by Rabbi Robert Nosanchuk

Near the end of Genesis, Jacob encounters his grandsons- whom he never thought he’d have the blessing to see. He asks the boys “who are you?” in a familiar peek-a-boo trick of aging grandpas on the young people in their families.  But all kidding aside, Jacob draws them close to offer a blessing to them. He reaches to the boys with his frail hands and crosses them in an uncomfortable pose, placing the right hand over the head of the younger one and the left over the elder child.

Joseph swiftly tries to correct him, saying to his aging father, Lo cen avi. Dad, that’s not right. You’ve got the wrong hand on the kids. Then Jacob responds in a stubborn independent tone. Yadati. I know my son. So Jacob proceeds to show that the way in which he is offering this blessing, though it sounds and looks different, has tremendous purpose and intention behind it. Jacob wants this to be a memory trigger. Jacob wants us to turn our attention away from the end of his life’s work and cast our eyes on a future that will look different when the birthrights now in his hands belong to his grandkids.

This text is at the core of my faith. All the more so, because I am a rabbi in the Reform movement at this pivotal time, I hear in it a summons to do something meaningful and memorable with my rabbinate. I sense in it the tradition’s counsel to reach out to those who are not in the mainstream of Jewish life close and convey to them, even when it looks odd to the eye, true purpose and blessing.

What I am talking about is making my rabbinate and leadership of Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple a calling out to every possible student by name. I must call out to them with tenderness and love and without judgment, doing everything possible to help them say Hineni, here I am, in return.

This concept of Hineni was taught thoughtfully by US President Barack Obama at the recent Biennial, who challenged us to continue our work of Tikkun Olam and make our lives worthy of a response from those who are disenfranchised. But it was another presidential address at the Biennial… that really provoked me to think that about the path of blessing we can take to reach our young and disenfranchised Jews. I speak of the address shared by our new incoming URJ President, Rabbi Rick Jacobs.

Rabbi Jacobs and I, together with so many educators, youth workers, cantors, rabbis and leaders of NFTY, share a passion for drawing disenfranchised Jews close, and he indicated without delay, that a campaign to engage our movement’s youth would be his number one priority. His call to engage youth in relationships was in my heart just yesterday, when a friend who was part of my previous temple, visited with my family before visiting her daughter at a local college.

We talked over dinner about the ins-and-outs of her daughter Rebecca’s Jewish identity. We talked about the recent Biennial and whether or not Rebecca, who mistrusts much of what the mainstream Jewish faith tradition offers, would have felt if she were there. Then Rebecca’s mom remembered aloud the time period right after Rebecca’s Bat Mitzvah, when she began to say things to her parents like: “I’m not really Jewish,” and “I don’t believe in what you believe.” Rebecca’s mom looked at me and said, “That was Ok. Because she knew she could get out for awhile from the kind of Judaism offered in synagogues. She knew it was Ok because you had her back. She knew you had her back. You knew her. You were her rabbi and she could come back on her own terms.”

I have to say: hearing Rebecca’s story told back to me by her mom was moving because it is exactly what I strive to do and what Rabbi Jacobs is asking all our movement’s leaders to do. For engaging the kids of every generation- the ones who’ve been out of our synagogue’s walls, connecting with those who have no intention of responding Hineni just because we call to them- that is a precious task.

Rebecca is not about to be defined simply or described by a pithy phrase that will summarize the terms on which she’ll ever connect formally with synagogue life. That’s why Rabbi Jacobs is charging us to twist our arms into a pretzel if we have to, so that we reach her outside of the synagogue. And we should do so- not because we’re certain she’s about to jump back in to synagogue life- but because it’s what Jacob told Joseph an enduring blessing requires.

This is simply imperative- we must touch the lives, inside and outside our walls, of every Ephraim and Manasseh that emerge in our families. They might be your kids or mine. But in all likelihood we’ll have just a moment like Jacob did to convey our blessing. In my view, if Rabbi Jacobs charge has any hope of leading our Reform movement forward, then no obstacle currently in our way ought to be left standing. We simply have no choice. As a movement we must reach out to every Rebecca we can- reminding her that she can call it like she sees it from in or outside our walls, because we have her back, and she has our confidence to speak her truth and ours, forever.

Rabbi Robert Nosanchuk is Senior Rabbi at Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple and Vice-Chair of the Joint Commission on Lifelong Jewish Learning. This post is excerpted from a sermon shared at Fairmount Temple (See full text of the sermon).

