RJ Blog

Despite the fact that summer, with its hopefully slower pace, is just around the corner, the last few weeks have been packed! At the end of April, I joined 117 congregational presidents who had gathered in Atlanta for the annual Scheidt Seminar, the URJ’s unique leadership training initiative specifically designed for current and incoming presidents. During the gathering, we honored with an aliyah those participants whose parents or grandparents also had served as presidents. In a moving tribute to these former leaders, 25% of the participants stepped forward, not only to recite the Torah blessings, but also to carry on [...]

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 [...]

by Ron Wolfson It’s that time of year, when Jewish institutions pull out their 2013-14 calendars and fill them with events. Many of the programs are very good, with clever names and slick marketing: Jews and Brews for young Federation leadership; L’mazeltov for expectant parents; Torah and Tacos for synagogue members who favor a certain southwestern cuisine with their Bible study. And yet, after all this well-meaning effort, membership in synagogues and JCCs is declining, federation campaigns are flat and a generation of young Jewish adults is in no hurry to affiliate. The 20th century model of programmatic engagement is [...]

I was thrilled to participate in Reform Judaism magazine’s winter cover story, “Forum for the Future,” a symposium that provides Jews in their 20s and 30s a platform to speak candidly about what young adults want and need to find their home in the Jewish community. Historian and Brandeis University professor Jonathan Sarna sets the stage, shedding light on what history can teach us about the challenge of engaging the next generation of Jews and what to make of young Jewish leaders who are questioning and disrupting the establishment. And then, the panelists:

A few months back I saw “Moneyball,” a film about a creative reimagination of Major League baseball. In my favorite scene, Billy Beane, the legendary general manager of the Oakland Athletics, challenges his scouts to think differently about the game if they are to have any chance at success. Beane declares, “Adapt or die.” These words haven’t stopped echoing in my head. In this new era of Jewish life — an era defined for many by the abundance of choices we face in every aspect of our lives — our synagogues must adapt or risk becoming ossified. Synagogue life is [...]

by  Jocelyn Sontag For the past few years, I served on the Membership Initiative Task Force at Westchester Reform Temple (WRT) in Scarsdale, New York.  Many of our meetings were spent discussing, among other things, how best to engage families with young children.  Specifically, we talked about engaging the families in our Early Childhood Center (ECC), as these are families that chose to send their children to a synagogue preschool (as opposed to a secular one down the street), so their desire for an early Jewish education was apparent.  We heard a constant message from the ECC liaisons that these [...]

by Evelyne Klein When our (fabulous) Membership Director asked if I would host a Shabbat dinner at our house, as a way to have long-standing members meet new members, I thought:  What a terrific idea!!  There were so many new members we did not know, and members we saw at temple events only.  What better way to bring old and new together, get to know other members better, than around the Shabbat dinner table? I was amazed at the synergies between the old and new members who came: the conversation flowed around the table, with everyone introducing themselves, and topics [...]

by Lindsey Sadler This summer I experienced my first membership commitment recertification at Temple Sinai, Atlanta. As we operate on a fair share dues model, this is the time of year when we send our membership materials to congregants and ask them to strive towards contributing 2% of their annual gross household income minus costs such as alimony and child support. Simple, right? Members and their families do the math; a household earning $200K per year would contribute at the $4000 level, and a household earning $80K would contribute at the $1600 level. The distribution of wealth will balance out; [...]

by Rabbi Howard Jaffe Okay, it is not so modest. It may be a bit too ambitious. So how about this: can we at least rethink how we fund our synagogues? We need a new financial model in North American Jewish life. Once upon a time, Jews grew up, became young adults, almost always married other Jews, and within a few years, joined a synagogue. Whatever that synagogue asked for in dues, they paid (and did not see it as a contribution, but more of a Jewish tax). No more. Even so, the vast majority of our congregations still operate [...]

by Rob BerkovitzURJ Congregational Finance Specialist The truth is… that there is no perfect formula for dues! There are many possibilities for dues models from fixed minimum models to fair share. All the models can be successful and can be unsuccessful. When the topic of dues comes up many congregational leaders struggle with the issue of congregants who feel that dues are cost prohibitive, that it is too expensive to be a member of a congregation or question when someone needs an abatement whether it is truly a financial need or just that the synagogue is not a priority. We [...]

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 Suzi NeftTemple Sinai, Pittsburgh, PA I was scared to death! Coming from a violent marriage with a young son, Alex, who I was trying to protect and educate Jewishly. We practiced Jewish traditions at home and attended High Holiday services at my mother’s Conservative synagogue. Alex’s father, a non-Jew, agreed before marriage that our children would be raised Jewish, and Alex had been, until the end of the marriage. His father, who practiced no religion, suddenly began taking our child to church. Alex was confused and upset because he felt Jewish.   I had little money and was looking for [...]

by Maggie Anton ParkhurstBeth Chayim Chadashim, Los Angeles, CA When asked to write a post about my “experience belonging to a diverse community” for the RJ Blog, I took this as asking for my experience as a straight woman at Beth Chayim Chadashim (BCC), the world’s first gay synagogue. Although more than 90% of the congregation identifies as LGBT, my husband and I, along with my daughter and son-in-law, have been members since 1999, making us the “odd man out.” So what are we doing here? What Jews do in other synagogues – only more so, because for many of our [...]

by Stan NotkinBeth Chayim Chadashim, Los Angeles, CA The June 1969 Stonewall Inn riots in New York’s Greenwich Village jump-started the modern gay/lesbian rights movement. (Now, in part to commemorate Stonewall, Gay Pride Month is celebrated every June.) Shortly thereafter, Beth Chayim Chadashim (BCC) was founded in Los Angeles in 1972, and two years later the fledgling congregation joined the UAHC, now the URJ. While the Stonewall riots put an end to the police raids of gay bars in New York, enactment and enforcement of anti-gay laws continued elsewhere, including Los Angeles. Plainclothes police still entrapped unsuspecting victims, who were [...]