The Big Jewcy

The Big Jewcy (with a touch of self-promotion): Over the past two weeks, Jewcy.com has been rolling out "The Big Jewcy: 100 Jews you need to know." Not unlike the "Forward 50" or the "Time 100" or the New Yorker "20 Under 40" or the "Heeb 100" or the aforementioned "36 Under 36," Jewcy.com has selected 100 Jews on the younger side who are doing things you might find interesting.

Unlike some of the more Jew-centric lists, the Big Jewcy is less about Jews doing Jewish stuff and more about Jews doing stuff. In fact, The Fundermentalist is probably one of the Jewier projects noted on the list. (See? I told you there was some self-promotion in there.)

Check out the whole list at Jewcy.com.

And be sure to read the Q & A with the Fundermentalist. I promise it’s worth the read. Here’s a taste:

Why do you think The Fundermentalist is important to the Jewish (and non-Jewish) community?

Covering the Jewish nonprofit world is something like writing about the inner workings of one big crazy family. Each member of the family really, really wants to do whatever he or she can to either keep the family healthy in the present or to make sure that the family lives on in good health for generations to come. The problem is that despite a fairly large family fortune, there isn’t quite enough cash to allow for each and every family member to carry out his or her good intention. So, the desire to save the family leaves a good number of family members wishing the others were dead.

Don’t get me wrong. There are some absolutely wonderful Jewish nonprofits out there that really do a lot of good. There are also some really lousy Jewish nonprofits out there that waste a lot of money. And they are all fighting for the same money, which can create a pretty ugly underbelly. The Fundermentalist doesn’t really seek to expose the underbelly. We prefer to write about the kishkes — what makes this whole thing work.