I am so full of emotions that I am finding it hard to begin this post. My brain is full, my heart is full, and good gracious have the rooms been full – even overflowing, with grown men and women settling down on the floor, sitting cross-legged in their business-casual attire.

The excitement, the readiness for change is in the air. It is palpable, it is vibrant, it is damn near explosive. We are ready for this, we have BEEN ready for this.

And by this, of course, I mean the Campaign for Youth Engagement.

Even before this afternoon’s forum, Wendy Mogul spoke so much truth in such a inexplicably entertaining way that I spent the session feeling like a voice-enabled bobble-head doll from all of my head-nodding and “mhmmmm”-ing – it was all I could do to keep from an “amen, sister!”

What did she say that was so validating?  She said we need to provide teens with a place to go, a place to be, a big couch in a room that is not in their home but belongs to THEM. She said teens need respect and teens need access. She acknowledged the hard stuff, that teens are simultaneously “incredibly narcissistic and sensitive and real”, that effective work with teens requires a real monetary commitment, because “adolescents are like etrogs – slightly misshapen, very important, and strangely expensive.” She raised up youthworkers as the brave fun caring friend/mentor tightrope-walkers they are and acknowledged their profound impact on teens lives and the necessity of their role.

How wonderful to move from this inspirational and validating speaker into a 90-minute pump-up session championing what so many of my colleagues and friends and I have known for years: that youth are massively important and that it is time to make a concerted effort to recognize that and facilitate their participation in Jewish life in new and innovative ways.

I left the Campaign for Youth Engagement forum physically jumpy – I want to go personally allocate all one million (!!) Youth Engagement dollars RIGHT. NOW. I want to go sit down with every single person under the age of 20 and ask them what they want to do, what their vision is, how they want to transform the world and how I can help make that happen. I want to up the salary of every single person I know that works with teens.

I drank the Koolaid. I’m in. Come with me.

Dusty Klass is obsessed with helping teens facilitate the changing of the world. She married NFTY via NW at age 16 and renewed her vows via SOCAL as their regional advisor from 2008-2010 (It’s a lifelong affair). She drinks a lot of tea, recognizes that change is rough, unavoidable, and incredibly important, and is a 2nd year rabbinic student at HUC-JIR LA.

Better than reading my words about the music, though, watch a few minutes (or the whole megillah) of the Kabbalat Shabbat Song Session to see and hear for yourself.  If you’re anything like me, before long, your own toes will be tapping, your hands clapping, your bottom dancing and your voice singing.

If that’s not enough, plan to tune in at 8 p.m. on Saturday evening, January 14th for live streaming of Miami’s fourth annual Winter Jewish Music Concert.  Formerly known as the South Florida Cantorial Concert, this year’s event (which is beyond sold out!) will feature nearly two dozen cantors, soloists and other musicians performing a wide range of cantorial, Ladino, pop, classical, Yiddish, jazz and rap music from the Bertha Abess Sanctuary at Temple Israel of Greater Miami.  Martin Bookspan, longtime host of “Live from Lincoln Center” will be the guest host and Dr. Alan Mason will once again serve as the concert’s program director. “The sustained success of this annual concert,” says Mason, “is due to the consistently high level of executive each performer brings to his or her selection, and the lack of any intrusion (introductions, thank you’s acknowledgements) outside of the music.”

For a sampling of last year’s music, check out this video:

To tune into the live streaming of the concert, click on this link at the appointed hour (8 p.m. on Saturday, January 14th).

Happy listening!

Finally, mark your calendars now for 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 11 when choirs from throughout New Jersey and the west Hudson Valley of New York will come together at Temple Emeth in Teaneck for a choral festival…and a chance for you to hear even more terrific Jewish music of all kinds.  Check back soon for additional details.

In the meantime, enjoy the music!

Thank you Eric and thank you all for the great honor you have bestowed on me.

I stand here today as a member of three different Reform congregations in North America.  Temple Shalom of Chevy Chase, Maryland, Temple Sinai of Washington, D.C., and our third congregation — the one i want to tell you about because it says so much about ab0ut our Reform Jewish future.

Frederick, Maryland is a community about 45 minutes outside Washington.  For many years it had one Conservadox synagogue.  Eight years ago, six families brought up in the Reform Movement got together because the local synagogue was unacceptable to them. As my daughter Jamie, one of the group, put it, she did not want her daughter — my granddaughter Sara I might add — to grow up in a religious environment where she could not participate fully and equally in all aspects of congregational life.  The group set out to establish a Reform congregation in Frederick.

