RJ Blog

There is no escaping the challenging fact that there are more Jews outside the walls of our synagogues than inside. Social scientists such as Robert Putnam and Mark Chaves explain this as being part of a larger phenomenon in North America, where the most rapidly growing religious group is unaffiliated—the “nones.” While middle-aged and older individuals continue to embrace organized religion, exponentially increasing numbers of young people reject it. Too often I hear Jewish leaders describing those who have no religious affiliation as people “who don’t know and don’t care.” I disagree. The 2012 Pew Forum on Religion survey, “‘Nones’ [...]

“[F]or many American Jews, there is no substitute for the penetrating power of a brilliant sermon, or the comfort offered by a rabbi who knew the dying person before she became ill. There is no one else to mold and lead a religious community, to carry on and interpret our great tradition of scholarship, or to stand as a moral lighthouse in this foggy time. No one else to represent ourselves to ourselves, and ourselves to other people. Which is why defining and sustaining the role of the modern rabbi is one of the most vital challenges before the American [...]

by Rabbi Benjamin J. Zeidman The last time you were in another synagogue, how did you feel? What was it like? Did you know anyone else there? Did anyone say hello? Did you feel that it was a place you belonged, a home away from home? In working with conversion students, I often surprise them when I explain that one need not be a member to attend Shabbat services. All they have to do is walk in. No one will turn them away, and in fact it is likely that they will be greeted with warmth. The anxieties of those [...]

by Rabbi Robin Nafshi Temple Beth Jacob in Concord, N.H., has a membership of about 210 families. And like all other communities both large and small, a number of our students have physical and/or cognitive disabilities. Our philosophy is to do all we can to provide maximum access for all of our members. One of our religious school students is Jacob, whose mother has said it’s fine to use his real name here. Jacob has detachment disorder, environmental autism, language delay, and rage issues – and he has been in our religious school since kindergarten. At no time have we [...]

According to transition expert William Bridges, change is situational; transition is psychological. This distinct difference is important to keep in mind as your congregation prepares for transition. Whether it’s transition from one rabbi to another (which we’ll use as an example here), from one board to another or some other change, Bridges’s teachings are easily applied to any transition and are worth keeping close at hand. Transition can be difficult. People have ties to what is being transitioned out and they have expectations of what is being transitioned in. To have a functional transition, Bridges and URJ’s leadership experts recommend [...]

Kermit the Frog had a dream to sing and dance and make people happy. He shared his dream with others and “found a whole bunch of friends who [had] the same dream”. So how did Kermit get all those friends to follow him to Hollywood and create a family? He led by example. This is just one leadership lesson we can learn from Kermit, Jim Henson and the whole Muppet gang!

by Rob Berkovitz If we examine carefully the ways in which we discuss dues with prospective members and respond to requests for dues adjustments, we discover that many times we do not act in ways that truly reflect the Jewish values we prize so dearly. The following “ten commandments” were created to engender discussion among temple lay and professional leaders as a first step in assessing productive ways to “talk dues.”

As a congregational board member, you are, in many cases, charged with the task of deciding how to preserve your synagogue’s past, how to maintain the synagogue in the present and what to do to ensure its vitality in the future. This is important work, though it’s not always easy: Challenges present themselves regardless of how thorough the plan was; resources you used to be able to count on suddenly (or not so suddenly) become much less dependable; and not everyone supports the cause. Decision makers of all stripes often find themselves faced with that last hurdle: They wrestle with [...]

In a controversial blog post on Kveller.com that’s making waves within the Jewish community, rabbinical student Patrick Aleph proposed yesterday that the Jewish community dramatically rethink b’nai mitzvah, which he says are “not really worth anyone’s time or money.” Aleph, who studies at the Rabbinical Seminary International in New York City (and is not affiliated with any movement), says we should instead replace the bar mitzvah with a “a new type of [b’nai] mitzvah system where the entire family learns the curricula for the bar or bat mitzvah ceremony, and passes it on to the child through in-home learning, as opposed to [...]

by Rabbi Neil Hirsch I want to share a secular New Year’s resolution that I am making: This year, I am going to celebrate more often with my congregation. Perhaps it is unusual for a rabbi to make such a public secular resolution, when we are better accustomed to teaching the importance of serious, deep Cheshbon HaNefesh (soulful accounting) during our High Holy Days season. Still, I find it powerful to use this secular date to mark a change I am looking to make. So in 2013 and beyond, I want to celebrate together more often. But how are we [...]

Making new year’s resolutions is not necessarily a Jewish concept. After all, we marked the start of our new year months ago! But as citizens of a global society – who still have to write “2013″ on our checks, not “5773″ – it’s difficult to resist the allure of the traditions that accompany the start of the secular new year. Here, a few of the most common resolutions – and how the Reform Movement can help you achieve them in the new year! Lose weight. OK, so we can’t really help you with this one; you may need to join [...]

I recently returned from the National Association of Temple Educators (NATE) conference. The theme of the conference was Project-Based Learning, a methodology in which participants go through a process of inquiry in response to a complex real-world question, problem, or challenge. Ron Berger, an expert on Project-Based Learning and keynote speaker, shared an example from his practice. His community discovered that some of their well water was contaminated. Instead of bringing in an outside testing service, Berger trained elementary students to do the testing themselves. Many issues emerged at the conference that have implications for the work of engaging youth, [...]

Yesterday, we discussed James G. Clawson’s first three steps to effective leadership. To recap, steps one, two and three are: Clarifying your center; clarifying what’s possible; and clarifying what others can contribute. In Level Three Leadership: Getting Below the Surface, Clawson highlights the following as the fourth, fifth and sixth steps toward effect leadership: Supporting others so they can contribute; being relentless; and measuring and celebrating progress. We’ll begin with supporting others so they can contribute. Clawson’s third step explored how to clarify what others can contribute. This fourth step explores what leaders can do to help facilitate such contributions [...]

Led Zeppelin sing about a stairway to heaven but is there a stairway, or even a ladder or a step stool, to effective leadership? According to leadership expert James G. Clawson the answer is yes. In his book Level Three Leadership: Getting Below the Surface, Clawson outlines what he believes are the six steps to effective leadership. In this two-part series, we’ll discuss all six steps, beginning with the first three: clarifying your center; clarifying what’s possible; and clarifying what others can contribute. First, clarifying your center. Clawson says, “Your center, or core, and its content are crucial to your [...]