RJ Blog

May is Jewish American Heritage Month, which is a great impetus to talk about congregational heritage preservation. These days, communities are rapidly changing and Jewish communities are no exceptions: Congregations that were once large and thriving now find themselves with dwindling membership rolls; meanwhile other congregations are experiencing unexpected growth and are faced with the positive challenge of growing their physical space along with their membership size. With all of these changes, it is more important than ever to implement an archiving plan to ensure the rich history and traditions of your synagogue endure after all the changes and for [...]

By Rabbi Jan Katzew At the 100th anniversary celebration held in Cincinnati, OH, WRJ leaders were hosted for dinner at the American Jewish Archives. As we each were asked to introduce ourselves, I said that I felt it appropriate to bring another person into the room, someone not physically present, but whose presence helped to make the centenary celebration possible – Jane Evans. Everyone agreed. Jane was there. Jane Evans was my friend, and therefore, what follows is more memory than history, more of a subjective portrait than a verbal photograph. Jane was a diminutive giant. She was living proof [...]

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 [...]

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 Livia D. Thompson, FTA “And when Israel saw the wondrous power which the Eternal had wielded against the Egyptians, the people feared the Eternal; they had faith in the Eternal and in God’s servant Moses. Then Moses and the Israelites sang this [Shirot Hayam] song to the Eternal.” B’shalach (Exodus 14:31—15:1) “With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it, nothing can succeed. Consequently he who molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes or pronounces decisions,” (Abraham Lincoln during one of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, August 21, 1858, according to Lincoln on Leadership) Moses and Lincoln, while separated [...]

by Pamela S. Ovshinsky This past October, 15 women leaders from six small, lay-led congregations (four Reform) established in rural areas in the Lower Northern and Upper Peninsulas of Michigan sought to change a dynamic of isolation. With the help of a grant from the Jewish Women’s Foundation of Detroit, these women leaders met in St. Ignace, MI for an overnight retreat to receive training and facilitation about forming a sustainable regional consortium that would nurture and support leadership development in small rural congregations by creating a network for women.

 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 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 [...]

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 Rabbi Heath Watenmaker If you’re reading this article there is a good chance you belong to a Reform synagogue. Have you ever thought about what that means? Why do you belong to a Reform synagogue? Why are you a Reform Jew? What makes you a Reform Jew? Now, think about your children or grandchildren. Have you explained why you belong to the Reform movement? Have you talked about the Jewish choices that you have made in your life? Have you talked to them about what it means to be a Reform Jew? As the Reform Outreach Initiative Rabbi at [...]

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 [...]

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, [...]