The group of families in Frederick then put in countless hours to start a congregation.  And as they did, our Movement sprang into action to help them:

• URJ representatives were there on an ongoing and frequent basis to provide advice and support as to how to get organized and work through the numerous issues that developed along the way;
• local rabbis came to Frederick to lead services;
•  a congregation in the area lent the group a Torah; other congregations lent prayer books;
• educational curricula were provided by the URJ to aid the group in developing a religious school;
• HUC-JIR  provided the group with a student rabbi who subsequently became the congregation’s permanent rabbi.

What do we have today: Congregation Kol Ami, a URJ member congregation with over 150 families and growing.  My wife Helene and I are proud to be members.

Congregation Kol Ami can teach us so many things about why all of us are here and work as hard as we all do to support our Movement.  Do we have problems and challenges?  Yes.  The world is changing around us.  The economy is severely stressing everyone.  Congregations must adapt and change.  The Union must adapt and change.  All of us wrestle with those challenges and can become frustrated by the fact that we sometimes disagree on the solutions or, even when we agree on what to do, cannot solve the problems as quickly as we would like.

But if you feel at all frustrated, all you need to do is look around you at the attendance and excitement at this incredible sold-out Biennial, go to one of our camps on Shabbat, visit Hebrew Union College and spend a day with the students as my wife Helene and I did recently, go to our congregations  in Israel or around the world, or engage in so many other activities to recognize, as did those six families that got together in Frederick, Maryland, that Reform Judaism is the voice of the Jewish soul and that a Movement based on equality, innovation, welcoming, social justice and a host of other important values has been and remains the wave of our Jewish future.

Congregation Kol Ami also shows us our Movement at its best.  No matter what problems we face, our Movement is there to support our fellow Jews.  As a result of a partnership between the families in Frederick and our Movement, there is now a vibrant Reform congregation in Frederick where none existed before.

Finally, Congregation Kol Ami teaches us something that we can never lose sight of.  To express their Reform Jewish identity for themselves and their children, the families in Frederick decided that they needed to form a congregation.  They recognized, as do we all, that it is through the congregation that we express our Jewish identity and experience Jewish community.

I was fortunate to see on a first hand basis the incredible role that congregations play in the lives of the Jewish people during the years when my wife Helene served as an Executive Director at Temple Shalom.  Many think of the congregation as a place where there are religious services on Friday night and Saturday and religious school on Sunday.  I know from observing Helene’s work that congregations do countless other things seven days a week.  The congregation is simply not a Jewish supermarket where people come just to buy different services.  It is far more than that.  Whether it is making good times better, easing pain in bad times, showing people that there is a community that supports them in times of need, speaking out on issues confronting the community, engaging in social acton projects, or a host of other things, the congregation is the place for the enhancement of Jewish community and identity in good times and bad.  In other words, the congregation is the rock on which our Judaism stands.

So too with the URJ.  To be sure, what the Union does for congregations it must do with excellence.  But, just as with the congregation, I do not view our Union as the place where congregations come simply to purchase services.  The URJ is and ought to be the organization that enhances our Reform Jewish community and expresses our Reform Jewish identity in North America and throughout the world.

As I see the URJ, our primary goal should be to do things that individual congregations cannot do for themselves  and to act where we can be far more effective when we act collectively.  Whether it be our exciting new campaign for youth engagement, our camps, educational curricula, social action, outreach or a host of other things, the URJ has an important — indeed vital — role to play for our congregations and our Movement.

And that is why every one of us in this room is here:  to be a part of a Union for Reform Judaism that supports and nurtures Reform Judaism and our congregations.  The way the Movement rallied to those six families in Frederick should be replicated in every way that we can to reach out to our young people, 20s and 30s, parents, empty nesters — you name it.  We need to make our congregations and our Movement meaningful in the life of everyJew.

As I assume the position of Chairman, I want to take this opportunity to add my voice to those who have praised Rabbi Eric Yoffie for his service to our Union and our Movement.  I got to work closely with Eric for 8 years as the URJ’s General Counsel.  In my private practice as a lawyer, clients frequently wanted to know what the law required them to do — in other words, what was the minimum they had to do to avoid getting into trouble.  What especially impressed me about Eric was that, even if legal rules might allow us to do something less, Eric’s focus always was on what was the right thing to do.  The same moral strength and courage that we all see from Eric when he speaks or takes public positions on issues is also there when outsiders are not observing his behavior.  What matters is what is right.  It has truly been a privilege to be able to work with and learn from Rabbi Yoffie.

