Re-Inventing Synagogues: From Within

Rabbi Paul Kipnes 1 Comment

Jewish pundits love to predict the eventual demise of the synagogue, decrying its dearth of deep ideas, shortage of spiritual inspiration, and absence of warmth and meaning. They say that Jews and Jewish families are opting instead for DIY Judaism, where one can rent-a-rabbi to “do it yourself,” or to start their own shuls, unencumbered by the trappings of traditional synagogue sloth. True, there are plenty of temples stuck in the 1970’s, whose music, methods and message seem to ignore that fact that the world and its spiritual seekers have changed. But contrary to these doomsday scenarios or the radical embrace of only newly birthed synagogues-without-walls, synagogue life is alive and well. Innovation is not the exclusive province of entrepreneurs. Across the country, a handful […]

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A Jewish Congregation Tackles Racism

Rabbi Ellen Lippmann 0 Comments

Four and a half years ago we at Kolot Chayeinu/Voices of Our Lives, a progressive independent Jewish congregation in Brooklyn, NY, decided to begin some deep, internal work about racism. We were determined to keep our goals internally focused. We knew we had a lot of work to do on our own attitudes. It has been amazing to see this work develop over the same years during which American racism in action has caught the attention of the media and the public. Each time a young Black man or woman is killed with impunity by a police officer, too often on camera, we white Jews realize again how ingrained our own racism is. As we have done the work —meeting every month in a group […]

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What Jewish College Students Can Learn from Their Hometown Congregations

Ethan Sobel 0 Comments

Antiquated, stuffy, boring, archaic and tranquil. Those might be the terms millennial Jewish college students would use to describe the synagogues where they grew up. Whether coming from a Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist, Renewal, Orthodox or other background, it rarely seems “cool” to reminisce about going to Sunday Hebrew classes, attending Shabbat services or joining the local Jewish youth group as the highlight of your Jewish upbringing. At Hillels across the country, the chatter focuses on politics, romantic prospects or the in-crowd. But what if the 18-21 year olds were wrong – what if their childhood Jewish experiences did add value to their lives, offering lessons that they will never embrace or even understand? This Simchat Torah, I found myself, a 25-year-old young Jewish professional, visiting home. […]

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The Art of Prayer- V’ani Teflilati- I Will Become My Prayer

Rabbi Shawn Zevit 0 Comments

“Prayer can be electric and alive. Prayer can touch the soul, burst forth a creative celebration of the spirit, and open deep wells of gratitude, longing and praise. Prayer can connect us to our Living Source and to each other, enfolding us in love and praise, wonder and gratitude, awe and thankfulness.  Jewish prayer in its essence is soul dialogue and calls us into relationship within and beyond. Through the power of ancient and modern words and melodies, we venture into realms of deep emotion and find longing, sorrow, hope, wholeness, connection and peace. When guided by skilled leaders of prayer and ritual, our complacency is challenged, we can break through outworn assumptions about God and ourselves, and emerge refreshed and inspired to meet the challenges our lives […]

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Educating Rabbis in a New Paradigm

Rabbi Hayim Herring Ph.D. 1 Comment

I recently co-edited Keeping Faith in Rabbis: A Community Conversation on Rabbinical Education, an anthology of essays about 21st century rabbinical education and leadership. What emerges from the essays from a wide array of voices is the realization that the community that gave birth to today’s rabbinical schools no longer exists. However, even with the awareness of being in a new era of American Jewish community, rabbinical education is generally still rooted in incompatible paradigm principles of the past. Before suggesting how the education of rabbis can change in this new era of Jewish life, we need to clarify what a paradigm is, and to better appreciate just how profound the transition is from the old to the new paradigm. A paradigm is as a […]

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Eight Principles that Drive Strong Congregations

Rabbi Amy Asin 0 Comments

All congregational leaders are looking for the magic formula to success, the one that will ensure that their members are happy, engaged, and Jewishly fulfilled, and that their budgets are balanced. Though there’s no one-size-fits-all solution, there are a few tried-and-true organizational approaches to strengthening congregational life. The URJ recently published the results of our initial round of Communities of Practice, which focused on three key areas of congregational life: engaging young adults, families with young children, and reimagining financial support. Through this work, we’ve identified several themes that are vital to congregational success – and we’ve compiled a few of those not-so-secretive secrets here. 1.Start with why As leadership expert Simon Sinek said in his TED Talk, we need to start with “Why?” – and the answer must […]

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Design Thinking in Synagogues

Jessica Carew Kraft 1 Comment

An iterative problem-solving protocol seems like the exact opposite of the Ten Commandments inscribed in stone. It verges on heresy to conceive of religion as a “product” that needs to be branded in order to sell. But for one rabbi in San Francisco, combining the spiritual with the commercial was exactly what was needed to attract more people to Judaism. American Jewish organizations have struggled with engagement for decades, as younger generations increasingly choose secular lives. Many resources have been devoted to solving the problem outside of the synagogue, including hundreds of millions of dollars to fund free “birthright” trips to Israel, bolster Jewish life on campus, and build summer camps for the pre-bar mitzvah crowd. But until the creation of The Kitchen, a non-denominational “startup synagogue” in […]

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The New Jewish Neighborhood*

Rabbi Daniel Cotzin Burg 0 Comments

Jews wander. Jewish communities migrate. Half a century ago these communities drifted on various wheel spokes outward, their institutional identities and Torah scrolls in tow. In recent years, a new pattern has emerged, and America’s cities are bursting again with Jewish life. The Old Jewish Neighborhood I live in a Jewish neighborhood called Reservoir Hill. It used to be two communities: Eutaw Place, the grand boulevard with its elegant town homes and Lake Drive, which included several blocks east of Eutaw with still beautiful, but more modest row houses. For a number of reasons, Jews moved away from Reservoir Hill toward Baltimore County. By the 1970’s, the neighborhood was now predominantly African American and increasingly poor. By the 80’s, crime had become endemic and sidewalks […]

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What Job Is The Synagogue Hired To Do?

Rabbi Joshua Rabin 0 Comments

Clayton Christensen, a professor at Harvard Business School and author of The Innovator’s Dilemma, was given the following consulting assignment by a fast-food chain: help us sell more milkshakes.[1]   This fast food chain tried every kind of focus group to increase milkshake sales, asking consumers to evaluate whether or not the milkshakes should be sweeter, chunkier, thicker, and so on, yet none of the changes resulted in an increase in sales. Taking a different approach, Christensen and his team parked themselves next to one franchise location, and each time they saw a person leave the restaurant with a milkshake, a member of Christensen’s team approached that person and asked him or her what job he or she wanted done when they “hired” that milkshake.   Most […]

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Congregational Rabbis as Facilitators, Co-Learners, and Community Builders

Dr. Sarah M. Tauber 0 Comments

In a culture where spiritual seeking is often prioritized over religious practice, how do rabbis respond to the ambivalences, confusions, and journeys of contemporary adults who are willing still to look to Judaism as a source of wisdom? How do rabbis initiate conversations that respect the multiplicity of voices from the adults they encounter while still calling on the font of knowledge that they posses as clergy? Over several years I conducted ethnographic research with three congregational rabbis who possess reputations as outstanding adult educators. Rabbis Jonathan Fisk, Rina Lewin, and Eric Miller led Reform and Conservative synagogues of between five hundred and eight hundred households.[1] I attended their adult education classes, participated in their worship services and synagogue activities. Central to the process were […]

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