Reform Judaism: Search Results

Here, O Israel, We Take Our Stand - or Don't We?
November 24, 2009 (11 Comments)

As always at Biennial, Shabbat worship was exuberant and inspiring. The most startling event of the services came when Rabbi David Stern, who led our worship on Shabbat morning, asked the congregation to be seated after the Barchu, and then discussed the long-standing Reform practice of standing for the Shma - a practice not typically followed by the other streams. He followed with the suggestion that this time we sit. (Some will no doubt quarrel with my characterizing his words as a suggestion, and I couldn't quarrel with anyone who preferred to call it an instruction.)

When I remarked on this in a post-Biennial email to my colleagues on the iWorship list-serv, it unleashed a torrent of dialogue, even controversy, that went far beyond the matter of standing or sitting for the Shma, and in fact spread beyond the list-serv and onto Facebook and into the blogosphere. I have now seen over one hundred comments on this and related issues, from some forty individuals, both lay and clergy, and there may be voices yet to be heard - including those stimulated by this report.

Filed Under: Defining Reform | Shabbat

Why I used a bullhorn during services last night [dispatches from Kutz]
June 19, 2009 (3 Comments)

by David A.M. Wilensky
(Originally posted on "The Reform Shuckle")

Here at Kutz, staff week is in full swing. As usual, we all do jobs that aren't actually our jobs. I'm the AV guy, but last night I was given the chance to be involved with services.

So I had a cool idea. I was thinking about the Barchu. It's a call to worship, right? A call! Not a mumbled nigun thing or a mumbled chanted response thing.

Filed Under: Youth and Family Life

Im ein kemach, ein Havdalah? I'm unconvinced.
February 18, 2009 (3 Comments)

By David A.M. Wilensky
(Originally posted on The Reform Shuckle)
A debate has raged this week at iWorship, the URJ's listserve for synagogue Ritual or Worship Committee members, regarding the timing of Havdalah.

In this late stage of halachic development, I'm a little amused and taken aback that such a debate could rage at all. Certainly, the timeframe for Havdalah is well established. It must be done after dark, once three or more stars are visible. Simple, right?

Filed Under: Jewish Living | Shabbat

The Rethinking Reform Think Tank
January 28, 2009 (2 Comments)

By David A.M. Wilensky
(First posted on The Reform Shuckle)
The most personal and most moving session I attended at LimmudNY 2009 was called Rethinking Reform and was advertised as being led by members of the so-called Rethinking Reform Think Tank. I do not know who else is in this group, but those leading the session were Skirball Center for Adult Jewish Learning Executive Director Rabbi Leon Morris, HUC rabbinical student Jill Cozen-Harel and former HUC student, current Ziegler rabbinical student, blogger and one of my many teachers, David Singer.

One year prior to this session, at LimmudNY 2008, the three of them came together for the first time from a place of frustration, loneliness, and excitement to create what they now refer to as The Reform Think Tank. I'll let them speak for themselves in the following, their missions statement:

Filed Under: Community | Jewish Living

Israel on my Mind...Yet Again
January 12, 2009 (1 Comment)

by JanetheWriter
On Friday, after I read Daphne Price's wonderful post on this blog about why she and her family are in Israel right now, I was prompted to comment thusly:

Good for you, Daphne! For so many of us, opportunities to visit Israel are too few and far between and I applaud you and your family for doing what you believe is the right thing at this difficult time.

My own first visit to Jerusalem in 2004 happened to coincide with a rush-hour bus bombing in Rehavia that killed 11 and injured scores more. Indeed, January 29, 2004 was a sad and scary day, but in true Israeli style, we carried on with our itinerary, which then included stopping at a streetside news stand in the evening to watch the names of the dead and wounded scroll by on the television. I could not have had a more Israeli slice-of-life experience.

Filed Under: Israel

Chanukah VII - A holiday for every Jew, a holiday for today's Gaza
December 27, 2008

By David A.M. Wilensky
First published on The Reform Shuckle

Chanukah is my favorite holiday. I know that involved, intellectual Jews like myself are supposed to declar that Pesach is their favorite or something, but I think that we do Chanukah a disservice these days. Undoubtedly, Chanukah's proximity to Christmas has made it a more major holiday in recent decades as American Jews have sought to include themselves in winter holiday festivities, but I'd argue that Chanukah's popularity cannot be reduced to such a disdainable cause.

