"What's Your #Ish?" Campaign Brings Social Media Twist To Being Jewish

National Media Attention Garnered Over Approach

The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), of which the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle is a part, recently launched "What's Your #ish?", an integrated online campaign that encourages young Jews of all stripes to share what being Jewish means to them – their #ish – while raising awareness of the work of Jewish Federations.

The innovative project features a series of humorous rich media ads, promotional videos on YouTube, and integration with social networking sites Facebook and Twitter, all intended to generate conversation on – and traffic to – the campaign's dedicated website, WhatsYourIsh.com. The project has caught national attention and has been featured in The New York Times and USA Today. (Links below.)

On WhatsYourIsh.com, the interactive nature and impact of the project comes to life. Visitors to the site are invited to post their ideas of what being Jewish means to them – on the website, Facebook and Twitter – and to tag their #ish with the hash-tag symbol (#ish). Local Seattleites are also encouraged to add @yldseattle, indicating a local post. Individual entries will be listed on the site, contributing to the ongoing conversation at WhatsYourIsh.com. Guest celebrities, such as the comedic Sklar Brothers, actor Joey Slotnick and musician Josh Nelson, will also be sharing what being Jewish means to them via videos throughout the campaign.

The conversation takes on even more significance as it grows—for every #ish response, JFNA will credit 25 cents to a $50,000 #ish fund for charity. Funds will go to programs and organizations that focus on poverty, elder care, Jewish identity, Israel solidarity and more. the core thematic needs supported by the Jewish Federation's Community Campaign.

While highlighting the fact that being Jewish means different things to different people, the website also helps participants learn what being Jewish means to the work of Jewish Federations. To that end, participants are being invited to vote on how they would allocate the #ish fund. Participants also have the option of letting their Jewish Federation decide the greatest needs.

The "Jew-ish-ness" of this campaign has local roots as well. Jewish Transcript Media publishes the Puget Sound's Jewish newspaper JT News and a website called Jew-ish.com, targeting the Jewish
20-30 somethings, the same demographic as the What's Your #ish campaign. As editor Joel Magalnick puts it, "Being Jewish is one of the many revolving priorities in our lives, so I created jew-ish.com to scratch that itch—when needed. It's the #ish."

"The #ish campaign is a fun, innovative way for younger Jews to learn about the life-saving work of the Jewish Federation in a creative way," said Tana Senn, Director of Marketing and Communications for the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle. "By using online tools young people already use, this campaign really has legs."

Some of the local "#ishs" we have already seen from Seattle include:

Jack Almo: Blessing our children on Friday night

Aaron Goldfeder: My ish is about trying to make a measure of Tikun Olam bit.ly/b8RK8F & being at least a *little* bit involved...

Tana Senn: Representing Israel at International Night at my son's elementary school this weekend #ish @yldseattle

Rabbi Daniel Septimus: being connected to a religious community who devotes itself to helping others and repairing the world.

Kevin Flaherty: My Jewish wife is my ish and what an ish she is! ;-) #ish @yldseattle

Celie Brown: Kvelling while watching my granddaughter reading Torah

Seattle Jewish Film Festival: My #ish is strengthening Jewish, Yiddish & Israeli cultural literacy, identity, education, community building and social action @yldseattle

Sample news coverage:
USA Today article: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/Religion/post/2010/05/woody-alle...

The New York Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/17/business/media/17adnewsletter1.html