The Grand Pivot Against Corona

A Series of Essays by Gidi Grinstein and Eran Shayshon

The Reut Group is a strategy and leadership group dedicated to creating and scaling innovative solutions to challenges facing Israeli and Jewish society. In response to the Coronavirus crisis, the Reut team has been working closely with our network of partners to understand the impact of the pandemic on the Jewish People, highlight threats and opportunities and suggest effective response strategies. At the heart of our work is an evolving series of publications that address key implications of the Coronavirus crisis. This is their synthesis:

Introduction
● CVJ 1: The Challenge of a Grand Pivot – This essay will overview the key systemic disruptions to the Jewish People caused by the Coronavirus crisis. It is titled Coronavirus vs. the Jewish People, or CVJ.

Challenges
● CVJ 2: On Economics: A Shrinking Pie for Growing Needs – This essay will discuss the economic impact of the Coronavirus crisis on the immediate, intermediate and long-term wellbeing of the Jewish world due to diminishing resources, mounting needs and shifting priorities.

● CVJ 3: On Antisemitism: The essay explores the shifts in antisemitism due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

● CVJ 4: On the nonprofit ecosystem – This essay focuses on the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on Jewish nonprofits and thereby on Jewish communities, as many nonprofits may be decimated and disappear.

● CVJ 5: On Israel Experiences – Formative experiences in Israel have been a major tool of world Jewry for ensuring Jewish continuity and for conveying the story of Israel to non-Jews. This essay will explore the implications of the crisis on these programs.

● CVJ 6: Ultraorthodox Hotspots – Ultraorthodox Jewish communities are being hard-hit by the Coronavirus crisis. Beyond the fatalities, they are facing staggering needs, and the crisis may have profound implications on them and on their place in the Jewish People.

● CVJ 7: Calamity of European Jewry – This essay will focus on the disastrous impact of the Coronavirus on Jewish communities in Europe, and on their extensions in Israel, New York and London.
● CVJ 8: On peoplehood, leadership and identity programs – This essay will explore the implications of the crisis on the fields of Jewish identity, leadership and peoplehood.

The Shining Lights of our Communities

● CVJ 9: On Federations and the established Jewish community in the collective communal response.

● CVJ 10: On nonprofits relevance – This essay will discuss the ways in which different nonprofits managed to stay relevant and effective in this crisis.
The Opportunities.

● CVJ 11: Jewish education going online – This essay will focus on the systemic implications of the online revolution of Jewish education that occurred in response to the Coronavirus crisis.

● CVJ 12: The grand opportunity of Tikkun Olam – The Coronavirus crisis creates a huge opportunity for the Jewish People to be a leader in global response.

● CVJ13: Israel’s status as the Nation state of the Jewish People – This essay focuses on the place of Israel vis-a-vis world Jewry in this crisis and its aftermath.

The Response

● CVJ 14: Philanthropic priorities – This essay focuses on the challenges that major philanthropists will face as they realign to respond to the Coronavirus crisis.

● CVJ 15: Halacha – The current crisis creates extreme Halachic challenges. Some rabbis and communities will rise to it with lasting impact on Jewish law and on community life.

● CVJ16: The challenge of adaptation – This essay will share some insights about the management challenge and principles for pivoting organizations toward effective response during the crisis.

** This Synthesis will be updated as the CVJ project unfolds.

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Gidi Grinstein is the Founder and President of the Reut Group, and now also serves as the President of Tikkun Olam Makers (TOM). Eran Shayshon is the Executive Director of the Reut Group.