It was Morning Motivation on Day 3 of the 2012 ROI Summit, and as Pascale Bercovitch shared her awe-inspiring story, there was not a dry eye in the room.

An Israeli journalist and athlete originally from France, Pascale was only 17 when she lost both of her legs in a tragic train accident. As she lay beneath the train tracks that freezing December day, her legs severed, waiting for someone to find her during those horrible minutes before the next train was scheduled to roll in, she made a vow.

“I decided to take my life in my own hands. I decided at this moment that I am going to fulfill my dreams from now until forever.” Following her accident, she made aliyah, served in the IDF, established herself as a successful journalist and became a Paralympic champion who represented Israel in hand-cycling in the 2008 Beijing games and is training for London 2012. All of this while still finding time to be a devoted wife and mother to two children. Her lesson? “The only thing that is important is what is in your heart. What you believe in.”

With our proverbial cups filled with inspiration, the rest of the day was spent intensely discussing, probing, questioning and collaborating—or as we ROIers have come to call it: connecting and creating. We began with back-to-back peer-led sessions, proposed and led by several of ROI's newest community members. In breakout groups, we explored everything from sustainable cooking with Itta Roth and how to be an ally to the queer Jewish community with Janelle Eagle to guerilla marketing with Nadav Stark and the secrets of successful fundraising with Jeremy Balkin. In the improv session led by Uri Levin, ROIers used basic dramatic scenes to examine negotiation skills and conflict resolution. And in "Spruce Up Your Storytelling," Danny Harris showed participants how to get a better feel for a community by exploring the stories of its citizens.  

Next up were “lightning round case studies” and “idea mixology.” Both programs were variations on work we did the day before. In the lightning rounds, participants had the chance to share more project challenges with each other and to receive and absorb feedback from their peers. Idea mixology was Open Space (see our previous post on this, or watch this video for a visual explanation) with a twist, as this time, we were divided up by geographical regions so we could explore challenges unique to our community.

What happened after all of this meeting, mingling and brain-power? A little chicken soup for the ROI soul, as ROIers were given one of several chances to offer thoughts and ideas that were emerging as a result of their encountering people and ideas during the Summit.

“We’re all walking on an unpaved path,” someone said, to much agreement from others. Another challenged their fellow participants to think about forging the future for their projects and for the Jewish community: “It’s up to us to find a way to make real partnerships. We have so many ideas. Can we do it?” Still another said that she knows she’s not alone when she talks about coming from a place of “loneliness” in launching and running a project. “But being here at ROI I finally feel like I am not alone, but rather, am part of a larger network.”