RJ Blog

by Lisa Lieberman Barzilai and Vicky Farhi “Across North America, people hunger for real connections.  They want – they need – to be part of meaningful communities.  The URJ’s new initiative, Expanding Our Reach Communities of Practice, is designed specifically to meet that need.  Please join us in this holy work, as Reform congregations come together, taking risks, exploring new ideas, innovating, refining, retrying, and, ultimately, reimaging Jewish life.”  Rabbi Rick Jacobs Congregational communities cannot exist without strong relationships and those that succeed in creating relationships in every area of Jewish life craft communities of vibrancy and meaning. Pirke Avot [...]

In just a few years, the use of social media has gone from being the exclusive domain of a few innovative organizations to a required aspect of any organization’s communication plan. One of the greatest challenges, and what has kept many synagogues from greater engagement with social media, has been the lack of guidelines. With the Social Media Policy Workbook for Jewish Organizations, congregations now have at their fingertips the resource for creating those guidelines. The Union for Reform Judaism is proud to be one of the sponsors, along with other leading Jewish organizations, of this Workbook. Partnering with experts [...]

by Karen Hoffman Share Shabbat, an opportunity to celebrate Shabbat as a community inside and outside the walls of our congregation, was held on November 11, 2011. Share Shabbat began by welcoming the Sabbath at temple with an abbreviated Kabbalat Shabbat service, followed by Shabbat dinner in members’ homes. Hundreds of people gathered together in homes around the greater Dallas community – some with family, some with friends, some with strangers who became friends through their shared experience. In song and prayer, with food, fun, and even with cell phone “sleeping bags” to distinguish this time from the rest of [...]

Last week, I entered into the foundational part of our week at Camp Harlam – the chance to turn-off, tune-down, and take a little time during Shabbat – feeling a great sense of joy and accomplishment for what had happened in the last seven days. We saw successful trips out of camp to hike and play, awesome camp-outs, truly creative experiential Jewish learning activities, special services led by our Cornerstone Fellows, and so much more. But for me – and for other members of our professional staff – the real challenge doesn’t come in overseeing and helping to support the rest [...]

by Ellen S. Glazer Several years ago I had a running buddy who was a rabbi. We covered many miles together and many topics, among them his beliefs about interfaith weddings. As a member of the Conservative Movement, he said he would not perform interfaith marriages because he felt that Jews should be married in Jewish ceremonies and, in his words, “It’s not a Jewish ceremony if it is between a Jew and a non-Jew.” Interestingly enough, when two of our fellow runners – both Christians – asked him to marry them, he happily said yes. “After all,” he quipped, [...]

by Lacey Schwartz I just got off the phone with a friend of mine who was planning on enrolling her daughter in a local Hebrew school, a decision she is now reconsidering. Why? After meeting with the school’s principal and expressing her concerns about the unique challenges of race in this setting, the principal smiled and earnestly told her not to worry, “We have had African-American kids before. We are truly a colorblind school.” A nice gesture, but most thoughtful people know color blindness to be negative – and not just for traffic lights and fashion choices. Though well intentioned, [...]

Want to create a culture that embraces, supports and encourages Jewish choice for interfaith families in your synagogue? Here are 18+ ways, from easy to advanced, that your congregation can begin and continue. Order and display the Union for Reform Judaism brochures “Intermarried? Reform Judaism Welcomes You” and “An Introduction to Sanctuary Etiquette.” Include the words “We welcome interfaith families” in advertising, website and program materials. Take advantage of proven, successful programming for interfaith families that appear in the “Outreach and Membership Idea Book Series.” Send one or more of your lay leaders to the Schindler Fellows Program for Interfaith [...]

by Noah Leavitt Congregation Beth Israel, in Walla Walla, WA – about 10 miles from Oregon and 100 from Idaho – is the outpost of Reform Judaism in rural, politically conservative, southeast Washington. Our congregation, which has been in existence for more than 70 years, has about 30 member units, owns our own synagogue (a converted neighborhood grocery store), and keeps our Torah scrolls in a fireproof John Deere gun safe which we purchased a number of years ago from a local farm supply store. It is frontier Judaism at its best. CBI is also unquestionably the most welcoming congregation [...]

by Allison Rosenfeld I finished my glass of wine and, with a final brush stroke, stood back to look at my masterpiece. I tried to decide if the two people I’d painted were falling from the sky or rising from the ground. Either way, I was happy with my final product at Bottle and Botega, a wine and painting studio in Chicago. This might not be the scene that comes to mind when asked to describe a 20-something studying Torah, and yet here I was, recreating creation instead of my typical Monday night of “The Bachelorette” and a Lean Cuisine. [...]

Judaism commands us to “be fruitful and multiply.” Many couples and individuals fulfill this commandment through adoption, providing loving homes to children who desperately need them. Welcoming Jewish families enlarged through adoption into your congregation requires sensitivity to the unique issues they face. Here are 18 ways your congregational community can welcome and embrace adoptive families. Like most contemporary family stories, adoption is not new to the Jewish people and there are many examples in Torah. Share this information with your teachers when planning meetings and in-service training for Religious School, Early Childhood and Day School. Encourage your teachers to [...]

by Sari Biddelman As a nursery school student at the Rodeph Sholom School, I was asked to define community. I drew a self-portrait in the center of a circle surrounded by my family and closest friends. It was not until middle school when I was asked to consider this term again, that I reflected on what my community means to me and what I can do for it. I have always felt a connection with my synagogue, Congregation Rodeph Sholom in New York City, and made close friends there as I became a bat mitzvah, participated in mitzvah projects, and [...]

A recent study shows that approximately 87,000 Jewish households identify as “multiracial or nonwhite”… in New York alone! What is your congregation doing to ensure that Jews of color feel welcomed into, rather than isolated from, your community? Interracial families and families of ethnic diversity should expect to be welcomed into your congregation just like any other family into your community. Here are 18 ways your congregational community can welcome and embrace interracial families. Let all families know they are welcome before they even walk in the door. Use photographs on your website to highlight the racial and ethnic diversity [...]

by Andrew B. Simmons The URJ’s Incubator Grant enabled Temple Sholom to enter Chicago’s Gay Pride parade for the first time in June 2011. We are the first mainstream synagogue in Chicago to have ever done so, and we will do so again this year. But the grant was just the “incubator” that enabled an incredibly supportive temple to take its social Justice practice to the next level. Let me explain. For 20 years, my partner Mitchell and I have belonged to Temple Sholom as a family. As far as this temple is concerned, there has never been a distinction [...]

by Erika Davis My path to Judaism is similar to most Jews by choice. After years of spiritual searching and longing, I turned toward Judaism because of the tradition, because it is the seed of monotheistic religion, because it’s where I was able to connect to G-d in a real and powerful way. My excitement was met with trepidation: Having grown up Christian with minimal contact with Jews, I wasn’t sure if I’d fit in. I saw only pale faces and felt out of place, unsure how I would be accepted with my brown skin. Doing most of my research [...]