If Yom Kippur or even Simchat Torah came at this season, we would not have been able to seize upon them and say, "Yes, goyim! We are just like you! We too have an uplifting winter holiday!" Chanukah is a great holiday all on its own and I'm here to tell you why.

Filed Under: Holidays | Israel

I put together my own Lulav! (kind of)
October 14, 2008

By David A.M. Wilensky
(First published on The Reform Shuckle)
This year, intoxicated by the coolness of the videos at this post at Jewlicious, I decided that I wanted to not only get my own Lulav and Etrog, but that I wanted to assemble the Lulav myself. Jonathan Golden, a a professor here at Drew and our wonderful Hillel adivsor, had his brother, a Sephardic rabbi, pick up the parts for me in Brooklyn while he was picking up several other peoples' sets of Sukot magic rain stick wand things.

The Rabbi put it together Sephardic-style. This involved a single-cradle handle thing. The Ashkenazic version that we see most often in the US, has three parts that hold the palm, willow, and myrtle seperately. The Sephardic version has a single-compratment braided handle that all three plants go in together.

Filed Under: Community | Holidays

"Our Pagan Yom Kippur" from FailedMessiah
October 13, 2008 (6 Comments)

By David A.M. Wilensky
(First published on The Reform Shuckle)
Over at the excellent blog FailedMessiah.com, a whistle-blowing blog out to expose far right wing orthodox Judaism as a harmful force in the world (by covering stuff like child molestation and Agriprocessors), there's a really interesting post about the ancient Mesopotamian holiday of Kapuru, held in the Babylonian month of Tashritu. Sound familiar? It's a cool post. Here's an excerpt:

Our ancestors borrowed a great deal from a towering, imperial Mesopotamian culture that for centuries dominated the Fertile Crescent. That we used Babylonian calendar names is widely known. Semitic peoples had used the lunar calendar from time immemorial, but named their months differently. What the (Hebrew-speaking) Canaanites called Aviv, Ziv, Eytanim and Bul, the practical-minded Hebrews first renamed months One, Two, Seven and Eight. The Babylonians called them Nisanu, Ayaru, Tashritu and Archasamnu. In time, our ancestors replaced their numerals with the Babylonian names, many of which are named in honor of Mesopotamian gods.

Filed Under: Holidays | Jewish Living

Prostration II
October 10, 2008 (4 Comments)

By David A.M. Wilensky
(First published on The Reform Shuckle)
I've posted about prostration before.

Some of the more chazanishly demanding parts of the Yom Kipur liturgy at Chavurat Lamdeinu were tackled this year by one of our members, a guy named Steve. Steve grew up in the Conservative movement and later studied super-amazing-loud-operatic chazanut in a yeshiva. He later served for many years as a chazan at a conservative synagogue here in New Jersey.

Of course, I know that during a particular Aleinu on Yom Kipur, we're supposed to prostrate ourselves. But after years of a Reform synagogue on Austin, HUC in Jerusalem, and, last year, a Reform synagogue in New Brunswick, I've never seen it done. read MORE

Filed Under: Holidays | Jewish Living

Rabbi Bachman knocks it out of the park
October 2, 2008 (3 Comments)

By David A.M. Wilensky (First published on The Reform Shuckle)
I've said it before and I'll say it again: The man is a genius. Check out a transcript of Rabbi Andy Bachman's erev Rosh Hashanah sermon here. Here' an excerpt:

Surrendering total control is never easy-especially as members of a synagogue community founded on principles that value the intellect over the experiential; the rational over the mysterious; Reform over Tradition. Of course, as we continually need to remind ourselves, the historical circumstances that founded this community in 1861 are quite different from those that demand action in the world today. Our membership, ever growing, comes from all walks of Jewish life-Reform, Conservative and Orthodox and non-Jewish life as well. I find that fewer people have an intellectual ax to grind with Tradition and Reform is not much more than: 1. a commitment to egalitarian values for men, women, gays and lesbians; 2. a rationalist and historical view of the authorship of Torah; and, 3. devotion to the principles of Tikkun Olam, Social Justice and Social Action. But "Reforming Judaism?" I've yet to encounter in my years here a single Jew who truly wants to Reform Judaism. After all, in humility, we could easily spend the next 50 years just figuring out what Judaism IS!