And let me express a word or two more about my predecessor Peter Weidhorn.  Peter is a dear friend.  He was the perfect Chairman for the extraordinary financial challenges our Union confronted and saw us through some very difficult times.  His imagination, drive and love for this Movement made him truly one of our most extraordinary chairmen.  I take great comfort from the fact that Peter has pledged to remain closely involved in the work of our Union as we go forward.

I assume the position of Chairman of the Board of the Union with the goal of doing everything I can to strengthen and support the congregations in our Movement.   Acting in partnership with Hebrew Union College, the CCAR, the Women of Reform Judaism, the Men of Reform Judaism and all of the other participants in our Movement, this must be our primary objective.  And in meeting this objective, I am particularly looking forward to working with the revitalized Conference of Presidents of our congregations.  Close interaction with this group will give our Union an opportunity to connect even better with the leaders of our congregations and to better understand and serve their needs.

I also can take great comfort from the fact that we have a wonderful group of dedicated lay leaders at the URJ.  These lay leaders are all people who rose to positions of leadership within congregations before they came to the URJ.  In other words, our URJ lay leaders understand and appreciate congregations.  They are aware of the pressures and stresses.  And, most importantly, they are as dedicated as I am to working with and supporting our congregations.

I am especially looking forward to sharing the journey that lies ahead with Rabbi Rick Jacobs.  Since the announcement of his appointment, Rabbi Jacobs has focused on deciding what we should be doing in the new URJ of 2011 and thereafter.  In approaching these issues, I have been especially impressed by three things he has done.

First, Rabbi Jacobs recognized the need to have capable people from both within and outside the immediate URJ structure advise him on the issues confronting the transition to a new president.  He appointed a transition committee of both lay and rabbinic leaders to consider these difficult issues with him.  He reached outside the immediate URJ management structure and asked Rabbi Jonah Pesner to serve as Transition Director.  And, since his appointment he has focused on who would best serve with him as the senior professional leadership of the URJ as we move forward.  The result is we now have a superb team with Rabbi Jacobs,  Rabbi Dan Freelander and Rabbi Pesner together with our new Chief Operating Officer, Barbara Saidel. I am comfortable that our URJ is in good professional hands.

Second, Rabbi Jacobs made certain that the new goals and priorities for the URJ were not being decided by a small group sitting in a closed room.  Instead, the transition process has been an open one with participation from many, many people in every corner of our Movement. This reaching out to well over 800 people has assured that the new URJ will reflect the views and needs of our Jewish world.

Third, Rabbi Jacob’s approach to the transition and to his leadership of our Movement was best captured for me at one of our meetings.  Rabbi Jacobs said that in confronting the difficult challenges that lie ahead, some think that we must choose between having our head in the clouds or our feet on the ground.  Rabbi Jacob’s rejected that choice and said that in confronting the issues for our Movement, we needed to do both:  in order to manage and run the URJ and work for our congregations, we obviously needed to have our feet on the ground.  But he was clear that we also always needed our head in the clouds since we should never lose sight of our spiritual purpose and the core values that guide us.  It is this combination of feet on the ground coupled with spiritual purpose that most excites me about what Rabbi Jacobs will bring to our Movement.

So lets get going.  Let me welcome to this podium Rabbi Rick Jacobs.  Rick, I want you to know that I, the lay leaders of our Movement, and every one of us in this room are excited by the promise of your leadership and will be there to support and help you as we move to the new URJ.  My friends, strap on your seat belts.  A new ride is about to start as we reimagine our Union and confront the issues ahead.  It is my great honor to present to you the next President of the Union for Reform Judaism and leader of our Movement, Rabbi Rick Jacobs.

Since we last gathered for a Biennial convention two years ago in Toronto, the Union for Reform Judaism has been hard at work strengthening Reform Judaism in North America. We have had two interesting years of growth, of challenges and excitement with an eye to the future.

Our Movement is undergoing changes that will shape Reform Judaism for decades to come. This week we will have the opportunity to honor Rabbi Eric Yoffie and thank him for the innumerable ways he has shaped our Movement. And we will have an opportunity to officially welcome Rabbi Rick Jacobs and hear about his vision for the future.

The process of visioning for the future has already begun as the arms of our Movement, including the Central Conference of American Rabbis and the Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion, have joined with the URJ in convening a Think Tank to articulate a vision for Reform Judaism in the 21^st century. You will all have the opportunity to contribute your thoughts to that vision at the Friday Morning Visioning sessions. Among the questions that we will be asking, “What unique contribution will North American Reform Judaism make to the world in 2020?  Who do we want to be in nine years? In fifteen years?

