RJ Blog

by Micah Lapidus Jewish day school sustainability is about more than survival. It’s about maintaining a diverse, vibrant, dynamic, healthy, growing school community. The best way to achieve day school sustainability is by ensuring that we’re fully engaging our human resources.  What does it look like to fully engage our human resources? Here’s a case study. My school, The Alfred and Adele Davis Academy, Atlanta’s Reform Jewish Day School, is a school that loves Jewish music. Jewish singing permeates our school, most noticeably at holiday celebrations and at our weekly Kabbalat Shabbat gatherings. When I came to Davis five years [...]

by Deborah Belsky I started learning Braille Hebrew when I was 9 years old. I was taught by Reverend Harry J. Sutcliffe, a blind Episcopalian minister, who taught Hebrew to many blind students in Brooklyn in the early 1960s. Hebrew Braille is easy because most of the letters have the same dot configuration as English letters. The vowels are other Braille symbols that are not used as consonants, so the Hebrew student learns them in the context of the Hebrew. For example, an “ah” sound is a Braille “C” which is not used in Hebrew. This is close to what [...]

Jews young and old are searching for innovative and contemporary ways to explore their heritage. Reform congregations have been experimenting with different liturgical melodies for years, and urban minyanim experiences like the Riverway Project in Boston are fostering new and dynamic worship and learning experiences. WAREHOUSE ATX, March 15th at the South by Southwest Festival (SXSW) in Austin, TX, is an alternative Shabbat experience using music and new media produced by ROI Community member Josh Nelson in partnership with the Union for Reform Judaism. The Warehouse seeks to reengage young Jews by hosting Shabbat events in unconventional spaces.

My teenage son recently attended NFTY Convention in Los Angeles and one of his text messages home told us he wanted to re-string mom’s guitar. Looking at the video from the convention, it is evident why the music was so inspiring. Teens were playing guitar and the Dan Nichols concert looked more exciting than The Boss at Madison Square Garden! This got me thinking about music and what an integral part it is of how we worship and involve our congregants at Temple B’nai Torah: we have a band and a youth, teen, and adult choirs; a congregant plays violin [...]

by Rabbi Dan Medwin Last week, I was given a wonderfully challenging task as the CCAR rabbinic staff member at the NFTY Convention:  Take fifty participants from the Youth Engagement Conference and a two-hour prayer lab session, and plan multiple services for about 900 NFTY Convention participants.  While seemingly impossible, I jumped at the opportunity.   After all, we produce Visual T’filah and all the prayer books for the Reform Movement – I could do this! Working with my colleague Rabbi Noam Katz and Jewish musician Dan Nichols (and joined by rabbis Erin Mason and Ana Bonheim), we were tempted to [...]

by Lauren Biletsky Cell phones and services: It’s often frowned upon when someone takes out their cell phone during services. Why? Well, let’s go back to the question of “Why?” Why what? Why are cell phones being taken out? Why is it frowned upon? And what are we doing on our cell phones? We’re using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and text messaging, of course! How disrespectful! But… is it? Does it have to be? Do cell phones, social networks, and applications necessarily need to be frowned upon when in the sanctuary? Many people will immediately say yes. But me? I’m one [...]

by Rabbi Jeffrey Brown Our temple, in the southern Westchester County suburbs of New York City, first began addressing the implications of the forecasted blizzard (Winter Storm Nemo) during the day on Thursday, February 7th. Our weekend schedule was to have included 8pm Erev Shabbat services on Friday night, a Shabbat morning service and b’naei mitzvah (which was to include our entire board and Communal Worship Committee, in conjunction with a lunch and study discussion we were hoping to have later on Saturday). We also had a program scheduled to take place in a congregant’s home Saturday evening, plus religious [...]

Scouting has been in the news lately as the Boy Scouts of America reconsider a longtime ban on gay scouts and leaders. A recent New York Times article describes in detail the discussions and opinions on this decision from various national leadership, and the Huffington Post reports that Boys Scouts of America is delaying a decision on the ban. This issue and its negative press aside, scouting has had a positive effect on the youth of my congregation, as evidenced by an event that took place just this month. In early February, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts from Nassau County [...]

Keeping the temple calendar up-to-date is like trying to change the tires on a moving car. On Friday, January 11, it seemed that the calendar was moving at lightning speed and running behind it with a marker trying to add more events was our temple administrator. On our calendar, Tot Shabbat is on the second Friday of every month.  January 11 was the second Friday of the month.  The traditional Shabbat service also was scheduled for January 11.  This date was the one selected for the indoor picnic as well.  Tot Shabbat would begin at 5:30 p.m., the picnic at [...]

In 1998, when my children were 11, Saving Private Ryan was released. At the time, my boys were too young to see such a difficult movie, but I watched it on video with them a few years later. I wanted to emphasize that their freedom had been bought with many lives and that each of us has an obligation to honor that sacrifice by involvement in our communities. It came as a surprise to me when my son Joel chose to become a nuclear technician, or a “nuke,” in the United States Navy – but it’s a decision I was [...]

by Karen Humphrey It was January 9, 2011. I was sitting at my computer, shocked and saddened, as I read the announcement that Debbie Friedman had died.  Like many, I felt as if I’d lost a friend and the world was a little darker. I joined with a virtual multitude that night as I tuned in for a healing-service-turned-memorial that was broadcast online from the JCC in Manhattan. I joined with another virtual multitude just two days later when her funeral was also broadcast online.  My heart ached and I mourned for the passing of someone whom I’d never met, [...]

by Harold S. Geller Just a week after the unspeakable mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, I traveled to Newtown, CT, to help organize a musical evening of remembrance and healing in support of the community. This event took place at Congregation Adath Israel, Newtown’s Conservative synagogue, and featured artists and cantors from throughout the country. More than 200 people attended. Rabbi Shaul Praver of Congregation Adath Israel started the evening with a Havdalah ceremony, offering a moving description of the elements of the service: With the candle we bring new light, and new hope, at a moment where [...]

As my daughter, a junior at a local university and living at home, was approaching her 20th birthday, I tried coercing her into chanting her bat mitzvah Torah portion again. Perhaps I was having another of my helicopter parent moments or I just wanted a chance to hold on to her childhood, I’m not sure. No matter what reasoning I used, Amanda refused. She cited school work and her involvement at Hillel on Friday night where she could mingle with people her own age. How could I argue with her wanting to be studious and socialize? I acquiesced. For the [...]

by Rabbi Elizabeth Wood I understand that technology can be overwhelming. It’s still a new and different medium, and it is constantly changing. In order to stay on top of technology and social media, you have to practically make it your life – check email, update status, tweet, rinse and repeat. But technology can also be fun. It brought you this blog, it helps to keep you connected to friends and family who are far away, and it can help you discover and uncover all sorts of new things. For instance, technology taught me the following: I don’t like to [...]