Filed Under: Community | Holidays | Israel | Jewish Living

Amidah antics -OR-
The way Reform Jews should think about prayer
September 29, 2008 (17 Comments)

By David A.M. Wilensky (First published on The Reform Shuckle)
(A follow-up of sorts to William Berkson's post about commandedness)
A Shabat morning with Chavurat Lamdeinu, progressive non-denominational minyan extraordinaire, is always full of oddities, whether it's just the assortment of people or the comments made throughout the service. This week was no different, except that this week's major oddity was a fantastic education in obscure litrugical rules and a perfect example of what bothers me about the way we Reform Jews threat our prayers.

When I arrived to services this morning, Tanach study had just wrapped up so a few people had just left. Unfortunately, not enough showed up to replace them. I was the ninth person to arrive for services, making today's crowd a small one, even for us.

Filed Under: Community | Shabbat | Torah

Reconsidering our labels
September 15, 2008 (10 Comments)

By David A.M. Wilensky (First published on The Reform Shuckle)

Let me propose to you today that, by God, we Reform Jews need a new name. Keep reading for more.

Names are important to us Jews. God gets different names ascribed to him throughout the Torah and many believe each name to be reflection of God's different aspects, the idea that when God does thing X, his name is Y, and when he does thing A, his name is B. And if he were to repeat A later, B would be his name again. But there is one inaccessible, inpronouncable name of God, which we are told is his all-important real name. This could be compared to the fact I might be called Blogger when I blog and Shaliach Tzibur when I lead services, but truly my personal name is David.

Filed Under: The Future | Torah

Sunday School is a Bummer
August 25, 2008 (1 Comment)

By Mary Hofmann
I went to a workshop this week aimed at giving Sunday School teachers insight into and assistance in instituting and utilizing Union's Chai Curriculum. As the only teacher from a tiny congregation (we have six to eight kids in our whole "school") I listened sadly to the tales of woe from the urban teachers. As the facilitator said, Jewish education has always been considered supplemental education--not supplemental to public school, but supplemental to what kids get at home. Sadly, it is no longer a supplement. In many, if not most, temples, Sunday School is the whole ball of wax.

What a bummer.

Filed Under: Community | Lifecycle

Keva, Kavanah, and Back to Keva
August 25, 2008

By Larry Kaufman
As part of introducing Mishkan T'filah at Beth Emet several months ago, Rabbi Peter Knobel gave us "permission" to wander away from whatever the congregation was reading or singing, and to go anywhere else on the two-page spread that felt more comfortable, or for that matter, wherever our individual thoughts and prayers might lead us. In doing so, he reminded us that in a world where multi-tasking has become commonplace, we might very well be able to join our voices with the community, while our minds were somewhere else.

I thought about this at Shabbat services, less than a year into our use of the new, yet by now taken-for-granted, siddur. We know when and how to follow the liturgy on the printed page; and we know (since we are a worship group of regulars) when we will deviate from the text and follow from memory the lashon (language) and minhag (custom) of our former home-made prayer book.

Filed Under: Jewish Living | Shabbat

Theological Summer Camp
August 19, 2008 (7 Comments)

By dcc
David A.M. Wilensky, RJ.org blogger, Kutz Campus regular and liturgy-wonk, was a bit offended by yesterday's post from the Society for Classical Reform Judaism's Executive Director Rabbi Howard A. Berman. His post on the Reform Shuckle outlines and deconstructs the argument that the SCRJ is a vital and important aspect of present day Reform Judaism.

My perusal of the rest of Rabbi Berman's post and of the Principles page of the SCRJ website leads me to believe that beyond [supporting] an increasingly outmoded aesthetic, there are no differences between SCRJ and the mainstream of the movement. Certainly the ideology the SCRJ labels Classical is no more than standard Reform ideology.

While I am not sure which theological camp is right (or more to the point if any camp can be "right"), it does seem a bit out of place to go to the extremes that have often been supported in posts and comments this blog. My hope for the future of Reform Judaism is that we move past these broad stroke definitions and focus on our mandate to be the light onto the nations, have our youth see those vision and do justice while we walk humbly with our God.

read MORE

Filed Under: Jewish Living | The Future

I am a poem
August 15, 2008

By David A.M. Wilensky
Thursday's 10 Minutes of Torah are all about prayer and this week's by Rabbi Edwin C. Goldberg, was about the left-hand-side-of-the-page (not the mention the left of the ritual spectrum) reading on page 41 of Mishkan T'filah. The reading serves as an alternatative option for what our Reform liturgists have aptly termed Nisim B'chol Yom (daily miracles).

