CLI Forum
Posts by :
A Shabbat Culture Change
In 2014, I was promoted to my current position after the departure of my senior rabbi. I had only served as the assistant for a little over a year. I knew nearly nothing about running a large synagogue. I had about three years of assistantships, with two different senior rabbis. I had spent a lot […]
Disruptive Judaism: Will Your Synagogue Be Beit Blockbuster or Kehillat Netflix?
Whenever we get stuck in the midst of a synagogue brainstorming session or change project, I trot out my cherished $50 Blockbuster gift card. It reminds us that unless our synagogue is willing to reexamine, bust through sacred cows, and innovate, we are liable to fall into irrelevance and disappear. That gift card warns us […]
V’Ahavta: The Caring Collectives of Temple Beth Shalom
In a world where people seem to be cold and cruel, I have witnessed my congregation’s members demonstrate kindness, compassion, and concern time and time again. When I was 33-years old, my marriage ended and I became a single parent to a toddler, six months into a new job as the solo rabbi of Temple […]
A Playbook for Legacy Institutions That Want to Stay Relevant
It’s Shabbat morning in October 2018. On the other side of the river from our synagogue, Temple Israel of Boston, we’re gathered for Shabbat brunch in a Cambridge co-working space to explore the question: What is a soul? The group of young adults have wandered through wisdom drawn from Shabbat morning liturgy (Elohai Neshama), Mumford […]
On Being an Artist-Rabbi
In a television interview shortly before his death, Abraham Joshua Heschel was asked if he had a message for young people. Watching live with my parents, I was a young person at the time, and Heschel seemed to speak directly to me, responding: “Build your life as a work of art.” My rabbinate is an […]
The Rabbinic Intrapreneur
In an era when young Jews are questioning the relevance of the synagogue, the role of the rabbi is changing. While the typical rabbi used to be one who was ensconced in a pulpit (consider the use of the term “installation” to refer to the welcoming of a new rabbi!), there are now many entrepreneurial […]
Designing the Synagogue Member Experience
According to Wikipedia, design is defined as “the creation of a plan or convention for the construction of an object, system or measurable human interaction (as in architectural blueprints, engineering drawings, business processes, circuit diagrams, and sewing patterns).” Imagine any consumer product, and one thing you can be certain of is that it went through a […]
Re-Imagining Synagogues and Communities, Part 2
Most liberal Jews have never learned what Judaism has to say about the social justice passions that often define their most regular Jewish interactions. They know that Judaism advocates tikkun olam, but they have never been exposed to what our texts and customs teach. One way that we can serve our members is to be […]
Re-Imagining Synagogues and Communities, Part 1
In the 450-household congregation that I serve, the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation (JRC) of Evanston, IL, some of our members have been part of our community since 1964. Having broken away from an urban Conservative synagogue in search of a more intellectually honest liturgy and grassroots leadership, they created a congregation in suburban living rooms and […]