I received this letter in the mail today (it was sent out last week, but addressed with an incorrect zip code).
January 22, 2008
Dear Mr. Kulwin,
Thank you for applying to the Bronfman Visiting Chair in Jewish Communal Innovation at Brandeis University. We received 229 applications from all over the world – a remarkable testament to the Jewish community’s desire for continuity and renewal!
As you can imagine, it was excruciatingly difficult to narrow this large group down to five finalists. We certainly received far more good ideas than we have finalists!
I am sorry to inform you that your proposal was not among those selected. I know that this comes as disappointing news. Let me nevertheless convey, on behalf of the entire selection committee, our appreciation for your time, vision, and commitment. The Jewish community is indeed fortunate to have such creativity in our midst.
Thank you again and best of luck with your project.
Sincerely yours,
Jonathan D. Sarna
Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History
Director, Hornstein Program
January 29, 2008 at 2:55 am
Gary,
So sorry to hear that, but as we always said, we don’t have a strong sense of what they are looking for.
All the best and I certainly hope to keep in touch through our blogs and personally.
Will you still be pursuing and promoting these ideas (I hope the answer is yes!).
Warm wishes,
Maya
January 29, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Gary,
I’m out too. At least we tried. =)
You should be proud of your proposal, and your hard work.
Sincerely,
ARB
January 29, 2008 at 2:29 pm
ARB – I’m sorry to hear that you’re out of the running as well. I wonder if any of the “Maya Seven” (it sounds like a Sixties radical group, or a Charles Bronson action flick) will be among the five finalists.
I think that I will keep blogging on my ideas, at least through March (when the winner is selected). I certainly want to flesh out my own ideas some more, and I will probably want to critique the proposal of whoever wins.
I still think it would be great if Maya was able to present more of the proposals out there (winners or not). This is really one of the most interesting Jewish experiences that I have been a part of in recent years, and I have to thank you, Shai, and Maya (along with the folks at Brandeis and Mr. Bronfman, of course).
Regards, GK
January 29, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Gary,
I also hope that at least one of the “Maya seven” made it to the finals. It would be great if Maya could go to the symposium to live blog what happens, but I don’t think she will be able to make it to Boston. I might write on the finalists as well once they are announced.
I agree that this experience has been worthwhile. I hope you continue to work on your proposal. Who knows, if you decide to write the book, then you might find a publisher. I promise to buy a copy!
As far as the proposal I submitted, my broad idea is out there on http://stopcampushate.blogspot.com/. However, I think I’m done working on it for now. Of course I will continue to work on ARB. There’s still lots of important work to do.
I’m also working on a new project called the Vilnius Jewish Library. Check it out if you haven’t already.
http://vilniusjewishlibrary.wordpress.com/
It has been a pleasure reading your writing, and conversing with you. I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors. Stop by ARB and say hi!
Sincerely,
ARB
January 30, 2008 at 10:37 am
5 Finalists:
http://antiracistblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/brandeis-picks-5-big-idea-finalists.html
Ariel Berry made it.
January 30, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Beery, sorry.
January 31, 2008 at 9:55 pm
Thanks, ARB! I went to Maya’s blog and saw that she has already written about the five finalists as well. (It’s a little odd, though, that I didn’t see anything on http://www.jta.org this evening, even though both you and Ariel referenced their Jan. 29 “Breaking News” post on your blogs. I guess that this is already considered old news…).
I’m heading over to Maya’s blog now, to read some more comments (and, probably post my own).
Regards, GK
February 8, 2008 at 9:50 pm
http://www.thejewishadvocate.com/this_weeks_issue/news/?content_id=4436
The 20 semifinalists have been invited to publish their proposals on a Web site that will enable wider dissemination.
February 9, 2008 at 9:55 am
Thanks, Tony! This news was very interesting to read about, for a couple of reasons. First, until now I didn’t know that there were any “semi-finalists” in this contest (my proposal was certainly not among them). This is a much larger pool than the five finalists, and it should be very interesting to read each of these proposals. It will give all of us a much better idea regarding what’s on the mind of today’s Jewish thinkers.
Second, although no URL was listed for this site yet, I assume that these proposals will be officially posted by Brandeis University, the contest’s organizers. This will become an “official” site for contest ideas, which parallels the “unofficial contest site” on Maya Norton’s blog. Although I have no hard evidence here, I personally think that Maya’s decision to post proposals from a wide variety of contestants was the driving force behind the decision to announce a formal site for publishing the semi-finalists’ proposals.
In the Internet Age (unlike back in the 1920s, when Julius Rosenwald sponsored the first “big idea” contest), it seems quite odd at best to solicit original ideas from across the globe and then keep those ideas confidential. Indeed, even if Maya’s blog receives some new competition from the official site, I am assuming that her “Big Ideas Series” will remain widely read by those who care about this stuff, for at least a few different reasons. She is willing to post all official (and “unofficial”) big ideas on her site, including my own – for which I am deeply appreciative. Second, her blog lets readers comment on each of the proposals. The running conversation that follows each proposal posting is at least, IMHO, as interesting to read as the proposal itself. Finally, The New Jew blog has created a small (but committed) group of regular followers – a mini-community that includes writers like ARB, Shai Litt, and myself. In short, this gives her blog “wings” – the potential to evolve and move in all kinds of interesting directions. I am certainly planning to be “along for the ride”, as much as possible.
Again, thanks for posting here; I hope that you are a regular reader (and my apologies for not posting anything here in over a month!). I plan to post more of my zany thoughts up here soon, and I hope that you and others will continue to comment.
Shavua Tov, GK