How strategic planning saved my rabbinate

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared in eJewishPhilanthropy on September 30, 2024

I had just begun my term as rabbi of Congregation Shirat Hayam in Swampscott, Mass. On my third day on the job, I visited a macher (influential benefactor) of the congregation — a successful businessman and a professor at Harvard Business School.  

When the consolidation of Temple Israel and Temple Beth El created Shirat Hayam in 2005, its first rabbi was a very charismatic leader who brought extraordinary innovation, energy and growth to the congregation. Even before the macher and I greeted one another, he asked, “What’s your vision?”

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Rabbi Michael Ragozin has led Congregation Shirat Hayam in Swampscott, Mass., since 2015.  He previously led a congregation in Leesburg, Va. Prior to becoming a rabbi, he was a baker (from age 9-14), taught algebra through Teach for America and worked in technology. He is an alumnus of CLI Cohort 1.