RJ Blog

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.

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 [...]

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 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 [...]

by Rabbi Stan Schickler Much of the reaction to Charles Edelsberg’s initial blog post has offered specific examples of responses to the challenges we face in our communities and their settings. During this High Holy Days season of introspection, I would like to take a more general approach. My first thought after reading Dr. Edelsberg’s piece was of a quotation attributed to Yogi Berra: “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” My next thought was to remember an essay by Simon Rawidowicz, the great 20th century Jewish philosopher, called Israel: The Ever-Dying People. The premise of this essay [...]

by Dr. Charles Edelsberg

I am wary of invitations to predict the future… of anything. While I am a longtime student of literature on the future of education, dating back nearly four decades to my public school days (when I frequently consulted the works of Marvin Cetron, Paul Ehrlich, John Naisbitt, and Alvin Toffler), I seem to have an uncanny knack for miscalculating what the future will bring. It has taken me years to learn to distinguish between fads and trends. It requires a great deal of careful study to separate out the pundits from the pontificators, an activity I take seriously. But I am no oracle. Thus comments I offer below are issued with a healthy dose of trepidation.

In a recent profile in The Algemeiner, Rabbi David Ellenson, president of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR), discusses new developments in Jewish education and institutional life, the future of the Reform Movement, and the status of progressive Judaism in Israel.

This summer has been a busy and historic one for the URJ. It’s been nearly two months since Rabbi Rick Jacobs was installed at president of the Union for Reform Judaism, taking the reins from Rabbi Eric Yoffie, who now serves as our president emeritus. For those of you who couldn’t be at the presidential installation, take a look at the videos we’ve recently posted from that inspiring service, also embedded below. In a recent email to congregational leaders, URJ Chairman of the Board Steve Sacks suggested temple boards set aside time at their next meeting to watch the video [...]

I ended my last post by saying, “There is much more to tell of my time in Israel – and some of those stories will make an appearance in my next blog post.” I’m delighted to share the next installment of stories from my first trip to Israel as the URJ’s president. Spending time with our Movement’s leaders, teachers, and activists always reminds me of how far we have come as an authentic Israeli movement. Recently, especially, we have achieved some important victories – but there is so much more to do to make sure that Israelis who want to [...]