Of course not all transitions can be happy ones. We said goodbye to a dear friend this year when Debbie Friedman passed away. Her legacy will endure in the songs we sing and in the newly named Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music. We will have an opportunity to pay tribute to her memory later this evening.

At the 2009 Biennial Rabbi Yoffie challenged us to increase the engagement of youth in our Movement’s programs. Last summer 10,000 young people passed through the gates of our summer camps and nearly 2,000 stepped off our buses on a NFTY or birthright trip to Israel. Since our last biennial we opened our thirteenth summer camp, Six Points Sports Academy, with enrollment exceeding 750 campers for this coming summer already. I hope that one day the next Sandy Koufax or Mark Spitz will be able to speak at this Biennial and share that they got their start at the Six Points Sports Academy!

We are already seeing the results of the 2009 Biennial resolution on Special Needs Camping. Three of our camps offer specific special needs programs, and all of our camps now employ professional inclusion coordinators each  summer. The notion that we are all created b’tzelem elohim, in the image of God, is strongest in our youth programs where we strive to help all young people find their place.

We’ve continued  our commitment to social justice and tikkun olam as we celebrate this week the 50^th anniversary of the Religious Action Center. Despite the strains of our own economy, as a Movement we have continued to mobilize for those in need around the world, raising over $1 million dollars for relief efforts in Haiti.

In 2007 the Union for Reform Judaism began its partnership with the UN Foundation’s Nothing But Nets campaign to send nets to Africa to fight malaria, one of the leading causes of death among children on the continent. Please turn your attention to the video screens to see what the campaign has accomplished in the last five years, one bed net at a time.

To date, we have raised over $750,000! But this is just the beginning. Our voices can be equally as powerful as our dollars. Starting with this year’s Biennial we are spreading the buzz by bringing the issue of malaria to decision-makers on Capitol Hill. Cards that we will send to Congress will be handed to you after this plenary session and will be collected by anyone in an orange BuzzKill T-shirt, at the Nothing But Nets booth or the RAC booth.

Ending malaria deaths in Africa is a tangible goal, but we need YOUR help, and more importantly we need your voice.

As we begin our work to catalyze change in our congregations, our Movement is thinking about the future, with congregations taking the lead. Rabbi Yoffie launched our URJ Incubator Grant Program a year ago to encourage congregations to dream, to develop new programs to reach out to people who are not normally engaged in Jewish life. Nearly 200 synagogues submitted proposals to the program, and we were happy to award Incubator Grants to twenty of them and are thrilled to report that the success of these twenty can be viewed here at the Biennial. We invite each and every congregation here tonight to dream about what you might do in the next two years and to apply for a 2012 Incubator Grant. Please turn your eyes to the screens for a short video about the incubator grants.

We invite you to dream big, be creative, and apply for one of the twenty, up to $5000 grants we will be awarding this coming spring.  Deadline for applications is February 28.  Please go to our website and check out the details.  Make change happen in your congregation.

Let me be very explicit about something which is implicit in this review of the Union’s achievements in the past two years. These programs, these advances, this excitement—none of it would have happened without the leadership of Rabbi Eric Yoffie.

During this Biennial convention you will hear a lot about Eric’s accomplishments. I will not be the most famous person to pay tribute to him. I will not be the most eloquent, or the most impassioned. But I will be the first!

And having worked with Eric every day for far longer than either of us cares to admit, I know some things about Eric that others don’t. Not just where he keeps the stash of Diet Coke in his office, but the wisdom and menschlichit he brings to bear on every question.

Eric brings a passion to his work, to our work, that is contagious. Most of you know what a powerful speaker he is, many of you have had an opportunity to learn what a gifted teacher he is, but only a few of us have gotten to learn what a trusted colleague and loving friend he can be. I admire many things about Eric, and my admiration for him peaks around these Biennials.  The vision and leadership and courage he has shown in an extraordinary series of sermons are a source of profound inspiration to me and to so many of us.

But Eric’s offstage roles are just as moving. Watching him speak with a Temple President about a particular challenge.  Seeing him gracefully resolve a disagreement between staff members – yes, they sometimes happen.  Or hearing him offer words of support to someone in a personal crisis.

Many of you see Eric’s leadership only once every other year, but for the past 16 years, I have had the pleasure and honor of seeing it every day.  I have learned more from Eric than I can ever express, and for that I am deeply grateful. Friends, please join me in welcoming the President of the Union for Reform Judaism, Rabbi Eric Yoffie.