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 [...]

Throughout its history, Women of Reform Judaism has supported the next generation of the Reform Movement. In celebration of WRJ’s Centennial and the significant role that WRJ has played in the life of NFTY, the current National Board members and a staff member of the North American Federation of Temple Youth share their reflections on this vital relationship. Evan Traylor, NFTY President: Women of Reform Judaism (WRJ) was instrumental in the founding of the North American Federation of Temple Youth (NFTY) in 1939, and since that date has continued to provide enormous financial and moral support to the organization. WRJ [...]

by Lisa Chinsky Passover is super early this year. (I know, I know, it’s always either late or early, but never “on time.”) The first night is March 25! No, that’s not a typo; the first seder is Monday, March 25! I started to think about what that means in our house and to our family, and I realized that it doesn’t really matter when it is because we already know what we are going to do. Every year, we do the same thing. We eat matzah. We dip parsley in salt water. We ask the four questions. We make [...]

by Zachary Rolf You can teach kids from books, show them documentaries, bring in guest speakers, and so on, and so on. But the learning – the real life learning – that takes place when you put a group of kids together in (supervised/controlled) intense immersion-like programming is unmatched. We know how tremendously impactful Jewish summer camps are. As Jewish professionals, it’s on us to create experiences like that year-round. Two years ago, 20 teens from Central Synagogue in Manhattan explored the streets of Prague. Last year, 30 discovered Berlin. This year, 38 teens traveled with us to Amsterdam in [...]

by Josh Miller, Steven Green, Leah Nadich Meir and Joel Einleger  Collaboration and partnership have become the buzzwords of our time. The business world as well as the nonprofit sector heralds the advantages of collaboration: sharing resources, bringing multiple perspectives to address difficult issues, eliminating duplication, learning from one another and pooling assets. The Jim Joseph and AVI CHAI Foundations, as funders interacting with multiple organizations across sectors, have a bird’s-eye view of what can result when organizations function from within their own separate silos: duplicate efforts on the one hand and unaddressed needs on the other. This led us [...]

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 Hope Chernak I’ve spent the last four days at my eighth NFTY Convention/Youth Professional Conference (now known as the Youth Engagement Conference), and I can’t help but reflect on events past. In 1999, there were 13 of us full-time “youth workers.” We came from all over the United States, and this was the first time we had a chance to meet in person. A few sessions were offered to us for professional development, and we attended song sessions and worship with our temple teens who were attending NFTY Convention. I remember vividly a special meeting hosted by J.C. Cohen, [...]

by Rabbi Kimberly Herzog Cohen It was 10:30 at night (12:30 Dallas time). We were in another windowless room, and it had been a long day of travel. But I was pumped. Why? Because I just witnessed 860 teens sing their heart out and delight in being together. The energy is palpable here at the Youth Engagement Conference, and I feel blessed to be part of it. I entered the windowless room and encountered the question posed to the participants in the conference, made up of educators, youth group leaders, clergy and more: Why are you here?

by Lindsey Morgan Youth Advisor A asks, “Are you going to the URJ’s Youth Engagement Conference?” Youth Advisor B answers, “Well, I’m not entirely sure yet. I haven’t talked to my temple, board and it hasn’t been approved. To be perfectly honest, I also have no idea what ‘youth engagement’ really means and whether there’s a comprehensive enough understanding of what it is to meaningfully present a program I’ll get something out of.” Confession, full-disclosure: I was Youth Advisor B.

by Rachel Kasten Within an hour of the official kick-off of the Youth Engagement Conference, I was already inspired. Rabbi Bradley Solmsen, the URJ’s Director of Youth Engagement, informed us that each of our presenters were asked to give a talk they had never given before, in order to model the conference’s goals of thinking new thoughts and taking risks. Our first speaker, Allison Fine, an author, blogger, and speaker, recounted a story that she said has stuck with her for some time. It is now stuck with me, too. A young Jewish adult attended services at the local Chabad [...]

My name is Rachel Jurisz-Singh. Some of you know me by the name I use professionally – Jurisz – which is actually my maiden name. Yes, I am intermarried and my family is interracial too. Growing up I never thought I would choose to marry outside of my faith. I was always involved in my synagogue and youth group. I went to Jewish summer camp and attended Hebrew school through my senior year of high school. I even chose my career path in the Jewish field, working at four major Jewish organizations in the last 14 years.

by Marcia Frezza Like me, most of my fellow congregants at Congregation Beth Yam, located on a Barrier Island in southern South Carolina, came to Hilton Head Island for the beauty of the location; we later found a true home here with a very active Reform congregation and a wonderful community., Today, this 200-plus member congregation, has a new building and recently celebrated its 30th anniversary. Just two and a half years ago, Beth Yam formed an Outreach Committee, making it the newest of our committees. Like most committees, it was formed when it became clear that there was a [...]

The Perks of Being a Wallflower, this season’s teen angst movie, illuminates the very real pressures of being a teenager. The teenage search for identity is interwoven so poignantly with the dislocation created by individual brokenness. Ironically, the scene of audience participation in a costumed presentation of the cult classic Rocky Horror Picture Show seems tame by comparison. A must-see movie for parents, teachers and others who interact with teens, Perks of Being a Wallflower reminds us that when it comes to kids, if we master the relationships, we motivate the teens. I felt that twice this past Sunday with [...]

A few weeks ago I was sitting in the Dining Hall at the staff table singing and clapping my hands as we all sang during the Song Session that typically follows each lunch and dinner. I looked around and realized with a start that I was oldest person in the room.