On the eve of the Passover vacation, the Re-Build Hackathon took place – an international youth hackathon whose goal is to find solutions to the current challenges in the Jewish-Israeli world. The hackathon took place in three centers in the world at the same time – Israel, Spain and Argentina and was the culmination of a process led by the project community “Hi-techists who love education” with the support of the Ministry of Diaspora and other partners, including the ORT network.
Ron Bromer, Deputy Director of the Ministry of Diaspora, shared: “The Ministry of Diaspora and the fight against anti-Semitism has provided support of tens of millions of NIS to about 100 civil projects, which operate on the front of information day and night since October 7th. This is the first time that a government office grants an amount of such scope and in such a short time to civil parties, who did and are doing extensive activities voluntarily and out of a sense of mission and even neglected their business activities for this purpose. The grant is designed to allow them to continue their important activity over time. In this context, we welcome the important hackathon and the excellent activity it will surely generate in the future”.
Hadas (Guri) Maimon, Senior Director of Global Marketing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel, is lecturing about the ministry’s creative efforts to raise global awareness of the events of October 7th
In the process, 400 students from Jewish communities around the world and Israel participated in three collaborative meetings that dealt with Israel and the conflict, Diaspora Judaism and anti-Semitism, entrepreneurship and marketing, where in each lesson they met with a different community from around the world, discussed the topics studied and got to know each other. The classes combined the use of various AI tools and EdTech tools.
Roni Zedek, Hackathon Project Leader and a group of teachers who led the cooperative learning on the Israeli side.
After the cooperative learning, the hackathon took place at the 3 centers at the same time. In Israel, the event was hosted on the 50th floor of the Microsoft Israel Building with the participation of 100 students, of which 70 were Ort Israel students: students of the FUTURE READY program from Ort Psagot Karmiel; students of the Spanish major from Ort Evin in the RG; and software engineering students from Orit Oranit, along with mentors and a distinguished panel of judges, from various fields who volunteered for the important task, as well as representatives of the various organizations; Deputy Mayor of Tel Aviv, Assaf Zamir; Representatives of the director for research and development in the Ort network and the project manager, Roni Tzedek.
Sharon Greenberg, VP and head of the administration for R&D and Training, was invited to open the conference: “We are proud of our students who mobilized to remind and explain to the world the dangers of anti-Semitism. The Re:Build hackathon is an important platform for raising awareness of this painful issue, and it is appropriate to give our youth tools to lead the fight against it. Since the beginning of the war, the students and the teaching and management staff at Ort have been making efforts to continue raising awareness for the return of the abductees. Our participation in the Re:Build hackathon is part of our valuable activity, which encourages social and civic involvement among the youth.”
Sharon Greenberg, Deputy Director General and Head of Administration for R&D and Training in ORT is greeting the participants of the Hackathon.
The youth were divided into groups of 3-5 students and together they were asked to find a solution to a challenge that interested them in relation to the events of the war, the conflict, the Jewish connection in the Diaspora or a challenge in their own community. The groups worked simultaneously accompanied by mentors who serve in the leading roles in high tech, governmental offices and education sector. The mentors were accompanying the students throughout the day and helping them refine their ideas and execution.
At the hackathon, which was characterized by an exciting and exciting atmosphere, the youth came up with dozens of creative ideas on a variety of platforms such as: virtual reality experiences, 3D rooms, escape rooms, social networks and more. The winning team from each country will receive professional support from a high-tech company, the civil information ministry and other relevant organizations for the development of the project. The winners from Israel will be accompanied to the project in the garage at Microsoft Herzliya.
The view from the event venue, located on the 50th floor of Mid-Town Tel Aviv at the Microsoft Reactor Offices.