Baruch HaLevi, at The Blogs

Sep 30, 2018, 1:21 AM

Are We Flushing Our Prayers Down The Drain?

Why is it that whenever we experience droughts our first inclination is to pray? From Moses and the Israelites to today’s politicians, praying for rain seems to be a knee jerk reaction. Water shortages. Droughts. No rain. Many believe this...

Sep 18, 2018, 10:33 PM

Water From The Rock: Israel Is The Aqua Nation

Having retired from being a synagogue rabbi a few years back, there are times, like right now as Jews around the world head into Yom Kippur, when I truly miss it. Yom Kippur is a unique and amazing opportunity, both...

Aug 1, 2018, 11:08 AM

Lessons from Living in the Entrepreneur Nation

As I pack my bags readying to leave, after three amazing years living in Israel, I’m reflecting on all the insights, lessons and inspiration I’ll take with me. Nothing has been more profound than this. Israel isn’t simply the...

Jul 19, 2018, 4:57 PM

Tisha B’av & the call of the Wall to innovate

The idea of pivot is not strange in the field of innovation, start-ups and entrepreneurship. There is one example, though, which is arguably one of the most profound entrepreneurial pivot in the history of humanity, certainly in the history...

Jul 15, 2018, 2:19 PM

Discovering Diamonds in the Start-up Nation

Acres of Diamonds There is a famous story called “Acres of Diamonds,” about a man in an African village who was visited by a traveller who told him of rumors that diamonds had been found across the river. This man...

May 15, 2018, 2:30 PM

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Shavuot and the Secret Sauce of the Start-up Nation

Celebrating the harvest on Shavuot at Jerusalem's First Station (photo credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash 90)

Why did this tiny country, a young country, a country with no natural resources and perennially pounded by all kinds of adversity become the Start-up Nation?

Apr 16, 2018, 11:35 PM

Israel @ 70: Lessons To Learn From The Startup Nation

It’s not luck or coincidence that some regions become flourishing business communities in a particular sector. Detroit is known for automotive expertise, Silicon Valley for tech, Hartford for Insurance, Switzerland for watches, Germany for engineering. Take a look at Israel,...

Apr 12, 2018, 11:28 AM

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Holocaust Remembrance Day: The Startup Nation Remembers. Israel Innovation Repairs

Jewish youth from all over the world participate in the March of the Living at the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp in Poland on April 11, 2018(Yossi Zeliger/Flash90)

Israeli entrepreneurs, descendants of Holocaust victims, are redeeming their ancestors by providing humankind with life sustaining innovations and technologies

Mar 30, 2018, 10:20 AM

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Passover and the Exodus: The Origins of Israeli Innovation & the Start-up Nation

The “bread of our affliction” now comes in varieties that won’t afflict those on a gluten-free diet. (Fishman/Ullstein Bild via Getty Images/JTA)

Today, there is no shortage of plagues, over which to despair; what we learn from the Passover story is that there is always a way across the sea

Mar 21, 2018, 3:30 PM

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Tech-un Olam: Repairing the World One Israel Innovation at a Time

Illustrative photo of a Mac laptop. (Sophie Gordon/Flash90)

The Hebrew expression Tikun Olam literally translates to 'fixing the world'; this implies that the world is a broken place

About Me

Rabbi Dr. Baruch HaLevi is the former rabbi of Congregation Shirat Hayam in Swampscott and the CEO and co-founder of welaunch, a U.S.-based non-profit introducing Israeli technology start-ups to corporations, investors and research partners as a platform for economic development, Jewish community engagement and Israel innovation education. www.welaunch.org His most recent initiative, Tech-un Olam explores the role of Jewish values, texts, traditions and history in the rise of the Start-up Nation and entrepreneurism, innovation and technology. You can learn more at www.tech-unolam.org

Contact Me