In the cozy embrace of a hotel that is mercifully tucked away from a blazing-hot Jerusalem, 150 young, creative Jewish people have gathered for a five-day Summit experience, forming a mini-universe full of vibrant, interesting and interested people. The ROI conference branding is everywhere, featuring the new ROI logo made up of a multitude of connected dots that make up our globe. The message? As ROI Director Justin Korda would say, “Connect and Create,” people! Welcome to ROI-Land.

“Shalom, you all,” Lynn Schusterman greeted us, asking us to delve deep and ask ourselves important questions. What are our dreams? What risks are we willing to take to achieve them? Lynn identified herself as the woman who “makes it possible,” but generously and wholeheartedly acknowledged that we are the ones who make it happen.

Before we could even catch our breath, we heard from our keynote speaker, Doug Ulman, the CEO of Livestrong, the Lance Armstrong-headed foundation that supports and inspires people with cancer. Doug was diagnosed with three different types of cancer within a ten-month period when he was only 19 years old. Not only did he survive, but he founded a support organization to help other people living with cancer, as well as their families. It was his work with this foundation that drew the attention and interest of Livestrong.

“What cancer taught me at 19 is that we have one opportunity. We have one chance in this lifetime,” he said. His words and his story are inspiring – not just for the 28 million people today living with cancer, but also for ROIers. As Doug said, “We start on one path, but we don’t know where we will end up.” And in the meantime, during our separate and also collective journeys, we have each other...what Doug called the “beauty of building a true community.”

Next up was Jerusalem’s Mayor Nir Barkat who provided one of the most retweeted quotes of the evening – “It’s an honor to serve the Jewish people…remember that.” Highlighting ROI’s increasing awareness of the environment, Irene Rompa – a TEDxAmsterdam crew member passionate about sustainability- who urged us to make sustainable choices, no matter how small. She revealed that in order to off-set the carbon footprints made by all of our flights to Israel – 300 tons worth, to be exact – Lynn has donated 51 solar power water heating systems to low-income Israeli families in Petach Tikva, to replace the expensive and environmentally damaging diesel boilers that such communities usually have to use. “You see?” Irene said. “Even something bad (for the environment) like flying can be beautiful.”

Now there’s another full day ahead, full of networking, project pitching, idea generating, and people pushing past their comfort zones as they continue to create new connections. The journey has just begun…