
Big thanks to Paige Dansinger from Jewish Art Museum Mobile for hooking us up with a beautiful guest room! One of the hardest parts of traveling is…well…the traveling! And true to Jewish form, the hospitality was incredible.
Portland, OR
Historic Congregation Beth Israel got a double dose of The G-d Project: first, at our Thursday filming, and a surprise visit at the early evening Shabbat service. Rabbi Cahana and Jemi Kostiner Mansfield, Education & Life Cycle Administrator, provided a beautiful location inside their chapel for filming. The serenity of the ner tamid, coupled with the diverse collection of interviewees, made for an amazing experience.
Of course, who can visit Portland without having some fun! We caught The Avengers and Roxy Epoxy and the Rebound at the nightclub Dante’s and stood in line forever at Voodoo Doughnuts (but it was worth it!)
Orange County, CA
PunkTorah contributor YentaPunker was the genius behind our SoCal experience. Filming at the Long Beach JCC with the havurah of Temple Israel, interviewing Rabbi Drew Kaplan and the great folks at the Orange County Federation Young Adult Division (thanks to Jackie for being so incredible). We also had a blast at YLD’s 60′s themed Tu B’Av party. Patrick dressed up as Don Draper from Mad Men, but looked more like Buddy Holly.
If you don’t already know about Moishe House, check them out! Our Shabbat headquarters in Costa Mesa and our last filming location, Moishe House Orange County was a vibrant hotbed of cool post-college Jews. The Mexican-inspired Shabbat dinner wasn’t bad either!
We’ll be in Baltimore for The Conversation, the DC JCC and Limmud Southeast’s weekend retreat in the North Georgia mountains, so stay tuned for more info!
The G-d Project has added new filming dates…and they are coming up fast!
June 27th – Fredericksburg, VA (various locations)
June 29th - Brooklyn, NY (various locations)
June 30th – 92Y (200 Hudson St) from 3PM – 6PM
To schedule your time to be interviewed, please email patrick@punktorah.org
The G-d Project, a non-profit Jewish spiritual outreach website and documentary sponsored by the Jewish New Media Innovation Fund and produced by PunkTorah is seeking proposals from qualified innovative, full-service marketing/publicity agencies or individuals with the same level of output to market The G-d Project to national and international Jewish markets online and in print. The selected vendor will be expected to handle strategy, branding, advertising, some web design/development, collateral, and other marketing duties as assigned. The G-d Project will be awarding this assignment to only one person or company. We will not guarantee a minimum level of business to any awarded vendor or person. Please keep in mind that this is a freelance, contract-based opportunity for a limited time, not a job on PunkTorah’s staff.
Promotion will include the following types of assignments:
-Developing a marketing plan for The G-d Project that gives the maximum effective exposure of the project, increases donations to the project, increases user involvement in the site (including video submissions and video feedback) and ultimately drives true traffic to the site while maintaining our brand and image
-Improving SEO on The G-d Project website
-Creating web based marketing campaigns (from concept to completion and follow up) for social media websites such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Formspring
-Developing PPC-style Google Ads and/or other search engine based promotions
-Developing and managing a press list to ensure editorial in print and online
-Promoting our project to popular Jewish blogs
-Creating and placing print and web-based ads (when appropriate and budget allowing)
-Communicating with PunkTorah Executive Director about the progress of all projects
The vendor must be self-directed. We are your clients, not your bosses.
When bidding for this project, please submit the following:
-A one page marketing plan for The G-d Project with a general timeline
-A CV or other relevant document about yourself and/or your company, past projects and their outcomes
-A budget including your labor and any expenses that may be incurred in promoting this website. Our total budget is around $3,000. Competitive budgeting with expected milestones is very important, as we are a small non-profit and will use a “competitive bid” process when considering who to award this to.
The bidding process for The G-d Project will end July 1st at 5PM EST with a decision made by July 8th and announcement the following week. This project will last from August – October, with The G-d Project’s launch date of Sept 12.
Please submit your bid to patrick@punktorah.org
The G-d Project is taking over America this summer with tapings in Denver/Boulder, Los Angeles, Richmond/Fredricksburg, Minneapolis and more to come.
Our current calendar…
June 19 – June 21st
Denver/Boulder including a visit with Rabbi Zalman Shachter Shalomi
June 26 – 30th
Fredricksburg/Richmond, Virginia
July 29th
Minneapolis, MN with Congregation Shir Tikvah
August 7 – 11th
Los Angeles, Long Beach, Tustin and more of California with YentaPunker
For more information and to set up your own taping, email patrick@punktorah.org
The G-d Project will be coming to Chicago, IL May 10th and 11th to film your Jewish community! Help us set up opportunities to meet diverse groups of Jewish people and learn more about what you think about Jewish spirituality, Judaism, G-d, faith and more.
Here’s our current schedule (always being updated):
Tuesday May 10th
7PM with GAN Project
Wedmesday May 11th
7PM with TBD Minyan & Leah Jones
Check out our Facebook event for more information.
This weekend we were in Davidson, NC just north of Charlotte for an amazing Shabbat with the Lake Norman Jewish Congregation, a progressive Reform community that invited us to film some great interviews with their volunteers and congregants. We enjoyed an amazing concert by Israeli world jazz musician Amir Gwirtzman (who we hope to get an interview with for PunkTorah). It was also a special treat as rabbi Michael Shields and his lovely bride-to-be Jacqui were honored for their upcoming wedding.
Pictures and video coming soon, but we had such a great time that we couldn’t help but blog about it!
Over and out,
-Patrick and Anna
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