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The Rabbinic Intrapreneur

Rabba Rachel Kohl Finegold 0 Comments

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 rabbis building new models of spiritual community around North America. Their numbers are growing, and their success is significant. These rabbinic entrepreneurs include Rabbi Dan Horowitz (The Well in Detroit and CLI Cohort 2), Rabbanit Dasi Fruchter (The Shteibel in Philadelphia), Rabbi Aaron Levy (Makom in Toronto), and Rabbi Lizzi Heydemann (Mishkan in Chicago and CLI Cohort 1). Other entrepreneurial rabbis have created Jewish start-ups focused on adult education, such […]

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Designing the Synagogue Member Experience

Aimee Close 1 Comment

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 design phase before it was brought to market. If you think about how mobile phones have changed over the past twenty years, you will see the impact that designers have on a product.  From the first large, clunky wireless handsets with one inch screens and an external antenna, to the flip phone, to the Blackberry, to the iphone, designers at the various manufacturing companies did research, held focus groups, and […]

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Re-Imagining Synagogues and Communities, Part 2

rabbi rachel weiss 0 Comments

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 explicit that it’s okay to “not know.” In fact, it speaks to the deep Jewish value that learning is never complete. Many folks – those who grew up in a Judaism that departed from Orthodox or traditional practice, those who chose Judaism later in life, and those who aren’t Jewish – never had this education to begin with, and contextualizing it in the way that liberal Jewish communities function, we […]

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Re-Imagining Synagogues and Communities, Part 1

rabbi rachel weiss 0 Comments

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 middle school cafeterias, eventually constructing a building that embodies the green values of the environmental movement. They sought a community that would be a blend of their spiritual, intellectual, social and political needs. Some of our members under 35 grew up in this synagogue, having reaped the fruit of the first generation’s seeds. They are seeking a more spiritually engaged yet still intellectually honest liturgy. They are drawn more to […]

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A New Jewish World, Yearning to be Born

Rishe Groner 0 Comments

One recent Friday evening, I received many varied invitations. I could walk thirty minutes to Clinton Hill, to a Shabbat dinner at the home of Rabbi Sara Luria, mentor and friend, who runs an experiment in home-based Judaism, Beloved Brooklyn, in her home. There would be an eclectic crowd, great conversations, and a deep sense of community. Another friend suggested I join them at a popup Kabbalat Shabbat, fusing traditional music with spiritual feminist chants from the Hebrew priestess community Kohenet. On the other side of town, friends in Bushwick had invited me to come hang out in their artist’s loft, sharing food and jamming to songs of Shabbos. I had already decided against joining the grand Limmud Shabbaton in Manhattan, though it too was […]

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Rabbinic Activism and Raising Tzedek as a Congregational Value

Barbara Penzner 0 Comments

  Outside of our modest synagogue in a middle-class Irish-Catholic neighborhood in Boston hangs a blue banner with white lettering. In Hebrew and English it reads: Tzedek tzedek tirdof – Justice, Justice You Shall Pursue.   To some the banner may seem uncontroversial. Yet the process of choosing the language, and even agreeing to place any statement outside of our building, was slow and contentious. Our congregation had never placed a banner on our building in seventy years of existence, except for announcements of High Holy Days or the opening of our Hebrew School.   For twenty-three years, as rabbi of Temple Hillel B’nai Torah (HBT), I have witnessed our emergence as a social justice congregation. From early visioning sessions that included “Tikkun Olam” as […]

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Escaping Egypt, Engaging Jews

Rabbi Dan Horwitz 0 Comments

It’s the Saturday evening before Passover. You find yourself and a group of eight friends entering an airy, well-lit loft in a hip neighborhood in Metro Detroit. You’ve been given the objectives and your mission: to find all of the items to fill the Seder plate sitting empty on the large Passover table set in the middle of the room. You and your friends try a sip of horseradish infused vodka before the clock starts, which puts you in the mood not only for Passover, but for a challenge. That’s when you hear it: Click. The sound of being locked into a room with only 45 minutes to escape. Hundreds of young adults in Metro Detroit experienced this moment of excitement in the week leading […]

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You Got Rid of What?—Synagogues and Money

Rabbi Corey Helfand 4 Comments

A mentor and trusted colleague of mine from rabbinical school gave me one piece of advice before entering the pulpit: don’t change anything in the first year.  While I took his message to heart for just about everything, there was one change that had to happen, even if I had only been at my new pulpit for a month. The story went something like this.  On the High Holidays, it was the practice of the finance committee to stand at the door, waiting, until our congregants were just greeted and welcomed. And then this happened to anyone who had not yet paid one-third of their dues before the holidays, or those who were in arrears from the past year: The finance committee members would take […]

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Pittsburgh and the “Awe” of Safety

Rabbi Josh Lesser 0 Comments

In a shtetl outside Vitebsk, Belarus, there was a young, learned man. In the wake of increasing violence and with parental encouragement, he saved money to journey to the US. Uneasy, he set out for a port in Latvia. He arrived a day before the ship was leaving. Eager, yet anxious, he found a place to make his bed on the docks. When he awoke, he realized to his horror that his pack, his money, and his possessions had been stolen. Dejected, he cried out in prayer. As he wandered aimlessly, he felt alone and in despair. But then he saw a sign. He thought he must be dreaming and like the ladder that in Jacob’s dream; it was a way up and a way […]

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Cultivating Communities of Obligation: An Alternate Path to Commandedness

Rabbi Rachel Nussbaum 0 Comments

I have distinct memories of my rabbinical school interview more than 20 years ago. I sailed smoothly through discussions about my Jewish background and why I wanted to go to rabbinical school, and then squirmed uncomfortably as I struggled to answer a theological question posed to me around the topic of commandedness. While my religious practice put me squarely inside the range of acceptable observance at JTS, I struggled mightily with the “v’tzivanu” (“commanded us”) language of blessings. I had (and still have) a hard time believing that the reason for me to do any of these things was because they were what God commanded; I have never had such a sense of clarity about God’s will that I feel certain that I know what […]

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