In last week's edition, Rabbi Richard Sarason explained that the purpose of this collection of blessings is to bring a little kodesh (holy) into the chol (mundane) of our morning routines. Each one, with the exception of the three identity prayers, addresses a particular part of our morning, from waking up to putting on clothes all the way to the set of shorter blessings into Asher Yatzar, a prayer for going to the bathroom.

Filed Under: Jewish Living

Your bloggers will be my bloggers
August 5, 2008

By David A.M. Wilensky
I just got off the phone with my newest blogosphere friend, Avi Montigny, Project Coordinator of JewsByChoice.org.

JBC, for those who have not yet had the pleasure of visiting the site, is a group blog written by a group of Jews of a variety of denominations, all of whom happen to be converts. The JBC blog has quickly become one of my favorites in a crowded field of Jewish blogs competing for my attention in my RSS reader every day.

Filed Under: Community | Jewish Living

A Few Minutes More
July 31, 2008 (21 Comments)

By David A.M. Wilensky
Yesterday a post by Rabbi Joel R. Schwartzman appeared on this blog titled "Ten More Minutes of Torah." It was a response to Lewis M. Barth's recent Ten Minutes of Torah for Masei, in which Barth argued that the current Haftarah cycle of three haftarot of destruction followed by seven haftarot of consolation suggest that Reform Judaism should reassess its relationship with Tishah B'Av. Rabbi Schwartzman's post expressed strong discomfort with this idea.

Rabbi Schwartzman's first argument is typical of Reform Jews who are uncomfortable with even talking about the Temple in a Reform context. He tells us that, "Given the importance of the Temple in the Conservative and Orthodox movements, whether spiritually or practically, we Reformists would do well to consider exactly what we would be tying onto ourselves were we to adopt Tishah B'Av observances."

Filed Under: Holidays | Jewish Living | Torah

Foreign prophets, foreign songs
July 14, 2008 (9 Comments)

By David A.M. Wilensky
Two summers ago, here at Kutz, a girls' cabin led services one day. As we all entered the tron, they were standing at the front singing and clapping their hands. The song goes like this:

Lord, prepare me
To be a sanctuary
Pure and holy
Tried and true
With thanksgiving
I'll be a living
Sanctuary for you

It's a nice song. The message is fairly basic and unobjectionable. The tune is catchy and sounds slightly gospel. I like it. Since then, I've also heard a variation that incoporates a quote from Torah, "V'asu li Mikdash, v'shachanti b'tocham" ("Build me a sanctuary and I will dwell amongst you"). I like that version even better. When people found out that this verse of song is actually part of a larger song from the wonderful world on contemporary Christian music, they went nuts.

Filed Under: Jewish Living | Shabbat | Torah

Tyler Benjamin on Reform Judaism
July 11, 2008

By David A.M. Wilensky
As readers of Reform Judaism magazine will recall, the RJ Magazine's summer 2008 issue included a series of important questions regarding the Reform Movement and their answers as given by 30 adult members of the Reform Movement.

I'm currently at the URJ Kutz Camp with a group of people who will be the future lay and professional leadership of the Reform movement in North America. I'll be featuring many of them as well as many of the younger Kutz staff members this summer in a series of posts here on the RJ.org blog, in which I will be asking Reform high school and college students (and perhaps a few 20-somethings) for their take on Reform Judaism via questions similar to those used in the Magazine.

Tyler Benjamin is a 16-year-old rower/ultimate Frisbee player from Tampa, Florida. He is in love with the opportunities that are afforded him via NFTY, especially as the President of the Southern Tropical Region, and overall his life as a Reform Jew in America.

Filed Under: Community | Holidays | Shabbat

Leslie Bass on Reform Judaism
July 2, 2008 (1 Comment)

By David A.M. Wilensky
As readers of Reform Judaism magazine will recall, the RJ Magazine's summer 2008 issue included a series of important questions regarding the Reform Movement and their answers as given by 30 adult members of the Reform Movement.

Leslie Bass hails originally from Austin, Texas. This fall she will be a junior at the University of Denver, where she is a double major in Digital Media Studies and Journalism. This July, she will be travelling to Brisbane, Australia to study abroad at the Queensland University of Technology for five months. In high school, she was an active member of NFTY-TOR and board member of her local TYG. She attended the URJ Kutz Camp in the Summer of 2005 and spent the Summers of 2006 and 2007 as Kutz Camp staff.

