This July marked the beginning of my 9th year serving as the rabbi of an amazing Jewish Startup. The funny thing is, it’s only in the last couple of months that I realized that I am, in fact, the rabbi of a Jewish Startup with one small exception– this particular startup is going on 24 years of proven success at transforming lives. Consider,
- Like other Startups, this Startup is the realization of an audacious dream shared by visionary founders.
- Like other Startups, this Startup is doing something that has never been done before, occupying a unique and important place in the market.
- Like other Startups, this Startup has many critical stakeholders and investors who have made incredibly deep and significant investments of all kinds.
- Like other Startups, this Startup has outstanding professional and lay leadership that thinks strategically and is never content to rest on current successes.
- Like other Startups, this Startup is committed to social good, to making the world a better place, and to transforming individuals lives.
- Like other Startups, the people who work for this Startup are excited to come to work every day, work longer hours than they need to, and are animated by deep passion and commitment.
- Like other Startups, this Startup adheres to Core Values that both describe who we are and who we aspire to be.
- Like other Startups, this Startup has a shared language, a shared mission, and a shared vision.
- Like other Startups, this Startup is data driven, dynamic, responsive, and open to constructive and deconstructive feedback.
- Like other Startups, this Startup celebrates dreams, wants to say “yes”, and values the voices of the folks that show up here every single day.
- Like other Startups, this Startup is heavily influenced by the broader milieu and marketplace.
- Like other Startups, this Startup is competing for precious resources and creatively trying to find new and different ways to make sure that our important, life changing message reaches the people that we need it to reach.
- Like other Startups, this Startup means something important in the lives of tens of thousands of people.
- Like other Startups, there’s a relentless optimism that our future is even brighter than our amazing past.
So hear me out. If all of these things are true (which in my opinion they are), then I am, in fact, the rabbi of a Jewish Startup.
That Jewish Startup is called The Alfred & Adele Davis Academy. It’s Atlanta’s Reform Jewish Day School. And if you haven’t heard of it, haven’t visited it, haven’t been touched by it, or haven’t allowed yourself to participate in the magic then all I can say is… you’re missing out.