RJ Blog

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 [...]

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 [...]

The entire American Jewish world, it seems, is focused on how to engage or reengage the younger generations of Jews. Foundations are funding, denominations are discussing, and Federations and synagogues are searching for the latest and greatest strategies to engaging these lost generations. Our own Union for Reform Judaism kicked off its Campaign for Youth Engagement, on the theory that unless we engage young people in their early years, we surely will lose them in their later high school years and beyond. While the solution to this contemporary challenge necessarily needs to be multi-pronged and multi-focal, at Congregation Or Ami [...]

by Rabbi Barry Block The disconnect is striking. “The Jewish vote,” we were told last year, is all about support for Israel. But here I am at the Consultation on Conscience.  Israel is on the agenda, to be sure. But it’s a crowded agenda. And our friends in Washington seem to “get” that better than the pre-election press. The Consultation’s keynote was a conversation between Rabbi Rick Jacobs and Ambassador Susan Rice. They talked about Israel. But they also struggled with Sudan and Syria. They emphasized international LGBT human rights. Senators and members of Congress of both parties are poised [...]

I have had the pleasure of sitting in David Alon’s Jewish history class in EIE at Tzuba for the past two days. As David told the class of 22 students that due to scheduling he was spending two days on the Middle Ages from the Golden Age of Spain, I forgot how much I love to sit in class and learn.

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.

The teenage girl puts her arm around the fourth grader. They both smile. The younger child feels warmth, love and a sense of “I matter” from her protector, a cool positive Jewish role model. The teen feels a sense of purpose, of meaning and a sense of “I matter” from a child who looks up to her as a positive Jewish role model. For which child’s benefit did my congregation, Congregation Or Ami, organize this three-day retreat? Ostensibly, for the younger child, as this weekend was designated a 4th- through 6th-grade retreat. Yet anyone who has witnessed the powerful effects [...]

 by Rabbi Jerome K. Davidson Affiliation with the traditional institutions of Judaism, the denominational synagogue in particular, is under siege.  According to studies by HUC-JIR Professor Steven M. Cohen, the under-40 generation characterizes the synagogues of their parents in a highly critical “ABCD Fashion”:  Alien to their 20’s and 30’s world;  Bland and Boring, filled with a predictable demographic of the middle-aged and upper-middle class;  Coercive regarding the views they do not  readily accept, the importance of in-marrying, and unquestioned support of Israel and it’s policies; and Divisive, separating Jews from non-Jews and, denominationally Jews from Jews. Furthermore, the demographic [...]

by Maggie Freed Climate change is the greatest challenge our earth faces—and the longer we wait, the more difficult it will be to turn it around. Scientists agree that we are causing extreme weather by our greenhouse gas emissions, particularly from burning coal. If we don’t get serious about it, island nations will disappear, coastal cities will be inundated, hundred-year storms will occur every 10 or 20 years, droughts and fires will become more frequent and severe, and we will be leaving our children and grandchildren with an unlivable world. Physicians for Social Responsibility warns of the devastating health effects [...]

by Samantha Pohl There have been no greater influences on my life than my temple youth group, NFTY-GER, Urban Mitzvah Corps, and NFTY in Israel. My participation in these programs as a teenager led me, as an adult, to become a Jewish professional and an active participant in the New York City Jewish community. While a student HUC-JIR’s School of Jewish Communal Service (now Jewish Nonprofit Management), I had the opportunity to explore how the top teen leaders of the Reform Movement connect—as volunteer leaders and in professional capacities— to Jewish life today, several years after their teen involvement.  In [...]

by Rabbi Dow Marmur Despite the clouds formed by the sharpening election campaign, a new star can be clearly discerned on Israel’s political firmament. His name is Naftali Bennett, the new leader of the nationalist (modern) Orthodox party, Habayit Hayehudi (the Jewish home) that can trace its origins to the once moderate National Religious Party. The 40-year old Bennett had been part of the entourage of Prime Minister Netanyahu until he resigned soon thereafter to become, first, the leader of the settler movement, and now in charge of a political party. Not long ago he sold the high-tech company he [...]

When the Jewish High Holy Days arrive, is it necessarily more appropriate to log out of our social media apps, or can social media enhance the spiritual experience of these traditional days? Must Twitter, Facebook, and texting just pull us back into our own private (even narcissistic) world, or can they provide individual connections to a communal religious experience? Recently, the New York Times reported “For Young Jews, a Services says ‘Please Do Text’” on one synagogue’s experimentation in a service for Jews in their 20s and 30s. Congregation Or Ami, always open to innovation, similarly experimented with Facebook, Twitter, and texting [...]

by Rabbi Donald Kunstadt Let’s talk about branding. There’s Apple, of course. Anything with an Apple logo on it is golden! You could take a regular computer, stick an Apple logo on it, and sell it for twice the price. How about Starbucks? When traveling Europe, my wife craved the familiar brand, where she could get an American cup of coffee – eight or 12 ounces of coffee instead of the typical five-ounce European. What about Mercedes-Benz? I can’t tell you if it’s really the best, as I’ve only owned a Ford, but the way most people associate the brand [...]