Filed Under: Community | Holidays | Jewish Living | The Future

Josh Levin on Reform Judaism
June 30, 2008

By David A.M. Wilensky
As readers of Reform Judaism magazine will recall, the RJ magazine's summer 2008 issue included a series of important questions regarding the Reform Movement and their answers as given by 30 adult members of the Reform Movement.

I'm currently at the URJ Kutz Camp with a group of people who will be the future lay and professional leadership of the Reform movement in North America. I'll be using many of them as well as many of the younger Kutz staff members this summer in a series of posts here on the RJ.org blog, in which I will be asking Reform high school and college students (and perhaps a few 20-somethings) for their take on Reform Judaism via questions similar to those used in the magazine.

Josh Levin lives in Sarasota, Florida. He is a senior in high school. This year Josh will be the Religious and Cultural Vice President for the North American Federation of Temple Youth's Southern Tropical Region. Josh has three summers of experience at the Kutz, NFTY's Campus for Reform Jewish Teens. Next year, he plans to attend the University of Florida.

Filed Under: Israel | Jewish Living | Social Action | The Future

Edie Joseph on Reform Judaism
June 27, 2008 (1 Comment)

By David A.M. Wilensky
As readers of Reform Judaism magazine will recall, the RJ magazine's summer 2008 issue included a series of important questions regarding the Reform Movement and their answers as given by 30 adult members of the Reform Movement.

I'm currently at the URJ Kutz Camp with a group of people who will be the future lay and professional leadership of the Reform movement in North America. I'll be using many of them as well as many of the younger Kutz staff members this summer in a series of posts here on the RJ.org blog, in which I will be asking Reform high school and college students (and perhaps a few 20-somethings) for their take on Reform Judaism via questions similar to those used in the magazine.

Edie Joseph currently lives in Gainesville, Florida. She grew up at URJ Camp Harlam, attended Kutz in 2005, and in 2007 received a Bronfman Youth Fellowship in Israel. She will be attending Yale University as a freshman in the fall.

Filed Under: Community | Jewish Living

Jade Sank on Reform Judaism
June 25, 2008

Jade Sank is a 17-year-old recent high school graduate. In the fall she will attend Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York. Jade was a member of NFTY-GER, serving as the 2007-2008 NFTY-GER Secretary. She attended the URJ Kutz Camp in the summer of 2006 and the Urban Mitzvah Corps in the summer of 2007. This summer, she is hard at work as a member of the Avodah staff of the URJ Kutz Camp.

What has belonging to a congregation (or a Temple Youth Group or a Kesher group or going to a URJ camp etc.) that is part of the larger Reform Movement meant to you?
Belonging to my congregation, my TYG, NFTY, Kutz, and Urban Mitzvah Corps has meant everything to me. My eyes have been opened by the millions of ways that I can get involved and make connections not only on a North American scale but a world scale. By becoming involved in many different ways I have achieved small goals that will eventually help the Reform Movement become stronger. The best part about being part of the larger movement is that through the small things I do, I will see the results on a larger scale.

Filed Under: Community | Israel | Jewish Living | The Future

Marking Jewish Time
June 6, 2008 (5 Comments)

By JanetheWriter
Today is the 47th day of the counting of the omer. And, although I do not possess David A.M. Wilensky's "hyper-awareness of Jewish time," I do, in my own way, mark Jewish time.

As much a part of my growing up as lighting Hanukkah candles and fasting on Yom Kippur was the pilgrimage my mother, my grandmother and I made each summer to Beth David Cemetery in Elmont Queens.

Filed Under: Holidays | Jewish Living | Lifecycle

When am I?
June 5, 2008

By David A.M. Wilensky
I was born on the third day of the month of March in 1989. Much to the eternal dismay of my mother, I celebrated the nineteenth anniversary of that occasion on the twenty-seventh day of the month Adar of this year, 5768. This decision was one of several that I made over the last year that have led me to know always exactly when I am.

I'll explain.

At the end of August of last year I left my home of Austin, Texas to go to college at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. Aside from the usual freedoms you might think of when you think of going off to college, I discovered a particular ritual freedom I hadn't quite thought of before. Of course at home no one stopped me from shuckling in synagogue, though it often garnered a few rather conspicuous glances from other congregants. No one stopped me from standing through the entire Amidah. I even met little resistance at home to the idea of wearing a talit katan every day. But, now, in college, not only could rituals be what wanted, they could be when I wanted.

