RJ Blog

by Michele Gelman and Sheila Gold Michele Gelman is a native of New Orleans.  By comparison, Sheila Gold is a relative “newcomer,” having been actively involved with her congregation for only 23 years.  Despite this difference, these two women share many things:  friendship, commitment to their respective synagogues, devotion to the Jewish community, and a love of pedicures. Michele:  We met nearly seven years ago.  We were both enrolled in a two-year leadership development program through the New Orleans Federation and a mutual friend, before we enrolled in the Federation program, invited us to dinner at the Chef’s Table at [...]

Here are just a few of the recent stories from across the webosphere that speak directly to (and about) Reform Jews. What Jewish stories have you been reading recently? Leave a comment and let us know! “Modern-Day Rabbi Must Be CEO, Teacher, and Spiritual Leader at Once,” Forward Are rabbis the new CEOs? Anne Cohen reports that “expectations have changed.” Rabbis are now required to read a spreadsheet as well as the Gemara. They need to be accessible, media-savvy public speakers; business-oriented entrepreneurs; fundraisers; program generators, and in touch with popular trends. To prepare rabbinical students for the challenges ahead, [...]

Here are just a few of the recent stories from across the webosphere that speak directly to (and about) Reform Jews. What Jewish stories have you been reading recently? Leave a comment and let us know! “His Father’s Murder Drives a Rabbi’s Pursuit of Gun Control,” New York Times This piece is actually a couple of weeks old, but it deserves ongoing attention. Rabbi Joel Mosbacher’s father was shot to death in a petty robbery in 1999. “I’ve carried this story with me, this anger, every day for the last 14 years,” says the rabbi, who serves Beth Haverim Shir [...]

It’s May. Can you believe it? Every year it seems to sneak up on me. But here it is. Most synagogues and Jewish professionals are at the point in the year that I typically call the “race to the finish line.” We are busy completing our program years, winding down religious schools and looking toward Shavuot as a point where we might briefly catch our breath; all while planning for next year by finalizing calendars and budgets. We can probably agree that the much anticipated summer months will allow us a chance to regroup, reflect and start it all over [...]

In the wake of Monday’s bombings at the Boston Marathon, the Reform community continues to come together to offer prayers and hold special services. At urj.org/bostonmarathon, you’ll find resources for you and your community to cope with this tragedy, including resources on Jewish mourning, for use in the aftermath of a communal tragedy, and guidance for parents trying to talk to their children about death. These resources include: Prayers for Current Events Prayers for Mourning A Prayer for Those Affected by the Boston Bombings A Prayer in the Aftermath of the Boston Marathon Bombing What Israeli Resilience Can Teach Us [...]

Growing up in the 21st century, it is hard for me to believe that the first woman rabbi was ordained only 40 short years ago. Three out of four rabbis at my temple are women, one of whom was ordained within the first year that women were allowed to do so.

by Livia D. Thompson, FTA “And when Israel saw the wondrous power which the Eternal had wielded against the Egyptians, the people feared the Eternal; they had faith in the Eternal and in God’s servant Moses. Then Moses and the Israelites sang this [Shirot Hayam] song to the Eternal.” B’shalach (Exodus 14:31—15:1) “With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it, nothing can succeed. Consequently he who molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes or pronounces decisions,” (Abraham Lincoln during one of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, August 21, 1858, according to Lincoln on Leadership) Moses and Lincoln, while separated [...]

by Pamela S. Ovshinsky This past October, 15 women leaders from six small, lay-led congregations (four Reform) established in rural areas in the Lower Northern and Upper Peninsulas of Michigan sought to change a dynamic of isolation. With the help of a grant from the Jewish Women’s Foundation of Detroit, these women leaders met in St. Ignace, MI for an overnight retreat to receive training and facilitation about forming a sustainable regional consortium that would nurture and support leadership development in small rural congregations by creating a network for women.

by Jim Cherney I had the great pleasure to participate in the Beutel Seminar in Israel for 10 days in January. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the program, it is an education/ enrichment seminar sponsored by the Saltz Education Center of the World Union for Progressive Judaism.  Reform and Progressive Jews from throughout the world can apply to the program which is held in the first quarter every year in Israel. For participants, the cost is subsidized by a generous sustaining gift from Austin and Nani Beutel of Toronto; the program is only one example of their [...]

by Larry Kaufman In reading Noah Nesin’s recent post on his Jewish leadership journey (not linked because reprinted below in italics), I kept wanting to interrupt and say, “That’s so right,” or “You’re right, but…” or, “No, I have a different perspective.”  My reaction was probably heightened by my own journey being so parallel to his – up the congregational ladder to the presidency, transitioning into the Reform Movement’s leadership structure both regionally and nationally, and also traveling the country facilitating temple board workshops.  But when two people always agree, the saying goes, one of them is superfluous – so [...]

by Rabbi Wendi Geffen Much of the 20-30 year old Jewish population described instudies finds the synagogue unappealing because, in their minds, it translates toan institutional culture that previously proved unable to address their variedneeds/beliefs/values as individuals.  Assuch, not only is the future of synagogue affiliation a problem, but the dearthof an enduring line of synagogue leadership proves, in many ways, an evenlarger obstacle.  In early 2011, NorthShore Congregation Israel (NSCI) in suburban Chicago was awarded a URJIncubator Grant to create a program to address these challenges. B&B (Beyond and Back) is NSCI’s multi-facetedvalues and leadership development program for Jewish [...]

by Larry Kaufman I believe that developing one’s Jewish heart, mind and soul through learning, practice, prayer and posture are vital elements in the mix [of synagogue leadership].                                             — Rabbi Donald R. Berlin In a pair of recent posts in this forum, here and here, I discussed the reasonable expectations of what a synagogue leader might expect in return for his or her service on a congregation’s board, having framed my list in response to the often-addressed question of what the obligations of the board member are to the congregation.  Rabbi Donald Berlin, rabbi emeritus of Oheb Shalom in [...]

Shortly after arriving in Israel a few weeks back, I had the privilege of welcoming a few busloads of our teens to Jerusalem. Blindfolded, they stepped off their buses holding hands, moving slowly towards the edge of the Haas Promenade that overlooks the Temple Mount in the center of Jerusalem, a spot some have called the axis mundi, the place where heaven and earth touch.  Just days before, these Reform Jewish teens had left their homes in North America and traveled to Eastern Europe where they stood together at Auschwitz and Birkenau contemplating the darkest moment in all of human [...]

by Rabbi Jonah Pesner Transitions are exciting because they are full of possibility; yet they cause anxiety because by nature there are unknowns. Transitions celebrate what was and what will yet be; but they also cause grief for what is lost and is now gone. As Rabbi Eric Yoffie approaches retirement, and Rabbi Rick Jacobs prepares to assume the presidency of the Union for Reform Judaism, we cannot ignore the tension in such a transition. It is like Havdalah, the ritual separating Shabbat from the coming week. With the extinguishing of the flame, we let go of a week gone [...]