I Hate Tooting My Own Horn ...

But I feel obligated to mention that I was named one of The Jewish Week's 36 Under 36: The New Re-Engineers. Find my profile here.

This, the fourth installment of the “36 Under 36” list, highlights the dedicated lay leaders who are reordering our legacy organizations alongside community activists and social justice crusaders whose startups are chock-full of innovation.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find any copies of the newspaper in Teaneck, despite going to every single place on Cedar Lane. Supposedly some folks are keeping copies for me, so phew on that note.

Last year I wrote about my awesome friend Susanne, who was named on last year's list as a social media rockstar. I haven't had the time yet to sit down and completely devour the list of amazing people I'm listed with, including many rabbis, but I'll get to it. After all, I should be adding these people on Facebook and Twitter and making sure there's a massive meeting of the minds. Between this and the impending visit to the 2011 ROI Summit in Israel, I'm on top of the world.

The question is: Can I live up to the hype?

She is Wonder Woman. She is @susqhb.

I'm super proud of my very good friend Susanne Goldstone Rosenhouse. It isn't just that she was named to The Jewish Week's "36 Under 36," although that's pretty amazingly awesome. She listens, she enjoys coffee, she digs a late-night run to Golan in Washington Heights, is a fan of good movies, and perhaps most importantly, she put up with me on my pre-wedding weekend and my wedding day. Susanne was with me for TWO majorly important moments in my Jewish life, and for that, her neshama is bound to mine for eternity (sorry, toots). She's always been there for me, and for that I love her. I can't say enough about how much Susanne does for the Jewish community, social media, and the general awesomeness of the Jewish community, so I give to you, below, The Jewish Week article.

Mazal tov, Susanne. I offer you hugs, good movies, and delicious BBQ ribs!

Susanne Goldstone Rosenhouse, 30
Social media rock star 

Julie Wiener
Associate Editor
Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Several numbers structure Susanne Goldstone Rosenhouse’s life. There’s 613, the number of mitzvot that Orthodox Jews like herself observe. And then there’s 140, the character limit on Twitter, where Rosenhouse spends much of her workday.

As founding social media coordinator for the Manhattan-based National Jewish Outreach Project, Rosenhouse, whose handle is JewishTweets, tweets about 12 times per day on myriad Jewish topics. For many of her 8,000-plus followers, Jewish Tweets provides a “sense of community” and is their main link to the Jewish world, she says.

Rosenhouse’s tweets range from trivia and news to questions intended to spark discussions about Judaism (“What was your seder like growing up?”), links to articles and blogs from all over the Web and suggestions of daily Jewish “actions” to take.

Some recent tweets: “It was today, Rosh Chodesh Sivan in Hebrew Year 2448, that the Jews arrived at Mt. Sinai & prepared to receive the Torah!” (May 14, 9:22 a.m.); “Action: If you have a friend or family member in need, find a discreet way to help, such as giving food you ‘over-bought.’” (May 13, 5:32 p.m.)

She answers questions about Judaism (many of which she refers to rabbis), helps connect Shabbat hosts and guests, and reads the posts of the almost 5,000 people she follows. “I don’t want to be followed and not follow back,” she says. “You can’t engage people on Twitter if you just spout, spout, spout.”

She also serves as a program officer at NJOP and was one of the volunteers who helped launch ParnasaFest, a Jewish job-networking event.

Rosenhouse grew up in a Reform but “Chabad-friendly” home in Orange County, Calif. She chose to go to Yeshiva University’s Stern College, where she was one of only a handful of public school grads, because she “loved the idea of a dual curriculum.”

Recently married (she met her husband, also a baal teshuvah and YU alum, through the online site SawYouAtSinai), Rosenhouse lives in Washington Heights and, believe it or not, also has a personal Twitter handle: Susqhb. “It tends to be very Jewy, but I also tweet about things like movies.”

Bet you didn’t know that... Until six months ago, when she got a Droid (“I have Verizon, so the iPhone isn’t in my clutches”), Rosenhouse did not own a smartphone, doing all her Tweeting from computers.

Oy. I'm kvelling :)