Filed Under: Holidays | Jewish Living

About Us
May 10, 2008 about RJ.org

RJ.org is the place to get the News and Views of Reform Jews from around North America and the world. Filled with facts and opinions, action items, regular posts from Movement leaders and interesting tidbits from the greater Jewish world, this site is the platform where Reform Jews come together to chat, opine, kibbitz and learn in an online community.

RJ.org is brought to you by the Union for Reform Judaism, © 2009. The views expressed on this site are those of individuals and not necessarily the opinions of the Union for Reform Judaism, its employees, or member congregations. The Union reserves the right to edit or remove postings that it considers inappropriate for this site.

meet our AUTHORS

JanetheWriter writes and edits for the Union for Reform Judaism. She also is pursuing a master's degree in public administration (MPA) at Baruch College, part of the City University of New York. When she's not writing and editing, JanetheWriter enjoys many of the usual pastimes of New Yorkers including hanging with friends, poking around the city, people watching, going to the movies, visiting museums, browsing in bookstores, dining out, and perusing the Sunday paper.

Gardening Grandma served as the Union for Reform Judaism's director of Marketing & Communications for 15 years, and is now the CEO of EJB Communications. When she's not working, Emily Grotta can be found digging in or weeding her garden. She also spends countless hours on cross country flights, visiting her grandchildren in Seattle and San Francisco.

Rabbi Richard Address is the Caring Community Specialist at the Union for Reform Judaism. Rabbi Address joined the Union staff in 1978 after pulpit work in California. Rabbi Address was ordained in 1972, in May of 1998 he received a Certificate in Pastoral Counseling from the Post Graduate Center for Mental Health in New York and in May 1999 he received his Doctor of Ministry from the Hebrew Union College in New York. A die-hard Philadelphia sports fan, his hopes and dreams of championships are often dashed by any other sports franchise.

Steve Arnold became a Jew-by-choice last year after a 30-year interest in the faith. He serves on the board of directors and the ritual committee of Temple Anshe Sholom, of Hamilton, Ontario. He is also a periodic contributor to the Hamilton Jewish News and has helped edit a forthcoming book by Rabbi Bernard Baskin celebrating the 60th anniversary of the rabbi's ordination. A newspaper reporter for The Hamilton Spectator in Hamilton, Ontario, Steve edits an international newsletter on the Battle of the Little Big Horn and Gen. George A. Custer.

William Berkson, PhD, a member of Temple Rodef Shalom in Falls Church, Virginia, is director of the Jewish Institute for Youth and Family. He is author of a new guide, Avot: Ancient Jewish Wisdom as a Guide to Modern Life, and when he is not writing or teaching he designs type for the Font Bureau.

Donald Cohen-Cutler (dcc) lives in New York City and is active in local social justice advocacy and Jewish causes. He is a member of the Professional Leaders Project and is a huge Red Sox fan.

Marge Eiseman describes herself as The Jewish Peddler and is involved in an array of organizations and activities from radio show host and itinerant Jewish teacher and performer to making music, cooking, reading, writing, storytelling and traveling. She is a member of Congregation Sinai in Milwaukee, WI.

Laurence (Larry) Kaufman is a member of Beth Emet, the Free Synagogue, in Evanston IL, and is a long-time, active member of the Reform movement and the Jewish world. He serves on the North American Board of the Union, the national Board of ARZA, the Executive Committee of the World Union for Progressive Judaism's North American Council, and is a past president of Temple Sholom of Chicago and of the Chicago Federation of the Union's Great Lakes Council. Under the screen name Hinneni, he is a frequent participant in the Temple-Chat and iWorship list-servs. In his day job, he is a public relations consultant, specializing in not-for-profit organizations.

Andi L. Rosenthal, an author and marketing professional, is a member of Larchmont Temple/Congregation Har Chayim in Larchmont NY. She is a URJ Outreach Fellow and recently was admitted to HUC-JIR's rabbinic program. Andi enjoys writing, cooking, music, reading, teaching, and, when she gets the chance, sleeping.

Barbara K. Shuman, is a member of Temple Sinai, Pittsburgh, PA, and a URJ national board member. From 1988 - 2005 she coordinated the URJ Kallah program and is currently a member of the Joint Commission on Worship, Music and Religious Living. A lifelong learner, she has completed the Morei Derekh training in Jewish Spiritual Direction. She companions others on their spiritual journeys, listening to their experience of holy Presence and nurturing the unfolding of a deeper relationship with the mystery we call God.