To What End? New Benchmarks for Measuring Jewish Youth Engagement
Alone, the numbers are just numbers. When taken in light of these new findings, though, they tell a compelling story of success.
Moving Beyond the Numbers to Welcome Refugees
We are currently facing the largest global refugee crisis since World War II, with 60 million people displaced worldwide, including more than 19 million refugees. The United States has pledge to accept 10,000 refugees from Syria in 2016, yet just over 2,500 have been resettled since the fall. Since May 21, more than 1,000 refugees have died off the coast of Europe.
Sixty million. Ten thousand. Twenty-five hundred.
The refugee crisis often is described using such shock-value numbers, but what do these numbers mean to us?
Women of the Wall Leader Detained at Kotel with Torah that Survived the Holocaust
Rabbi Mona Alfi, the senior rabbi of Congregation B'nai Israel in Sacramento, CA, sent a letter today to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressing “great concern and distress” about the detainment of Lesley Sachs, director of Women of the Wall, at the Kotel today.
Judaism Teaches: Question Authority, Think for Yourself
In his greatest hour, Moses showed us we have nothing to fear. The tablets of God were broken, but we remain intact. Our task, too late for my patient but perhaps not too late for us, is to break the spell of Sinai. Only then, following Moses’ example, can we begin the real work of hammering out what constitutes a moral society.
How Camps Can Better Welcome People of All Sexualities and Gender Identities
Our camps are not always welcome places or even designed to be inclusive of individuals who identify within the LGBTQIA community. But the good news is that our camps are trying to navigate a path of change, and a panel discussion that took place in May is evidence of the beginning of change.
Can God "Disturb" You Enough to Go Vegan?
God’s first dietary instructions to us, given in Genesis 1:29, were to eat plants and only plants. In other words, we were commanded to be vegetarians, or even vegans. Only after humanity had sunk into a state of spiritual depravity did God grant us limited permission to kill animals for food, in Genesis 9.
Today, the treatment of animals in modern industrial agriculture is so abhorrent that no ethical system, especially ours, can justify it.
5 Questions (and Answers!) about New Measures of Congregational Success
Congregations have a tendency to measure success by counting the number of heads in the room – but if they want to become stronger, this is actually the number-one habit congregations need to break.
Change Your Congregational Culture by Changing How You Measure Success
We need to shift from only considering traditional measures of success (these include attendance, whether we met budget, whether we ran out of food, number of complaints received, and whether staff seemed on-task) to adding measures that go further. These new measures must address the whole of congregational life, and revolve around what matters most to our members.
Automatic Voter Registration Gaining Momentum
While much recent attention has rightly been focused on the concerning trend of new voter suppression measures around the country, there is another, more positive, development in voting
The Reform Movement Mourns the Victims of the Tel Aviv Shooting Attack
As news reports with more details came in from Tel Aviv last night, we are shocked and horrified at the sight of two gunmen, dressed as ultra-Orthodox Jews, who opened fire at diners in the Sarona Market.